HOLLYWOOD — VFX studio Engine Room (www.engineroomhollywood.com) is now hosting QuickFX.com, a cloud-based visual effects service platform curated and operated by a team of veteran VFX supervisors, who coordinate an expansive and seasoned pool of industry artists. The concept dates back a half a dozen years, when the company had a vision of what the VFX business could become: high-end visual effects services that are instantly accessible to content producers anywhere.
“QuickFX is about the future of VFX production and the VFX business,” explains VFX supervisor and Engine Room founder Dan Schmit. “In this quarantined world, the paradigm shifted 180 degrees, from studios requiring their VFX companies to have a physical facility, to that same asset becoming a liability, especially for the vendor who has to shoulder the cost. Suddenly, there is more safety with remote teams that are spread out.”
Schmit acknowledges that much VFX production has been produced remotely for years, but QuickFX.com is different in the way teams are connected. “It’s been built to unite clients and artists in seamless collaboration,” he explains.
Engine Room, the production muscle behind QuickFX, has a near-20-year history in Hollywood, where it has been producing thousands of visual effects shots each year for movie studios, broadcast, streaming networks and advertising. After witnessing the decades-long flight of visual effects work from California, Schmit is especially interested in keeping work local.
“The end-goal is to deliver great VFX shots, fast and affordable, making Hollywood more globally competitive,” he says. “Our clients get the advantage of knowing that we are choosing the right experienced people for their project. It’s all about the talent, which we have an abundance of here in Los Angeles, the birthplace of the VFX industry.”
QuickFX.com, runs on the AWS cloud platform and is a complete VFX ecosystem, allowing content makers to launch VFX projects from any computer to get fast quotes, greenlight jobs, review shots and receive final delivery, much of which can be managed through any mobile device.
“While there are other management platforms out there for VFX, QuickFX, as a service interface, is specifically focused on both the production side and the business side of VFX,” says Schmit. “We have an e-commerce component allowing producers to pay with credit card or purchase order, all from within their project portal. Everyone is working within the same interface.”
QuickFX custom VFX services include cinema level compositing of green/blue screen, screen replacements, 3D CGI effects, light effects, fire, light, explosions, crowd duplications, cosmetic work, paint effects, sign replacement, set extensions, and much more. Engine Room is TPN compliant, and both Engine Room and QuickFX are Disney-Marvel content security-approved.