Re: How many 3D/Vfx artists do I need for my film?

I was asked by Jesse Pickett. How many 3D/Vfx artists would I recommend for their film? The caliber and workload of his film he decribes compares to the new Star Trek (2009) film.

My response was.

Well how many vfx/3D artists depends on your budget.

If you want it to be the same calibur as the movie star trek, and you had there budget. You could just do what Paramount Pictures did, hire Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Domain to do the effects for the movie. They had 430 effects artists work on that movie, and they had over a 1,000 effects shots to do for the movie.

If you want to get the same quality with a very low budget. There are many things we'd have to keep in mind.
1. Total number of effects shots.
2. How many shots are shot on location and how many of them is to be recreated in front of a green screen.
3. With the number of green screen shots how many need 2D tracking and how many need 3D tracking. (nodal pan vs freehand camera moves.)
4. How well is each shots info is recorded for example tracking could alot faster and easier if the fx artist knows the the camera height, the camera lense used at the time, the distances between the markers, the distances of the subject and camera in relation to the camera.
5. The quality of the camera used.
6. Total number of Cg Characters.
7. What are some special requirements of each character.
8. How detailed is each character.
9. Total seconds of Character animation.
10. What are the actions of each character
Run cycles cost more then a character just sitting down and looking around.
Also run cyles for a quadruped would cost more then a run cycle for a biped
11. How many explosions, ice shattering, avalanches, muzzle fires, blood spatter type effects will be needed for the movie.
12. We'd also need to know the abilities and cost of each artist.

And I'm sure there's a lot more the plays into it, but thats just what I could think of for now.

In order to help estimate an accurate budget for the film I'd need to see, review, and discuss every shot with you in pre-production the script and a very detailed storyboard. Even then it would be a pretty broad estimate.
During the production stage I'd be able to give you a better estimate for your film after reviewing the shots taken. Weather or not the the tracking markers are trackable or has too much motion blur that more work is needed to matchmove. Weather or not certain shots require alot of rotoscoping. Where the Cg character are and how much animation is required.
In post production I could help give you an even better estimate once I know what 3D artists you've found. What there abilities and skill levels are, and how much each one of them costs.

When you do look for 3D/Vfx artists be sure to be aware of not just what they can do be also what programs the use.

For example a general 3D App would be Maya and 3DS Max
This is usaully where everythings put together rigged, animated, and rendered. If you start looking for 3D artists most likely there gonna be using one of these two. I recommend if your choosing multiple 3D artists to make sure they all use Maya or All use 3DS Max so it'll easier for them to work together. I highly recommend Maya.

When going into very detailed realistic 3D models 3D artists use a digital sculpting program like ZBrush or Mudbox which they export displacement maps to Maya or 3DS Max. I highly recommend ZBrush.

For realistic particle effects like anything liquid, fire, sand, or snow, like the polar bear dissapating into snow. Your going to need someone who knows a program called Realflow, and you need to make sure that the guy doing the effects in Realflow tells the guy doing the character modeling if theres any requirements in the wireframe for the effect.

You need someone who could realistically composite everything together. There are many different compositing programs out there as well like After Effects, Shake, and Nuke. You need someone who knows compositing in depth, and he needs to know 2D and 3D tracking. He needs to communicate the different render passes from the 3D artists. A good compositer would want the passes like the specular and the shadows to be rendered separately. He need to know about depth passes for depth of field. He needs to know how to composite atmosphere and match film grain into the shot. He needs to sure the renders are rendered out with image based lighting, and ambient occulsion passes.

If I think of anything else that may help I'll let you know.

Thomas Ferrick
3D-Vfx Artist/Filmmaker
www.TronixProductions.com