What are Visual Effects

What are Visual Effects?

A visual effect in its most basic form, is digitally manipulated live action footage. The use of computers to add/or remove anything that was not originally in the shot would be a visual effect.

A visual effect is the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. Visual effects using computer-generated imagery (CGI) have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software. As a beginner to Visual Effects the number of software applications and training programs available may intimidate you. When deciding what program(s) to use and how to learn them it is important to know what your long and short-term goals are. Are you looking to break into the visual effects industry working on major motion pictures as part of a pipeline that includes huge a VFX team? Are you a one man team looking to increase the production value of your YouTube channel? Or perhaps you’re looking to just have a bit of fun with visual effects in your free time. Visual Effects often involves working for clients with specific needs. Although with increasingly capable and affordable technology there has been an emergence of filmmakers that can direct, edit, and do visual effects on there own projects. This article is dedicated to the beginning filmmaker and/or visual effects artist interested in understanding of the basics of what visual effects are and how they can be of use in filmmaking.

Who can benefit from vfx?

Anyone that benefits from advertising can benefit from visual effects. Video has an inherent appeal to audiences. Most of us want to “see” something before we want to “read” something. In the context of internet marketing, visual effects can be used to enhance the consumer experience by educating the viewer about product or services, putting a face on a company, and building a company brand. A quality video that demonstrates how a product works, with attractive visuals, would provide solid evidence that the product can indeed solve a particular problem. It sets off emotional triggers that static text simply cannot do, ultimately influencing buying decisions.

The following software applications are commonly used for visual effects on both professional and consumer levels. They all differ and serve a unique purpose on a visual effects pipeline.

3Ds Max After Effects – Adobe Boujou Cinema 4D – Maxon Flame – Autodesk Maya Mocha Nuke PFTrack Syntheyes

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