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Fix It In Prompt

Alex Villabón & Doug Hogan

Fix It In Prompt is a podcast about VFX, AI, and the messy middle where new tools meet real production. Hosted by VFX veterans Alex Villabón and Doug Hogan, the show looks past the one-click hype to talk tools, workflows, ethics, client reality, and the craft that still matters when generative AI enters the pipeline.

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  • 7 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 1 hr 9 min
  • English

Episodes 7

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  • S1 · E8
    September 15 · 1 hr 15 min

    The VFX Artist’s Job Is Changing - With Guest Victor Perez | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 008

    AI VFX is getting more capable by the week, but Victor Perez makes the case that the real job is still curiosity, taste, and knowing what decision to make next. This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan are joined by VFX supervisor, director, and educator Victor Perez. They talk through Astra’s growing Blender capabilities, why artists should treat new tools as a creative paradigm shift rather than a magic button, and how the same playful experimentation that built a career in Nuke still matters now. We get into Victor’s new AI for Film and VFX book, open versus closed models, workstation realities, DiffHDR’s LDR-to-HDR workflow, GPT Images 2.5’s more surgical edits, and the wonderfully janky Astra-in-Blender Rickroll. Along the way: pixels, proxies, heat, community, and why “Will Smith eating spaghetti” may have a new 3D benchmark. 💬 Where are you drawing the line between a stable production workflow and the newest AI experiment? Let us know in the comments. 📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE OpenAI — Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.5: https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-images-2-5/ Eyeline Labs, Netflix, and Texas A&M — DiffHDR: Re-Exposing LDR Videos with Video Diffusion Models: https://eyeline-labs.github.io/DiffHDR/ Victor Perez — Generative AI for Film and VFX: From Creative Concepts to Studio-Ready Workflows: https://www.routledge.com/Generative-AI-for-Film-and-VFX-From-Creative-Concepts-to-Studio-Ready-Workflows/Perez/p/book/9781041235927 GPT-6 Astra Rickroll recreated in Blender: https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1w9aeyk/gpt6_astra_rickroll_in_blender/ Will Smith eating spaghetti, made with Astra in Blender: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DdABYePTpgK/ ⏱️ TIMECODES 00:00 Welcome Victor Perez 02:47 Astra changes the conversation 07:00 Curiosity beats fear 10:01 Directing the tool instead of pressing a magic button 13:20 The Shake-to-Nuke transition—and learning the next tool 19:13 Artist first, technician second 22:02 Astra makes a ’90s sitcom starring Doug’s dog 27:03 Open weights, trust, and stable workflows 32:01 Victor’s production-minded AI VFX book 39:14 Future-proof ideas and AI-assisted editing 48:12 DiffHDR and inventing HDR data from LDR footage 57:15 GPT Images 2.5, precise edits, and Astra demand 01:05:04 Breaking realism to find new stories 01:10:33 Astra, Blender, Rickroll, and the next spaghetti benchmark #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #ComfyUI #Blender #Nuke #ChatGPTImages #DiffHDR #GenerativeAI #Filmmaking #VisualEffects

  • S1 · E7
    September 8 · 1 hr 23 min

    What GPT-6 Astra Means for VFX Artists | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 007

    GPT-6 Astra is not a one-click VFX solution, but it may be the first tool that makes a lot of specialists ask what else they could build. This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan hit the bat signal for an emergency episode about GPT-6 Astra and what its computer-use abilities mean for VFX, 3D, and creative work. We talk about NVIDIA’s acquisition of Hugging Face, World Labs’ Atlas world model, and the difference between watching a demo and actually handing a model a task. Then we get into Astra building and revising Blender scenes, Godot, guiding ComfyUI workflows, blocking shots for Seedance, matching a DaVinci grade, and turning a vague submarine-game idea into something Doug could play with his son. The useful part is not that the first pass is perfect. It is that artists can bring taste, notes, context, and production judgment to tools that can now do much more of the execution. 💬 What have you actually handed to a computer-use model—and where did you still need to provide taste, notes, or production judgment? 📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE World Labs — Atlas: A World Model for Spatial Intelligence: https://www.worldlabs.ai/blog/atlas OpenAI — GPT-6 Astra: A New Generation of Intelligence: https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/ Reddit — Fable 5.1 vs GPT-6 Astra in Blender: https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/comments/1w7ppcj/fable_51_vs_gpt_6_astra_3d_blender_mind_blowing/ Reddit — GPT-6 Astra building a 3D game with Blender MCP: https://www.reddit.com/r/accelerate/comments/1w7nzal/dude_gpt6_astra_is_some_kind_of_turboagi_machine/ @TopviewAIhq — GPT-6 Astra / creative workflow post: https://x.com/TopviewAIhq/status/2096140020340191251 @petergostev — GPT-6 Astra / 3D workflow post: https://x.com/petergostev/status/2096264296099459079 @AiBattle_ — GPT-6 Astra / creative AI post: https://x.com/AiBattle_/status/2095994051354919049 @luccacerf — GPT-6 Astra / 3D workflow post: https://x.com/luccacerf/status/2096308567863079420 @higgsfield_ai — Astra, Seedance, and VFX workflow post: https://x.com/higgsfield_ai/status/2095622423324590308 @wizardbrainz — GPT-6 Astra / creative coding post: https://x.com/wizardbrainz/status/2096151812973732312 @sharifshameem — GPT-6 Astra / software-building post: https://x.com/sharifshameem/status/2095653641164329143 @annalea_l — GPT-6 Astra / creative workflow post: https://x.com/annalea_l/status/2096009976103801082 @Dimillian — GPT-6 Astra / app-building post: https://x.com/Dimillian/status/2095596700815516004 @badxstudio — GPT-6 Astra / 3D workflow post: https://x.com/badxstudio/status/2095982983379653113 @higgsfield_ai — Astra / VFX workflow post: https://x.com/higgsfield_ai/status/2096334648016253339 ⏱️ TIMECODES 00:00 Emergency episode: Astra changes the conversation 02:02 LTX-2.5, open source, and the VFX mind 06:41 NVIDIA acquires Hugging Face 15:55 World Labs Atlas and controllable 3D worlds 21:24 What does AGI mean for VFX artists? 30:33 From computer use to Blender, Godot, and 3D 39:21 Astra, ComfyUI, and workflows as building blocks 42:35 Grayboxing and guiding Seedance generations 45:34 DaVinci Resolve, 3D assets, and a train-yard test 53:30 AI as leverage for artists and small teams 57:55 Building a submarine game with a son and a vague idea 1:00:48 Don’t wait six months to start learning 1:09:50 Taste, skills, and the artist’s judgment 1:14:05 Getting time back—and staying curious #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #GPT6 #Astra #HuggingFace #WorldLabs #Atlas #Blender #ComfyUI #Seedance #GameDevelopment #GenerativeAI

  • S1 · E5
    September 1 · 1 hr 14 min

    Inside LTX-2.5 with the LTX Team | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 005

    This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan are joined by LTX VP Applied Research Ofir Bibi and Technical Director Mohamed Oumoumad to unpack LTX-2.5: how better data and Gemma 4 improve prompt understanding, why older LoRAs can survive model upgrades, and how Diffusion Fidelity Rendering spends compute where the final pixels actually matter. We get into open weights, LTX Trainer, IC-LoRAs, world models, real-time and 360 generation, alpha and depth outputs, multi-pass EXRs, physical AI, and why production teams need repeatable controls instead of a one-prompt movie button. 💬 If you could pull one production pass or control out of an AI video model today—alpha, depth, motion, normals, clean plate, or pose—which would change your pipeline most? 📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: / doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: / avillabon 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE LTX-2.5 open-source overview: https://docs.ltx.io/open-source-model... Run LTX-2.5 with ComfyUI or Python: https://docs.ltx.io/open-source-model... LTX Trainer overview: https://docs.ltx.io/open-source-model... LTX LoRA and IC-LoRA guide: https://docs.ltx.io/open-source-model... ComfyUI-LTXVideo nodes and workflows: https://github.com/Lightricks/ComfyUI... ⏱️ TIMECODES 00:00 Meet the LTX team: Ofir Bibi and Mohamed Oumoumad 01:39 LTX-2.5 closes the speed-versus-quality gap 04:49 Data is king: captions, filtering, and reinforcement learning 09:15 Better prompting can mean saying less 13:07 LoRA compatibility across LTX generations 16:33 What makes LTX a world model? 20:42 Diffusion Fidelity Rendering: spend compute where it matters 32:21 Mohamed’s journey from VFX artist to model trainer 41:00 Open weights, community, and the LTX ethos 44:43 One base model cannot fit every production 49:02 Real-time diffusion, 360 video, and the road to LTX 5.0 54:44 Can a world model output VFX passes? 01:04:44 Open models versus building production on moving sand 01:07:17 Why VFX studios should fine-tune their own models #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #LTX #LTX25 #ComfyUI #OpenSourceAI #LoRA #AIVideo #Filmmaking

  • S1 · E4
    August 18 · 1 hr 2 min

    Too Many Models, Not Enough Sleep | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 004

    There are too many good AI models to test, and that may be the best problem VFX artists have had in a while. This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan try to keep up with FLUX 3, Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, LTX 2.5, MiniMax Music 3, and Qwen3.8 27B while asking what agents actually change in a production workflow. They get into MCP, ComfyUI, Blender, Hermes, Unsloth Desktop, local speech-to-text with Handy, and why an agent is more useful as a collaborator with tools than as a vending machine. Then Doug shows MiniMax H3 video-to-video, face-replacement, character-placement, and background-restyling experiments using masks, audio-driven performance, reference images, and LLM-built prompts. Alex shows how to let an agent generate overnight tests from a prompt guide. The through-line is simple: use open weights to mix models, make failures visible, and let artists curate more iterations. 💬 What would you hand to an agent first: troubleshooting ComfyUI, building prompts, or generating overnight tests? 📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE MiniMax Music 3 — open-weights music model: https://www.minimax.io/blog/minimax-music-3-0-next-generation-open-weights-production-ready-versatile-music-model Qwen3.8 27B: https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B Unsloth Desktop — local AI workspace for models, tools, and training: https://unsloth.ai/docs/desktop Higgsfield AI Film Production Pipeline — production guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MRQoNq7dJD3s1OGWi94BKxoTIac4w_33/view Higgsfield Zephyr: Special — project and production assets: https://higgsfield.ai/@higgsfield.studio/projects/zephyr-special Handy — open-source, offline speech-to-text: https://handy.computer/ MiniMax Physics Test: https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/1vjxn9l/minimax_h3_physics_test_seedvr2_rtx_vsr/ Alex's Random TV Prompter for MiniMax H3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHmmsGG1dg4 LTX 2.5: https://ltx.io/model/ltx-2-5 ⏱️ TIMECODES 00:00 Too many releases, too little sleep 02:08 Why FLUX 3 and MiniMax are fun 07:13 The model-release firehose 09:52 Agents, Comfy MCP, and a one-minute generation 12:01 What an agent actually is 14:54 Unsloth Desktop as a local AI workstation 17:15 Turning apps agent-centric with MCP 19:03 Finding repetitive work worth automating 24:42 The Higgsfield production guide and open-source project assets 30:08 Handy, WhisperFlow, and local speech-to-text 32:24 MiniMax H3 and the 32B text encoder 37:04 Face replacement, audio-driven performance, and masking 40:59 Open weights, model combinations, and community-built workflows 44:17 Video restyling with LLM-built prompts 48:08 Overnight experiments and what models can do 50:07 From RFPs to overnight concept exploration 52:14 LTX 2.5 and choosing the right model for the shot 55:38 Experiment, share, and stay curious #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #ComfyUI #MiniMaxH3 #LTX #FLUX3 #Qwen #OpenWeights #Agents #MCP #Filmmaking #VisualEffects

  • S1 · E3
    August 4 · 1 hr 7 min

    Let Artists Play | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 003

    The models keep changing, but the production advantage still belongs to artists who know what breaks—and how to fix it. This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan catch up after a summer break and look at FLUX 3, MiniMax H3, the gap between closed APIs and local open-weight models, and why a production pipeline cannot be built on impressive demos alone. We get into The Odyssey's practical IMAX mirror rig, Lucy 2.5, Eyeline Labs' ID-V2V, Neill Blomkamp's Nightborne, ComfyUI training and workflow version control, hybrid AI/VFX skills, SmartRoto, and why final pixels still need artists who can finish the work. 💬 What AI or VFX workflow are you testing right now—and where does it still fall apart before the shot is production-ready? Let us know in the comments. 📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE Black Forest Labs — FLUX 3: https://bfl.ai/models/flux-3 MiniMax H3 — official open weights: https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-H3 ComfyUI — MiniMax H3 guide and workflows: https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/video/minimax/minimax-h3 Decart — Lucy 2.5 real-time video editing: https://platform.decart.ai/models/lucy-edit-live Eyeline Labs — ID-V2V identity-preserving video restylization: https://github.com/Eyeline-Labs/ID-V2V The Allan McKay Podcast — ComfyUI in VFX Production with Doug Hogan https://allanmckay.libsyn.com/468-comfyui-in-vfx-production-with-doug-hogan NIGHTBORNE, a Neill Blomkamp AI short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wbtt2JxP7g The Odyssey's IMAX mirror system: https://www.motionpictures.org/2026/07/how-mirrors-became-the-key-to-filming-the-odyssey-entirely-with-imax-cameras/ Alex's Workflow Vault https://github.com/avillabon/ComfyUI_Workflow_Vault Official ComfyUI Tutorial for Beginners: Full Node Graph Basics (2026): https://youtu.be/TQhIYT1ZYGQ?si=7gDEODLDhhm826OR Doug Hogan — official Comfy workflow templates: https://comfy.org/workflows/doughogan/ Victor Perez — Generative AI for VFX, ComfyUI × Nuke course: https://victorperez.co.uk/ Foundry — SmartRoto: https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke-family/smartroto Compositing Academy — How SMART is State of the Art A.I Rotoscoping?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AinQkgdR6b8 ⏱️ TIMECODES 00:00 Coming back to an impossible release cycle 02:04 FLUX 3 and MiniMax H3 raise the ceiling 07:21 Will local weights match the API demos? 11:49 Seedance 2.5 pricing and the cost of pressing Run 13:43 The Odyssey's practical IMAX mirror trick 17:13 Comments, Hermes agents, and future guests 21:28 Lucy 2.5 and real-time diffusion 25:22 Eyeline Labs, ID-V2V, and Paul Debevec 27:56 Neil Blomkamp's Nightborne and letting artists experiment 36:16 Artist-led AI studios and hybrid VFX skills 39:25 Comfy 101 and where artists should start 45:20 Learning from other artists' node graphs 51:44 Alex's Workflow Vault, version control, and hardware 58:41 SmartRoto, subscriptions, and pricing artists out #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #ComfyUI #OpenWeights #FLUX3 #MiniMaxH3 #LucyAI #Nuke #SmartRoto #Filmmaking

  • S1 · E2
    July 8 · 1 hr 2 min

    Don't Wait for AI VFX to Get Easier | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 002

    If you keep waiting six months for AI VFX to get easier, six months from now you may decide to wait another six months. This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabon and Doug Hogan talk about why artists need to jump in now, why open-source models and workhorse workflows matter for repeatable production, and why finishing one AI shot does not give you the same economies of scale as building a reusable CG asset. We get into Seedance 2.5, LTX-2.3, Krea 2 Raw, Blender MCP, model provenance, client restrictions, Google and A24, diffusion rendering, artist-owned micro-studios, and the value of finding the wins, saving them, and sharing them. 💬 What are the workhorse AI workflows you keep coming back to? Let us know in the comments.📬 CONTACT Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODEP J Ace — Nexus workflow and film-financing update:https://x.com/PJaccetturo/status/2066582725553996059 PJ Ace — Nexus hybrid feature-film announcement and teaser:https://x.com/PJaccetturo/status/2062887190326304986 A.I. Warper — Blender MCP and Seedance reference-video workflow:https://x.com/AIWarper/status/2070162937181065547 Bilawal Sidhu — Seedance turning greyboxed 3D references into final pixels:https://x.com/bilawalsidhu/status/2069825605994963047 Reid Hannaford — Blender previs and character-animation workflow:https://x.com/reidhannaford/status/2070507963429671062 fal — Open-source 3DREAL render-to-real IC-LoRA for LTX-2.3:https://x.com/fal/status/2070523006770630813 ShiveringCactus: VFX — VFX History: The Origin of After Effects:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQyhSI56gU ⏱️ TIMECODES00:00 Community feedback and figuring it out together01:45 Don’t wait six months to start06:44 Open source as production insurance10:10 Why AI doesn’t inherit CG’s economies of scale13:36 Hybrid workflows and the final two percent18:09 VFX history and workhorse workflows22:58 LTX-2.3, Comfy Hub, and learning through play27:46 Seedance 2.5 raises the ceiling29:13 Model provenance, clients, and commercially safe AI36:04 Krea 2 Raw and models without baked-in taste44:11 Google, A24, and AI tools—not AI movies48:54 4K costs, proxy generations, and smarter testing50:27 Nexus, Blender MCP, and diffusion rendering58:39 Artist-owned micro-studios and the collective “we” #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA #AI #VFX #ComfyUI #OpenSourceAI #Seedance #LTX #Krea #Blender #Filmmaking #VisualEffects

  • S1 · E1
    June 24 · 1 hr 1 min

    ComfyUI, Griptape and the New VFX Workflow | Fix It In Prompt Ep. 001

    AI is changing VFX fast, but anyone telling you it is a one-click solution probably has not tried to final a real shot with it.This week on Fix It In Prompt, Alex Villabón and Doug Hogan launch episode one with a production-minded conversation about ComfyUI, Nuke, Griptape, LTX, Claude Code, LoRA training, AI short films, client expectations, and why VFX artists are uniquely built for this moment. Email us: fixitinpromptpodcast@gmail.com Find Doug: ComfyUI & VFX website: https://www.doughogan.com ComfyUI Workflows: https://comfyui.sjv.io/OYydOG Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DougHogan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughogan/ Find Alex: VFX + AI newsletter: https://alexvillabon.substack.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexvillabon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avillabon/ #DellProPrecision #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA

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