Senior Compositor

Compositing Supervisor

Compositing Supervisor

Senior Compositor

Senior Compositor

Hello! I am Daniel Smith and I am a Compositing Supervisor.

This website is dedicated to both the professional work I do in Film & Television and the educational, personal mentoring that I offer. You can find information about workshops and lectures that I present, as well as, the eLearning sites that I contribute to such as Pluralsight and FXphd.com  Be sure to Click on the link below to view my latest showreel that includes shots from the past year of exciting new releases!

View Show Reel   See Gallery of Work

Dassle Publishing has released my new book NUKE Codex: Nodes within Nodes.  It’s a 164 pages guide to get up and running with the worlds best compositing software, Foundry’s NUKE. Used in thousands of feature films, televisions show, commercials and games.  The industry standard and your foot into the world of compositing.  Check out the book site and order it today!

Check out the New Book

VFX Supervision

I have supervised visual effects acquisition for television commercials, feature films, short films, and special venues. On-set plate supervisor, and experience shooting with VR, stereo live action, HDR, Drone operator and model miniature stage work.

Stereoscopic 3D & VR

Live action stereographer, 2d-3d conversion, native VFX rendering, live action plate reconstruction and fixes. DCP creation and deep knowledge of stereo projection.

Directing

I have directed several award winning short films and projects. I can work with actors, tell a story and create compelling visuals.

Training and Education

I have trained thousands of students though the DAVE school, FXphd, Pluralsight, and in person.  As a Nuke Certified Trainer, you can also learn NUKE from a Foundry endorsed instructor.

 VR Stereoscopic 3D

Making human factors our top priority. Live Action/ VR / Cgi / 2d-3d Conversion

I understand stereoscopic 3D in a unique way: I emphasize story telling and human factors. I am confident that my innovations will improve work flows and save money. My approach will give your production an extra edge, streamline your production and improve your quality. As a consultant and stereoscopic supervisor I have been involved in managing and overseeing all stages of stereoscopic production, VR, live-action, CG Animation, Stop Motion or combinations of all the above.

3D and VR  Equipment Experience
  • The Foundry’s Nuke, Ocula, and CaraVR
  • Multi-Cam VR cameras and stitching Expertise
  • DCP creation, Open Cinema Tools
  • MochaPRO 5.0
  • NewTek’s Lightwave 3D beta development
  • Eyeon’s Digital Fusion beta development
  • Zalman Trimon, iZ3d, Samsung, ViewSonic and nVida
  • Barco Digital Projectors
  • Electrosonic HD projection servers
  • RealD, Dolby 3D, ExpanD, and IMAX 3D
  • Design and operation of camera 3D rigs.
  • Design of 3D playback solutions, Dual Projection.
  • Doremi playback servers and CineAsset DCP
  • SONY 4K projectors and servers.
Inventions
  • SyncCode™ is a special visual way of marking two strips of film for frame accurate synchronization for 3D stereoscopic projection.
  • Geo3Distort™ – I have created several proprietary methods to map out compound vertical, horizontal key stoning, and barrel distortion caused by offset projection and inconsistencies of dual projection lens.
  • PookaVision™ – I have invented several special alignment grids that are used for projection alignment and depth analysis of a venue.
  • DepthGrade™ – I have created a “gizmo” for Nuke compositing software that facilitates the ease of placement of 3D layers in positive and negative parallax.
Teaching
  • 2010 to 2018 DAVE School, Orlando Florida. VFX & Compositing Instructor
  • Plural Sight Author – 2017
  • FXphd Professor 2016 – Immersive VR Compositing
  • FXphd Professor 2011-16 – NUKE, Compositing, Stereoscopic, and Ocula Training
  • FXphd Professor April 2010 term “Nuke 2D to 3D Stereoscopic Conversions”
  • VFX Supervisors Bootcamp, Los Angeles CA. Link June 25-27, 2010
  • FXphd Professor Oct 2009 term “Nuke and Stereoscopic”
  • Digital Fusion Training, IBC Digital 2005
  • Nuke Training for Lighters, ReelFX creative Studios 2004
  • Digital Media Center, Portland Oregon, Lightwave 3D, 1997
Awards
  • 12/20/10 “Instructor of the Year”
  • 8/12/10 “Best Animated Feature” Star Wars: The Solo Adventures
  • 11/20/02 “First place, best new product” awarded at IAAPA 2002
  • 6/23/99 Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technologies Graduate of the year for 1999.
Skills
  • VR Creation and Implementation
  • Strong understanding and use of stereoscopic human factors
  • Creative ways to use 3D as a story telling device.
  • Creative direction, organized, detail oriented.
  • Live action 2nd unit director.
  • Digital cinematographer.
  • Timelapse and optical flow techniques.
  • On Set supervision and collaborator

 

Education
  • MPC Academy For Educators, Montreal Canada: January 2017
  • Nuke training workshop at Digital Domain, 2004
  • Directing a Feature Film workshop, AFI Washington D.C. 1994
  • Acting and Improv workshop, Community Theater Reston, VA1993
  • Associates Degree in Specialized Technology, Art Institute of Pittsburgh 1992
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“After seeing "Corkscrew Hill" and "Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular," Lenny Lipton said these films “show a complete mastery of the medium. I have never seen anything better.””

-Lenny Lipton, CTO RealD Cinema
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““Daniel helped us produce some extremely complex stereoscopic animated projects for digital projection and large format film delivery, and the results of his efforts were excellent.””

-Jeff Kleiser, Synthespian Studios
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“"Daniel Smith was the one who fully understood my spreadsheets and formulas that predicted how the stereoscopic effects would look from each area in the theater seating area. He grasped at once how these quantitative methods could be used to make the stereoscopic experience comfortable yet exciting, by knowing precisely how to avoid causing visual discomfort and eyestrain. I look forward to working with Dan again on a future project!."”

-John Merritt, The Merritt Group
“

““You’re all’s Staff Battle sequence is the movie stand-out. Thanks for all your hard work.””

-Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids 3D
  • Deep knowledge of Stereoscopic conversion techniques.
  • Created “View Dependent Imagery” methodologies for use in Ride Films and specialized location based entertainment.
  • Trained hundreds of artists who have converted 2D motion pictures into stereo 3D such as “The Avengers,” “Titanic,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Pacific Rim”
  • Innovative uses of the 3D fourth wall and script analysis for the best use of 3Ds’ emotional impact.
  • Stereoscopic human factors. Understanding the psychology of 3D space and the way our brain interprets the space and sees depth perception. The influence of inter-axial distances on the perception of size and mass.
  • Use of Parallax, color, size, and shape to create dynamic 3D imagery
  • Creation of screen planes, floating windows, stereo camera rigs, minimizing ghosting, and maximizing depth.
  • Deep understanding of when to use converging cameras versus parallel and how to mix the two.
  • 3D depth chart analysis. Ability to determine down to the pixel level the amount of perceived depth given the exact seat in the audience, and how to translate that to a VFX artist’s monitor.
  • Theater space and screen size knowledge for projection setup, geometric distortions, and shot influence for the amount of parallax and placement of effects in the visual image.
  • Needs and requirements for different stereo outputs, IMAX, RealD, Dolby 3D, BluRay 3D and Dual Projection.
  • Stereo space as applies to VR technologies such as Oculus, HTC Vive, Holo Lens, Etc

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