HI, I'M

ALLANMCKAY

VFX SUPERVISOR + TECHNICAL DIRECTOR + ADVISOR

But I'm also a founder of an AI startup, and on several advisory boards, and in the past 5 years getting heavy into programming computer vision and generative AI.

I am also on the board of Visual Effects Society, Oregon as the co-chairman, and a Podcast host of a Podcast I started back in 2014, still going strong on it's way to 500 episodes! Focused on helping artists leverage a successful career, both with actional episodes tailored to helping creatives understand all things business.

Including negotiating, building their brand and a thriving career - as well as interviewing top talent in all creative industries to gain insights that they can leverage in their career as well! Whether it's studio owners, vendor or production VFX Supervisors and Producers, but also Feature Film Directors, artists and more!

I love working with talented teams (and building them) both in production and post-production. Whether it's consulting or doing 911 jobs, but also working on set and in post. I still get to be on the box from time to time which keeps me grounded and my finger on the pulse in terms of new technology and solutions. I'm weird, because I love photograph and filming, but also programming and management. I definitely see the creative side to managing projects and teams and how to get the best work and creativity from individuals rather than just seeing teams as a functioning machine.

I’ve been working in Visual Effects for over 28 years now, coming originally from Australia back in the 90’s. These days, I work mainly as a VFX Supervisor and Technical Director.

Some of the more recent projects I’ve worked on include Shogun, Quantum Leap, Superman & Lois, Little Wing, Avengers Endgame, Bloodshot, God of War Ragnarök, Destiny, Call of Duty Black Ops III, The Runaways, Halo, The Equalizer, Star Trek Into Darkness, Looper, Flight, Superman, Metallica, 2012, The Last Airbender, Daybreakers, Transformers  3 and many others.

I’ve worked on a few awesome projects in the past decade or so that won various awards I was tied to, from Emmy’s, Oscar’s, VES awards, ProMax and one I’m particularly proud of was in 2007 when I was awarded as an Autodesk Master — which I’m really honored to receive.

I’ve gotten to work with some amazing studios, and amazing directors, over my career, from Michael Bay, Tim Miller, Roland Emmerich, Robert Zemeckis, M Night Shyamalan, Brian Singer, and studios like Industrial Light + Magic (ILM), Blur Studio, Prime Focus, Catastrophic FX, Atomic Fiction, Pixomondo, and lots of others.

My roots go back to working on video games like Prototype, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock and loads of other games in the late 90's and early 2000's.

Sharing What I've Learned

I started building tutorials, training content, and writing for magazines like 3D World and others in the 90’s, and I've now been published in quite a few books. For over the past decade, I’ve been having a blast getting to speak all over the world at various big conferences like SIGGRAPH, Autodesk University and others, as well as collaborating with Autodesk on a lot of projects where I’ve gotten to travel.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed is training with studios, as it’s a chance to meet new teams and work on various problems or areas they want to learn more about — and to help them grow their skill-sets within their team. I’ve done intense training sessions, talks etc. at ILM, Ubisoft, Activision, Frantic Films, Prime Focus, Remedy Games and many others — and it’s always been such a great experience getting to do this! If this is something you might ever be interested in, let me know!