Erik Strauss

Had a blast directing and producing Avantor’s "Lab of the Future" project—a voiceover-driven piece all about how AI, IoT, and real-time tech are shaking up the world of science. One of the coolest parts? Filming with AVA, Avantor’s Virtual Assistant. It’s a smart little robot that helps scientists by grabbing supplies from the stockroom so they can spend more time doing actual science. Honestly, felt like stepping into a sci-fi movie, and realizing it’s all real. Big thanks to the awesome team who helped bring this to life. The future really is now! #VideoMarketing #ContentCreation #Storytelling #Filmmaking #Science #BehindTheScenes #MarketingStrategy #AI #VisualContent

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After two decades in film production, I've never seen a workflow shift quite like this. A Super Bowl trailer usually means months of prep and a massive VFX army. Steve Davis and I pulled this off in 14 days. 🤯 Here’s a quick BTS on how we built the Super Bowl LX hype trailer using a toolkit that literally didn't exist a year ago. Instead of version control nightmares and siloed departments, we used Freepik Spaces as a shared, real-time brain space. We could collaborate on the same canvas on the fly. Once the style was locked, we used Higgsfield AI and Kling AI to generate the cinematic motion, giving us the perfect mix of real physics and epic scale. 2 weeks. 1,000 frames. Basically zero sleep. When you can collaborate on one board and generate high-end elements in real time, the impossible timeline becomes your playground. Fewer silos, more speed, and total creative control. This is the future of production. #SuperBowlLX #AIProduction #Filmmaking #VideoProduction #VFX #FreepikSpaces #KlingAI #Freepik #Higgsfield #BehindTheScenes

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Lots of big Chaos Arena updates for Siggraph, but enabling a full USD and MaterialX pipeline is the key to allowing "your pipeline, your choice" throughout the entire lifecycle of your production. Why make virtual production so complicated? Getting to an LED stage should be as simple as "Open file." #usd #virtualproduction #materialx #filmmaking

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AI Filmmaking is developing to another level. We are so spoiled from fast growing quality that many are still criticizing:“It’s still fake and I still can see it’s AI… therefore it’s useless!“ But this is just the beginning. From what we’ve seen over the last 2,5 years how quickly the quality has improved what do you think how this is going to be in 2-5 years? Producing content nowadays is not about if you would use AI or not, it’s where and how… The Anti-AI-movement is also developing within the content creators community and it’s really interesting to observe how they will manage to step up against the AI slop. But breaking down it’s still the same thing as always: - if AI or not, a good storyteller and creative head can not be substituted. These are just tools like brushes and colors for a painter.

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🚀 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐔𝐍-𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄. And guess what? It wasn’t the fancy camera… It was Speed Ramping — mastered in DaVinci Resolve. ➡️ It’s all about using speed ramping to amplify motion, build rhythm, and create a cinematic flow that hooks the viewer. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝:  • The footage was clean... but flat. • After color grading? Better. • But when I added precise speed ramps on engine revs, gear shifts, and drifts… 🎯 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐌! 𝐈𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦. ✨ Speed ramping isn't a trend — it's a storytelling weapon. It’s how you direct the viewer’s eyes. It’s how you create tension. release. emotion. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑤𝘩𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝐷𝑀𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔: “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭 & 𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬!” 👀 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚: • Film Director • Video Editor • VFX Artist • YouTuber or Social Media Video Creator And your videos still don’t feel cinematic enough... 👉 The issue might NOT be your camera. It might be your rhythm. Your edit pacing. Your lack of speed ramping. 💬 Drop a 🚗 if you’ve ever used speed ramping. Or tell me your biggest editing challenge in the comments 👇 I'll respond to everyone. 📢 Let’s turn your next car video into a cinematic masterpiece. I’m here if you need a second pair of eyes or color grading help. ✨ Your next-level video content is just one effect away...  Create boldly. Edit fearlessly. Stay cinematic.  – peace, love & ai 🎬 #CarEdit #DaVinciResolve #SpeedRamping #VideoEditing #CinematicEdits #VFXCommunity #YouTubeContent #ContentCreation #FilmmakerTips #VideoMarketing #AliNouri

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Stoked to be speaking at Epic Games Unreal Fest Orlando next week. Going to have some fun with lens, cameras, lighting, scanning and some good cinematography tech workflows in UE5. At Unreal Fest, Jim Geduldick, Visual Effects & Virtual Production Supervisor at Spaceboy Labs, an Unreal Engine Service Partner, will walk through practical workflows that bring production design, lighting, camera, and art departments into the real-time process using Unreal Engine 5. His session, “Crafting the Look: Virtual Cinematography in UE5,” happens on June 4 at 4:45 PM ET in South Session Room 2, and focuses on how to create digital twins of sets, lights, and lenses to visualize and refine the look of a scene before you’re on set. Jim will also share how tools like Twinmotion, RealityCapture, and Fab fit into collaborative pipelines across departments. If you’re working in film, episodic, or game, and especially if you're blending physical and digital production, this session is a must. Unreal Engine Twinmotion Capturing Reality Fab #EpicGames #UnrealEngine #UnrealFest #cinematography #cinemalens #virtualcinematography #virtualproduction #filmmaking #UE5 #TV #VFX #Animation

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Proud to see how raw facial performance capture transforms into expressive digital characters APPLE ARTS STUDIOS Motion Capture Services. With 15+ years of experience, we continue delivering high-quality motion capture solutions for films, games, and virtual production. #MotionCapture #FacialCapture #VFX #Animation #VirtualProduction

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Built a custom DCTL for my ACES workflow, here’s what it does and why I made it. After years of grading on ACEScct colour managed, I wanted a tool that works the way I perceive an image, perceptually, not just mathematically. So I built a DCTL for my own workflow, though parts of it may be useful for others working in ACES pipelines as well. I’ll be upfront: this was a collaboration between my grading knowledge and AI assistance. The colour science logic, workflow decisions, and creative intent are mine, but I used AI as a development partner to work through DCTL syntax, GPU compiler constraints, and some of the transform mathematics. Honestly, it’s an exciting way to prototype and build tools that would otherwise take weeks of experimentation. The tool operates entirely in ACEScct log space, with no matrix conversions or colour-space roundtrips. Everything stays native to the timeline, avoiding accumulated floating-point errors and preventing unexpected colour shifts on bypass. What it does: • Exposure control operating in true f-stops rather than arbitrary units • Contrast control with a linear pivot at mid grey and no imposed S-curve shaping • Highlight control isolated to the upper tonal range with unclamped HDR headroom preservation • Flare control for independently lifting or crushing the black floor Colour controls: • Two opponent-axis chroma controls: Red/Cyan and Yellow/Blue • Operates directly in log space with no crosstalk between axes The control I’m happiest with is the Colour Boost tool: It works exclusively on the warm/cool yellow-blue axis and is protected by a Gaussian bell curve mask centred around mid grey. Shadows and highlights are excluded entirely, so the effect only influences midtones with smooth rolloff in both directions. It leaves the Red/Cyan axis untouched, which helps preserve skin tones and prevents contamination in specular regions. The width of the midtone region is also fully adjustable. The whole thing compiles cleanly on both Metal and CUDA and integrates comfortably into an ACES node pipeline. Happy to share the code with anyone interested; these kinds of tools are always better when discussed openly within the community. I’d also genuinely appreciate feedback on anything that doesn’t behave correctly or could be improved further, so I can continue refining the tool. GitHub link: https://lnkd.in/gK26qip9 On my website, with more details: https://lnkd.in/gfxFvy2Y #DaVinciResolve #Colorist #DCTL #ACES #ColorGrading #PostProduction #ColorScience #HDR #AIAssistedDevelopment #FilmPost #netflix

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🚀 What technology will change the VFX industry the most in the next 10 years? Possibilities include: • AI-assisted pipelines • Real-time rendering • cloud-based production • digital humans The pace of change in our industry is incredible. If you had to choose one technology that will dominate the next decade, what would it be? #FutureOfVFX #Technology #VisualEffects #NareshTalks

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I didn’t expect Vertex Block Descent to scale this well with hard constraints and high stiffness, but this AVBD paper by Chris Giles, Elie Diaz and Cem Yuksel pulled it off. Real-time performance on GPU with stacking, friction, and joints, without blowing up the iteration count. Definitely worth reading if you care about speed and robustness: https://lnkd.in/gC5WeqHn https://lnkd.in/gHuGWnxT #vfx #gpu #houdini #pbd #vbd #avbd #solver #performance

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VFX editorial has been building its own databases in FileMaker since 1985. The software has evolved. The problem hasn't. That should bother more people. Not because the industry loves old tools. Because nobody built the replacement. Why do count sheets still come as PDF documents? Why can't vendors access lineup info online? Why does every VFX Editor build their own database from scratch. Every show, every time, starting from zero? I got tired of asking. So I started building.

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When it comes to tech in construction, are we building actual solutions? Or shiny new toys? Our friend Alec Thomson, Co-Founder & CEO of Riskcast Solutions sat down with us to give his view from inside the space. Check out the full conversation below https://lnkd.in/gXPbkjMh -- Blue Collar Creative

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We’ve all got a bit of a sweet tooth 🍫🙂 Continued exploration into wrangling a few AI models to gain control of timing, pacing, framing etc. This time leaning less into proxy cg for control and limiting approach to prompt and imagery based to work out best options and ways to optimize.

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🎥 New Episode of VFX for Indies – SXSW Panel Part 1 The best long-term budget saver for indie filmmakers? Find your VFX person. Someone you trust. Someone you can call even before the script is written. In this episode, we talk about building that trusted collaboration and why it's the key to successful, cost-effective visual effects on any indie production. 👉 Watch the full episode here: https://bit.ly/45rVv9O #VFXforIndies #VisualEffects #VFX #IndieFilm #FilmmakingTips #PostProduction

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Filmmaking = Collaboration. Check out this article explaining how Lumostage Virtual Production worked with Sim-Plates and ASSIMILATE to bring Canada's only standing subway train set to life!

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My second ''Insight'' for Mixing Light, where I dive deep into the contrast operations in DaVinci Resolve. I explain why they work the way they do, so you can easily replicate the concepts in other software or environments — and, as usual, I give you more reasons to avoid Camera RAW altogether 🫡

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The Academy Software Foundation is such a fantastic resource for artists and studios alike. Like how Big Buck Bunny helped the industry more than a decade ago, these new resources will assist in the formation of tools, processes, and workflows for the next generation.

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