blender cloth goodness

2.46 was released recently, lots of fun stuff including some improvement to cloth. it's a hell of a lot easier to use.

http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-246/

elephants can paint? elephiknow

just came across this amazing video:

i guess they are trained to paint, but still, wow!

i met ed hooks!

When I was debating on purchasing Ed Hook's Acting for Animators a while back, the feedback on the AM forum raved about the value of his information. Many people mentioned they had attended his workshops and detailed how helpful that face-time proved to be. However, they always seem to be held outside of the US, with the exception of the work he does for studios in the states. So, I wasn't holding my breath about being able to attend one myself anytime soon.

I've been getting Ed Hook's newsletter for a while now, and a couple months ago he mentioned for the first time ever he would be hosting his workshop in his home town of Chicago. Living in the mid-west, it is very rare that I hear about opportunities like this so close to home. There is always stuff going on out in the west coast area. So, it was awesome that there was an event like out here.

I posted a message about it at AM before the end of the term but didn't get much feedback other then from people who had already attended one of his workshops and were talking it up. There ended up being one other AM student there, and it was cool to get to meet him (good luck with your short, Pat!)

The workshop itself was mostly information I had read in his book, but it really sinks in when you hear it from the author. Ed was just a great guy to meet. He isn't an animator (he is an actor), but you can tell he has a great passion for the art. There were a few game people there and he targeted them a great deal with his concepts. Ed seems to have a genuine respect for the 3d gaming industry and wants it to grow and develop to the level of story telling you see in animation and film.

Ed emailed before the class and suggested I bring my reel and we would talk about it. I hadn't considered doing that until he suggested it. So, I did. The workshop went over like 30 mins or so, and everyone said their goodbyes. I was the last person there. I had brought his book with me and he was nice enough to sign it. I mentioned I followed his advice and brought my reel and he asked to see it. We ended up talking for like 45 mins! It was awesome to get his feedback on my work. I had some concerns about some of the acting in my shots and he helped me work though them. His feedback was invaluable.

I hope Ed continues to offer his workshop in this part of the country, I would definitely return.

i'm sayin 'nay' to naymz

Anyone else fall for this yet? I did :(

After about 15 invites, I figured it was another linked-in and I should hop on. Later, I decided it is another linked-in and why do we need another linked-in? This site tries to offer linked-in but charge for it.

I kept getting these notices that were like "SOMEBODY checked out your profile, if you give us money we will tell you who!"

Then there is the points thing. They offer a high points tally like it is something to strive for. But who cares about naymz points? They need to reexamine their business model and try again.

Anyway, sorry to anyone who got an invite from me. I have deleted my account and chalking this up to a learning experience.

411 most cheap room

Here it is, what all of AM has lead up to so far. This is my finished 2-person dialog sequence. first time with multiple characters and first time with multiple shots together (cuts). I know there is more I need to adjust before it is reel-worthy, but here it is as of the end of the last term of AM (before starting my short film).




Speaking of which, short film coming up! I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do, but I think I will think of something, some time, right? I hope :/

403 hollywood

Started this at the end of class 3, finished it up in class 4

mytoons is blocked :(

Well, I've been a fan of mytoons.com for a long time, but it looks like I will have to switch back to youtube for my animation hosting needs, at least for now. I just noticed were I work the site is blocked. It wasn't last time I checked, but it is now. I think even when it wasn't blocked before the videos didn't want to play so I guess some part of it was always blocked.



I think I work at a typical office; if it is blocked here it is blocked other places as well. Youtube is not blocked. I don't know why it isn't but I am not going to look the proverbial gift-horse in the mouth.

So, I guess my weekend project is to go through and copy everything here over to youtube (some of the older stuff is there already). I will probably keep both versions up, at least for a while.

Why am I posting this? I don't think many even check out my blog but here it is, for posterity :)

Review: The Bride of Frankenstein

This is my review of The Bride of Frankenstein, as required by my Media Review Writing class at UC. For what it is, enjoy!

For the unteenmillionth time, I got to watch The Bride of Frankenstein. It never gets old. Every time I see it I notice something new. This time, I couldn't help but to start casting a revival in my head. I didn't get far, and the first one was obvious. Who better then Peter Boyle as the monster? I know, he already was in Young Frankenstein but he's perfect for it. My other casting would be Paul Reubens as Dr. Pretorius. Mr. Reubens might need a little aging, but not too much. Alright, enough fun, time to review.

For a man so educated he masters the secret of life itself, it seems to me that Dr. Frankenstein isn't smart enough to know when to give up. I would think after you created a monster who obviously has no hope of conforming to society, a society that will always fear and hunt him, you might be a little relieved that he is put out of his misery and move on. I might be persuaded to believe that his fixation is fatherly; he cares for the life he created and wants him to succeed and to be happy. But even before he finds out that The Monster survived, he is raving about how he can still master life, going so far as to reach for eternal life which makes me think his desires have little to do with the well-being of the life he created and are more related to his own megalomania.

The same could be said for his participation in the creation of a mate for The Monster. Does he do it for fear of loosing is bride, for his desire to do all he can to help his 'son' or just because he is obsessed? I think it might be a little of all three but mostly the last: he wants to see if he can do it.

I really feel for The Monster, as I am sure is the intention. He never asked to be created, he just was. He was thrust into a world that refused to understand him and, as is human nature, feared him. His quest for a mate ran into several obstacles ending up in disaster. He found the perfect companion in a blind hermit who lived in the woods, only to end up bringing destruction to the hermit's life. Then, when the 'perfect' mate was literally created for him, she wouldn't accept him. Every effort he made to conform, even going so far as seeking a mate, ended in disaster. In the end, he found is place. He felt he "belonged dead" and accepted his fate.

Or did he? IMDB mentions he survived yet again and lives on in yet another sequel, Son of Frankenstein. That's going right on to my net flix :)

If you have ran out of stuff to spend money on...

This is the most frivolous item I have seen in a long time:

305 - first acting shot 'candy'

Here is the first of 2 assignments for this term:



The assignment was open, just some little bit of acting. One suggestion was to show a contrast of emotion, so that's what I went with.

Tune in next time for some dialog!

First SIGGRAPH!!!

I went to SIGGRAPH for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. School and work were crazy when I got back, so it took me a while to get into everything. Being a student volunteer was definitely the way to go. Not only did it save me the cost of admission, but I met so many cool people! A bunch of people from AM as well as other SV's from around the world.

My 3 roommates were from Montreal, Spain and Hong Kong. I also met many people from Germany and Norway. Most of our shifts we were just watching a door and chatting, I learned some German!

Here is a scan of my head I got at the Guerrilla Studio.

Fun stuff, so lookin forward to next year!

Summer, 2007 demo reel

Here it is, some choice shots from my experience at AM so far:



I tried to put in my best shots, but not a lot to choose from just yet :)

subsurface scattering part 2

I gave the sss another go, and experimented with getting stewie out of maya and into blender. Now I just have to get the rig...

subsurface scattering - aka, blender is 'incredible'

I just found ouPublish Postt recently that blender now offers subsurface scattering. this is the effect that gives surfaces a warm glow in movies like the incredibles. i just played around with it for about 20 mins and came up with this render. the monkey on the right has the predefined 'whole milk' setting applied. the other has all the same settings, without the sss.

i hope to play with it more soon, skin should look really cool.

for fun, door pull

this is a still from my current assignment where stewie pulls a door that won't open. i just thought this pose turned out well and wanted to render it out.

208 - gap leap

Here it is, the second big assignment for Class 2 at AM.

108 - Strength pose

200 update!

Here it is, my first shot of class 2



I heard once that "Art is never done, it just stops at an interesting place" But, perhaps I am just justifying all the stuff that I see that I still want to fix. In any case, gotta move on for now or I will fall behind!

My mentor this term is awesome, really gets in to detail with my crits. And the Q&A's are more like lectures, he has a different topic for us every week.

I also took advantage of the featured mentor this week for the first time, Jason Schleifer from Dreamworks was featured. He explained much about Dreamworks, PDI, and Dreamworks Animation. Very fun stuff. I need to take more advantage of this resource, it's a very interesting perk of AM.

Diet Berries & Cream Dr Pepper

If you haven't tried this yet, go out and do so as soon as possible. It will change your life.

That is all for now.

open source motion tracking!

Ah, blender, my faithful friend. At times I get too caught up in my own life to give you the respect and attention you rightfully deserve. Sometimes, months go by when I can't find time to even so much as pull up a blenderartists thread. But, you are always there when I need you, popping up in the least likely of places.

Like today, when I was searching for information on camera motion tracking. Amidst the plethora of high-end, multiple $k software solutions, I find this information on motion tracking coming to blender! You continue to grow when I am not looking, and that is fascinating. The article says tracking won't be ready for testing any earlier then June, but I am not in a hurry. I will be there when you are ready!

'Till then, old friend, I will try to check in with you more often.