Earlier this year I was asked by the small FX team I work with in studio to host a masterclass on some mathematical concepts they were coming across in their everyday work(using Houdini). It was an interesting challenge to attempt to teach mathematics to a group of artists and whilst the masterclass received a positive reception there were things I could have done better, or prepared better. So now, I am bringing what I have learned from that experience to this blog. 

I have a peculiar background as a VFX artist with a physics degree. This allows me to communicate the connections I see between the seemingly disparate worlds of the technical and the creative. There are many areas of both math and science that form the basis of the tools 3D artists use every day such as linear algebra, materials science, optics, Newtonian mechanics etc. Having an understanding of some of the concepts of these topics can help you to create better art. 

My aim for this series is to communicate concepts as clearly as possible in easy to understand language to build intuition and always make links between these concepts and VFX. I encourage anyone reading this series to send me feedback. I can only improve the content if I have direct feedback from the very audience I'm trying to write it for. 

The first topic I'm going to cover is fundamental and something almost every 3D artist comes across; the Cartesian coordinate system. There will also be some discussion of vectors and scalars. If you would like to suggest any possible topics you would like me to cover(whether in maths, physics or IT) please send an email to steambeanblog@gmail.com.

Take care and stay curious,

- Kit