GridMarkets Blog

Houdini artist Rafael Drelich Valentim merges creativity and AI with his ComfyUI Toolkit, letting artists run diffusion models, AI-driven animation, and batch image processing directly in Houdini. From Brazil to Canada, his journey shows how GenAI can enhance and not replace some VFX workflows.

Independent filmmaker and VFX director Neil Scholes shares his journey from commercial work to creating original IP, founding Bloodaxe Studios, and building the ambitious Supervoid franchise. He reveals how embracing generalist skills, micro-budget experimentation, and cloud rendering empowered him to compete on a global scale.

How a remote VFX team delivered a high-profile studio-quality CG animation. Six fully CG-animated 15-second shots displayed across digital screens in NY and LA.

Álvaro Conejo Cañaveras 3D artist, Rookie Awards Finalist, Draft Selection, Portfolio of the Week, Grade A Quality Certificate, and Editor’s Choice Award.

Aleksandr Kirichenko’s journey from IT into the world of FX and Houdini is a story of persistence, discovery, and creative problem-solving. What began with web design and early experiments in drawing and music gradually evolved into a passion for storytelling through digital art, 3D modeling, and animation. Along the way, Aleksandr embraced Houdini for its scalability and freedom, tackled ambitious projects like his animated short Strive, and learned hard lessons about optimi

Interview with Marcelo Cermak, award-winning FX Technical Director and Visual Effects Artist. Fluid dynamics has become his specialty.

Yuansi ‘Ivy’ Mai is a FX artist graduated from Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Los Angeles. Her artwork was recognized with Best of Term prize and collected to school reel of 2024. She is a talented and detail-oriented artist coming from a 2D illustration and media background.

Manuela Elena Cárdenas de la Miyar is a Junior FX  Artist based in Seville, Spain. She studied the Master of VFX and Compositing at Animum Creativity Advanced School in 2023, Málaga, Spain. She also has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Granada, Spain.

Loay Ahmed Maher Shaban is a talented 3D Creature Animator with a deep passion for creature animation. Renowned for his exceptional acting choices and dynamic, believable mechanics, he has proven to be a reliable and skilled member of his team, even when faced with complex and challenging shots.

Josh Meister is a recent graduate of IUPUI's Computer Graphics Technology program with a lifelong passion for visual effects. He has honed his skills in industry-standard tools like Houdini, Nuke, and Maya. In this interview, he shares insights into his Black Hole Rendering Engine project.

Guilherme Casagrandi is a seasoned VFX Technical Director and Pipeline TD, and the founder of HardcoreFX, a visual effects studio based in São Paulo, Brazil. Guilherme has contributed to several high-profile projects in the film and television industry.​

From computer science to cinematic simulations, this VFX artist spotlight explores Siddharth Baxi’s journey through over 17 feature films and episodic productions. Learn how he blends procedural workflows, large-scale FX, and technical precision in Houdini—while using GridMarkets to deliver complex simulations on time and at scale.

From paper sculptures in high school to fluid simulations in Houdini, VFX artist Travis Rainford has carved a unique path into the world of dynamic effects. In this interview, he shares how he found his passion, the projects that shaped him, and how GridMarkets helped him render complex shots in minutes instead of days.

Explore the story behind our featured artist Ricardo Leon, whose blend of Houdini FX, grooming, and Unreal Engine brings cinematic ideas to life.

In this Corridor Digital spotlight, journey behind the scenes with the creators redefining online action and VFX. Discover how their signature style, visual innovation, and fearless experimentation built one of the internet’s most iconic filmmaking brands.

Victor Martinez went from growing up on Pokémon and Halo to building AAA visual effects for major game studios. In this interview, the Lead VFX Artist shares how he switched careers, moved countries without speaking English, and built a portfolio powered by curiosity, experimentation, and a deep love for games.

From folding cities in Inception to award-nominated FX on Star Wars: Visions 2, Virginia Cantaro’s journey is driven by a passion for procedural storytelling. A freelance Houdini FX Artist with over a decade of experience, Virginia has contributed to Academy Award–winning films, high-end television, and experimental motion design—while sharing her knowledge as an educator and embracing efficient cloud rendering with GridMarkets.

Facing increasingly complex renders and non-negotiable deadlines, Spain’s leading post-production studio USER T38 turned to GridMarkets’ cloud rendering platform. In collaboration with Trigital, the studio seamlessly scaled its infrastructure, accelerated delivery timelines, and preserved the cinematic quality behind projects like Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim.

From early experiments in 3D modeling to tackling an ambitious tsunami simulation for his final Master’s project, Mattia Ghidotti is an emerging FX artist driven by curiosity and technical challenge. In this interview, he shares his journey into Houdini, the complexity behind managing large-scale water simulations, and how GridMarkets enabled him to render hundreds of gigabytes of data efficiently—proving that students can achieve professional-level results with the right too

Maria Sahai’s creative path bridges photography, visual effects, and education. A professional photographer turned Houdini FX artist, Maria has contributed to major productions including Dune: Part Two, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. In this interview, she shares how observation and photography shape her FX work, her approach to teaching the next generation of artists, and how GridMarkets enables her to create complex simulations wit