Today I'll be presenting at the Adobe booth at 2Pm but you can also catch my other presentation tomorrow at 2PM!

I'll be talking about my recent work on the show Almost Human and I'll be hanging around the booth afterwards to say hi!

When Fast & Furious star Paul Walker passed recently, the film sequel was put on hold. Now that producers are moving forward, and the question is how should they finish a film that is already more than half-way done filming?

There has been talk of rewriting, re-editing or even using stand-ins to film the remaining scenes.

But one suggestion has stirred a lot of controversy: Use a CGI Paul Walker! (Basically a computer generated likeness)Some people have suggested this is bad taste, disrespectful, creepy. Maybe it is, I don't know. Now that producers have confirmed this solution, the backlash has begun.

BUT...I personally think they SHOULD use CGI Paul Walker. And here's why. (And it is not because CGI has improved. That doesn't matter!)

His Real Performances!

Typically, I'm against bringing back actors but the movie was already at least half-way done filming before Paul Walker passed. SO they have his REAL last performances in the film.

Now since movies are typically filmed out-of-order, it's possible these finished scenes are missing important connecting moments that are needed to tell the story and maintain continuity.

So producers have to choose:

1. Cut his character entirely and re-shoot/rewrite the film without Paul Walker. (Movie insurance would cover the cost):

END RESULT: No Real Paul & No CGI Paul.

2. Use a CGI-version of the character to finish the missing scenes and keep the majority of his REAL performance in the movie:

END RESULT:Real Paul with Some CGI Paul.

Whether you are a fan of the movies or not, they were always fun and well made. And these films may well be his legacy so I think it would be a shame to cut all of his last performances over some CGI that is only meant to help keep the true Paul Walker in the film so producers don't have to cut him out.

NOTE: I'm not tied to production so I'm not sure the specifics of how they plan to do the CGI stuff but I wanted to make this post to offer some perspective. Hopefully they have the same idea!

Are you going to NAB in Las Vegas?

If so please stop by the Adobe booth on Tuesday and Wednesday for my presentation! I'll be on around 2pm both days. Come one, come all, I'd love to have a chance to meet some of my digital friends!

Plus you can hang around the show floor and see many great new gadgets! Should be fun!

In this tutorials we will be creating an intricate Grid animation inside of After Effects without additional plug-ins. We will be using the Advanced Lightning effect along with many other unexpected tools!

Watch on Video Copilot+ Project File
Watch on Youtube

So the Academy Awards for best visual effects is upon us and we momentarily focus on the impressive work created by the many thankless visual effects artists around the world!

Not that my opinion matters, (Although I was the first to combine an After Effects Tutorial with MS Paint) but I started to think about the idea of giving an award for best VFX. How do you choose? Luckily, I don't have to.

Visual Effects is the art of problem solving. Every shot, every movie, every challenge is different. I look at the body of work in this years academy awards and think, "every one of these movies did their job exactly right". The visual effects all expanded the story, the world and created an impressive experience. Not to mention the films that were not nominated like Pacific Rim.

Was one movie more or less innovative than another? I don't know. I do know that the end result does not always tell the story of what it takes to get there.

The film Gravity created some stunning work that has never been done before on that scale and pulled it off flawlessly. The set extensions in Lone Ranger were some of the best I've EVER seen. And did you see the Star Trek into DarknessEnd Titles?AMAZING! I mean... Well...

The point is this: I think every person on the post side of visual effects will probably be lost in the the controversy over wether or not Leonardo DiCaprio wins or loses. But maybe we can all take a moment to talk about the great visual effects shots you remember from this past year! Leave a comment, maybe the artist who created it is reading!

PS: Go LEO!