VES Germany invites you to join us at the upcoming worldwide VES Megabrain Masterclass, which will include top industry professionals covering a wealth of topics.

Date: April the 3rd (Thursday)

Time: 11:00 am PDT / 3:00 pm EDT / 8:00 pm CET

Zoom Webinar

VES members, please login to RSVP at the bottom of the page!
Spots are limited to the first 100 attendees, so be sure to register today!

SESSION 1 : Agile Unlocked: An alternative way to manage your project

Dr. Diana Arellano
Senior Lecturer Technical Direction at Animationsinstitut Baden Wuerttemberg

Dr. Diana Arellano is currently Senior Lecturer for Technical Directing at the Animationsinstitut of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. She is responsible for shaping the curriculum, guiding and mentoring Technical Directing students in their exploration of new technological frontiers while gaining hands-on professional experience.
Previously, Diana served as Senior Manager for Software Development at Accenture Song Content in Stuttgart, Germany, where she led agile teams, bringing structure and best practices in agile project management to internal teams and client projects.
She holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Balearic Islands, Spain, specializing in Affective Computing. Beyond academia and industry, she is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, having (co-)organized panel discussions on Women in CG and Visual Arts at renowned conferences such as SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, FMX, and Ars Electronica.
A long-time ACM SIGGRAPH volunteer since 2007 – beginning as Student Volunteer – Diana served as the SIGGRAPH 2022 Student Volunteer Program Chair and currently holds the position of SIGGRAPH 2025 Executive Committee Liaison.

SESSION 2: Create Compelling Characters for Film in Houdini with Solaris and RenderMan

Christopher Herrick
CG Supervisor, VFX Generalist, Character Artist

Christopher Herrick is a CG Supervisor, VFX Generalist and Character Artist who has worked on films such as Godzilla X Kong, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Ant Man and the Wasp and Black Panther.

He is known for creating highly complex and realistic 3d assets for film at vfx studios such as DNEG and Method. He also has extensive experience in lighting, comp, fx, animation, rigging, tracking and many other disciplines.

He enjoys home remodeling, cooking, hiking, japanese knife restoration and weightlifting. His favorite beer is stout and favorite movie is Alien.

SESSION 3: Math for Artists

Sebastian Schütt
Lead Compositor – Image Engine

Sebastian Schütt – a.k.a. Your Favorite German Compositor

Sebastian Schütt is a Lead Compositor at Image Engine in Vancouver, Canada
and has been working in the Visual Effects industry for over 15 years.

Throughout his career, he has worked at ILM, DNEG, Digital Domain, MPC, Scanline, Trixter, Rise FX and more,
contributing to films and TV shows like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One, The Mandalorian,
Interstellar, The Jungle Book, The Avengers, Game of Thrones, Transformers, and Aquaman.

But beyond the pixels and nodes, Sebastian enjoys teaching,
dedicated to breaking down the art of compositing to its core principles — math, optics, and physics.
He believes that true mastery in compositing comes from understanding the “why” before the “how”,
giving artists not just technical skills but also creative freedom without boundaries.