Transition to Compositing: A Panel Discussion

After last night's general membership meeting, Executive Board member Chris Simmons chaired a panel discussion on the transition from traditional animation to compositing. Chris (above, far right) brought compositors to the panel (from left): member Sari Gennis working at Legend3D, Greg Teegarden working at Digital Domain and Andrew Ashton working at Motion Theory/Mirada to act as the panel.

The discussion that followed touched on many points. Chris and Sari highlighted how their backgrounds in other crafts (Chris was a member of Local 44 as a model maker and Sari joined TAG as an animator) helped translate into the field of compositing. Greg and Andrew gave background on their experiences in the compositing fields and what new artists can expect from the "final stop" in the vfx pipeline.

With advances in camera tracking, image projection, its internal 3d space, and the soon-to-be release of tools to take advantage of deep image compositing, The Foundry's Nuke was brought up as the software of choice for studios compositing visual effects elements for television and film. Adobe's After Effects was also brought up as the powerful software package for compositing and the industry leader for motion graphics applications.

All the panelists agreed that TAG members have a strong advantage in transitioning to compositing coming from an artistic field in which skills like scene composition, color theory and animation are required. Schools that were highlighted as available and remarkable at teaching the tools and techniques were fxphd and Gnomon School.*

The panel answered the question "Where do I find compositing jobs here in Los Angeles" with the following websites:

• The Creative Planet "2-Pop" Job forum
• VFX Jobs forum

I'd add the following sites to any bookmark list of this nature:

• Motionographer Job Listings
• Creative Heads
• FX Job Hunt on Twitter
• VFX Recruit on Twitter

Many thanks to Chris Simmons and all the panelists for a lively and informative discussion. It was a benefit to all who attended.

* Gnomon and Studio Arts classes are eligible for reimbursement for members who qualify for CSATTF Grant reimbursement. Check out the Grant Classes page for more information.