change

Change is good. And change is also terrifying. Keep. Creating.

2D Graphics, 3D Graphics, Creative Work, Film, VFX / By

I’ve been a bit frustrated with this site for a while, because there’s all this fascinating work I do at Meta Reality Labs, that I’d really love to share. While I know many people are reeling under the changes from AI technology as well as the difficult time both game and visual effects creatives have been facing as everything changes beneath us… Please don’t think I’m unsympathetic (or unaffected) when I say this: there has never been a more exciting time to work in CGI.

“Exciting” and “challenging” go together. It means we are in a period of great change. But I’ve found over the years that these are the kind of times when people also tend to do their most meaningful work. This is one of those points when reputations (and fortunes) are made, and when new paradigms and possibilities abound.

If you’re a professional struggling to find work or establish relevance in a world which may not demand some of your formerly most attractive skills, allow me to suggest that you step back a moment and remember that you ARE still relevant. Yes a toddler can now seemingly generate an image or video that would only have been possible through great effort just a few years ago, or vibe code an application that formerly took a team of engineers. All that means is that YOU can do the same, as well as so much more, by leveraging your less obvious skills which have now become massively relevant.

– Eye for quality and detail. – Understanding of process principles to achieve top results. – Industry understanding of tools, methods, ways to approach challenges and visualize your end goals early. – Discipline to slog through difficulties to get to somewhere extraordinary.

You may not be able to do the work you’ve spent decades doing. But that doesn’t mean you lack value. Do NEW stuff. Ride this wave, and go further, faster than you ever dreamt was possible. Or, to be a bit more militaristic in tone: Adapt. Overcome.

Change is struggle. But it’s also opportunity. Figure out where your brass ring is, and reach for it.

Update: It’s all about AI these Days

2D Graphics, 3D Graphics, AI, Creative Work / By

Ok, it’s been some time since I last posted. That is due in part to the fact that much of the work I’m doing for Meta Reality Labs is NDA’d and even the work I do in my personal time often touches on what I’m focusing on at work. I wish I could show off some of the stuff I’ve gotten into recently, it’s pretty amazing.

Here are a few thoughts. The world which has emerged is one of increasing rate of change. For Game Devs, VFX professionals and Technical Artists this change is almost overwhelming. AI is capable of generating astounding visuals in seconds from a simple prompt, as well as models, code, and even entire games. I see this generating a lot of angst 

and fear, and it certainly has changed the recruiting and hiring side of things.

But this kind of change has happened before. The emergence of CGI transformed filmmaking. Computer networks transformed all of

 society. The emergence of digital tools for artists decimated the once huge numbers of “draftsmen” working in architecture, construction and a host of other fields. In recent decades we have seen a LOT of change. Video killed the radio star, and then video on demand killed television, at least to the extent of replacing those media from their seemingly (at the time) unassailable positions as king of the hill.

Today influencers vie with A-listers for viewership, movie box office releases and television series compete for consumer attention with on-demand series, game titles, and social media.

Change is scary and disruptive.

But it can also be astoundingly beneficial. Artists of all kinds shouldn’t fear AI directly. Sure we will have to face uncertainty as job markets change and seek different skills. And that can be incredibly frustrating and challenging. But if you are a skilled professional you absolutely have the insights and talents necessary to thrive in a new world filled with AI. The ability to discern visual quality is still essential. The ability to organize and guide an effort to success is still relevant. “Production sense”, “vision”, an “artist’s eye”, and “creativity” all have as much value as they ever did.

Creative tools have changed and enabled the most unskilled an astounding degree of capability to produce impressive creative works. But that’s good, and doesn’t change the fact that those of us who have spent entire careers focusing on creating such imagery have gained a myriad of skills needed more than ever in assessing and learning to fully exploit these astounding new technologies and tools.

The key to relevancy today as a technical artist or professional creative in general is to ride this wave at it’s cutting edge. Our role in times like this is to identify the new creative opportunities inherent in these changes. Explore new mediums. Guide the engineers towards enabling better quality content as opposed to releasing a societal spam storm of mediocre content. Identify the new bar of quality and use AI and new methods such as gaussian splatting, realtime engines, spatial computing, code and asset generation, image and video generation in new ways. Creative ways.

We aren’t facing a disaster for creatives. It’s just change, filled with disruption of plans to be sure, but also filled with opportunity to be the ones who create entire new media, new forms of artistic expression, and creative content better than anything we dreamed possible in our lifetimes.

Surf this wave of change. Have fun with it. The core of what makes us creatives – vision, insight, keen minds and practical experience – is not at all devalued. Our use cases have just been reset, the canvas wiped clean. Now is the time to make your masterpiece.