This is by far the most random episode on the podcast so far! As Chad, Hnedel, Sol and Allan gather together over a few beers and do a free for all discussing a lot to do with the industry, film, virtual reality as well as process, pipeline and people. Lots of great insight, as we progressively get drunker and drunker!

show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/37

Fred Ruff has been well known in the industry for his vast contributions for over 20 years working originally for Autodesk as a Max product manager and having influenced many areas of Max including the design of Particle Flow - Fred is a VFX Supervisor at Refuge VFX supervising the hit tv show Grimm.

In this episode we discuss a lot of the history of CG, software slamming and the timeline of max and other software tools, studio pipelines and vfx as a business - but we also focus a lot on Medieval Monster's - the new tv show for Animal Planet that Fred is executive producing and also the creator of.

We all have those long tail goals of wanting to make something of our own, and to all of us seeing 3D artists who grow into taking charge and creating their own property's and going after their big goals, this can be inspiring for all of us to see and understand the journey and see how this applies to our own careers.

This episode focuses on an artist going into the industry to launching his own studio and then creating their own tv show content and productions at their vfx facility. Really amazing and insightful, check it out!

Visit the shownotes at http://www.allanmckay.com/36/

This episode we dive right into what it takes to launch your own studio. Such a big subject and so much to cover - if you want to know more go to http://www.allanmckay.com/35/ leave a comment #Iwanttoknowmore! and I will gladly put together a step by step episode series on the business strategy and steps necessary involved in launching a visual effects studio!

This episode is all about how impactful having mentors or experts in your life can be, and modeling those you idolize or see as successful. The key is to push yourself out of your comfort zone and find those that are able to push you and inspire you as well.

This isn't about finding 'the one' mentor but finding mentors for every part of your life and for those areas that you are going through in your life 'right now'.

Learning to ask for help and how to actually go about it, and identifying experts that are in a position to help you, and how you can truly benefit from them.

One of the most important things you are probably neglecting is not idenifying people and seeking them out to mentor you and push you to greatness.