VFX Workflows for the Visualization Artist

It’s hard to escape the influence of visual effects in today’s media, and today’s top visualization shops are blurring the lines between feature film / television work and traditional architectural visualization (arch viz) work. Considering the common toolset used in both fields, it can be advantageous for visualization artists working in the architecture, engineering, and construction market to employ workflows developed in the entertainment field—not only from an efficiency standpoint, but also potentially from an aesthetic standpoint. Employing some of the media and entertainment approaches can inject an otherwise unremarkable arch viz animation with more visual interest, leading to investor or sales videos that are more compelling. In this class we will examine some production-tested approaches using both old and new tools in 3ds Max software to create things like large crowds of people and animated foliage, as well as workflows used for working with large scene files.