Mike Romey, has an incredible talent for uniting the creative and technical aspects of productions. Before he’d even landed a full-time job, he’d already animated an advertisement, set up a curriculum, and created an interactive CD-ROM for a laser printer (yes, this was definitely the 90s). Then, his career took in successively bigger projects, from planetarium shows and Time Square electronic signage to content for Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Today, Mike has taken his talents to FuseFX, where he’s rebuilt the VFX studio’s pipeline with cutting-edge software and smart integrations. In this deep dive into his career, Mike reveals how he’s constantly innovated pipelines and tackled some (literally) huge challenges. He also talks about how he pioneered a virtual production system at Zoic Studios for TV series V and Once Upon a Time, and gives his thoughts on new trends in the VFX industry.
Links:
0:00:00 Intro
0:05:45 How Mike got a head start in graphic design
0:10:06 Abe's Oddyssey and laser printers
0:17:16 Reality Check Systems
0:22:13 Planetariums, sports centers, and Time Square
0:29:52 Getting into CG supervision
0:35:59 Why pipelines are like movie busses
0:40:22 Solving problems on V and building an iOS app
0:48:39 Virtually inventing virtual production plus geopolitical mapping
0:56:23 Moving to Walt Disney Imagineering for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
1:06:28 Turning CG artists into game artists
1:10:35 Moving onto a bigger project at Madison Square Gardens
1:20:33 Finding the single source of truth
1:25:24 Trends in the VFX industry
Chris is a CG industry veteran and Director of Chaos Labs. He can also be heard regularly as the host of the CG Garage podcast which attracts 20,000 weekly listeners. With a background in both VFX and Design, Chris has worked for Gensler, Digital Domain, Imageworks and Method Studios. His credits include Maleficent, Oblivion and Tron: Legacy.