Aharon Rabinowitz has been somewhat of a household name in the VFX, After Effects, and general post-production industry for the better part of the last two decades. Anyone who knows Aharon, has worked with him, crossed paths with him, or has followed him on his many social media adventures in the VFX community will tell you that he has not only added countless volumes of highly valuable education and information, which he generously shares with this community, but he also injects a sense of humor, fun, creativity, and a unique twist into everything he does.

From his earlier days as one of the founders of the popular AENY (After Effect NY) user group in New York City in the 2000s to when he took over marketing for Red Giant Software in the 2010s, Aharon has tackled VFX education in a clever, unique, and fun way. When faced with the challenge of how to market VFX plugins to a marketplace filled with creatives, filmmakers, and artists, Aharon instinctively knew he couldn’t go about it in a traditional, boring, speeds-and-feeds way typical of so many software companies. So he partnered with an up-and-coming filmmaker named Seth Worley to create what became a series of brilliantly conceived, beautifully shot and produced short films that he knew would have an impact simply because of their high production value and incredible storytelling (and they were funny)! All of these films were produced using Red Giant plugins. The community not only devoured the short films, but also the accompanying behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos that showed them exactly how to create the effects used in each film. It was brilliant, and it worked! And it was a testament to Aharon’s and Seth’s smart, witty, and fun way of demystifying the complex, tackling the insurmountable, and sharing their experience with all who wanted to learn. Even more, as the project grew more ambitious, the community began to take part by helping Seth and Aharon out with challenging VFX shots. So the students became the teachers in the process as well.

Fast forward to today: Aharon is the vice president of marketing for School of Motion, a company founded on the premise that the primary way artists learn design and animation tools like After Effects, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, and others is by watching online videos. In fact, it’s more so the idea that the ideal formula for people is striking the right mix of online videos with active feedback from professional artists, and sharing the work and ideas with the overall community. But the problem was that most of the videos on YouTube and other platforms were either giving out incorrect information or were teaching “cool tricks” instead of the foundational principles behind great work. And even more importantly, students were learning in a vacuum with no feedback to help them grow as artists. School of Motion set out to remedy that problem by creating an online school dedicated to one thing: breaking down the barriers to learning, mastering, and working in motion design (and any other creative visual field, for that matter). It was a perfect fit for Aharon, an artist who is always working to help educate the community through his own creative experiences and who is constantly learning from the community as he takes on new challenges.

And true to form for Aharon, he set out to tackle his next challenge, the one piece of creative software he dared not touch because it just seemed too complex and designed for a completely different kind of user: Unreal Engine. Of course, Aharon’s way of tackling this challenge was to dive in head first!

“I find that one of the best ways for me to learn and stay on top of industry tools is by just trying to make things with them,” says Aharon. “I love seeing the things that people make using the tutorials I’ve shared, or the tools I’ve designed, and I’m very proud of them, but I’m not comfortable standing still. I have an obsessive personality, and it makes me want to constantly try new tools and push myself! So when it came to truly learning Unreal Engine, I thought, ‘I’m going to make a short film!”

And that’s exactly what he did!

Unreal Engine and the Birth of ‘Metal Heart’

“I had never touched Unreal Engine, it was just way too daunting,” remembers Aharon. “It’s not even meant for what we’re using it for today in filmmaking – it’s a game design platform!”

Regardless, he knew from experience that there was so much happening in filmmaking today that was being created in Unreal Engine, so he decided to take an online course through his company, School of Motion. “I started out with this 6-hour course called ‘Unreal Engine for 3D Artists,’ led by the renowned motion graphics artist, Jonathan Winbush. This kicked off my Unreal journey. And lo and behold, as a result, one year later, not only had I successfully learned Unreal Engine, but I had also completed Metal Heart, my first animated short film produced completely in Unreal Engine. I had done it, my personal mission accomplished! In the process of learning, I began to experiment with complex materials and VFX and ended up partnering with The Pixel Lab to release several Unreal Material Libraries and VFX tools.”

And the results are impressive! But it was an important journey on which he had embarked, with the biggest step being getting over his fear of tackling Unreal Engine. In his mind, it didn’t seem possible. So much so that once he completed his short film – and also in true form for Aharon – he created a behind-the-scenes video to share exactly how he did it. In his BTS video, titled I was scared of Unreal… so I made a film with it, Aharon captures his journey in creating Metal Heart using Unreal Engine and After Effects. It’s a complete walk-through of the motion capture workflow, creating VFX, color grading, motion design, and sound design workflow and includes a bunch of mini tutorials full of useful tips and tricks in both Unreal Engine and After Effects, you won’t want to miss this! However, at the beginning of this epic journey, Aharon realized he was severely underpowered when it came to his hardware.

‘I Heard Puget Systems Could Tackle Unreal Engine with Ease’

Before discovering Puget Systems, Aharon was on the most powerful Macs you could buy at the time. However, he had been using Dell machines much earlier than that.

“At that time I was working with Maya and 3D Studio Max, but my experience with Dells was terrible,” Aharon continued. “I also tried BOXX, which was better, but it was always challenging and I needed tech support constantly. But because of Red Giant, I shifted entirely into After Effects, so Macs were fine, but they just could not handle 3D. It was fine for dabbling, but not for doing real 3D work. So when I decided to really dive deep into 3D (C4D and Redshift – not Unreal) as my next big focus, it was clear I would need a Windows box. Given how bad my experience with desktop PCs was, I put out feelers, and Puget Systems was the overwhelming recommendation. So I got one! I maxed out my machine specs and dove hard into Redshift to make Star Wars: The Wood Cut. Then, about a year ago, when I made the decision to take on Unreal, I was already set up for success with my hardware because the Puget Systems workstation I invested in was SOLID. With the power of that machine and Unreal’s tools, I fell in love with 3D again in a way I had not been in years. Unreal gave me the tools, but my computer gave me the power to explore and try crazy things in Unreal that were not possible for me before.”

“Dell is a fine brand, but they don’t really understand what we do,” Aharon continued. “They know what they have to sell, and they know their hardware, but they don’t know After Effects and they certainly don’t know Unreal Engine from a VFX artist’s point of view.”

“A colleague of mine recommended Puget Systems, and I had heard about them and their work in high VFX and post-production, so I decided to give them a call. And what I quickly learned was that these guys ARE doing what I’m doing! They know Unreal Engine, they know After Effects. I spoke with one of their tech consultants who spent an hour and a half on the phone with me troubleshooting Unreal Engine! And while he was there, he also helped me configure my printer! Who does that?! This is clearly a team that goes above and beyond.”

“This experience demonstrated for me that I now had a team on the end of a phone – and they answer their phones – who I can trust. And that’s what it’s all about. So you’re not just paying for a workstation or laptop, you’re getting this team of experts who not only know the ins and outs of the hardware they’re offering – which, by the way, was tailored to my exact workflow needs – but they understand my specific workflow. And that, to me, is worth every penny!”

“And, of course, the system I received was a beast! I was able to preview worlds and character designs that I was building in Unreal Engine in real time and rendering in minutes instead of hours. It was amazing!”

Aharon’s System Under the Hood

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