From the Amiga to Houdini, Nuke and Digital Domain with Sean Cunningham Part 1 | TVAP EP28

The VFX Artists Podcast

We go all the way back the 1990's in this 2 part interview with Sean Cunningham, a veteran of the VFX industry whose credits as an FX Artists include films such as True Lies, Strange Days, The Fifth Element, Godzilla, Oh Brother Where Art Thou and who has directed and produced independent feature films in his own right.
This journey takes us from the excitement of the Commodore Amiga, missed proms, the inspiration of T2 and the founding days of James Cameron's Digital Domain studios.
We learn about the origins of industry standard tools SideFX Houdini and Foundry Nuke from someone who was using both in their earliest incarnations as SideFX Prisms and Digital Domain's in house compositing tool - Nuke.
We go deep and geeky so be warned.
00:00 : What to Expect
01:53 : Meet Sean Cunningham
03:01 : How I got started in the industry
05:29 : The importance of the Amiga for creative computing
07:00 : Sculpt 3D on the Amiga
07:52 : Lightwave
14:10 : The inspirational effect of T2
14:33 : First VFX online bulletin board
16:15 : T2 Comes out, a turning point
17:47 : Calarts
23:36 : : Metrolight Studios and Sexy Robot
28:07 : The Role of TD in the 1990's
31:05 : You had to build up an intuition - working without UI feedback
36:22 : Elastic Reality, morphs and splines
39:28 : James Cameron founds Digital Domain
42:05 : Digital Domain in Stan Winston's Creature Shop
42:53 : Stealing Artists and the pirate mentality
45:18 : True Lies
49:51 : Side FX Prisms (which became Houdini)
51:51 : Learning VFX software in the 1990's
58:06 : My Approach to learning at Digital Domain and since
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Capitoli

1. What to Expect (00:00:00)

2. Meet Sean Cunningham (00:01:53)

3. How I got started in the industry (00:03:01)

4. The importance of the Amiga for creative computing (00:05:29)

5. Sculpt 3D on the Amiga (00:07:00)

6. Lightwave (00:07:52)

7. The inspirational effect of T2 (00:14:10)

8. First VFX online bulletin board (00:14:33)

9. T2 Comes out, a turning point (00:16:15)

10. Calarts (00:17:47)

11. Metrolight Studios and Sexy Robot (00:23:36)

12. The Role of TD in the 1990's (00:28:07)

13. You had to build up an intuition - working without UI feedback (00:31:05)

14. Elastic Reality, morphs and splines (00:36:22)

15. James Cameron founds Digital Domain (00:39:28)

16. Digital Domain in Stan Winston's Creature Shop (00:42:05)

17. Stealing Artists and the pirate mentality (00:42:53)

18. True Lies (00:45:18)

19. Side FX Prisms (which became Houdini) (00:49:51)

20. Learning VFX software in the 1990's (00:51:51)

21. My Approach to learning at Digital Domain and since (00:58:06)