VFX Notes: Ep 1 – Actor replacement, UE5 and what exactly is gamma?

A new podcast from Hugo’s Desk and befores & afters is here!

Surprise! VFX Notes is a brand new podcast featuring director and VFX supervisor Hugo Guerra from Hugo’s Desk and befores & afters editor Ian Failes.

Each episode we’ll be running down the latest in visual effects in films and TV shows, the biggest tech advancements, answering some tech questions and sharing the best VFX things from around the web.

And episode 1 has already arrived. You can listen at Apple Podcasts and at Spotify, or via the embedded video of us below, which includes clips and images. Also below, a quick overview of the episode, and some detailed show notes. Also, here’s the RSS feed.

Episode run down

00:01:46 – What Hugo and Ian have been up to
00:04:47 – What we’ve been watching: Army of the Dead
00:10:45 – Actor replacement in Army of the Dead
00:20:23 – Resident Evil Village and photorealism in games
00:26:15 – Unreal Engine 5 early access first impressions
00:44:00 – ‘Genio’: an Unreal to Nuke bridge for compositing
00:52:33 – What is gamma?
01:00:29 – VFX things to check out on the web

1. What we’ve been watching

Army of the Dead

– befores & afters coverage of the film, including the Tig Notaro actor replacement

– Netflix Film Club videos (not to be confused with their Behind the FX series, for example, below):

Resident Evil Village

– Wikipedia entry on the RE Engine, and on the Resident Evil franchise

– Tech review by Digital Foundry

– Resident Evil Village trailer (see below)

2. The biggest tech thing right now

Unreal Engine 5

– UE5 announcement

– Lumen tech notes

– Digital Foundry Unreal Engine 5 analysis (see below)

– Demo video (see below)

‘Genio’ – Nuke to Unreal bridge alpha

– Demo video from Foundry (see below). Note, a new alpha release of Genio is coming soon, with further support for stencil layers and the ability to drive the Unreal render camera from Nuke.

– If you’d like to try out this alpha release, get in contact with Foundry. Email Mathieu or Daniel.

3. Ian’s VFX tech question for Hugo

What is gamma, anyway?

– Chris Turner’s page

– Wikipedia entry on gamma correction

– Color spaces and gamma correction at Wigglepixel

– Victor Perez’s color management videos at the New Digital Backlot Brand Account page (see below)

4. VFX from around the web

– Captain Disillusion’s Flight of the Navigator VFX breakdown (see below)

– Digital Foundry DF Retro video on Quake (see below)

– Garlic Greens & Company’s vegetarian and vegan recipe videos

Thanks for tuning into VFX Notes! Please leave us a comment or send us an email with any suggestions for future episodes.