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Last week, the 3DVF team participated in various school juries. One of them took place at French digital arts school VFX-Workshop.
The class of 2024 showcased their projects not only to 3DVF but also to Illumination, Trimaran, Untold Studio, Digital District, BUF, Disguys, Maxence, Technicolor Group, and Lionel Fages, co-founder of Cube Creative, who chaired the jury.
If you don’t already know the school: VFX-Workshop offers a three-year program, distinguishing itself from many institutions that provide five-year courses. The curriculum starts with foundational VFX and animation in the first year, with subsequent years focusing on advanced techniques such as motion capture, grooming, virtual production, and simulations.
Finally, a graduation project called “Case Study” allows students to showcase their skills and enhance their portfolio/demo reel.
These Case Studies vary widely in form and content. They include animated sequences, rigged creatures, and short films, among others. Most are completed individually. Members of the jury are divided into small groups to review some of these projects. The goal is to attend project presentations, engage with the students to provide feedback, for example to help them improve their demoreel. The jury members then fill in an evaluation sheet.
Overall, our impression was very positive. Most students presented high-quality Case Studies focused on their specialties. We particularly appreciated the diversity of projects and their well-managed execution, often involving student collaborations and innovative approaches to overcoming unexpected production challenges.
The class of 2024 includes students with specialized as well as generalist profiles. For instance, Nathan Dubuc impressed us with a Star Wars fanfilm shot on green screen and on location, incorporating VFX, lava material, and motion capture. Some clips are visible in his demo reel.
Maxence Beaufils, with an interest in the luxury sector, worked extensively on the rendering and complete rigging of a high-end watch, including functional mechanics.
Axel Gras, Matthieu Mangez, and Nicolas Sanchez showcased a World War II-inspired project featuring an ambushed tank.
We also encountered unique profiles like Valentin Chirol, with a background in live performance, who showcased a projection mapping demo set to music on a building model he designed and printed himself.
Emma Toubin stood out with her project, leveraging her skills in costume design and cinema to combine fabric/clothing simulation with motion capture of a dress’s movements. Her project is both original and ambitious, utilizing a homemade accessory for motion capture, which will be explored further in a dedicated article coming soon on 3DVF.
While we cannot detail every Case Study due to their number, this overview should give you a good idea of what we saw.
We take this opportunity to commend all the students who presented their projects: Amaury De La Rocque, Justine Des Vallières, Eugenie Latour, Malicia Ouzeau, Justine Buisson, Axel Gras, Nicolas Sanchez, Matthieu Mangez, Nathan Galita, Valentin Chirol, Félix Feigelson, Nathan Dubuc, Dorian Berthet, Ruben Magalhaes Sousa, Mey-Ange Bacha, Keivan Shabro, Solal Cardi, Lochlann Guedj, Carlos Barao Alberto, Maé Aumand, Pol Ledoublet, Emma Toubin, Maxence Beaufils.
The congratulations of the jury were awarded to two students: Emma Toubin, mentioned earlier, and Matthieu Mangez. Besides being part of the tank project trio, Matthieu also worked on a second Case Study focused on various environments, glimpses of which can be seen in his demo reel.
In addition to these congratulations, six students passed with distinction: Axel Gras, Nicolas Sanchez, Valentin Chirol, Félix Feigelson, Nathan Dubuc, and Pol Ledoublet.
Congratulations to all the students for their work!
