Azerbaijan's young and talented FXTD, Haji Gadirov, talks to Cebas about his work and his aspiration towards big studio production.
Cebas: Hello Haji, let's start with some update about yourself - how you started in this line of work. Please also feel free to comment on the VFX activities, learning opportunities and market in your region.
Gadirov: Hi first of all thank you very much for this interview. My name is Haji Gadirov I am a VFX Artist for more than 6 years now. My interest started with CG general state of the art in 2010. I remember that I got inspired by watching a movie called The Matrix but then I didn’t had a computer nor any knowledge of CG and special effects used in the movies. However, I simply googled what software people use for making computer effects and what up was After Effects. So, I started to learn by watching free online tutorials and it was very difficult for me at first but I soon made it.
Then I wanted to go more deeper on how to create models, animation etc. and I found Maya and started to learn it. By then, I could say I was a generalist. One day, I remember I happened to see an Allan McKay tutorial using 3ds Max and it was like some kind of sparks was set off in me.
I know this was what I wanted to do. However, in Maya it was very difficult for me to achieve fx very fast. Then I started to learn Max and it’s powerful plugins. First it was very difficult because I was terrible with math, physics but after watching three different tutorials by three different tutors; one of them being Allan McKay’s tutorial that was simply perfect for me, I figured out that there’s no bad student but that each student needed different techniques. Well, I could then make some personal projects because at where I live there is no specific vfx studios, so that’s why I had to continue to develop myself. I started to get involved with more projects from abroad as a distance freelancer step by step. To date, I must say there is much to learn, new techniques and new tools. Max has allowed me to create ever more effective and ever more artistic way of creativity combine with technical help.
Cebas: was there an instrumental person or college of art that has a major influence in your life to become an artist in your hometown of Baku city?
Gadirov: Well unfortunately here at Baku, we don’t really have any college or art school or developments related to VFX. I personally graduated as an Interpreter with Bachelor degree. Everything that I know Is self taught or via online videos. When I decided to choose FX as my specific career direction in this town, no one was truly supportive of it because everybody here were mainly modelling artist or simply a generalist. So it was very difficult in the beginning stages. I had no idea where I was going to use this knowledge and so I decided to work as a distance freelancer. Today I can say that I’ve made it, that I am still a FX artist. I welcome new projects and you can get in touch with me via email: hgadirov@gmail.com
Cebas: you are quite involved, as a freelance Senior Artist, in many areas from doing freelance work in films, commercial ads, game cinematics .. to tutoring - is this correct? How do you juggle all these? And presumably you’re single?
Gadirov: yeah, I do do a lot of freelance work because whenever I send in my application to companies they would say that I am good, “awesome work” but remark that I live too far and that it will be better to work by remote freelance. Also, yeah, I do tutoring as well, and I have in fact recorded tutorials for digital-tutors.com, cmivfx.com. I enjoy tutoring on more foundational stuff because i think the intro and UI are the most important part and everything starts from it. I’ll be honest with you that it certainly has not been that easy to juggle everything, tutoring, work, movie, family. So, yeah, I am not married yet. (note: update: Congrats to Haji who just got married 4 days ago, after doing this interview!)
Cebas: how did you come to know about thinkingParticles? Is TP known to the many talented artists in your home country and was it easy for you to purchase the software or learn how to use it in Azerbaijan?
Gadirov: well, I first came to know about thinking particles in 2011. I was simply searching for the best vfx plugins or software to make destructions and I read that TP was used in a movie called “2012”. I watched some videos and decided to purchase it. I must admit that for me as a non-mathematical person, it seems at first something difficult to learn. I watch some tutorials and found that it was not easy to understand and it took some time to learn. I do a lot of trial and error, and tried over and over again and didn’t give up and I finally learned it. Actually, after a certain threshold of trying and learning, I learned the essential ropes about TP and then from there, it was very, very easy to handle and I am now able to do infinite things. As i said, there’s no bad student, it’s just that different persons need their individual way of learning. I hope that the FX industry will move forward in our city in the near future. I didn’t have any problem with purchasing TP, after purchasing I simply started to watch videos and learn.
Cebas: we have showcased your awesome demo reel - please give viewers some detail insights on some of the TP-based VFX in your demo reel that you enjoyed making and what problems did it help you resolve - how did you managed to think of the vfx with TP operators/helpers - could it have been done any better with another software, or TP was the ultimate tool to do the particular vfx shot?
Gadirov: Thank you very much, appreciated that you like my demo reel. I use demo reel almost everyday for production. In this reel here, I used TP for destruction scenes like in the Aurora movie, the man of steel. I use TP for everything. i think TP is number one for destruction. You can control every single piece, add detail and it’s procedural. Shape collision and volumebreaker are my favorites. TP is definitely the ultimate tool for every shot. Honestly, I don’t know of any other software which can handle complex shots and at the same way to do things while not being very technical. TP for me is not very technical, it has some balance to be in the same way Artist and Technical Director. Here's the Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/153145398
For the insurance blast scene, my supervisor told me that we simply had 2 weeks to complete all of the shots and the explosion was the most complex shot. I did it in a week.
First, I pre-fragmented the big parts of the house with another plugin then I collided them into one mesh and then imported them into TP. I activated the destruction vfx using force, fragmenter operator and it did the job quite well. However, the small pieces like the wood, windows, I simply added to TP and used volumeBreaker to cut them when they collide with the object. I had 2 volumeBreaker systems breaking every big object into smaller ones each times when they collide.
I also used the joint operator for the concrete material to give some realism to the simulation. The most heavy part I found was the roof. As we didn't have time to optimize the geometry, I had to bring the hi-res roof into TP. With the roof it was very heavy so what I did was group the roof into a single geometry and add them into TP, then used volumeBreaker and it's settings do the brick fragmentation - the calculation needed some time so I didn't do a lot of test with the roof - I added the brick fragmentation and activated it with force. I focused more on the woods that was under the roof which was easier to control, not heavy and cached them separately. Fortunately, TP worked as expected and everything was shattered perfectly.
At that point, I was using an older version of TP, it took me some time to cache and a lot of memory. However, the fun part was that at the last day, after I had worked an entire sleepless week, my supervisor came and told me that he was not gonna use all the destruction because it was too big and massive, also there were lot's of explosion so he wanted just the windows and wood part exploding. I was like what!? but thanks to TP’s beautiful and comfortable layering system, all I had to do was to turned off the unwanted particles and, cache and render out the wanted parts. Also, TP was helpful when we simply needed the destructed static model, I simply baked all the frames and took one that the supervisor liked and we used it after destruction scene.
Cebas: how do you feel being one of the few VFX Artists in Azerbaijan that has done work for established film/ game companies in the west and were you referred into the industry via social media and friends?
Gadirov: Well, it feels really great actually, I mean no one believed that I was going to succeed as a FX artist where in this place only generalists are more needed. Unfortunately, still not many people understand what a FX artist does. I do feel proud of who I am and who I have become and doing
the work that I have done for movies and games. Yeah, a few times i have been referred from social media. However, the one thing I am still waiting for, is an offer from a big studio where I dream of bringing my artwork to greater heights.
Cebas: coming back to the tools of the trade, what do you find most compelling in thinkingParticles that you would want it definitely as a tool in your vfx kit?
Gadirov: I love TP for a lot of things but especially creating awesome destructions. I can control my simulation, change every single detail, add details. It’s definitely a very, very important tool and I use it on every project.
Cebas: Did you receive training / mentorship from one of the big names in Hollywood world of vfx in learning thinkingParticles .. or is it a secret :) ?
Gadirov: I have learned from many talented artist but most of the things that I know are self taught. However, Allan Mckay gave me some very nice explanations and the spark to become a FX Artist. I think his tutorial was simply great.
Cebas: about the thinkingParticles training video that you did on cmiVFX : 3ds Max Thinking Particles introduction - how was the response? Your training covers particle generation - geometry - RBD - destruction, so could you,
a) tell potential learners how much time you took yourself to progress from not knowing TP at all (but having a foundation in 3ds Max) to having awesome working skill in TP - basically how many hours / months of hard learning ?
b) is it possible for someone new to TP to learn by themselves and create a marketable reel or you feel ultimately, it’s better to take up a formal college art program?
c) did knowing After Effects help in learning TP or the two have very different UI?
Gadirov: The tutorials I have on cmiVFX.com cover a clear intro into Thinking Particles. I also focused a lot on RBD. That’s a great question as I think a potential learner could be a good TP user in a couple of months of diligent work. Me personally it took some time, I’ve learned it again and again, recreating the same effects over and over again and after two months of intensive learning, I think I can now handle TP without any problems. I think a talented artist could learn not just TP, but much of everything by themselves, like here in Azerbaijan, all the artists learned by themselves. It’s just that if you wanted it bad enough that you will continuously learn and spend time at it and reach your goal. I am not saying art college is bad.. Nope. Art college you can learn faster and maybe some secret techniques. I am just trying to say that nothing is impossible, you can learn everything by yourself. After Effects and TP (Max) completely different UI so not much help if you know AE. (note from Cebas: the Element 3D plugin incorporates the best of TP with AE for vfx)
Cebas: could you give readers a good overview of your TP training videos on Digital-Tutors such as more precisely, at what level an artist would benefit from these tutorials, and in particular in what kind of FX...fragmentation? Fire?
Gadirov: My tutorial on digital tutors cover the destruction into ashes stuff. I remember I watched a video with some ashes involved and simply wanted to create that effect and decided to share my knowledge with students. I think any level of artists can watch and learn, because I made a small intro in it about some of the basic TP operators. However, mid level artists can easily handle this tutorial. It covers the fragmentation, rbd, dust, particles.
Cebas: so far your tutorials have covered the basics of TP in terms of particles and wall destruction and explosion - now have you started doing VFX with the latest operators on TP 6.1- 6.2 and 6.3 that are more developed in creating softBodies, compressible fluids, gas, smokeOperator, color wash, Splines, multi-Physics, thermoDynamics, etc... if yes, what is your experience with some of these advanced features? If not, when will you be tutoring on these?
Gadirov: right know, I am doing some tests with the latest new operators and features of TP6. I would like to make some tutorials related to new features hopefully soon, once I can find time, so lookout for it. It all depends if there is sufficient student demand requesting a tutorial, so email me, and then it makes sense for me to record an awesome one.
Cebas: have you seen the 34 videos on Cebas Youtube ‘Webinar & Learn’ and what do you think of them - were they helpful for you?
Gadirov: yep, I’ve seen them, and they were very helpful to me, especially I really needed the tutorial on the softbody system -- watched it and the very next day I used it on my production! You do have some very awesome videos on that channel.
Cebas: would you say you are making an excellent career out of VFX and that it is going the way you want it? Do you feel that knowing thinkingParticles has obvious benefit to your career in VFX and how so? What are some of your challenges, if any?
Gadirov: Right now everything is going good but it could go better I hope. I still wanna work in a big studio especially, ScanlineVFX, who pushes max and TP to it’s limit. Again, I am not gonna give up, I wanna make a great vfx career. Honestly, freelancing is great fun as well, but nothing beats real, actual studio work experience with an awesome team. You won’t get that kind of experience anywhere else and I wish I will work one day in a big studio.
Thinking particles has obvious benefit and not just that, it’s simply everything to me. Without it I wouldn’t have developed my advanced fx possibilities, without it there will still be borders and limits. Only challenge is being highly motivated and never giving up, even if you can’t do it on the first few trials, or figure out how to do it, just go sit down, relax and come back again and try a different way to resolve it. The main challenge is to stay focused and do not give up.
Cebas: what is your wish for thinkingParticles in terms of giving you, as a senior vfx artist, more power to create stuff, that it is not currently doing for you?
Gadirov: I wish the Thinking Particles and Cebas team the best and good luck, you can’t even imagine how much you are helping us by creating and improving those amazing tools. I think without powerful plugins like TP and other, Max won’t be popular. However, I think that Autodesk and their 3ds Max team should also help by improving Max itself. The Max core engine is old and does need some improvement.
I wish the caching could be even faster. I am not a technician man but if there would be a GPU caching it would really be nice, also some new features with volumeBreaker because I ove that operator. (note from cebas: TP release 6.3.1 gives a ten times faster cache read/write operations now.)
Cebas: what would be the ultimate career dream for you ?
Gadirov: my ultimate career goal is to work in a big studio, especially ScanlineVFX or ILM or one of the many big studios. I wish one day I will be part of their team, it’s not easy to get there but I will keep trying.
Cebas: and what are some of the current/future projects that you’re using TP in, if you can share some intro about your up and coming?
Gadirov: I am doing some great projects currently, I wish i could tell more but I am not allowed to. But I promise some awesome TP stuff coming out with lots of explosion, destruction, dust, splash, water ..you name it.
Thank you Haji, and Cebas is very happy that you have conquer so much with self taught thinkingParticles and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!