tools and training for: production • postproduction • interactive
This site is a project of OpaqueWhite and Eddie Offermann and is still under development.
Visit us here again soon for information, tutorials, and discussion forums related to advanced topics for visual effects.
Until then, you may visit OpaqueWhite.com by clicking the logo above, or by selecting a topic from the list below. Note that the links for the topics below are changing as we deploy more of our main site, so bookmark them at your own risk.
Bookmarks to the main site are probably the best idea.
Tools, plugins and macros for Shake artists
Compositing training for Visual Effects
Are you a Shake compositor? There are tools and training available from OpaqueWhite.
Matchmovers take note: OpaqueWhite has training DVDs and online information
Do you matchmove in Syntheyes? Training DVDs for all levels of matchmove artist are available from OpaqueWhite.
Matchmoving is hard work. If it wasn't, they wouldn't pay you to do it! But OpaqueWhite has training DVDs for users with all levels of experience.
Do you want to be a matchmove artist?
Relighting using normal map passes in Apple Shake isn't a mystery any more. And it's actually easy!
The trick is OpaqueWhite OneLight, a toolkit designed to be a full-featured and yet easy to use relighting tool using rendered surface normal information.
Most distortion tools are designed to simulate lens distortion in a way that merely "looks similar" to the real thing. If you want real-world accurate lens distortion, the secret is OpaqueWhite ReDistort!
UV Remapping or Retexturing is now available in an easy-to-use tool. Need to apply dirt, damage, or change textures on the fly to plates that have already been rendered? With Apple Shake and OpaqueWhite's ReMapper tool, applying complete or partial uv maps during the comp is not only possible but simple, even without additional training!
Need to dynamically generate massive cyclorama-style elements for use in a composite? A few independent shots of live footage trees can become a believable forest, a handful of flags blowing in the breeze and a few practical or cg shots of fire and smoke can become a battlefield. The possibilities are endless with OpaqueWhite's DynaCyc.
Want realistic trajectories of a single object or a thousand? Fire a single cannonball or a volley of arrows, realistically plotted in 3d without ever leaving Apple Shake with this powerful tool! OpaqueWhite's DynaCyc includes the Trajectory and Volley tools as well.
Tutorials and training for UV Retexturing / remapping? OpaqueWhite has them too!
Where can you get a comprehensive training DVD teaching you how normal map relighting works and how to develop your own tools?
Ed Offermann is a professional compositor and matchmove artist with 20 years of experience in developing CG applications and applying his expertise in corporate, commercial and entertainment. After over four years dedicated to teaching the techniques and tools of the trade, in 2006 he began supplying tools and training to the worldwide community of current and aspiring visual effects artists. He continues to do freelance projects and bringing high end tools and training to small studios and independent artists.