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Your Shots. Your VFX.

VFX for Filmmakers teaches you to shoot plates, key and track footage, build environments, and deliver finished shots, the way working production studios actually do it.

If you have Adobe After Effects, you’re ready to get started. You’ll learn essential tasks like green screen keying, motion tracking (2D and 3D), environment building with matte painting, and AI tools.

By the end of VFX for Filmmakers, you'll have:

A deep understanding of the core concepts of visual effects such as green screen keying, tracking, paint, and compositing that can be utilized in any compositing software.
The ability to plan, shoot, and composite your own professional VFX shots for any type of project.
Experience using the latest AI tools to create more ambitious shots that used to require a full team of VFX artists.

The tools you already have. The shots you didn't think were possible.

Zac VanHoy and Sam Crowe are both VFX artists and filmmakers with over 15 years of experience in on-set production and compositing.

Their educational content has reached over 100,000 artists worldwide.

In addition to filming most of the ActionVFX Practice Footage Library, Sam and Zac led the production of over ten thousand VFX assets. Studios working on productions like the Avengers franchise, Stranger Things, and The Mandalorian rely on these assets daily for post-production.

Outside of ActionVFX, both work as freelance filmmakers and compositors for commercials, music videos, and documentary-style films, with Zac’s work spanning productions around the world. Sam has shot and composited music videos for artists like Scott Stevens, Highway Home, and Giovannie and the Hired Guns.

Learn to do VFX Yourself

In VFX for Filmmakers, you’ll learn how to shoot and composite visual effects (VFX) shots for your own professional work. By the end, you’ll have the skills needed to bring a VFX shot to completion without needing to hire outside artists.

If you have Adobe After Effects, you’re ready to get started. You’ll learn essential tasks like green screen keying, motion tracking (2D and 3D), and environment building with matte painting and AI tools.

While the course is self-paced, we designed it to fit around professional filmmakers’ or students’ schedules. By spending 1.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, you can get it done in just 3 weeks.

By the end of VFX for Filmmakers, you'll have:

The ability to bring a VFX shot from shoot planning through filming, compositing, and final delivery
Three finished VFX shots using core techniques needed for professional work
A selection of VFX assets that you’ll regularly use in future projects
The on-set knowledge you need to reduce post-production headaches

All built with production-proven techniques and tools you already have access to.

In addition to filming most of the ActionVFX Practice Footage Library, Sam and Zac led the production of over ten thousand VFX assets. Studios working on productions like the Avengers franchise, Stranger Things, and The Mandalorian rely on these assets daily for post-production. Sam and Zac also create educational VFX content that has reached over 100,000 artists worldwide.

Week 1 — Foundations and Shooting for VFX

You’ll learn the core concepts, terminology, and color science behind VFX compositing. Then, you’ll set up your After Effects-based pipeline and learn when and how to work with various file types and work in different color spaces. Finally, you’ll learn how to plan and shoot plates in a way that saves hours in post, and use AI for troubleshooting.

How to think like a VFX Supervisor
Setting up green screens, tracking markers, and capturing on-set data for VFX.
Shooting plates that are ready for compositing.
Introduction to color spaces, file types, and software for VFX.

Week 1 — Foundations, Setup, and Shooting for VFX

Key skills:

How lighting works
Working with ACES color spaces
When and how to use EXR, PNG, and ProRes sequences
On-set VFX considerations (camera settings, green screens, tracking markers, and on-set data capture)

Week 2 — Core Compositing Skills

You’ll learn and practice the basics of compositing. By the end, you’ll be comfortable with rotoscoping, green screen keying, paint cleanup, object removal, and 2D and 3D tracking.

Key skills:

Keying green screen footage and suppressing spill
Manual and AI-assisted rotoscoping
Paint, cleanup, and object removal using clone stamps and Content-Aware Fill
Point tracking (sky replacement project), planar tracking (screen replacement project)
3D camera tracking on the main shot.

Week 3 — Environment, Polish, and Delivery

Learn how to create environments with matte painting and set extensions, then learn to match lighting in your composite with the live-action plate. Next, you’ll learn to add VFX elements to the shot and apply final touches.

Key skills:

Building set extensions
Analyze and match lighting so your elements look like they were shot with the live-action plate
Compositing VFX assets into your plate
How to build depth maps
Finish most time-consuming “last 10%” (grain and noise matching, glow and halation, eliminating color and sync issues)

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VFX For

Filmmakers

PRE-ORDERS BEGIN IN JUNE

VFX For

Filmmakers

PRE-ORDERS BEGIN IN JUNE

Your Shots. Your VFX.

Meet Your Instructors

Learn to do VFX Yourself

Meet Your Instructors

Three Weeks.

Shoot. Composite. Deliver.

Three Weeks.

Shoot. Composite. Deliver.