Across the globe, film makers are looking for ways to get audiences into the movie houses. Digital projection is making projecting 3D or 'stereo' films economical. There is no need for two reels; with digital projection, it's a snap. In the US, most 3D movies are made for adults. Avatar is a huge example of a 3D movie. But then Avatar took three million man hours, so that's an extreme example.
Visual effects are not just about running software, it's also about the technique. You need to learn how to operate tools, analyse and use technique in order to do a job efficiently, solve problems. It's a combination of skills and tools.
Creative people are required as leaders - art directors, depth graders - whose job it is to take the artistic decisions. Lots of things can go wrong so you need a great deal of training and experience. These people give directions to less artistic people who implement them.
VFX technology is advancing so rapidly that we can do things now, which we just couldn't five years ago. Even a love story can have visual effects. When you go into VFX, we can do everything that you can imagine.
However, do keep in mind that VFX is the icing on the cake, not the
cake itself. You still need a good story.VFX must help tell the story, not become the story. 1 minute of scene time could cost up to $ 2 million.
India is very important, especially when it comes to conversion to 3D because it's a very labour intensive process. You must do Rotoscaping - drawing a line around every image of an animal, bush or tree so that you can cut each one out - in order to get the 'stereo' look. The computer is just a tool for doing that. One shot can take up to 6 to 8 weeks.
India has a vast pool of people and a technology advantage. That's what makes it more attractive to do conversion in India. The workstations you need for this cost $6,000 today, ten years ago they would cost $60,000, so the computers are also more cost-effective now, so India has a lot of scope. India has a price advantage and a pool of talented people, so the scope for VFX is definitely there. You will see it grow over the next ten years.
The VFX software is now so complex that you cannot have one person running it alone. You need to have specialists, one guy doing just hair, another fire, third water and so on. Students should start by being a generalist and discover what you enjoy and what you are good at. Everybody has a talent, so over time focus on that and become a specialist.
In terms of compositing software, Shake is phasing out. It was the most dominant software for 10 years but is now no longer supported so you get no new release versions or software upgrades. In comparison, Nuke is very powerful and new.
Nuke was specifically designed by Digital Domain to be the 2D back end to a modern 3D production pipeline so it is loaded with special features that make it the most effective compositing software for this modern workflow. It has more support built-in for working in 3D environment than any other. Nuke is now roaring through Indian VFX studios, so if any young person in India wants to make a long-term career in VFX compositing, learning Nuke is absolutely essential!
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