The Making of a Viral VFX Artist: Alain Bui's Journey to Creative Freedom

Alain Bui is a name that is popping up more and more in the world of VFX.  His signature style, blending  seamless character animation with mind-bending visual effects, has not only earned him a devoted following on social media but has also attracted the attention of major brands. Alain's work has been featured in campaigns for industry giants like Pixar, EA, and Square Enix, as well as household names like Lysol and Best Buy. He even caught the eye of internet illusionist Zach King, landing a coveted role as his VFX supervisor. But Alain's path to success wasn't a typical one. This rising star in the VFX world actually began his academic journey in pre-med, proving that sometimes the most exciting careers are found by taking the road less traveled. 

In this in-depth interview, we explore Alain's unconventional journey to creative freedom, his unique approach to VFX, and the transformative impact of motion capture technology on his work.

‍
Watch the full interview below

‍

Alain, your background is quite surprising for a VFX artist. Can you tell us about your journey?

Ever since high school, I've always been interested in visual effects. Back then, I was doing After Effects, you know, Andrew Kramer, Video Copilot, all of those things. When I went to college, I was pre-med, so I kind of stopped doing the film and visual effects stuff. But once COVID hit, I had a bunch of free time. I saw people doing really cool stuff in 3D, in Element 3D, and I was like, 'Well, I want to learn how to do that.' So I downloaded Element 3D, played around with it for a week, and then realized, 'Why am I playing around with Element 3D when I could just learn a full 3D package?' So then I hopped into Cinema 4D for a little bit and realized I had to pay for everything. Then I found out about Blender, which is completely free, and I was like, 'That's what I'm gonna go for!' I don't have to pay for anything, the render is built in. So I started learning Blender in my free time after work. I was trying to do a render a day, and I did that for a bit. Then I started posting on social media, and, yeah, it pretty much took off from there!

That's when Zach King entered the picture, right?

Yeah! It's crazy. He just sent me an email. If I had no idea who Zach was, I would have just let that email go to spam. The title of the email was something like, 'Your VFX is really cool.' And the body of the email was, 'I really like your stuff, you should come and visit my studio.' And then it was like, 'ZK,' and then, like, 'Zach at King Studio,' or something, you know? From there, he offered me a full-time job as his visual effects supervisor, which was crazy to me at the time. I was just getting into this field. I was like, 'This is crazy!' But yeah, that was an amazing experience.

What was it like working with Zach King?

It was an amazing experience. I was with Zach for two years, and then I decided to leave earlier this year to pursue my own stuff full time, but I'm incredibly grateful for the time I spent at his studio.

Looking at your work, you seem to be skilled in many different areas of 3D. How would you describe your approach?

I definitely feel like I put a lot of emphasis into learning Houdini, just because I feel like it's so difficult to get good at it. I just love simulations. I love what you're able to make in Houdini, but I wouldn't say I specialize in anything in particular. I kind of just learn what I need to know to make my ideas.

One of the things that stands out in your work is your character animation. How has motion capture influenced your process?

When I was starting out, I feel like everybody starts trying to hand-animate stuff themselves. Then you realize how difficult it is to get those really small movements that humans do... I always struggled with that. I still struggle with character animation like crazy. I started with hand animation, and then, of course, I would use Mixamo animations. I feel like we've used those so much now that we can recognize them when we see them in other people's projects. You know, 'Oh, that's walk cycle number two.' I was using a lot of Mixamo animations and mixing those together. Then when I first used the Rokoko suit, it was crazy to me. I was like, 'Whoa, I can get any animation now, just like that!' When I first started using the Rokoko suit, it sped up my projects a ton. Even now, I don't think there's a week that goes by where I don't use it at least once.

Can you give us some specific examples of how mocap has impacted your projects?

100%, there are so many projects, so many project ideas that I would never... for example, when I get a brand deal, there are so many ideas that I would never have even pitched if I didn't have the mocap on hand. Just because I know it would take me so long to get decent-looking character animation. I did a brand deal for Lysol where I made this Lysol superhero, and he fights these germs. I finished that one in, I think, two full days. I did an all-nighter, did all the mocap in one day, and then spent time putting it all together and rendered it out the next day. That would not have been possible without mocap. I would never have even pitched that idea. I just recently did one for Best Buy, where it's this sketch character coming to life. I haven't posted it yet, but I also used the Rokoko suit for that one. The whole idea of the video is that he comes to life, and then he walks along the table and looks at all the items. That one, also, I would have never pitched because it wouldn't have been possible without mocap.

It sounds like mocap has not only improved the quality of your work but also your efficiency. How important is that for you as a content creator working with brands?

Oh, 100%! Even if you just go through my profile, every few videos, there's some type of character animation. It really adds a lot of quality to your stuff, and you're able to produce it at a way faster rate. The deadlines are usually really quick for branded stuff, and without mocap... I wouldn't even pitch these ideas. There'd probably be no character animation ideas if I didn't have the suit, just because of how fast the deadlines are. There's no way that I would be able to finish these types of videos in the amount of time that I have for these branded projects.

Can you walk us through your typical mocap workflow?

Usually, I'll start off with a pre-made character, or I'll make the character myself. Then you have to rig it, and my go-to add-on is Auto-Rig Pro. I use that for both the rigging and the retargeting, because it lets you set the rest pose to the same position as the Rokoko mocap. That saves a lot of time. I rig it with Auto-Rig Pro, and then I retarget all the mocap from Rokoko. From there, if I need to bring it into Houdini for a simulation, then it's usually just Alembic. Once I'm done simulating in Houdini, I export back out to Alembic and then back to Blender.

What advice would you give to other artists who are considering incorporating mocap into their workflow?

It is, like a pretty, like, big investment, I feel... so my advice is to try out, like, Rokoko video or any of the other video ones first, and then if you find that you're using that really often, then to, like, consider getting a suit, because then I feel like the suit is the next step up from there. It's just easier to get, you know, good, good animation from it... if you find yourself needing this really often, then, and you're not, like crazy good at character animation, you know, then I feel like you should consider looking into, like, getting a mo cap suit, a Rokoko suit, whatever it may be.

Any final thoughts or exciting upcoming projects you can share with us?

I'm really excited about the new MPM solver in Houdini... it makes mixing different type of simulations really easy... it's using the GPU I believe so it's a lot faster... I've been using it a lot and just like playing around with it and it works really really well... I'm also having fun exploring the potential of AI tools like ChatGPT for troubleshooting and creative inspiration. As for upcoming projects, I have a few exciting things in the works, but you'll have to stay tuned to see what they are!

‍

We want to thank Alain for taking the time to share his insights and experiences with us.

Be sure to follow Alain on Instagram & TikTok to keep up with his latest creations!

Don't miss the upcoming Rokoko x Alain Bui: 90-Minute Holiday VFX “Bake” Off!