Hello there!I used to be a full time VFX artist working as compositor, 3D artist, producer and supervisor.
These days I am mostly home-bound due to health reasons, so my focus is mostly on tending to my family as the resident cook and doing the occasional remote work for film and TV projects.
You can find my work history on IMDB or LinkedIn and I do have a rather old showreel on Vimeo. Apart from that, this is my online home. Feel free to get in touch via email or on Micro.blog.
First micro.blog post. So exciting. I love what @manton built here. Is that how you mention someone? Probably not. Hehe. So much to learn.
pixelfondue Newsletter
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New update to the BabylonDreams Kit
It now has a button “Copy/Paste Animated Channels”. Select two objects and it will copy the animated channels from the first object to the second one. Any channels it does not find on the second one will be reported for manual fixing.
→(link: github.com/AlexKucer… text: BabylonDreams-modo-Kit on GitHub)
Link: github.com/AlexKucer…
So much for fake VFX. Vimeo Link Great idea and execution guys!
Compositing Bites - learning compositing one node at a time
A new series on compositing by yours truly just went live on pixelfondue.
In this new series on compositing we will look at the very basic techniques of compositing. How compositing works under the hood. So if you want to grow your compositing skills beyond simply pressing a bunch of buttons and hope that the result is worthwhile stick around. I am going to work in Nuke, because it is very well suited for this “under the hood” way of working as it exposes a lot of technical info in its UI already. However, the concepts work the same in any other compositing package like Fusion, After Effects, Photoshop, Blender or Natron. Please refer to your manual for equivalent functions. If you want to follow along you can download the Nuke Non-Commercial edition.
Houdini 16 is looking pretty awesome. I really need to find the time to learn it one of these days. Houdini 16
My current posting workflow while on the go
Nick Parfene over in the Indie Microblogging Slack asked me to write about my posting workflow and since I haven’t written about how I blog for over three years it could do with an update.
Why change?
First, why change the previous workflow? I got confused. Simple as that. My blogging schedule is erratic at best. And the old run and gun style workflow, while working, always left me scratching my head when I hadn’t touched it for a few months. I know, months is a sad amount of idle time between posts. But it is what it is.
So to keep myself in the loop what happened to my blog I decided to adopt Git for keeping a publishing history. Not only does it allow me to tinker with the blog’s templates and CSS without messing up, it also serves as a nice automatic history what I did when and for what reason. I just need to read the commit log to job my memory.
The in-between workflow
The last workflow I wrote about three years ago relied on a desktop machine running. While I have a server machine running 24/7 I did experience too many hiccups with that approach to feel reliable. So I switched it to a two pronged process that worked pretty well. On the go I was posting with Workflow and Transmit and on the desktop I was using Hazel with a custom Python script.
This tended to work pretty well. Especially the on the go version. Write stuff in whatever text editor suits you best (I use Ulysses), send over to Workflow for processing and upload to blog with Transmit. For images the procedure is similar only I use ImageOptim or Kraken for image optimization before uploading. I use both at the moment and have not decided which one I like better.
Micro.blog and Git
Now, beginning of this year Manton Reece created a Kickstarter project about Microblogging (Kickstarter is over, but you can enter your details on a mailing list if you are interested in it). I found the idea enticing and so I joined the project. This basically got me fired up to tinker with my blog again, which led to the adoption of Git since I couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever my latest changes to it had been.
The idea is really quite simple. Git has the ability to run scripts, so called Hooks, when certain events happen. In my case I use the post-receive hook to check out the newest version of my site whenever I push something to my server’s repository. There are a number of guides available, but the one I found most helpful was Nicolas Gallagher’s.
Once that is set up the writing pipeline is really pretty similar to what I had above.
Write stuff in whatever text editor suits you best (I still use Ulysses), send over to Workflow for processing, which then sends the article to Working Copy, an iOS Git client. In Working Copy I can check and if necessary correct the post or snippet and then commit and push the changes to my Git repository on the server. There is gets immediately checked out to the live site. For images I still use ImageOptim or Kraken.
The desktop version is almost the same really. I also use Ulysses for my desktop writing. From there I go via a custom Alfred workflow that preps the article and then I push the changes up to my Git repository with Tower, but I could just as easily fire off a simple git push from Terminal.
Today I started meditating again. It felt good. I really need to get a more regular schedule going again.
Bluffworks Chinos
My new Bluffworks Chinos just arrived and they are a great fit. Very comfortable to wear. The fabric is nicer on the skin then their regular travel pants and they feel a bit warmer as well, which is nice in the winter with temperatures of -10°C. Overall I am a very happy customer if it weren’t for the horrendous import tax and the slow customs processing, none of which is Bluffworks’ fault of course. But €160 after customs for one pair of pants is not cheap to say it mildly. Anyway, I can highly recommend them and the regular travel pants for anyone who wants some good looking pants that are very easy to take care of, pack lightly and work great as travel, business and casual pants.
"Shipment on hold" I find it astounding that you can order something from the US and it takes less then a day to arrive in Germany only to be stuck in customs for over a week now. Seriously?!
Today’s goal: take a bubble bath. (I know. I try to not set my goals too high. Also, achieving this goal is harder then it sounds.)
Pancakes for breakfast make for a great Saturday starter.
First micro.blog test post via Alfred and Git push. So exciting!
Indie Microblogging: owning your short-form writing
Manton Reece has released his Kickstarter project into the wild. It’s his take on what a decentralized micro blogging—or short form posting—might look like.
It looks like he might make his 80k stretch goal.
Please take a few minutes and listen to his pitch. Maybe it’s of interest to you. Manton and all us backers would appreciate the help.
Book Recommendation – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Mark Manson has an entertaining writing style and enough insight to make this book a fun and interesting read.
In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be positive all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “Fck positivity,” Mark Manson says. “Let’s be honest, shit is fcked, and we have to live with it.” In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is - a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mind-set that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed by both academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited - “not everybody can be extraordinary; there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault”. Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a fck about, so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
Link: www.amazon.de/dp/B01KMJ…)
Via: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
I'm a contributor at Pixelfondue now
My first post over at Pixelfondue is online. Pixelfondue aims to be your resource for anything related to creating art with the help of modo, Nuke, Adobe apps and the likes and I’m am honored to have been asked to contribute. The roster of writers is excellent and you really should check it out.
More articles from me to come. I’m open to topic requests.
Best Sound Effects Archive
I usually find the sound I need in that compilation. Highly recommended. (youtube:www.youtube.com/watch width: 500 height: 375)
Link: www.youtube.com/watch
Interview with Lawrence Kasdan
Great interview with a great screenwriter.
John and Craig sit down with screenwriting legend Lawrence Kasdan to discuss Star Wars, Raiders, The Bodyguard and how he’s shaped some of the most iconic big-screen stories and characters of our lifetime.
This 90-minute interview comes as part of WGFestival 2016 Craft Day, and features audience questions as well. Our thanks to the Writers Guild Foundation and the Academy for hosting us.