Masterclass Programme

Details soon to be announced, early bird tickets released in June 2023.

With a rich 10 year history the BFX Festival continues to bring you an excellent line of masterclasses for you to enhance your Animation, Games, and VFX skills. Sessions will be led by the creatives currently leading the industry with their innovative practice and approaches.

The programme offers opportunities for beginners, all the way through to those at an intermediate and expert level.

Register your interest

Tuesday 8th November 2022

Black and white Epic Games logo Creating high end visuals using Unreal Engine 5

Tuesday 8th November 2022, 10:00 – 13:00

Hosted by Stefan Evrard Solution Architect for Epic Games, this session will teach you how to import a 3D mesh into Unreal Engine 5, and prepare a simple scene with studio lighting. In addition, you will learn how to balance performance and visual fidelity depending on the use case. Together, we will go over creating efficient master materials to quickly iterate them and add them to the mesh, lighting the scene to bring it all into a high quality product visualisation.

DNEG's company logo in branded colour of orange

Grooming in Houdini for VFX

Tuesday 8th November 2022, 14:30 – 17:30

Learn to efficiently groom characters and creatures in Houdini using advanced techniques from DNEG Grooming Artist, Kristin Farrensteiner.

 

Wednesday 9th November 2022

  Scriptwriting for animation

Wednesday 9th November 2022, 14:00 – 17:00

In this masterclass you will learn how to create a script for children animation series and beyond that from scriptwriters of Pop Paper City. Participants will have an opportunity to create a short script during the masterclass and if time allows, get a live feedback on it

 

Thursday 10th November 2022

Digital matte painting for VFX: 2D matte painting in photoshop for film, tv, and tv commercials.

Thursday 10th November 2022, 10:30 – 13:30

In this masterclass Paul Campion, who has over 22 years experience creating visual effects for film, TV and TV commercials, will be going over digital matte painting techniques in Photoshop, and explaining the use and techniques of reference photography which is an essential part of the process.

 

company logo for one of us Simulation and VFX for the beginners

Thursday 10th November 2022,  14:00 – 17:00

Discover the world of Houdini, learn how to create stunning VFX from the Head of CG at One of us, Arpita Venugopal.

Friday 11th November 2022

Cave academy logo, background is a verticle green ombre Character modelling for feature animation

Friday 11th November 2022, 10:00 – 17:00

Like many things, there is no ‘one-way’ to approach any task, however, this masterclass should give you a broad overview on how you could approach the creation of a character model for the purposes of CG Animation. The masterclass covers all the elements of the character modelling pipeline from blocking and sculpting to retopology and UVing and is aimed to beginners and those who want to master their character modelling skills further.

UX: what’s the big deal?

Friday 11th November 2022, 10:00 – 13:00

In this masterclass, Anna Wikstrom, the Games User Experience (UX) designer from Creative Assembly, will be giving an intro to UI and UX in games. Participants will be able to understand the principles of game-user interaction and have hands-on experience in creating design elements for games.

Anna Wikström is a UX Designer at Creative Assembly, working on their new sci-fi shooter game: Hyenas. She has been in the games industry for 4.5 years, and 8 years total in Design. Starting her journey at DICE as a UX Consultant on Star Wars Battlefront 2 & Battlefield V. Anna studied UI/UX in Product Design and prior to games she designed apps and websites. She is fascinated by the power technology has in shaping people’s behaviors and she has a keen interest in psychology, understanding how the brain works and how behavior influence video game experiences.

 

Locksmith Animations logo, in blue. consists of a blue key hole with a smaller white key hole over the top. Storytelling in animation

Friday 11th November 2022, 14:00 – 17:00

Everything in the animation industry and beyond comes down to good storytelling. Want to learn more? Join the creative team behind Locksmith Animation’s movie “Ron’s Gone Wrong”, Director JP Vine and Head of Story Ash Boddy, to get their insights on storytelling in feature animation.

bluezoos multicoloured logo in landscape Character animator’s survival kit

Friday 11th November 2022, 14:00 – 17:00

In this masterclass Blue Zoo Animator and Bournemouth University Alumna, Brenda Ximena Roldan-Romero, teaches you tips and tricks of character animation necessary to survive in the animation industry.

Saturday 12th November 2022

Pop Paper craft working

Saturday 12th November 2022, 10:00 – 11:30

Modelling with paper is not only about origami! In this masterclass participants receive a step-by-step demonstration by a model maker from Pop Paper City on how to create a character from their TV series.

 

Aardman's bright red logo accompanied with a 5 point star

Model Making Workshop

Saturday 12th November 2022, 11:30 – 13:00, repeated at 14:00 – 15:30

Learn the unique art of model making at this fun, interactive workshop. Participants receive a step-by-step demonstration by an expert model maker from Aardman studio, and discover how to craft their own model of one of our world-famous characters. This masterclass is suitable for all above the age of 7 and will teach you a great deal of traditional animation skills no matter your age or skills level.

Koala VFX logo, white background and black outline of a cartoon koala face Producing for VFX

Saturday 12th November 2022, 14:00 – 17:00

In this masterclass, Director of indie VFX company Koala VFX, Dasha Sherman will touch upon primarily 2 aspects: ‘money into movie’, i.e. how to understand how much it’ll cost to do the VFX and how to put the budget up/down, and ‘words into shots’, i.e. what is the VFX breakdown and how to identify VFX in the script.

By the end of the masterclass participants will be able to do a small breakdown for a piece of the script, budget it and see the final result from the existing movie with the case study + learn the budget.

 

Sunday 13th November 2022

Cave academy logo, background is a verticle green ombre Acting for Animators 

Sunday 13th November 2022, 10:00 – 17:00 

In this workshop, Ace Ruele will help actors and animators develop a resilient mindset through teaching his process of becoming and creating creature characters for video games, VFX and animation.

 

Industrial Light & Magic's logo, a sunshine with a lightbulb, blue background and black text Creature production for VFX

Sunday 13th November 2022, 10:00 – 13:00

Have you ever wondered what someone who works in the Creature department does and how it works? Join this masterclass with Alice McLoughlin, Creature TD from ILM to learn tips and tricks from one of the best VFX companies.

 

Cave academy logo, background is a verticle green ombre Shooting HDRis & panoramas

Sunday 13th November 2022, 10:00 – 13:00 

This masterclass, hosted by Jahirul Amin, will teach you how to shoot HDRIs for lighting under shoot conditions, and panoramas that can be used for texture and Digital Matte Painting / Environment work.

 

Cave academy logo, background is a verticle green ombre Shooting textures and lookdev references

Sunday 13th November 2022, 14:00 – 17:00

This masterclass, also hosted by Jahirul Amin, will teach you how to shoot textures and look development references for VFX, animation and games projects.

  • NCCA logo Bournemouth University logo
   
  • NCCA logo Bournemouth University logo