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Generally for pipeline work I'd recommend using Python and reserve the C++ for where it's really performance critical like setting up custom nodes in Maya or Nuke.

But yeah I'd say stick with Python, C++ and Qt and that's pretty much all you really need from a programming perspective. Other than that, math helps of course. The rest is just stuff you learn by getting into it.

I also have my course, which may be a bit basic for you, but if you're interested. I have a few free coupons left: https://www.udemy.com/python-for-maya/?couponCode=BYUANIMFREE if you want to check it out or the source code for everything covered is up here: https://github.com/dgovil/PythonForMayaSamples

It's not really pipeline focused but more on artist tools but could be helpful.

And if you're interested in more of the math side instead, this is a great book: https://www.amazon.ca/Mathematics-Computer-Graphics-John-Vince/dp/1849960224

other than that, from a pipeline perspective, I'd just look at something like pyblish.com and look at getting data from one app to another. Like even an animated cube is fine.

Hope that's helpful?

Hey, while not directly a VFX book, I highly recommend reading this book, The Visual Story, by Bruce Block. I actually took his class back when I was in SC, and I think it's one of my hidden weapons that has given me an edge as a VFX Supervisor. Basically, it's all about how we perceive images on a 2D screen, and the chapters on Depth Cues would help you a lot here.


https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Story-Creating-Structure-Digital/dp/0240807790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494700999&sr=8-1&keywords=the+visual+story

Here's my take on where you can go, from back to forward:

1. Lens: I see you attempting to do some hazing, this is great, and indeed a depth cue, but the scale and focal length of your mountains seem off, which is throwing off the depth. The BG mountains look like they were shot on a really long lens, from far away, so they flatten out. But you're water and overall landscape feels like you want a wide angle lens shot. So you should shrink these mountains down considerably.
   
   
2. Haze. I think you could push your overall haze a little further the deeper you go back. You could even do with some haze over your FG mountains. Especially at you contact point with the water. It looks better on the camera right side, where you have some white wash, anything you can do to get your FG mountains and water to connect better liike that will make them feel less cut out.
   
   
3. Composition, take those two mountains just off center, stacked on one another, and move one or the other camera left or right so they're not so pyramidal-ly on top of each other. This will lead to some better composition.
   
   
4. You may want to consider replacing your FG mountains as well. Your mountain types are very different from each other in terms of type and foliage, and these FG ones stand out pretty bad, you're also hard cutting in too the trees
   
   
5. Someone mentioned focus. If you're going for a wide angle lens, you wouldn't have shallow DOF, but if you shoot wide open aperture (which you always are in cinema) then you would have softening at infinity. So assuming your ship is much closer to us, you could do with an overall soften on the mountains, and a ramped soften on the water the further you go back.
   
   
6. Assuming your ship is moving, consider adding motion blur, on a regular shutter it would never be that in focus. Also some heat trails coming off the engines, and fire blasters from an X-Wing.
   
   
7. Consider moving the ship closer to camera, more interesting composition. On top of that, possibly consider some FG clouds or something just to add even more depth and composition.
   
   
8. Consider a slight reflection of the ship off the water.
   
   
9. Overall you need color and luma balancing across the board. You need to match your black and white levels on everything. I think your BG mountains are the best integrated to the sky, so look at the whites in there, then look at the whites on your X-wing, they don't match color or luma. You're way to dark on the ship and have too much red and not enough magenta. Likewise your ship is far away enough to have the atmosphere start hitting it, so your blacks are too black. There's tons of tutorials on youtube for color matching.
   
   
10. This is not a note, but I also recommend getting frame grabs of the latest starwars, or looking up stills of wide open environments. If you're not familiar with camera and photography, get familiar. That is the #1 thing that surprises me in VFX these days - lack of camera knowledge. In CG and 2D you can break all the rules and make impossible cameras. But generally you don't want to unless you are doing it intentionally. Like anything, you need to know and understand the rules before you can break them. Right now you have an impossible camera and it's probably frustrating to you that things feel cut out and don't quite click together. If you looked at this again and said, I want this to be a 24mm 35mm sized frame, shot wide open on a 180 degree shutter, you'd catch things like motion blur, depth cues, scale issues, etc.
    
    Hope this info helps!
    
    
    

Sure, I think you would do well to go back and study the basis of visual design, concepts like layout, color, shape, etc... there is an underlying visual language to all design that allows it to express balance, define emphasis, create tension, lead the eye, harmonious color schemes, the like.

With just a quick google search I found this which is a good start. A book like this might help you put the concepts in context.

I would ( and have ) hired someone with a better design eye over someone with better skills, because if the person is diligent, the skills can be spruced up, someone with a bad eye won't see the innate purpose and is generally slow on the shorthand.

If you can, I would look around and try to find a college course like this and see if either you can take it or just sit-in on it. I think it would be beneficial to have someone teach you as opposed to reading books about it, because they can guide you and give you exercises to do that will help you internalize the concepts.

I go back to actively thinking about the principles very frequently, sometimes they're a real catalyst to that aha! moment when you get stuck. But most of all they're the basis for being a competent artist in any discipline.

It's the difference between seeing a very simple piece of art and "knowing" that it's just perfect, and seeing a really intricate peice that looks kinda cool, but somehow it's just wrong. You will want that simple truthful elegance on your side, and having the principles of design at your behest will empower you to create effortlessly rather than grinding something out that you're never really happy with. Not to mention, giving your work that little extra push into being great.

I think you should consider reading a copy of this book https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 because imo you're asking the wrong questions.

That said, my job is quite literally to decide what tools a development team should be building for a VFX house (though I am internal and not trying to sell software/solutions/etc to other parties) and I can say with total confidence that the things people ask us to make are not the things that would actually be most beneficial to the business.

In your original question you asked "what would be your dream pipeline helper in terms of versioning, file format exchange, etc.?" but I can guarantee you that artists and even studios in general don't give a flying fuck about any of that - artists care about making cool images and studios care about throughput and profitability. File versioning, backups, dailies, whatever are all just various ways that we facilitate that and remove friction from the process. Can you build a product/service/business that increases my studio's throughput without us having to dedicate development resources to integrate it?

Also if you can't see how Shotgun helps a VFX facility work in a streamlined manner, you probably have no business developing artist/production facing software solutions for this space. I don't mean that in a super offensive way, I'm just genuinely surprised you'd write that since other than RV, Shotgun is one of the very few non-DCC products in the last decade that has come out and been widely adopted by studios of all sizes. So... it clearly solved a problem.

It's hard to overstate the importance of maths & physics to the FX TD role, particularly in the more senior positions.

While it's true that no director will ever want physical accuracy - seriously, NO director EVER wants physically accurate - NEVER EVER say 'but that's what would happen!' - you still need to make the motion feel believable and a solid understanding of physics is very helpful in this regard.

I'm trying to remember the extent of the GCSE maths I did, but iirc you probably haven't started doing much calculus - understanding how force integrates to velocity and velocity integrates to position is fundamental to understanding the underpinnings of most particle & fluid solvers - you might have done a fair bit of this with A-Level physics though, I'm buggered if I remember what I did (I did both maths & physics at A-Level followed by an engineering degree).

As noted, linear algebra is what you'll be dealing with mostly at the geometry level, basic vector math, understanding vector addition, multiplication, dot/cross products and that kind of thing is extremely useful (I'm constantly shocked at the number of "FX TDs" who can't do even this), closely followed by space transforms using matrix math, in particular, how to transform/invert transforms (usually to unfuck some goddamned idiot animator's idea of motion) to get things in the right space to simulate, followed by the transform back to the right space to render. Quaternions are also incredibly useful, think of them as a shorthand for representing an object's orientation in 3d space - a position and a quaternion is mostly enough to represent where an object is in 3d space, you need to know that you can turn these two things into a 4x4 transform matrix as well as a 3x3 rotation matrix as well as how those matrices can be used creatively.

The good news is that most of this shit isn't that complicated, but it takes someone who really understands it (and how it relates to vfx) to be able to explain it in any kind of meaningful way.

As always, I'll throw out my usual book recommendation for this shit (if you can find it - buy it second hand on amazon, you want the one with the purple cover)
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Mathematics-Computer-Graphics-Fast/dp/1852333804

Khan Academy and Scratchapixel are also very useful.

Ah dude. Software is just how things get done. It's the underlying concepts that you need to learn. Like in woodworking or any other craft, jobs get easier when you use the right tool for the job and know how to use them.

I've not used Blender but it has it's adherents. Personally, I tend to steer people towards Maya for general 3d applications, Houdini for it's procedural modelling and simulation toolset, and maybe zbrush if they're interested in sculpting detailed models. Whatever you choose, try to find a package with an active community you can ask questions in.

"cool VFX" is a super broad term. Maybe have a think about the kind of VFX you want to do and we can try to point you more directly towards what you want to achieve.

Maybe also borrow a copy of the VES Handbook from your local library. It'll give you a run down of most of the terms you might be interested in.

Damn, you are doing well for 15! If you did that minecraft video with AE, you will love nuke once you get used to the basics. For example you would be able to put markers on the ground (like some white tape) to help your track. And then nukes 3D system makes it super easy to clean them up afterwards by painting over them on one frame, and reprojecting it onto a card/plane representing your ground.

But don't just dive straight into tutorials on tools, its pretty important to understand all the underlying principles that everyone else has pointed out.

I recommend this book and a digital tutors subscription. Keep on doing your own projects like the minecraft one, so that everything you learn sinks in. Theres a shit tonne to learn, but its part of the fun!

BTW - Keep using AE for motion graphics, its tops for that. Nuke for compositing.

Zip. As others have said, free tutorials on the web might give you a foundation, but you really don't start learning until you're having to use your brain to solve the problems yourself on a day-to-day basis.

Tutorials tend to give you the solution and tell you which buttons to press, which sometimes leads to a false sense of security. What would be more beneficial is learning the theory behind what you're doing (The Art and Science of Digital Compositing is pretty good for this.)

Always good to have some photoshop chops, but again, the theory is what's critical, not the software. In some ways, you may be better off jumping into Affinity (similar but newer package, very inexpensive and available on windows/mac) as it has some more current technical advantages that I won't bore you with, but It will also keep you from learning bandaid reliance on Photoshops often flawed, sometimes gimmicky, bells and whistles.

https://affinity.serif.com

I now rarely touch Photoshop and professionally haven't for the last 3 years BUT tons of the ideas and skills I learned in it I transfer to Nuke every day. I also do have to talk and give input to peoples work, specifically digital matte painters, who are performing their tasks in Photoshop, so it's good to know their language. The important part is being able to convey the ideas across multiple software platforms.

Here's a book recommendation that will help you out:

https://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Compositing-Video-Steve-Wright/dp/024081309X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&dd=w47N7XOoK5aoisMPQsfb5A%2C%2C&ddc_refnmnt=pfod&ie=UTF8&qid=1526923160&sr=1-1&keywords=digital+compositing

Parts are going to be pretty dry but it's worth learning this way so that you have professional versatility and longevity :)

are you looking to learn a 3D software ? or just how to composite 3d footage ? there are a lot of 3d programs out there each has different learning curve,pros\cons . so it depends if you are doing it for yourself or planning on going into the vfx industry .
the best nuke tutorials (imo) are by FXPhd . vse handbook is a great book . if you are interested in vfx pipeline there is a great tutorial on digital tutors link .

This book is worth considering too. It may overlap with VES's book (I haven't read it) but since you mentioned compositing specifically, Ron Brinkmann's book is pretty much the best single resource that exists for people looking to learn compositing, and it's popular enough to actually be in libraries. You'd additionally need to learn some software (Nuke, advisedly) to apply it, of course.

I don't really think saying "I'm damn certain I can do the work, that I can learn Nuke on my own..." is helping your cause. If you are so certain, make time and do it. Either join a VFX house as a runner or other entry level position and then use their kit (Flame) or build up a reel on your own. Here's a good book to start you off with Nuke, which is a beautiful program and also as many other people have pointed out, has a free PLE edition.

Color and Light - yes it's a painters book but the theory and ideas apply directly into compositing. (http://www.amazon.ca/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719)

Digital Compositing for Film - You are going to hear and read a lot fo stuff by Steve Wright. He basically is the man haha. This book is great because it teaches ideas no programs. EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COMPOSITING IS IN THIS BOOK!(http://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Compositing-Video-Steve-Wright/dp/024081309X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413392563&sr=1-1&keywords=digital+compositing)


For your last question, I did a while ago, i didn't work for them I worked with them. I now am employed by Prime Focus World.

Buy this book

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0240817044?pc_redir=1405442701&robot_redir=1

The author has a lot of experience and he tells you everything there is to know about rotoscoping (all the different approaches and why one approach works better is specific situations etc, very complete).

Besides that it's easy and fun to read. I found it on eBay some time ago for 15 euros.

If the project is time sensitive, then you've gotta do what you've gotta do. But I think ideally you would just do it all in Nuke. It shouldn't take you that long to pick up the roto/paint features in Nuke, especially if you are already familiar with the program. Some tutorials on PluralSight.com should get you sorted out with roto/paint in Nuke pretty quickly. There's also a good book called Nuke 101 that you could have a look at https://www.amazon.com/Nuke-101-Professional-Compositing-Effects/dp/0321984129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503265251&sr=8-1&keywords=nuke+101

Go for it. Your background in comp will help in fx too as most fx peeps can't comp for shit.

Comp requires much less Computer Graphics knowledge so you're probably gonna want to brush up on math, and general CG.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1568817231/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506026161&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=maths+for+game+and+computer+graphics

Is a great start.

Hey, I'm currently in a similar situation myself as a college student graduating next week. You said that you've only been in this for a month? Keep in mind that's still very early on in the game, and people learn at different rates.

You might not be able to cram and force yourself to learn everything you need to know at a faster rate. But that being said, as for multiple roto layers and multiple keys, it's about breaking it down and simplifying the plates to tackle them bits at a time. Sometimes one keyer won't be able to key everything well, so multiple keyers are used and then combined together.

I'd really recommend purchasing these two books (a bit pricey, but may very well be worth the investment):

VES Handbook of Visual Effects

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing

Match move is an art in its own right. If you want to learn Match move your best bet is to practice and understand the process. There are a few main factors that are extremely important when doing match move.

set measurements and accuracy

camera reports (lens, camera height, distance to wall and foreground actors, etc.) without this you may as well be rolling the dice and hoping an auto solve gets it right, which it wont.

plate distortion, a lens distorts the plate and in order to accurately match move you have to remove this distortion, which means you need lens grids to undistort the plate properly. Having it automatically guess the distortion is a crap shoot you need the distortion grids.

With all this in mind a close track is not an exact track and if you are getting a little slipping then you have to try again. The best way to learn is to try to get it right over and over again. There is no fool proof way to do any of this.



Compositing is a different beast, you should read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Compositing-Video-Steve-Wright/dp/024081309X

I cannot recommend this book enough, it teaches you the math and why things are happening. And the math is the single most important part of compositing, if you understand the underlying equations in an over, plus, minus, difference, etc then you will not have to guess what is going to happen when you merge two images.

64 Gigs Corsair Vengeance for the ram.

As for the renderer, I'll be using Octane as my standard, go-to renderer (I believe the term was unbiased, if I'm remembering right).

The other one is up in the air, as I want a render program that will allow me to create a lot of psychedelic imagery as well as to adjust how materials act in regards to light (Think massive geodes, glass, machinescapes, and gems as well as cyberpunk-type stuff).

VES Handbook

is pretty good aswell

Oh man, you sent me down a rabbit hole of specs.

Turns out I was overspending on the RAM because the CPU's have a limit of usable Mhz, so I was considering a 3466Mhz RAM when that i7-7700K CPU only allows 2400Mhz for a DDR4.

Those i9 CPUs are awesome, 12 cores! literally 3 times my current PC, I'm now considering a i9-7920X, the Mobo is the GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 9, and the RAM is now the Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 2666, which fits the i9 RAM requirement of 2666Mhz.

As the question about rendering, apparently the 460 isn't capable of doing GPU rendering, so I always go for CPU render.

Fun Fact: some time ago the GPU would crash and I would have to restart the PC to use it again. The Nvidia 460 only works properly with an specific driver (the 314.22), so, even if it is capable of GPU rendering, I can't make an update because it will crash all the time.

Check out this book, pretty interesting and very easy going.

https://www.amazon.com/Rotoscoping-Techniques-Tools-Aspiring-Artist/dp/0240817044

One book that has helped me a lot is The Art and Science of Digital Compositing. It's a great read that covers a massive range of things to keep in mind when trying to make something look realistic.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0123706386/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473721112&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=the+art+and+science+of+digital+compositing&dpPl=1&dpID=514f%2BrJTTtL&ref=plSrch

+1 for [Art and Science of Digital Compositing]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HHOC8I)


Heres a few more I can recommend:

Digital Compositing for Film and Video

[Production Pipeline Fundamentals for Film and Games]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOPYVIU)

[Maya Python for Games and Film]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OI23OO)

[Introducing ZBrush 3rd Edition]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118244826)

[Digital Modeling]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QRYPC0)

[The HDRI Handbook 2.0: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VB46ACG)

[Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction, Fifth Edition]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004USQQOC)

[Understanding Exposure, Fourth Edition]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0104EOJSK)

The VES Handbook gives an excellent rundown.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects-Procedures/dp/0240812425

http://www.amazon.ca/The-VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects/dp/0240812425

If you hit Look Inside here, you can see a good section of the book.

The VES handbook would probably be a good reference for you.

http://www.amazon.com/The-VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects/dp/0240812425

Grab Art and Science of Digital Compositing by Ron Brinkman http://www.amazon.com/Science-Digital-Compositing-Second-Edition/dp/0123706386. It'll give you an understanding of linear workflow. It's worth the money.

You can buy the VFX-BALL you want here.

VFX-HDRI Ball(gray ball and a chromium ball)

https://www.maoping.art/vfx-hdri/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KYGYTF6?ref=myi_title_dp

Wait so Visual Effects Society = VES. So they made this book? https://www.amazon.com/VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects-Procedures/dp/0240812425

Not necessarily motion designers, but anyone who works with video should read.
"The Art and Science of Digital Compositing" by Ron Brinkmann.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Second/dp/0123706386

In my opinion there are two books one has to read as a compositor. Add tons of online tutorials and a lot of practice and you're there.

1.The VES Handbook of Visual Effects. http://www.varmstudio.com/stuff/miisu/VES.pdf

2.The Art and Science of Digital Compositing. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Techniques/dp/0123706386

Also Alan Brinkmann's book The Art and Science of Compositing is an incredible resource : https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Second/dp/0123706386

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing

Comp book: The art and science of digital compositing, by Ron Brinkmann

FX book: Creating 3D Effects for Film, TV, and Games by David Santiago

The visual effects society handbook...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects/dp/0240812425

Read this bookthen come back with any questions.

https://www.amazon.com/VES-Handbook-Visual-Effects-Procedures/dp/0240812425

https://www.amazon.com/Rotoscoping-Techniques-Tools-Aspiring-Artist/dp/0240817044

I was in the same position as you some months ago, someone on this sub suggested me to take a look at this book

No regrets, if you wan't to learn VFX and all his concepts I recommend that.