Fade In

Long time no post.

Since January 2014 I have been adjusting to my new position as the VFX lecturer at CG Protege animation school. That is my (lame) excuse for no post all these months. I found my work perspective changing from a VFX artist into a lecturer/trainer/facilitator.

I started with the frame of mind that teaching is a temporary position, so all I needed to do was to deliver materials. As long as I taught well enough such that my students learn the materials, I did my job well. I was willing to help with paperwork for lecturers, such as documenting syllabus and writing course notes, but I did not fully understand how to connect the big one-year long syllabus to 4-hour daily classes.

Then I attended a course on adult training called ACTA. It stands for Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment. (Sound rather fancy for what it really was, I thought.) Gradually, as the course progresses over the months, I saw a new world: the world of trainers (or, to use ACTA terminology, facilitator). I started to see myself as a trainer who happened to specialize in VFX rather than a VFX artist who happened to train. I realized that it was my job to connect one-year long syllabus to daily class delivery. The reason was not paperwork but material cohesion. If I understood how each day built up into a year-long program, I could deliver materials in a cohesive way.

I have to admit that there were times I found myself struggling with training ideas that were new to me. With reflection, though, I realized these ideas would make me a better person.

Opening Image

Hi there,

My name is Denny and I am currently working as visual effects (VFX) artist at an animation studio in Singapore. I am starting this blog to share my working life with anyone interested out there.

The way I paved my career so far is perhaps atypical. I changed fields from academic computer science research to programming/software development to 3D animation. I would like to stay in 3D animation for good, but I think I still want to try different specialties in the field. I hope I can share my experience, thoughts, and works with you all in this blog.

If you have been to my old blog and want to go there, you can still do so. Now I call it "PersonallyDish". In case you wonder why the change, I have been thinking hard about what I want to do with my career.
On one hand, I realize that other people (my colleagues at work, my students at CG Protege, my friends and family, as well as other people from industries related to computer graphics and animation) expect me to follow the usual path to develop my career. For example, from late last year until this April, I marketed myself as VFX artist. Unsurprisingly, other people from CG (computer graphics) industry ask me about lighting setup, compositing software, simulation tools, shaders, et cetera. I can have good conversations about these topics, but I find myself internally conflicted. That is because...
... on the other hand, I honestly think being a VFX artist is but a step in my journey. I do not see being VFX artist as the goal of my career.

So, after a few months of not being sure what to do with my old blog, which has a mix of personal and professional things, I decided to start anew. Not just a new blog, but a new thinking behind it. This blog is not about computer graphics and VFX; it is about things I find important from work.

(Meanwhile, I can now continue writing personal writings at PersonallyDish without worrying about how they will affect my professional image, which is also important to me.)