I'm the author of the above course. It's now available to everyone via the website http://www.learnvfx.com
To answer your question Harlan, VFX is an incredibly comprehensive field. It's not something that can all be taught in a few short lessons.
I think one of the best starting places are the very general books on VFX like Filming the Fantastic by Mark Sawicki. It's only 349 pages and covers concepts at a very high level. Once you have exposure to the 10,000ft view, you can start to focus on the areas that interest you the most.
I'm partial to compositing as the first "must learn" skill. Nothing beats manipulating the pixels directly. However, most effects these days will require a lot more than just compositing. The breakdowns you see in the "making of" videos rarely do the amount of work required to get the job done justice.
I'm the author of the above course. It's now available to everyone via the website http://www.learnvfx.com
To answer your question Harlan, VFX is an incredibly comprehensive field. It's not something that can all be taught in a few short lessons.
I think one of the best starting places are the very general books on VFX like Filming the Fantastic by Mark Sawicki. It's only 349 pages and covers concepts at a very high level. Once you have exposure to the 10,000ft view, you can start to focus on the areas that interest you the most.
I'm partial to compositing as the first "must learn" skill. Nothing beats manipulating the pixels directly. However, most effects these days will require a lot more than just compositing. The breakdowns you see in the "making of" videos rarely do the amount of work required to get the job done justice.