These days, pros looking to expand their skillsets need not travel any further than their computer screens. The Web has become an incredible resource for those looking to be trained or build their existing creative muscles on current post tools.

Next month, The Collider Digital Production Conference (www.colliderevents.com) will debut in New York City, giving attendees a chance to check out VFX-, animation- and digital production-themed presentations, panels, master classes and screenings, as well as a job fair. Collider’s organizer Stephen Price believes it’s time the East Coast, and New York in particular, had a production-themed event that balanced both technology and creativity.

I attended the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose in March, which promotes awareness of the value of GPU computing. The conference/exhibition had a heavy focus on research and education, with hundreds of panels, papers and tutorials, but also featured a media and entertainment path that applied to post.

Manhattan Edit Workshop launched its “Inside the Cutting Room” series last month with a sit down with editor Andrew Weisblum, ACE. Hosted by author/film historian Bobbie O’Steen, the two-hour event looked at Weisblum’s career as a film editor and his relationships with two very different directors: Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom) and Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan).

Post has long covered affordable technologies that can improve workflows, lower production costs and expand the user base. This month, we have a feature on Visual Effects Plug-Ins (page 26), which do much of the aforementioned. Companies like Digieffects and Red Giant see the industry expanding thanks to new digital cameras and apps like FCP, and are releasing plug-ins geared toward those very users.

On December 17,  Autodesk “finally” released Smoke 2013, the latest version of its Mac-driven editing and visual effects tool. I say finally because it was supposed to come to market in September, but ran into “some snags,” says senior product marketing manager Marc Hamaker. The extra time, however, allowed the company to take in even more user feedback — over 31,000 downloads were made during the beta period — enabling Autodesk to deliver an end product that’s “more aligned with what the market needs,” he notes.

Whether it’s the securing of camera files or the creation of media for editorial, the dailies process is considered by many where ‘post’ begins. While the terms “on-set” and “digital dailies” are often mentioned during the production and post processes, what they mean will depend on whom you ask.