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Build an Epic, Production-Quality VFX Shot from Start to Finish!
Become an outstanding VFX artist, get noticed by clients & studios, and make cool stuff for a living!
Watch the course trailer:
When I first started learning VFX I used to always tell myself: “You’re just one epic VFX shot away…” One great shot away from getting the jobs, clients, attention, and income I dreamed about…
…this Masterclass exists to help you build that VFX shot, from scratch, step by step. I’m going to show you how to start with nothing but a blank 3Ds Max viewport, come up with a cool idea, then walk you through creating a complete production-quality VFX shot. Multiple shots, in fact. From the very beginning (ideation process, previz) to the very end (shading, lighting, rendering, compositing) and everything in between (making the city street environment, animating the camera and cars, tyFlow destruction, Phoenix fluid simulations and so on). We’re simply going to cover everything you see in the trailer above, from start to finish. The entire masterclass consists of over 130 videos, equivalent in scope & depth to 4 of my ‘standard’ courses, all made in the same efficient & beginner-friendly teaching style you’re used to from me. By the time you’re done with the first chapter lessons, you’ll have the skills to come up with, and build, a photorealistic, AAA-quality, All-CG VFX shot, taking your work to new heights.
Enroll now for instant & lifetime access to the all-new Torque: A Film VFX Masterclass by RedefineFX
(compatible with tyFlow Free & tyFlow Pro)
“I’ve literally taken your .max files, changed almost nothing, rendered them, comped them and put them into movies. That’s unheard of.”
– Chris LeDoux, Founder & CEO of Crafty Apes
Crafty Apes’ credits include Stranger Things 4, Spiderman: No Way Home, Army of the Dead, Jumanji, Doctor Strange 2, Justice League and countless others major films & TV shows. The studio heavily uses 3Ds Max, tyFlow & Phoenix and has purchased all RedefineFX courses to-date





Torque is featured in the Official Autodesk Media & Entertainment Showreel 2023
(at 0:55)
Learn Highly Valuable VFX Skills & Book More Jobs
Become an in-demand VFX artist capable of creating so many of the elements most frequently required for TV shows, films, and commercials.
Follow me step-by-step as I setup approximately 25 tyFlow and 12 Phoenix simulations, covering a vast range of skills


There will always be a client/studio/job out there that needs these custom elements
- destruction, dust, debris, sparks, explosions, shockwaves, shattering glass, bending metal…
- these elements never go out of demand, they’re everywhere, in every VFX-heavy production
- master them and you’ll never go hungry
High-Paying Skills You Can Apply in Many CGI Fields
- Hollywood Films
- Episodic TV Shows
- Documentaries (think CGI-heavy space docs. etc)
- Motion Design & High-End Commercials
- Architectural Visualization (add simulations to stand out)
- Product Rendering (every smartphone launch trailer has Hollywood-style VFX these days)
- Social media: Blow up on TikTok & Instagram with VFX-heavy videos
- Filmmakers: Add studio-level VFX to your short films
- VFX students: Build a killer reel that will turn some heads 🙂

Master the Art of Creating Studio-Level AAA Visuals






“We have purchased Jesse’s RedefineFX courses for our studio, loved the way he presented the course material, and decided to reach out to him to join our team for our two simulation-heavy projects for Dell Laptops”
– Dave Greene, Creative Director, IAMSTATIC [their other clients include Toyota, BMW, Asus, Hershey…]
The Torque Film VFX Masterclass = equivalent to multiple standalone courses, valued at $4,500
It’s a tyFlow Destruction Masterclass ($1000 value)
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Could easily be a standalone tyFlow course with how much ground we cover
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We go in-depth on many FX setups that always come up in almost every VFX-heavy project
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Shot 1: Window frames destruction & glass shattering with window frames staying stuck to walls, adding binds and conditions for realistic results, destroying office furniture, and adding flying papers for final details
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Shot 2: Bus stop destruction & rolling car with added damage, debris, front bumper flying off, tyParticleSkin, plexi-glass that breaks but remains attached to the roof, realistic sparks emitting from key impact points. We also have to deal with instancing the bus stop materials & adding additional material IDs
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Shot 3: explosion “firework-style” sparks, destruction debris and car parts flying off, high-speed smoke trail particles acting as sources for Phoenix, light “paper-style” debris being advected by shockwave smoke simulation, spiraling along with smoke. We also create particles that stick to large pieces of debris, creating cool fire trails with Phoenix later on
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Shot 4: bullet hits setup where “bullet particles” hit the wall, stick to it, then emit impact particles to create smoke burst & debris of rocks. Sparks setup on body of car.
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Shot 5: glass shattering & “entering bullet time” setup where simulation ramps down and goes from real time to about 10x slower (we’re not using the tyFlow Retimer here or After Effects time-remapping, the change in speed is all done within tyFlow in order for it to be possible to break the chopper rotors this way in slow-mo)
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Rotors breaking setup – this is completely dynamic. Rotors are PhysX objects that collide dynamically with the car – no keyframes here. Notice that rotors have elasticity/spring to them and they bend upon impact, only snapping if the force crosses a threshold
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lots of secondary stuff happening in this shot, including the helicopter & car glass shattering, lots of sparks, and the car roof gets ripped a bit, too
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Shot 6: everything in shot 5, but in real time. Additional damage to helicopter body upon impact with ground (it gets crushed my the car). Impact debris (car wheel flies off etc.). Helicopter tail hits the ground and gets deformed / ripped with tyFlow’s PhysX metal tearing solver, pieces of heli snap off, additional small sims here to add realism
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Overall, you will gain a deep understanding of how to use a ton of tyFlow’s operators, conditions, and modifiers, to create the desired result, eliminating any fear you may have of using this powerhouse of a plugin.





It’s a Phoenix Pyro Masterclass ($1000 value)
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Car burnout smoke in multiple shots
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Exhaust flames
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Car/bus stop destruction smoke
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Explosion with rolling plumes affected by rotor wash
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Larger debris on fire
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Small debris smoke trails
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Subtle smoke/dust shockwave upon impact
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RGB mixing with multiple sources for smoke and fuel
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Adjusting fuel burning settings to control how much explosion expands, how fast it rises, how quickly it dies off etc.
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Tweaking volumetric rendering settings to get the right explosion shading / look
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Controlling how much the explosion illuminates the environment
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Learning how to avoid “black spots” in smoke, artifacts, rendering pyro FX occluded by atmospheric fog
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RedefineFX is a Chaos Authorized Training Center
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Learn from the first-ever Chaos Phoenix certified instructor
It’s a V-Ray Lighting, Animation. and Rendering Masterclass ($1000 value)
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Learn how to use wide range of Vray light types
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Tackle the challenge of lighting multiple night scenes & achieve the cinematic film look
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IES lights for the car headlights, Disc light for the heli search light
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Mesh lights for the blue neon lights under car
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Add “rim lights” to make hero elements stand out from background
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Add colored lights to add warm/cold lighting contrast to your scenes
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Understand how to use Volumetric Lights to add atmosphere and a ton of realism
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Use Chaos Cosmos to add a ton of assets and models to build our environment
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Add Vray Decals where needed to add dirt, grunge, street markings and other details
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Use textures to add scratches & imperfections everywhere, including road, buildings, car paint, windows and so on.
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Setup & optimize render settings for animation, add render elements. Avoid common pitfalls that will cause flicker in your renders. Troubleshoot sparks that disappear in between frames.
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Adjust Vray Lens Effects to add just the right amount of bloom and glare to the street lights, cop lights, etc.
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Learn how to use Vray’s per-object-properties, setup matte objects to use in compositing (for example to render smoke & fire separately of the environment)




It’s a 3Ds Max Masterclass ($500 value)
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This could be a “Intro to 3Ds Max” course as there is hardly any major 3Ds Max feature we don’t touch in the making of Torque
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learn from someone who’s been using Max for 13+ years & has had a tutorial series sponsored by Autodesk
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watch me use a ton of Max’s features you might not be fluent in, especially if you’re still learning the software
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be confident in using the software to create and organize layers, link objects, use instances, references, adjust pivot points, make objects follow a path, create groups, and other essential Max skills
- Adjust objects on a per-element and per-polygon basis
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animate the car body and car wheels separately (with steering control), animate helicopter and rotor with tyFlow in mind
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animate the camera in a cool way to make shots appear more dynamic & cinematic
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Adjust animation keyframes with the curve editor
It’s an After Effects Compositing Masterclass ($1000 value)
- Learn multi-pass compositing using all the render elements we’ll get from Vray
- Achieve a huge boost in realism, contrast, and detail, using passes
- Add color correction for a cinematic look
- Add lens flares and lens imperfections
- use compositing to fake volumetric fog and save hours of rendering time
- add realistic camera shake, adjust its frequency and amount


“I cannot wait for Torque! I have purchased all of your previous courses and couldn’t be more satisfied with the quality of your lessons and high level of professionalism you maintain.”
– Janusz Gadomski, student enrolled in all RedefineFX courses to-date
Master the Entire VFX Process

Coming up with ideas. planning, and previz

Animate the cars and camera

Setup all tyFlow dynamic FX simulations from scratch

Add secondary FX elements, debris, & sparks

Add smoke simulations with Phoenix

Add Vray decals and surface imperfections to add realism to the environment

Lighting: Add a variety of Vray lights to bring the scene to life

Rendering: it’s all about reducing the render time as much as possible, using every available trick we can use

Compositing & color correction. This is where we put together all the separate render passes, adding a significant amount of realism to our shots.
The Impact of Torque: Making a Splash & Getting Noticed
With over 400,000 total social media views, tens of thousands of engagements, and thousands of new followers & subscribers later, the Torque project didn’t go unnoticed across Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, getting noticed by Tyson Ibele (creator of tyFlow), featured by Chaos (creators of Vray and Phoenix) across all of their social media channels, approached by Autodesk to be featured in their upcoming official Showreel, featured in official Chaos Phoenix developer update video, and also getting a shoutout in 3Ds Max News.




Get 30+ Valuable tyFlow & Phoenix Project Files ($1000 value)

- Follow along & learn faster by taking apart my own project files
- Included are all the FX setups as individual .max files (meaning one file for just explosion, another for just sparks, etc. making it easy to use these as ‘templates’ and merge them into your own scenes
- You can use these freely on commercial work, all good with me
- I’d charge upwards of $50,000 if my studio was hired to setup all of these simulations for individual clients. If this sounds exaggerated to you, note that charging 10-15k per project as an FX artist is not at all uncommon – in fact, the budgets that brands like Dell allow for their 30s all-CG laptop commercials with tons of simulations (like the one I worked on) are easily in the 100k+ budget range.
- The amount of valuable FX setups and knowledge inside Torque can easily pay for the cost of this course, 10 times over, with just one client project or VFX job
“Thank you for all your courses! They are so valuable and packed with knowledge! I’ve already bought four of them.”
– Anna, CG artist at Vistas Design, student enrolled in multiple courses
Learn from a Chaos Certified Instructor, Autodesk Excellence Award Winner, and The Rookie Awards Judge

About Your Instructor, Jesse Pitela:
- Founder of RedefineFX teaching VFX to 50K+ subscribers
- Official Judge in The Rookie Awards 2023
- Autodesk Excellence Award Winner (2022)
- First ever Chaos Phoenix Certified Instructor
- Recent projects include: Dell, Hershey
- Autodesk AREA Member of the Month (2022)
- Freelance 3D Artist (120+ clients served over 6 years, incl. Western Digital, Symantec, Shutterstock…)
- Winner of Cebas VFX Challenge (2016)
- Jury Prize for Best Trailer Award – Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival 2016
- Winner – Best Short Action Film – Hollywood Boulevard Film Festival 2016
Hi, I’m Jesse and I started RedefineFX in 2018 out of pure frustration of not being able to find the kind of VFX training I was looking for – something concise that shows you the entire process, so you walk away with a finished, presentable result, rather than just a viewport preview of the setup. Building the RedefineFX community has been my most rewarding career accomplishment so far. It would be my pleasure to see you inside Torque.
Recognized by Chaos, Creators of Vray & Phoenix

Word of Mouth from the 3Ds Max Community:
“Jesse Pitela’s exceptional ability to break down complex visual effects into approachable tutorials which the community loves, has made him one of our top creators & educators, and has ultimately led to him receiving the Autodesk Excellence Award. I can’t wait to see what he creates next with our products!”
– Eric Borque, Vice President of Content Creation, Media & Entertainment, Autodesk



Bonus 10-video “Fundamental Skills” Mini-Course Included!
I make sure you can follow the main course even if you’re a newbie to tyFlow & Phoenix
- all main PhysX operators visually explained
- watch how changing PhysX bind settings affects the simulation
- better understand how to setup metal sims and affect its spring, twist, rigidity and bendability
- separate objects into tyFlow Particle Groups for a huge increase in destruction realism
- break binds using the PhysX Break operator
- get an introduction to Pyro simulations with Chaos Phoenix
- learn how to generate fuel, and set it on fire gradually using hot temperature
- use Chaos Cosmos to add surface imperfections to our environment
- Overview of Vray CPU vs. GPU rendering, including quality and speed comparison and my exact rendering settings I used to render Torque

English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean & Japanese Subtitles Now Available!*




After many student requests, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese subtitles are currently available for the entire course. Additional languages are in the works.
*The subtitles are A.I. generated, however they are amazingly accurate.
What You Will Learn: Masterclass Outline
Chapter 1: Introduction
- Breaking down Torque and what to expect from the course
- Finding inspiration & getting ideas
- Determining Your end goal
- Setting realistic expectations
- Preparing 3Ds Max before we start (setting up useful shortcuts etc.)
- The differences between tyFlow Free, Pro, and Beta
- PC Hardware overview and recommendations
Chapter 2: Fundamental Skills
- PhysX Bind Settings Explained
- Proximity Bind
- Breaking & Bending PhysX Binds
- PhysX Switch & Kinematic objects
- PhysX Break Operator
- Particle Groups explained
- Intro to Pyro sims with Phoenix
- Vray GPU vs. CPU rendering overview
- Adding surface imperfections
Chapter 3: Planning & Previz
- Planning the project and how I structure things
- Shot 01 Previz
- Shot 02 Previz
- Shot 03 Previz
- Shot 04 Previz
- Shot 05 Previz
- Shot 06 Previz
- Shot 07 Previz
- Shot 08 Previz
Chapter 4: Shot 01 - Office Carnage
- preparing the 3D models
- Organizing the project
- preparing cars for animation
- animating the mustang
- animating the camera
- animating the police car
- tyflow destruction models prep
- proxy tyflow setup to check on speed of things
- adding “snap off the curb” animation to cars
- tyflow destruction part 01
- tyflow destruction part 02
- tyflow destruction part 03
- tyflow destruction part 04
- tyflow destruction part 05
- tyflow destruction part 06
- tyflow destruction part 07
- tyflow destruction part 08
- tyflow destruction part 09
- tyflow destruction part 10
- tyflow destruction part 11
- tyflow destruction part 12
- extra debris on ground
- falling papers
- sparks
- destruction final tweaks
- phoenix burnout smoke
- exhaust flames
- environment part 01
- environment part 02
- lighting part 01
- lighting part 02
- lighting part 03
- lighting part 04
- lighting part 05
- lighting part 06
- lighting part 07
- rendering part 01
- rendering part 02
- rendering part 03
- rendering part 04
- compositing part 01
- compositing part 02
- compositing part 03
- final re-render
Chapter 5: Shot 02 - Bus Stop Destruction
- intro to shot 02
- environment part 01
- environment part 02
- animating
- rolling the car
- tyflow destruction part 01
- tyflow destruction part 02
- tyflow destruction part 03
- tyflow destruction part 04
- tyflow destruction part 05
- tyflow destruction part 06
- tyflow destruction part 07
- tyflow destruction part 08
- extra mechanical debris
- sparks
- car damage part 01
- car damage part 02
- car damage part 03
- adding car details
- phoenix burnout
- phoenix car rolling smoke
- fixing and lighting part 01
- fixing and lighting part 02
- fixing and lighting part 03
- rendering
- compositing part 01
- compositing part 02
Chapter 6: Shot 03 - Rotor Wash Explosion
- intro to shot 03
- environment
- animation
- rotor wash explosion part 01
- rotor wash explosion part 02
- rotor wash explosion part 03
- tyflow destruction
- debris on fire part 01
- debris on fire part 02
- shockwave
- fast explosion smoke trails
- firework style sparks
- fluid force FX falling papers / street debris
- extra mechanical explosion debris
- burnout smoke
- animating the helicopter to react to explosion
- lighting part 01
- lighting part 02
- phoenix volumetric render settings: improving look of explosion
- rendering part 01
- adding dirt with Vray Decals
- rendering part 02
- compositing
Chapter 7: Shot 04 - Bullet Hits
- intro to shot 04
- shot breakdown
- tyflow bullet hits
- phoenix smoke bullet hits
- tire tracks with tyflow
- compositing overview
Chapter 8: Shots 5 & 6 Overview
- Shot 05 breakdown
- shot 06 breakdown
Chapter 9: Shot 07 - Slow-mo Helicopter Rotors Destruction
- environment part 01
- environment part 02
- animating part 01
- animating part 02
- tyflow destruction part 01
- tyflow destruction part 02
- tyflow destruction part 03
- tyflow destruction part 04
- tyflow destruction part 05
- tyflow destruction part 06
- heli glass destruction
- car glass destruction
- sparks
- car damage
- fixing and adding details
- lighting
- rendering part 01
- rendering part 02
- phoenix smoke
- final fixes
- compositing
Chapter 10: Shot 08 - The Final Explosion
- intro to shot 08
- environment
- animating
- tyflow destruction part 01
- tyflow destruction part 02
- tyflow destruction part 03
- tyflow destruction part 04
- tyflow destruction part 05
- tyflow destruction part 06
- additional impact debris
- sparks
- shockwave with papers
- glass destruction
- firework sparks
- phoenix explosion
- fast smoke trails
- lighting and rendering part 01
- lighting and rendering part 02
- compositing
” The way Jesse Pitela translates his own tyFlow mastery into easy-to-follow lessons makes it possible for anyone to create mind-blowing effects. His comprehensive VFX courses have become a staple of the tyFlow community. Highly recommended!”
– Tyson Ibele, Creator of tyFlow

NEW: FRESH REACTIONS FROM ENROLLED STUDENTS!






Acquire valuable skills that will help you earn more
Here’s everything you’ll get

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130+ beginner-friendly videos showing you the entire process
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Learn from an award-winning VFX artist, Chaos Authorized Instructor, Autodesk Excellence Award Winner, and a pro 3Ds Max user (10+years experience)
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Fundamental Skills Mini-Course
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Instant access to the whole course (no “terms” or “weeks”)
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Access to a beautiful learning platform with lecture progress
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Subtitles now available in English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese
Torque Masterclass – > Equivalent in depth to a standalone:
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tyFlow Destruction Masterclass ($1000 value)
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Chaos Phoenix Pyro Masterclass ($1000 value)
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Vray Lighting & Rendering Masterclass ($1000 value)
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After Effects Compositing Masterclass ($1000 value)
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3Ds Max Masterclass ($500 value)
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PLUS Project files for all tyFlow & Phoenix FX setups included ($1000 value)
Total value of learning material: $5,500
Make the Investment in Your VFX Career Future
$795
one-time payment
Enjoy lifetime access to the course
Applicable tax will be added at checkout depending on your country of origin.
Secured checkout powered by Teachable.
Your Most Frequent Questions:
Do I need tyFlow Pro?
I'm a complete beginner, is this course for me?
How does Torque compare to your other courses?
Do you cover everything that's in the trailer?
Yes. Previz. Animation. Dynamics. Lighting. Rendering. Compositing. It’s all there.
What other software do I need?
What PC do I need for this?
Are the 3D models included?
Are the project files included?
Project files for all tyFlow & Phoenix FX setups are included. I can’t include the Chaos Cosmos models with the course, for legal reasons. Parking garage 3D model is included as I modeled it myself.
Are there subtitles available?
YES! English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese subtitles are currently available for the entire Torque course.
Update: after running a poll on Instagram I’ve gotten requests for subtitles in 12+ more languages. If the language barrier is stopping you from enrolling, please let me know what subtitles you’d like to see. I’ll add them based on demand.
Is there a sample lesson from the course I could watch?
This is a sample lesson from the Fundamental Skills chapter. Torque contains over 130 more videos just like this one.
When does the course start and finish?
This is a completely self-paced online course. I’ve made the lessons bite-sized so you can make progress every day without feeling overwhelmed.
How long do I have access to the course?
You get lifetime access, meaning you get to access the courses for as long as RedefineFX exists.
Do I get a Certificate?
Yes! Upon completion of all lessons, you will automatically receive a unique Certificate of Completion.
Didn’t find an answer to your question?
Want to enroll in multiple courses? (Bundle pricing available)
Email: jesse@redefinefx.com
“The tutorials & courses from RedefineFX are always top quality material.”
– Eloi Andaluz Fullà, FX Artist at ScanlineVFX and creator of 3Ds Max News


