Compositing As an FX Artist?

[Harper]

 I'm a 3rd year uni student aiming to be an FX artist. I would like to foucs my last year on a good demo reel. To that end, how much compositing do you do as an FX Artist in your studio?

[bunker]

I would suggest some basic Nuke for FX slapcomps at least.
Also some keying and roto knowledge can come handy for garbage mattes.

[Skybar]

Slapcomps is great, if only for yourself, to be able to judge how your FX will hold up. It's usually easier to get it approved too if it looks good and is shown in context. You dont have to be a compgod, but it definitely helps. Say you're doing sparks, showing the particles against black will probably get you nowhere - but if you apply a glow and put it on the plate with some basic roto it might get approved straight away. It depends on what effect you are doing too, a rigid body sim might not need a lot of comp but a magic effect is probably consisting of mostly comp to create the effect.