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Just saw #themandalorianandgrogu at @imax.melbourne !

Had a great time! Congrats to all at @ilmvfx and all the vendors who worked on it. There’s so many stunning sequences.

@starwars @themandalorian @lucasfilm

‘Mission: Impossible’ is 30 this week!

It's one of those game-changer VFX films.

Over at @beforesmag, I've got a special excerpt from my @ilmvfx book, 50 Years of Innovation, showcasing ILM's miniatures for the train/helicopter sequence.

Take a look:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/20/mission-impossible-is-30-this-week/

#ianreads

Issue #54 of @beforesmag covers #warmachine.

beforesandafters.com

Jetdowns from ‘Foundation’ season 3 —> before and after.

Read about the VFX work in issue #55 of @beforesmag magazine!

Subscribe here:

https://www.patreon.com/c/beforesandafters/membership

NEW PODCAST!

How to make a photoreal CG octopus: the VFX of @netflix's #remarkablybrightcreatures.

Behind the scenes with VFX supervisor Chris Ritvo on the octopus by @untold_studios, including a whole bunch of before/after images.

These images show the stand-in stuffie, grayscale render, and final shot.

Listen in at @beforesmag:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/19/how-to-make-a-photoreal-cg-octopus-the-vfx-of-remarkably-bright-creatures/

NEW PODCAST!

How to make a photoreal CG octopus: the VFX of @netflix's #remarkablybrightcreatures.

Behind the scenes with VFX supervisor Chris Ritvo on the octopus by @untold_studios, including a whole bunch of before/after images.

These images show the stand-in stuffie, grayscale render, and final shot.

Listen in at @beforesmag:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/19/how-to-make-a-photoreal-cg-octopus-the-vfx-of-remarkably-bright-creatures/

NEW PODCAST!

How to make a photoreal CG octopus: the VFX of @netflix's #remarkablybrightcreatures.

Behind the scenes with VFX supervisor Chris Ritvo on the octopus by @untold_studios, including a whole bunch of before/after images.

These images show the stand-in stuffie, grayscale render, and final shot.

Listen in at @beforesmag:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/19/how-to-make-a-photoreal-cg-octopus-the-vfx-of-remarkably-bright-creatures/

Holey moley - it's the 25th anniversary of #shrek this week.

Hats off to the team at PDI who up'd the game in animation so quickly after 'Antz'.

Here's a fun collection of some CG model/wireframe/simulation tests from the film.

Get the latest issues of @beforesmag by becoming a DIGITAL MAGAZINE subscriber:

https://www.patreon.com/c/beforesandafters/membership

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the release of #topgun.

A few years ago, for fxguide, I spoke to Top Gun’s special photographic effects supervisor Gary Gutierrez about the work done at Colossal Pictures/USF on the film, including the miniature jet photography.

One cool aspect was mimicking a 'shaky cam' look to the miniature photography, which was done by bolting on a drill attached to an off-set piece of wood to the camera in order to give the shots an unbalanced and ‘shaky' feel.

"It’s now become part of the bag of techniques in CG to take the curse off of a shot, to add in deliberate imperfections that you might get in live action photography,” Gutierrez told me.

Congrats on 40 years, Top Gun! Can't wait for more of these films to come...

The latest ‘From classroom to credits’ story at @beforesmag is now up!

In it, we hear from @campusvfx graduate Vania Ruano, now a compositor at Sony Pictures @imageworksvfx with credits that include KPop Demon Hunters, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Some great insights here into getting into compositing:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/16/from-classroom-to-credits-4/

#vfxinsight

Demerzel’s fate —>

Bringing the robot character to life, and death, for season 3 of ‘Foundation’: a new excerpt from@beforesmag magazine.

Here we look at the work surrounding Demerzel led by @outpostvfx, both for her ‘head removal’ shots, and eventual demise. Plus work crafted by @craftyapesvfx.

Great to chat to @chrismacvfx, Mathieu Assemat and Damien Hurgon about all this work.

Read the excerpt here:

https://beforesandafters.com/2026/05/15/demerzels-fate/

What the world needs right now is this video of @thehughjackman interacting with sheep stuffies -->

A collection of b-roll from ‘The Sheep Detectives’, showcasing the stuffies and on-set stand-ins for the sheep in the film.

Watch at the @beforesmag YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK_6LIu9SGo

#vfx #thesheepdetectives

Oh man - what a week at the 2026 @fmxconference conference in Stuttgart -->

It was an incredible experience getting to interview @rolandemmerich on stage about the 30th anniversary of 'Independence Day', and then also going to a special screening of the film, where he and Volker Engel did a very fun intro to the movie. (My highlight was the audience cheering at Roland's credit, and then also cheering at Volker's...and everyone staying for the whole credits).

I also had a blast on stage for my other 'Then & Now' presentations, which included with Rejean Gagne on the history of Softimage, @andy_kaiser_animation on his stop-motion animated and VistaVision shot film 'The Lighthouse Keeper', and with @hugocguerra for our LIVE VFX Notes podcast on the greatest VFX shot in history.

The conference would not be possible without the dedicated work of the FMX team - big shout-out to Patricia Rohr, Vanessa Steinmann, Bernd Haasis and Mario Müller (his last year at FMX - Mario, I can't thank you enough for supporting 'Then & Now' each year). Looking forward to working with incoming project manager @agonushaku on future FMXes.

Also wanted to give a special shout-out to @jonaskluger and @kluger_vfx for hanging with me in Munich before and after the conference. Munich is so beautiful!

Keep an eye out at @beforesmag for plans for Then & Now for FMX 2027 (yes, we're already devising new presentations...)

And thanks to everyone who came along to my sessions!

Photographer credit: Dominique Brewing.

Oh man - what a week at the 2026 @fmxconference conference in Stuttgart -->

It was an incredible experience getting to interview @rolandemmerich on stage about the 30th anniversary of 'Independence Day', and then also going to a special screening of the film, where he and Volker Engel did a very fun intro to the movie. (My highlight was the audience cheering at Roland's credit, and then also cheering at Volker's...and everyone staying for the whole credits).

I also had a blast on stage for my other 'Then & Now' presentations, which included with Rejean Gagne on the history of Softimage, @andy_kaiser_animation on his stop-motion animated and VistaVision shot film 'The Lighthouse Keeper', and with @hugocguerra for our LIVE VFX Notes podcast on the greatest VFX shot in history.

The conference would not be possible without the dedicated work of the FMX team - big shout-out to Patricia Rohr, Vanessa Steinmann, Bernd Haasis and Mario Müller (his last year at FMX - Mario, I can't thank you enough for supporting 'Then & Now' each year). Looking forward to working with incoming project manager @agonushaku on future FMXes.

Also wanted to give a special shout-out to @jonaskluger and @kluger_vfx for hanging with me in Munich before and after the conference. Munich is so beautiful!

Keep an eye out at @beforesmag for plans for Then & Now for FMX 2027 (yes, we're already devising new presentations...)

And thanks to everyone who came along to my sessions!

Photographer credit: Dominique Brewing.

Oh man - what a week at the 2026 @fmxconference conference in Stuttgart -->

It was an incredible experience getting to interview @rolandemmerich on stage about the 30th anniversary of 'Independence Day', and then also going to a special screening of the film, where he and Volker Engel did a very fun intro to the movie. (My highlight was the audience cheering at Roland's credit, and then also cheering at Volker's...and everyone staying for the whole credits).

I also had a blast on stage for my other 'Then & Now' presentations, which included with Rejean Gagne on the history of Softimage, @andy_kaiser_animation on his stop-motion animated and VistaVision shot film 'The Lighthouse Keeper', and with @hugocguerra for our LIVE VFX Notes podcast on the greatest VFX shot in history.

The conference would not be possible without the dedicated work of the FMX team - big shout-out to Patricia Rohr, Vanessa Steinmann, Bernd Haasis and Mario Müller (his last year at FMX - Mario, I can't thank you enough for supporting 'Then & Now' each year). Looking forward to working with incoming project manager @agonushaku on future FMXes.

Also wanted to give a special shout-out to @jonaskluger and @kluger_vfx for hanging with me in Munich before and after the conference. Munich is so beautiful!

Keep an eye out at @beforesmag for plans for Then & Now for FMX 2027 (yes, we're already devising new presentations...)

And thanks to everyone who came along to my sessions!

Photographer credit: Dominique Brewing.

Oh man - what a week at the 2026 @fmxconference conference in Stuttgart -->

It was an incredible experience getting to interview @rolandemmerich on stage about the 30th anniversary of 'Independence Day', and then also going to a special screening of the film, where he and Volker Engel did a very fun intro to the movie. (My highlight was the audience cheering at Roland's credit, and then also cheering at Volker's...and everyone staying for the whole credits).

I also had a blast on stage for my other 'Then & Now' presentations, which included with Rejean Gagne on the history of Softimage, @andy_kaiser_animation on his stop-motion animated and VistaVision shot film 'The Lighthouse Keeper', and with @hugocguerra for our LIVE VFX Notes podcast on the greatest VFX shot in history.

The conference would not be possible without the dedicated work of the FMX team - big shout-out to Patricia Rohr, Vanessa Steinmann, Bernd Haasis and Mario Müller (his last year at FMX - Mario, I can't thank you enough for supporting 'Then & Now' each year). Looking forward to working with incoming project manager @agonushaku on future FMXes.

Also wanted to give a special shout-out to @jonaskluger and @kluger_vfx for hanging with me in Munich before and after the conference. Munich is so beautiful!

Keep an eye out at @beforesmag for plans for Then & Now for FMX 2027 (yes, we're already devising new presentations...)

And thanks to everyone who came along to my sessions!

Photographer credit: Dominique Brewing.

Oh man - what a week at the 2026 @fmxconference conference in Stuttgart -->

It was an incredible experience getting to interview @rolandemmerich on stage about the 30th anniversary of 'Independence Day', and then also going to a special screening of the film, where he and Volker Engel did a very fun intro to the movie. (My highlight was the audience cheering at Roland's credit, and then also cheering at Volker's...and everyone staying for the whole credits).

I also had a blast on stage for my other 'Then & Now' presentations, which included with Rejean Gagne on the history of Softimage, @andy_kaiser_animation on his stop-motion animated and VistaVision shot film 'The Lighthouse Keeper', and with @hugocguerra for our LIVE VFX Notes podcast on the greatest VFX shot in history.

The conference would not be possible without the dedicated work of the FMX team - big shout-out to Patricia Rohr, Vanessa Steinmann, Bernd Haasis and Mario Müller (his last year at FMX - Mario, I can't thank you enough for supporting 'Then & Now' each year). Looking forward to working with incoming project manager @agonushaku on future FMXes.

Also wanted to give a special shout-out to @jonaskluger and @kluger_vfx for hanging with me in Munich before and after the conference. Munich is so beautiful!

Keep an eye out at @beforesmag for plans for Then & Now for FMX 2027 (yes, we're already devising new presentations...)

And thanks to everyone who came along to my sessions!

Photographer credit: Dominique Brewing.