ARVID SCHNEIDER

I fell in love with VFX back in 2008. What started as curiosity turned into 17 years of lighting pixels for films and shows I grew up dreaming about—from Jurassic World and The Mandalorian to the Emmy-nominated Dune: Prophecy.

My path took me from Trixter Film in Munich (where I started on animated features), to London at MPC and Cinesite working on The Jungle Book, Spectre, and Fantastic Beasts. Four years at ILM on Ready Player One, Aquaman, and The Witcher. Now I'm at Image Engine in Vancouver, supervising lighting on shows like Skeleton Crew.

Beyond the day job, I run a YouTube channel where I share Houdini tutorials and breakdowns. Teaching has been part of my journey since 2012—there's something special about helping others figure out the same things I struggled with. My Patreon community has grown to 1.4K artists, and our Discord is a space where we all learn from each other.

Tools I use daily: Houdini for procedural work and custom tools, Katana with RenderMan for hero lighting, plus Arnold, Karma, or V-Ray depending on the pipeline. A lot of Python scripting to keep things running smooth.

“I believe the best VFX is invisible—it serves the story, not the ego.”