Creating Visual FX has been an interest of mine since I was introduced to the art while learning the 3D modelling and animation software Blender3D; the free open source software package used by amature and professional artists.

My skills were significantly improved when I purchased the Visual Effects for Directors and Hot Moves: The Science Of Awesome training DVDs from Hollywood Camera Work. Most of my early work is based on the freely available green screen and tracking plates provided on their site.
Visual Effects

Visual FX

Hole in the road

This shot is from a BlenderGuru tutorial where Blender was used to track and composite a CG hole onto a perfectly fine road. Instead of using the new Blender tracking feature I used SynthEyes to track the shot. I wanted to use SynthEyes as it has a very good lens distortion workflow which allows you to re-distort the CG elements to better match the original distorted plate. Blender was used for the graphics and FinalCut Pro X for combining the original plates and the hole.