Ben Fisher

I enjoy trying to push myself in terms of creating art or shots quickly and efficiently like a one-man VFX house, but as I worked on this I actually got a bit depressed. Considering what's going on in the world, blowing stuff up feels gross. I need to find some more wholesome use of pyro sims, animation and compositing #blender3d #vfx #cgi

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When speaking recently with a student of mine, he mentioned the difficulty he has to finish animation shots and the friction between knowledge, work and perfection. In this week's video I talk about overcoming the Animation Hump, in the hopes that it helps all of those going through a similar situation. https://lnkd.in/e8HDyJNr

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Paradox Interactive announced today that Double Eleven, the developer behind Prison Architect 2, will be stepping away from the project after nine years with the Prison Architect franchise. Good news first, construction on Prison Architect 2 isn't being halted! Co-development studio Kokku, who's been working on the game since 2023 and previously collaborated with Double Eleven, will take the lead in bringing the sequel to completion. The news comes with a hint of complication. While Prison Architect 2 passed certification, negotiations between Paradox and Double Eleven for continued development reached an impasse. Technical hurdles, particularly with memory usage and minimum specifications, emerged during final testing. Paradox, likely wary of past performance issues (think Cities: Skylines 2), emphasizes their commitment to delivering a high-quality sequel that honors the Prison Architect legacy. Kokku, a Brazilian studio with a history of co-development and outsourcing on major titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, is now at the helm to ensure Prison Architect 2's smooth launch. The Prison Architect series, which began in 2015 with the original simulation/management game, is still on track for a 2024 release with Prison Architect 2. While the development team has shifted, fans can rest assured that work on this highly anticipated sequel continues. (source: https://lnkd.in/dWtBvDhN)

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Hi LinkedIn, Following the recent update, the Ballerina was made originally in-place, meaning she moved forward with the root controller. Please try to ignore obvious problems with polishing. Unlike many of my animations this one intended to be perfect on the camera which wasn't and isn't perfect!). The goal is to share what I've done/learned while working on my showreel. You can easily make any animation in-place using layers. The in-place itself isn't perfect too! Needs some tweaks, but I thought it would take time and wouldn't give much! Cheers! recorder from the screen. sorry for the frame drop ;) I am using VAYO Tech Studio CoG node for the demonstration. Original Post: https://lnkd.in/d8hFFTuA #ballerina #COG #biomechanics #dance #animation #characteranimation

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I like sharing the good news about the video game industry (because I know many people have been burned by working through it). Although, as a whole, the industry is expected to continue growing year after year. What do you think this means? The concept of diversity becomes the inevitable truth. Growth encompasses variety and innovation, bringing a richer palette of stories and experiences. This transformation is driven by a new wave of creators who are not just making games but also crafting cultural bridges. A fantastic example is the upcoming game 'Rooster', which celebrates Asian heritage in a deeply authentic way. The team behind Rooster has a shared vision of representing this culture through fun and accessible gameplay experiences, which aligns beautifully with broader industry trends toward inclusivity and representation. It seems like they love what they do to boot! If there was a clear path to surviving the video game market while also enriching the social impact of gaming, IMO, it would be to get behind and champion these vital initiatives. #diversity #equity #inclusivity #asianheritage #rooster

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Want to learn how we took our card and set design process from months to hours? You should check out this webinar with Jessie Hughes from Leonardo Ai!

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We have been doing more works with AR and VR models of late. There is so much trial and error to get it working! Does anyone have some success stories or real hardships? You can check out some of our works here - https://lnkd.in/e6DSqwDe New Youtube tutorial for model prep coming SOON! #AR #VR #3D #Tutorials #experimenting #trialanderror

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It was a great Develop and spoke to few people about a film script I've written, people were enthused by the pitch so putting it out there. AutoCorrect Faced with certain death, two women fight their way out of an automated prison gone wrong. 1) If you'd like to read and give some feedback, that'd be great! Drop a comment or a message. 2) If you happened to know anyone film industry wise that is accepting feature sci fi thriller / horror scripts, let me know too! #scriptwriting #film

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Horrible news to hear about KeokeN Interactive having laid off their entire team today. In a statement published on X, CEO Koen Deetman and managing director Paul Deetman said the Netherlands-based studio was forced into the decision after exhausting all possible options for completing planned projects or taking on other work. To those affected, please find a comprehensive list of resources, below: 🥇First, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past weeks I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines: 🎨 Art, Animation, VFX and UI: This resource contains around 1,000 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eKAHK7VF ⚙ Engineering and Programming This resource lists just over 1,800 jobs worldwide across all links. It also talks about interview tips and questions to practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/eYdxANFM 🕹 Quality Assurance: This resource lists over 450 QA jobs worldwide. This post also talks about the craft of QA and contains tips and interview practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/dwwVjZuc 📑 Game Production: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also contains info about game production as a whole and GDC talks. Link: https://lnkd.in/gxDvFM-Z 📢 Marketing & Community: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also gives an intro into game marketing and community management. Link: https://lnkd.in/e5MuViug 🎶 Audio and Sound Design: This resource lists around 190 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eSkPSsWf 📠 Studio Support, HR, Recruitment and BizDev: This resource lists around 290 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/ePG57_7v ⚙ IT, Helpdesk and DevOps: This resource lists around 140 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/e8ZsuiZh 🎮 Game Design: This resource lists around 440 jobs worldwide. https://lnkd.in/dCv_hQXv 🥈 Second, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ 🥉 Third, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #layoffs #gamesindustry #jobsingames #keokeninteractive (source: https://lnkd.in/eWK2PgvX)

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The Sumo Group closures really have broken me a bit, and I need to rant about the state of things. I'm sorry if it seems I'm glossing over all the closures before this one, but so many ex-students went there, so many ex-colleagues passed through there, and so my timeline is just filled with people looking for work. We keep talking and talking about the economic factors involved, Brexit and Covid and this and that ... the thing I can't stop thinking of is that in my life I've watched the world slowly pitch into a place of despondent capitalism. Art has become more about making stars and fame than helping people escape and reflect. A drive for "truth" and objectivity has resulted, paradoxically, in people putting more stock in spreadsheets and numbers than people. I can't help but feel that if you're bleating about finance and trade deals and business decisions, you're ignoring the fact that general support for artistic and creative endeavours has declined sharply and is still declining, even in the so-called "art world". Games are ultimately always going to be the first to fall in a culture war against creativity, because games are ultimately and profoundly pointless things. That's the whole majesty of the medium: they make us feel profound feelings, they help us explore our existence by being separate from reality, but to do so they MUST bring us nothing tangible in return. The truth is that our industry will probably bounce back to some degree, but it's not any financial structures or cost systems that will save game development as a medium and an art form - it's a cultural shift to recognise the importance of expressive and explorative subjective art in the world today, and the need to support creative endeavours without the pressure of financial recompense.

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If #gamesrecruitment was a MOBA/MMO 🎮 Internal teams are Tanks – big damage soaks constantly attacked on all sides. HR OPS/People are support classes – keeping everybody going. A GOOD Agency recruiter are high DPS/Rogue types – very targeted, very effective when used properly. A bad agency? See below… #Thursdaythoughts #GamesIndustry

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Inside Nikki's Mansion. Really had a blast working on this one! The original inspiration for this was the hot tub scene in Scarface. Eventually it took on a life of it's own, scaling up to accommodate a full sized narwhal, as well as a somewhat more marine evil-lighting situation with the glow of the hot tub. It's always rewarding to see how a reference evolves with the unique needs of a story/ situation. #thelma #thelmatheunicorn #netflix #netflixanimation #featureanimation #animation #conceptart #visualdevelopment

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I have been experimenting recently trying to create different rigs and always loved the look of the Fallen from Destiny. However I've been intrigued into creating a 4 arm animation system in Motionbuilder. My idea was to setup the main arms in line with the normal human biped standards for HumanIK. #AdvancedMotionbuilder #Featured #gamedevelopment #humanik #motioncapture #quadarm

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NEW FREE RIGS!!! Yay Go grab these AWESOME rigs over on the ANIMATION HELP discord server. Want to give a special shoutout to Spencer Barber for the awesome rigs. McKay Voiles for helping run the discord server and Frame51 over on Twitter for the awesome models. To gain access to the rigs make sure you leave a green checkbox emoji on the #access channel on the server. Hope to see you all there Happy Animating! Server link https://lnkd.in/gU_63qeS #education #3dart #3danimation #3dcharacters #tutorials #3dtutorials #gaming #animationindustry #gamingindustry

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Suno and plugin manufacturers need to team up. From occasional users up to full time producers, the ability to swap sounds (in stems) based on the best available #VSTs out there would be a game changer. A sort of Splice for #collaborative, #social, occasional and pro #musicmakers alike. Add to this something like Supertone's killer AI voice stuff and you can see where I am going. 👉🏻 On-cloud collaborative music platform (social component) 👉🏻 Full songs or Stem generations with plugin instrument swap. 👉🏻 MIDI, Stem and Single tracks Export up to 96kHz 👉🏻 ... no wait. I am not going to give this idea away for free ha. 😬 🔥 Immersive audio mixes possibility? à la https://mixcubed.com/ and more... Got 15 more points on my list that I'd like to see implemented, but I will resist the urge to share them here.

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Have you always wanted to learn how to animate but didn’t know where to start? And want to expand your skills by getting taught by industry professionals? Then come join us at the Aardman Academy for the Online Stop Motion Animation Training Course. ☺️☺️ #stopmotion #stopmotionanimation #aardman #animationcourse

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Chroma 0154 - In Which You Might Be Better Off Going to School to Study VFX - Part 4 Learning to Deal with Criticism Learning to handle criticism is essential for young artists. When you're working from home and have never had any clients before, you probably think that what you're doing is the best. However, contrary to what you may think, your work might not meet the standards of a modern visual effects facility. In a studio setting, various opinions will surface about different aspects, including your projects. Regardless of what others think, the VFX supervisor ultimately has the final say, determining whether your work is good, not good, needs improvement, or is approved. Before your work reaches the VFX supervisor, it must first be approved by either your lead or department supervisor. Thus, several layers of review occur before it even makes it to the VFX supervisor. When artists begin their careers, they invest their heart and soul into their work, striving to make each shot outstanding. And this is quite common for artists from overseas. They might have worked in a lot of different industries and this is their chance to finally show what they are capable of. This deep personal investment can make it difficult to accept criticism. Defensive reactions are common and can lead to decreased productivity and morale, making you feel as though your efforts are constantly being undermined. Your work will be screened daily in front of your peers, and when a supervisor highlights something you've missed, you might want to disappear, regretting not considering every aspect of your work. Worse, you might become frustrated with yourself for not scrutinizing your work more thoroughly. Sometimes, this frustration is misdirected at others, including the supervisor, who may be judged for their perceived lack of insight. It's important to remember that a VFX supervisor has to consider every shot in the sequence to ensure the overall quality of the film. Your focus shots differs significantly from the supervisor’s broader responsibilities. Thus, it’s crucial to listen and refrain from arguing. Effective listening is a vital skill in this industry, allowing you to direct your efforts where they are most needed. Training in a reputable school is invaluable. A good program will regularly screen your work, providing frequent feedback which is essential for your development. Not all feedback sessions need to be in front of your entire class. Regular one-on-one reviews with an instructor are critical for your growth as an artist. 💬#AlphaChromatica #Chroma #HeyGanz #GotoAGoodSchool

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A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a friend, CFX sup at another company, and he was complaining about something that can sometimes be a headache... prerolls!! He was saying that sometimes animators can't do the preroll, or don't do it the way other departments need it. (what?? Animators dont do preroll?? what??) So I helped him with a fairly simple tool in houdini to create a nice preroll from scratch, so that there is no need to depend on other departments anymore and we can be more productive and self-sufficient. That gave me an idea, understanding that this is a more common problem than I thought. The idea is to do some videos with pro tips (not as a professional, as PROductivity) so that everyone can enjoy!! 😀 Here comes the first one, creating a preroll in houdini!! https://lnkd.in/dkfKhexG

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