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Roto · Plates · Passes · Replacements

Compositor's Comfy

Generative tools, read through a compositor's eyes.

Seven weeks of live sessions built around the work you already do - clean plates, wire removal, extensions, utility passes, relighting and face replacement - taught by a working compositor who ships this on client jobs.

Live | November 6th, 2026 | 7 weeks

6 live sessions • 6 Debug Labs • 1 finished shot and breakdown reel • 1 finished shot and breakdown reel

990 €

16 seats. Applications reviewed as they arrive.

More About This Course

A seven-week live programme for working compositors adding generative tools to their toolkit - taught by someone who ships this work for clients, not someone who read about it.

Every session serves the comp department: AI roto, clean plates, wire removal, set extensions, utility passes, face replacement, relighting - licensing costs and failure modes stated out loud, not glossed over.

Sessions are demonstration, not build-along. You watch the logic, then build it yourself with help in the mid-week Workshop. Everyone works a shared licensed plate; bring your own footage from Session 2 for a portfolio-differentiated reel. By week seven you have one finished shot and a breakdown reel, not six disconnected exercises.

Meet Your Mentors

Learn from industry leaders who've shaped the creative AI landscape

Doug Hogan

Doug Hogan

Course Leader

Compositor and pipeline specialist; consults with the ComfyUI team on studio-grade pipeline features; runs his own AI-for-VFX education practice. Doug leads Sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, and built the course’s frozen environment.

Eric Venti

Eric Venti

Guest Mentor, Week 5

Leads the LTX and director’s-workflow session.

Luka Tisler

Luka Tisler

Academy Co-founder, Host

Academy Co-founder and Host.

What You'll Learn

By the end of the programme, you will be able to:

Direct generation with ControlNets - and understand why reference-image conditioning is starting to replace them, so the principle outlives the technique
Pull an AI matte, and judge honestly whether it ships or is a silhouette first pass
Build a clean plate, patch and set extension - masked, inpainted, upscaled and regrained
Remove wires, rigs and markers from moving footage
Generate the three passes that save the most comp time - depth, normals, and SAM 3-driven mattes - and put them to work in your everyday comp
Take low-res footage to 4K 16-bit EXR, and handle degrain and regrain properly
Replace a face - the single most requested generative task in post right now
Relight a plate to a standard that beats what you can pull off in comp
Speed up generation without giving up quality, and use LoRAs to steer a look
Judge open weights against expensive closed models on licensing, cost and NDA exposure, with real numbers
Run ComfyUI as a studio tool - set up the Comfy MCP server, and build a small app in Claude that handles the tedious parts for you
Choose and install custom node packs - and know when you don't need them at all

You leave with six keeper workflows, a shared cohort library, a certificate, and a breakdown reel.

The Seven Weeks

0

Session Zero · Foundations - free, pre-recorded

Install ComfyUI, learn the interface, build your first graph, and get the custom node packs worth knowing. Watch it before week 1.

1

Week 1 · Control

ControlNets and conditioning across current open-weight models - where they behave differently from what you've read, and why. Plus a first pass at inpainting and outpainting. Includes the honest bit: ControlNets and IP-Adapters are legacy building blocks, and reference-image conditioning is already replacing some of what they do.

2

Week 2 · The Clean Plate

The bread-and-butter week. Masking and roto, wire and rig removal, external masks, inpainting, outpainting and upscaling - one shot, start to finish, the work that fills most compositors' days.

3

Week 3 · Passes and the Round-Trip

The three passes worth generating before you start a comp: depth, normals, SAM 3-driven mattes. The round-trip - plate resolution, 4K 16-bit EXR, degrain and regrain. Plus traditional depth/normal relighting in comp - honest about its ceiling. The real relighting story is next week. Session sponsored by Topaz Labs

4

Week 4 · Replacements and Relighting

The headline week. Face replacement, person and background replacement, and full-plate relighting - the generative workflow your instructor uses on client jobs. How Wan works as the foundation, then most of the week on SCAIL and MiniMax, currently the strongest open model available. Plus faster generation and using LoRAs to steer a look - and the licensing reality: what commercial fees cost at scale, what you can put through an API under NDA.

5

Week 5 · LTX and the Director's Workflow

LTX and IC-LoRAs as a full director-style workflow, with real control over the shot. Honest about where LTX is weak (physics, fast action) and where it's excellent.

6

Week 6 · ComfyUI in the Studio

Shared setups, workflows other people can pick up, setting up the Comfy MCP server so Claude can drive ComfyUI directly, and building your own small app in Claude - naming conventions, folder structures, tidy asset libraries. No code required.

7

Week 7 · Showcase

Reel clinic, then a five-minute breakdown per student to the panel - your instructors plus a high-calibre VFX supervisor giving real-world feedback. No grades.

Who This Course Is For

Compositors adding generative tools to their toolkit, in Nuke, Fusion or After Effects
Prep, roto and paint artists whose daily work is exactly what these tools accelerate first
DMP and environment artists building extensions, skies and set additions
Generalists and 2D artists who need production-grade output, not demo-grade output
VFX supervisors and leads assessing what belongs in the pipeline and what does not
Freelancers who need to say yes to AI-assisted briefs without guessing
Assumes compositing fluency and shot literacy. No ComfyUI experience required - Session Zero covers it.

Assumes compositing fluency and shot literacy. No ComfyUI experience required — Session Zero covers it.

Course Rhythm

Masterclasses

Fridays

18:00 – 20:00 CET

Debug Lab

Tuesdays

18:00 – 19:00 CET

Session Zero

Before week 1

Self-paced

Community

Discord

Unlimited

How It Works

Taught from paid work.

Week 4's replacement and relighting workflows are jobs your instructor has delivered for clients — technique, caveats and cost included.

Your workflows will not break.

One pinned build for the whole cohort — a frozen ComfyUI snapshot, no version drift, no red nodes on a Sunday night.

Questions, not mid-demo.

Discord during sessions, answered within 24 hours or worked through live in the Workshop. Each session closes with a structured Q&A.

The Workshop is the working hour.

Every Tuesday: a broken workflow taken apart on screen, then open troubleshooting on your work, plus a standing swap into the shared cohort library.

Compute is covered.

Run the frozen build locally, or use Floyo at no cost — same build, either way. Earlier sessions run on modest hardware; the video weeks are heavier, and Floyo covers those too.

Also Running: AI in the Room

Two free public panels with working VFX artists, during enrolment — failure-first: what did you try that didn't work, and what did it cost you? Not a transformation story. Cohort members get a closed Q&A with a panellist mid-course.

Watch the panels

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Nuke?
No. Demonstrated in Nuke for the clearest colour/channel reference, but every export drops cleanly into Fusion or After Effects.
Do I need a powerful GPU?
No. Comfy cloud is free for the duration, mirroring our build. Video weeks are heavier - Comfy cloud covers those too.
Do I need ComfyUI experience?
No. Session Zero (free) takes you from install to your first working graph before week 1. Compositing fluency is assumed.
Can I use this on client work? What about licensing?
Covered directly in week 4 with real numbers - commercial fees, location terms, what to tell a producer.
Will I be building live?
No - sessions are demonstration, you build after with Workshop support. Recorded, and every keeper workflow is yours.
Can I use my own footage?
Yes, from Session 2. A licensed plate is provided if you'd rather not. No client footage under NDA through API models.
What do I walk away with?
Six keeper workflows, a shared library, a Claude app you built, a finished shot, a breakdown reel reviewed by a VFX supervisor, and a certificate.
What if I miss a session?
Everything is recorded; keeper workflows ship as reference files, so a missed week never locks you out.

Ready to Start?

Seven weeks, one shot, a workflow toolkit that belongs in your pipeline on Monday.

Not quite ready? Watch Session Zero first — free, self-paced.

Case Studies

Real stories and insights from our community

Featured image for The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

A shareable Figma Weave workflow that turns a plain language description and one reference image into a finished campaign. Built so that someone other than me could run it.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 17, 2026

From Character to Campaign. Building The Kevlar Suit inside Figma Weave.

A six week intensive, a spec PSA about school shootings, and a single Weave workflow that carried a fictional product from character design all the way through print, film, and final delivery. Built inside Figma Weave during the six week intensive led by Raoni Lima.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 7, 2026

From Moodboard to Render: How Ilinca Built an AI Footwear Design Workflow Inside Figma Weave

A closer look at how a Lighthouse student transformed a traditional footwear design process into a structured AI workflow inside our Figma Weave Live Studio, combining moodboards, materials, color systems, and rendering into a repeatable creative process.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 26, 2026

A Case for Specialists: How João Lourenço Trained a Kendo LoRA in the Age of Powerful AI Models

This case study examines how a Lighthouse student built a LoRA for Kendo armor, what went wrong during training, and why specialist models may still have a role to play in professional creative workflows.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 17, 2026

Concept to Campaign: How Dario Built an AI Product Visualization Pipeline for Marketing Teams

A closer look at how a Lighthouse alum turned a ComfyUI experiment into a shippable system for generating campaign-ready product concepts from 3D assets, complete with control, realism, and a human-friendly interface.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Mar 6, 2026

And Action: How Jeff Hipolito’s CineMachine Reimagines AI Storytelling

A closer look at a modular, AI-powered storytelling system designed to preserve character, structure, and cinematic intent from first draft to first frame.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Feb 10, 2026

Every Second Engineered: Building a Cinematic Luxury Watch Campaign with AI

A clear look at how a hybrid AI and VFX workflow can be used to design a luxury brand film from the ground up, where discipline, precision, and storytelling are treated with the same care as the product itself.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jan 19, 2026

Trace of One: How a Lighthouse Student Team Built a Fashion Film Entirely with AI

Trace of One offers a glimpse into the future of fashion filmmaking, showing how artists can use AI not to replace craft, but to elevate it into entirely new creative territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Dec 18, 2025

From Node to New Heights: How Architects Are Building with AI

It’s a fitting vantage point for thinking about the future of architecture, because the discipline itself is quickly climbing into new territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Oct 7, 2025

Move Your Bones: Reimagining Music Video Production with AI

Isaac Irvin had been carrying an idea for years — a music video for his band, Los Pochos, laden with surreal imagery and well-animated storylines. Instead of requiring a team and massive budget, he created it alone using AI tools learned at Lighthouse AI Academy.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Aug 6, 2025
Featured image for The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

A shareable Figma Weave workflow that turns a plain language description and one reference image into a finished campaign. Built so that someone other than me could run it.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 17, 2026

From Character to Campaign. Building The Kevlar Suit inside Figma Weave.

A six week intensive, a spec PSA about school shootings, and a single Weave workflow that carried a fictional product from character design all the way through print, film, and final delivery. Built inside Figma Weave during the six week intensive led by Raoni Lima.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 7, 2026

From Moodboard to Render: How Ilinca Built an AI Footwear Design Workflow Inside Figma Weave

A closer look at how a Lighthouse student transformed a traditional footwear design process into a structured AI workflow inside our Figma Weave Live Studio, combining moodboards, materials, color systems, and rendering into a repeatable creative process.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 26, 2026

A Case for Specialists: How João Lourenço Trained a Kendo LoRA in the Age of Powerful AI Models

This case study examines how a Lighthouse student built a LoRA for Kendo armor, what went wrong during training, and why specialist models may still have a role to play in professional creative workflows.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 17, 2026

Concept to Campaign: How Dario Built an AI Product Visualization Pipeline for Marketing Teams

A closer look at how a Lighthouse alum turned a ComfyUI experiment into a shippable system for generating campaign-ready product concepts from 3D assets, complete with control, realism, and a human-friendly interface.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Mar 6, 2026

And Action: How Jeff Hipolito’s CineMachine Reimagines AI Storytelling

A closer look at a modular, AI-powered storytelling system designed to preserve character, structure, and cinematic intent from first draft to first frame.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Feb 10, 2026

Every Second Engineered: Building a Cinematic Luxury Watch Campaign with AI

A clear look at how a hybrid AI and VFX workflow can be used to design a luxury brand film from the ground up, where discipline, precision, and storytelling are treated with the same care as the product itself.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jan 19, 2026

Trace of One: How a Lighthouse Student Team Built a Fashion Film Entirely with AI

Trace of One offers a glimpse into the future of fashion filmmaking, showing how artists can use AI not to replace craft, but to elevate it into entirely new creative territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Dec 18, 2025

From Node to New Heights: How Architects Are Building with AI

It’s a fitting vantage point for thinking about the future of architecture, because the discipline itself is quickly climbing into new territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Oct 7, 2025

Move Your Bones: Reimagining Music Video Production with AI

Isaac Irvin had been carrying an idea for years — a music video for his band, Los Pochos, laden with surreal imagery and well-animated storylines. Instead of requiring a team and massive budget, he created it alone using AI tools learned at Lighthouse AI Academy.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Aug 6, 2025
Featured image for The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

The Style Matching Machine. Building a workflow that was meant to leave my hands.

A shareable Figma Weave workflow that turns a plain language description and one reference image into a finished campaign. Built so that someone other than me could run it.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 17, 2026

From Character to Campaign. Building The Kevlar Suit inside Figma Weave.

A six week intensive, a spec PSA about school shootings, and a single Weave workflow that carried a fictional product from character design all the way through print, film, and final delivery. Built inside Figma Weave during the six week intensive led by Raoni Lima.

Carlos Benitez
Carlos Benitez
Aug 7, 2026

From Moodboard to Render: How Ilinca Built an AI Footwear Design Workflow Inside Figma Weave

A closer look at how a Lighthouse student transformed a traditional footwear design process into a structured AI workflow inside our Figma Weave Live Studio, combining moodboards, materials, color systems, and rendering into a repeatable creative process.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 26, 2026

A Case for Specialists: How João Lourenço Trained a Kendo LoRA in the Age of Powerful AI Models

This case study examines how a Lighthouse student built a LoRA for Kendo armor, what went wrong during training, and why specialist models may still have a role to play in professional creative workflows.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jun 17, 2026

Concept to Campaign: How Dario Built an AI Product Visualization Pipeline for Marketing Teams

A closer look at how a Lighthouse alum turned a ComfyUI experiment into a shippable system for generating campaign-ready product concepts from 3D assets, complete with control, realism, and a human-friendly interface.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Mar 6, 2026

And Action: How Jeff Hipolito’s CineMachine Reimagines AI Storytelling

A closer look at a modular, AI-powered storytelling system designed to preserve character, structure, and cinematic intent from first draft to first frame.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Feb 10, 2026

Every Second Engineered: Building a Cinematic Luxury Watch Campaign with AI

A clear look at how a hybrid AI and VFX workflow can be used to design a luxury brand film from the ground up, where discipline, precision, and storytelling are treated with the same care as the product itself.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Jan 19, 2026

Trace of One: How a Lighthouse Student Team Built a Fashion Film Entirely with AI

Trace of One offers a glimpse into the future of fashion filmmaking, showing how artists can use AI not to replace craft, but to elevate it into entirely new creative territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Dec 18, 2025

From Node to New Heights: How Architects Are Building with AI

It’s a fitting vantage point for thinking about the future of architecture, because the discipline itself is quickly climbing into new territory.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Oct 7, 2025

Move Your Bones: Reimagining Music Video Production with AI

Isaac Irvin had been carrying an idea for years — a music video for his band, Los Pochos, laden with surreal imagery and well-animated storylines. Instead of requiring a team and massive budget, he created it alone using AI tools learned at Lighthouse AI Academy.

Adam Eli Bernhardt
Adam Eli Bernhardt
Aug 6, 2025

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