Collect All 12

Portal 2 - Update

2011-04-30T09:46:00.002-04:00

Okay, I've had the game for just over a week now, and I'm still enjoying it as much as when I first got it, but man its getting harder and harder. The puzzles in Chapter 7 were by far the hardest so far. The reason it's gotten so much harder is because they introduce more variables into the maps. Although often times there is only one way to solve the puzzle it can be tricky to fine the solution (or way out). At this point you have the portal gun, the cube and three different liquids. A blue one and orange one and a white one. The blue is a bouncy substance, orange is like a oil slick which allows you to run super fast and white changes the properties of almost any surface so you can create a portal. If it sounds weird and complicated it sort of it. But despite what I'm saying the story moves along really well, the writing is touch notch and very funny and over all it is the best game of the year so far. Now if I can just finish the thing.

Portal 2 - For Science

2011-04-22T18:50:00.003-04:00

I've been playing Portal 2, and as I expected the sequel is even better then the original. This game is just so much fun and if you have an XBOX360 or PS3 it's a must buy. If you have a Wii i feel sorry for the fact that you got caught up in the hype. Anyhow, I think I discovered the secret of why I love the game so much. It's not just the great puzzles, or the original game play or the hilarious script. It's that it is the only game I've ever played that someone how makes you feel smarter while you play it. Amazing but try. And I encourage anyone who thinks I'm crazy to try it.

For science.

Need Inspiration .. try your local Comic Book Shop

2011-04-15T17:28:00.004-04:00

Well the good news is I have finally finished Animation Mentor and I will be attending graduation this July. I'm pretty excited but as you can imagine freaked out now that its over. The past couple of weeks I've been working on polishing up the shots on my reel, because I'm dying to start on some new ones.

So now comes the hard part. How do I keep the momentum going while I continue to work at my day job and sharpen my skills.

Anyhow, Thursday I left work and I was feeling a bit drained and I needed some inspiration. So after thinking about it some, I deceived to check out "DJ's Comics and Cards" in North Haven, not far from my house. It's your typical comic book shop and over the years I've dropped a few dollars there from time to time. But there's something about roaming around a place like that filled from floor to ceiling with new and old comic books that brings me back to what excites me the most. Great stories, awesome characters and amazing artwork. It's a simple combination but no matter how old I get, it still works for me.

Now if the comic book publishers would just figure out a way to bring down the costs of new books.

So what's my point. I guess I just wanted to share that. It's a nice feeling and I guess I'm sort of leaving a note to myself to remember it next time I forgot, and I need some Inspiration.

Update .. of sorts

2010-08-16T21:19:00.003-04:00

Well it's late in the summer now, only a couple more weeks until September and then back to school. I'll be starting Class5 at AM, which means Advanced Acting. I barely got through intro to acting, but that's not to say I havn't learn a ton about animation since I started this process 2 years ago. And I've hardly been doing nothing since class ended in June. Although I've slowed down a bit to enjoy summer.

Anyhow, right now I'm working on a Pantomine piece. I was really happy with how my first one turned out, and I thought for practice I should work on another one this summer. I've worked out my planning, shot a bunch of video reference and now I'm into my second pass of blocking. On top of that I'm rereading Animator's Survival Kit for the 3rd time. (It's really all in there)

So what's been the highlight of my summer? Well to things come to mind first. Was ComicCon. Last month I flew out to San Diego and got to experience the craziness that is ComicCon. I had some fun, spent way too much money and my take away is this. I will be going back! Second was seeing "The Lemonheads" in concert. One of my all time favorite bands played a tiny club in CT this summer. I still have a few more fun events planned before school starts again. Which I'm happy to say is the reason I needed to take a break. As they say, you can't draw from your life experiences until you have some!

More soon.

Practice, Practice, Practice

2010-07-09T17:09:00.011-04:00

Well here I am and it's mid July already. I've decided toward the end of the last term to take the summer off, which I'm glad I did. Anyhow, I don't want to get to rusty before I go back in September for my next class in advanced acting, so I'm trying to stay busy by doing practice stuff and re-reading Richard William's book. The book really has everything you would ever need to know in it. This is my third time reading it and I'm still learning from it.

Anyhow, for fun I thought I share some poses I've been doing to keep busy.

Enjoy.

Balance is the key

2010-03-09T09:51:00.004-05:00

I'm just sitting at my desk at work, thinking about all the fun stuff I've been learning. It's been a really challenging year so far. Balancing everything is by far the hardest part. Work, School and trying to have a life are all parts of the equation. And as I've learned are all of equal importance. Maybe that's not news to most people, but it's always a good reminder.

Here's my latest animation. This pass is my blocking pass, which means it still needs a lot of work, but at least you can see how I'm setting things up. With AM we have to do several pass on each assignment before we get to the final or polishing pass. With the program they really drill into you how to understand and create your own work flow. Which is no accident since this is also how studies work as well.

Stewie Skateboarding from Philip Isaacs on Vimeo.

PS If you haven't tried Vimeo I really recommend it.

Organizing / Workflow

2010-02-25T13:27:00.003-05:00

It's funny but the older I get and the more I learn about animation, the more I see that success has a lot to do with establishing and sticking to a consistent and well thought out work flow. Luckily with Animation the work flow that most animators use was invented and refined many years ago. Right now I'm 2/3 of the way through Advanced Body Mechanics and I'm still learning the proper work flow, but it really makes a complicated process much smoother.

Anyhow, I've just been thinking about that a lot because this week I'm working on blocking out my next animation. I'm really excited about it, because it's going to be fun to work on and because it's a little more complex then my last two. But Unlike the previous assignments I've done, I have a whole extra week to work on it.

Currently I'm working as a Multi Media developer and for the past year or so I've been using After Effects for 90% of my work. I really love AE, but like Maya it's pretty overwhelming at times and I think requires a similar sort of approach to the work. If only it were that easy. Basically this comes down to plan, plan some more, then do some more planning. But in my world the planning usually comes later in the process and always too late.

Okay, just some random thoughts as I sit here on a Rainy Thursday and think about all the stuff I'm been learning.

Slow Progress .. My Bowling Shot

2010-02-20T12:17:00.005-05:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last posted, but that's because I've been busy with Animation Mentor. My latest shot is of Stewie bowling. I'm happy with the outcome, because I think it's an improvement in my Body Mechanics and definitely in my work flow.

Work flow is such an important part of the process and I'm still getting my mine down. The last phase, know as Polish is my least favorite and the hardest. But I'm told that's try for most animators.

Anyway, I thought I'd post it here and I'm trying Viemo for the first time. So far I like the results.

Week 07 / Stewie Bowling from Philip Isaacs on Vimeo.

Getting ready for AM again

2009-12-14T14:07:00.003-05:00

Even though I had originally planned to do three shots this break, I figured I'd only get two done. But in the past couple of weeks I thought it would be a fun excercise to go through some of my older shots and see if I could fixed them.

Well this didn't work out the way had hoped, but I was able to to take a small piece of and older shot and use it as a starting point.

Below is what I'm calling my third test shot. With this shot I'm concentrating on my poses and timing. I still plan and go back and do several straight ahead passes but I'm pretty happy with hoe it's coming along.

As always all feedback is welcomed.

Test Shot Number 2 / Blocking / Box Jump

2009-11-14T15:56:00.002-05:00

Hey AM peeps. Well according to my schedule this would be the end of week 07. Just about the middle of the fourth term for most of you. Part of my game plan for this term was to continue to study and practice a bit while giving myself a little break.
And as previously announce here, I've been continuing with my goal of completing three simple body mechanics shots.

This is the blocking for my second shot. Stewie jumps on a Box. I actually did a Box jump with Ballie during my second class, but I felt there's so much to learn with a shot like this I'd do it again. And besides its a lot more challenging using the whole Stewie rig, since now I also have to deal with his torso and arms and hands.

Anyhow, if anybody has a minute I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.

Dollhouse - Best show no one is watching.

2009-10-28T14:19:00.002-04:00

Why is no one watching this show. I think it's amazing. I guess it's like very other great TV show. It will only be appreciated after its gone and all we are left with is How I Met Your Mother and yet another CSI rip off. Well at least I know Mad Men will be around one more season.

Test Shot One - Polishing

2009-10-28T13:14:00.003-04:00

So, thanks to all the great feedback I received from my classmates, I've made a lot of improvements to my classic Scooby Sneak shot. And just for fun I've done a quick render with some moody lighting. Anyhow, I'm not sure where else to go with this pass, but if anyone has any comments or feedback I'd love to hear your thoughts.

By the way here is the same shot with out the lighting.

So to keep the momentum going I'm starting to think about my next test shot. I did a character jumping on a box in my second class, but it was just a simple ball with legs rig. I think I want to do it again, but this time using the Stewie rig. This will give me another chance to practice with the whole rig and keep working on my arcs and good weight. Once I get my blocking done I'll post it up here.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Sneak Shot / Blocking

2009-10-14T21:18:00.005-04:00

So this is my first practice shot this term. Since I decided to take this term off to study and practice i made a little syllabus for myself. Part of my plan is to do three simple body mechanics shots. This is the blocking on the first. An old fashion Hollywood Sneak. Although I prefer to call it a Shaggy Sneak, since I'm sure Shaggy did this every episode of Scooby Doo. All feedback is welcomed.

Marge Simpson.. Sex Symbol????

2009-10-10T17:33:00.003-04:00

CG CON Roadshow / Boston & New York

2009-10-06T10:42:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to let people know about the CG CON Roadshow. Which will be in Boston Nov 14th and New York on 21st. The Roadshow is a full day CG Workshop and Job Fair. I plan on being at both the Boston and New York events because I live right smack in the middle of both locations. Plus it will be fun to see all my fellow classmates.

Anyhow, I thought I'd post a link to any animation students or professionals out there who haven't heard about these events yet.

CG CON Roadshow

Sign up now since I'm sure both events will sell out.

Time Off

2009-10-06T10:28:00.003-04:00

Well, it's the beginning of October and I'm happy to say that I really miss AM, but I'm glad I'm taking this term off. Animation Mentor is a boot camp and it's hard work, and there is so much to learn that I felt I needed a breather so I could just go back and review everything I've covered up until now. Plus, I was feeling burnt out, and lets be honest, it's rear that people produce their best work when they are feeling run down.

But I'm happy to report that I've been keeping super busy, studying and plan to start a new test shot this week. I think I'd like to try the classic Scooby Doo sneak with the Stewie Rig! Anyhow, I'll post my thumbnails drawings this weekend once I've finished my planning.

One of the things I'm doing by the way is rereading Richard William's fantastic book, The Animatior's Survival guide. It really is an amazing book, and it feels like I learning a lot this second time through. But as one of my mentor's said in class, read that book, then reread that book and then reread it again. You'll learn something new each time. I agree, and so far he's right.

Rapid fire editing just gives me headaches

2009-06-29T10:54:00.004-04:00

Caught "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" movie on Friday night at the Cinema De Luxe (great name) on there big ass DLP screen. I think one of the reasons I have been seeing so many more movies lately is because the screens haven gotten so much better. Anyhow, I won't go into how bad this movie is, because it doesn't matter, you know your going to see it. But I do have to rag on the editing in this film.

I have always found to many quick cuts in a row hard to watch, and when you combine that with a moving camera, various hand held close ups and giant robots causing massive destruction it will give you headache. But I was wondering why do they do it. I know that editing software has revolutionized the way editors work and it allows them to make a lot more edits, but it does so at the expense, I think, of the images themselves.

Your eye barley has a moment to focus on one image before the entire but it cuts to a completely new or opposing shot. Certainly there was a time when you didn't need 400 cuts in action sequence to make it work, so why do directors do it. I think it is, in part, because there is there strange notion by filmmakers (and probably studios types) who feel that if the image is not constantly jumping all over the place, then it's less exciting. And that younger audiences like this style of editing, but who came up with this idiotic notion. Because no one I have ever spoken with (young or old) thinks an action movie works is better this way.

I'm not saying not to cut, because certainly that builds tension and can build excitement in the audience, but so does the story, and if the story isn't doing it's job then no amount of edits will change that. Another example of this is in the new James Bond movie "Quantum Of Solace" (terrible title) which I also saw this weekend. The director who is known for his dramatic work, does a good job with everything but the action sequences which are barley watchable. It's like he/they are trying to create all the action through editing, and thus you can't see what's happening 90% of the time.

Anyhow, it's just something that I thought about a lot while I watch these films. And I guess that's the worst part. The editing took me out of the story. And in my opinion that is very bad.

Worst movie so far this summer ...

2009-06-26T09:57:00.003-04:00

I was feeling pretty good about most of the films I was seeing this summer, until I went to see Terminator Salvation a few weeks ago. It's everything that I hate about big budget action movies. It's super loud, it's super hyper active and it's super dumb. The last item was that annoyed me the most. I can sort of deal with the first two, but having a story about humans fighting for survival and being the dumbest humans you've ever met is another thing. I'm always willing to suspend my disbelief when i going to see almost any movie, but when the characters are making decisions that supposedly effect there very survival, that basically make no real sense, it pulls you of of the story. In this case 90% of the decisions John Conner makes in this movie, he's basically asking for humans to be killed. And that's when it occurred to me, that there were just a lot of bad choices made that don't serve the story as much as the studio and marketing department. And who do you blame for that? In this case I feel like the director and writer should be held accountable. They are the most instrumental in telling the story and my opinion responsible for it. So what's my point here. Not much. McG is a hack and I just wanted to rag on him. Go back and make "Hot Wheels" the movie.

Movies to see

2009-06-25T09:16:00.003-04:00

Well it's the almost the end of June and by my estimates that pretty much the middle of summer. It's not official or anything it's just how I feel. Anyhow, there's been a lot of great movies so far this year and I wanted to point out a few that I'd liked.

First, it's probably no surprise that I'm a fan of Pixar's. There newest film UP is actually one of there best ever. It's hard to believe that after almost 20 years they are still topping themselves but that is the case with this newest movie. The funny thing about it (to me at least) is that it was writing and directed by the same guys who brought us Monster's Inc. I know a lot of people love that movie but I'm not one of them. In my opinion Monster's Inc., and Bug's Life rank near the bottom of Pixar's Library. But where I felt that Monster's Inc. was overly sentimental and didn't make a lot of sense (really how does Mike get back from being banished to the frozen wasteland moments after Scully returns!?) this felt a little more true to me, and in that way I could relate to it much better. Plus, it has some of the best comedy in a Pixar movie in a while.

Okay, I'll be back to talk about a few more movies soon.

Summer creeping in

2009-04-23T09:01:00.002-04:00

Just thought I'd do a quick update. It's mid April now, and summer is finally creeping in. I'm psyched, but of course that doesn't mean I'll have any extra time to go out and enjoy it. AM takes up a lot of my free time right now, and I keep hearing that it's going to be getting harder as we progress.

This is a big challenge for me right now. The amount of time that it's taking up, because, like a lot of people, I also work 40 hours a week. My job involves technology and requires a fair amount of problem solving, design and concentration. None of which are my strong point.

I suppose if I had my wish I would just want to be able to concentrate on AM full time, but of course I'm sure that's one of those double edge swords. I'd be doing just AM and thinking I need other projects to keep me stimulated. Who knows.

Anyhow, the summer is almost here and there is a bunch of great movies coming including, "Ice Age 3", "UP", "Cloudy With A Chance OF Meatballs", "Where The Wild Things Are", "9" and "Planet 51". Did I leave anything out? Oh yeah, "STAR TREK"!!!

Okay, that's enough rambling for today.

Hopscoth Blocking

2009-04-10T18:06:00.001-04:00

This week is all about blocking. I thought I'd post this, because I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along, although I'm sure most pros would ripe it to shreds. I just try to keep the fact that I'm still learning in the back of my mind. I wonder if AM shouldn't separate out the pros from the just starting students. It seems like in each class we have people like me and then we have a few professionals. I suppose it's to my benefit, but it is a neat idea.

Class 2 - Here I Go

2009-04-01T21:07:00.003-04:00

Well it's only been a few days since class one ended and here we are starting class two. This second class is called "Psychology Of Body Mechanics". It's about the real world physics involved with the human body, or at least that's what I can tell so far.

I think last semester taught me a lot, but I could have gotten more out of it. The hardest part for me is that I have a really hard time balancing work, school and my life. I think I could have worked harder on some shots, but of course this is why I'm in school.

Anyhow, "Basic Foundations" was great and my mentor Anthony Wong was awesome. I mean it's pretty damn cool, when your learning Animation for the first time and your teacher is an animator at Pixar. I mean it's like your taking up golf and Tiger Woods coach wants to give you lessons. Or least that's how it felt.

Okay, enough of that. This semester my goal is to give it my best effort and to try and nail down the 12 Principals of Animation.

1) Timing
2) Squash & Stretch
3) Ease In / Ease Out
4) Anticipation
5) Fallow Through / Overlap
6) Arcs
7) Straight Ahead / Pose To Pose
8) Solid Posing
9) Secondary Action
10) Staging
11) Exaggeration
12) Appeal

Okay, class starts in 45 mins. Wish me luck.

Best Animated Film of 09

2009-02-23T10:07:00.003-05:00

It's Monday morning and I'm still waking up, but I just wanted to post my thoughts on the Best Animated film of 08. Last night at the Oscars Wall-E won the Oscar. Now, I do think Wall-E was ground breaking and fun, and deserves all the high praise it's recieved. But the truth is I think Kung Fu Panda was the best animated file of the year. And let's be honest most of the animation community felt that was as well. It took home this years Annie award for that honor.

My reasons for this are pretty simple. Both were entertaining, and beautiful looking and had flawless animation. And Wall-E took a lot of chances which is something that I think is incredibly important. While Kung Fu Panda was not so much about breaking new ground, as it was about making a really classic and entertaining animated action film. And in the end I felt that it was the more entertaining movie.

Are the Oscars flawed? I don't really think that's a question anymore. To this day, I will never forget the moment, Dances With Wolves won an Oscar over Goodfellows. Really? Do you know anybody who still watches Dances With Wolves?

Week Five at Animation Mentor

2009-02-05T09:55:00.003-05:00

This weeks assignment got a whole lot more challenging. We are supposed to animate a ball through a simple obstacle course. The idea of this assignment is to demonstrate the principals of squash ans stretch as well as anticipation. 2 of the 12 principals of animation. See i"m learning already.

So far my classes have been great. What I like is that we are kept really busy with assignments. It's no joke that each week I'm already spending 10-15 hours on my assignments. And this is just class one. I've been told the assignments will grow and the we could easily be putting 25+ hours in a week toward the end.

I guess the reason I'm talking about this is because I can tell that the challenge for me is simple going to able to balance this with work (full-time 40 hours a week), my life (or lack of) and grad classes. Luckily I'm not taking any classes this semester, but I don't see I'll be able to fit it all in.

Okay, this is kinda of interesting it's my planning for this weeks assignment. See if you can spot the irony.

Week One

2009-01-09T16:05:00.006-05:00

I started Animation Mentor this week. So far, it's been great. They do a really good job, making the whole site feel active and alive. It doesn't feel like a self paced online website. It actually feels like a college campus. Weird, huh?

I bet a lot of real universities could learn a lot by studying how they have built their online campus.

Anyhow, we got our first rig this week, Stu. Next week we have to use him in a assignment. But I started playing around with him to learn the controls and about how pose him.

Here's my first pose. I call it, "The Boyscout".

The Illusion Of Life

2008-12-31T12:10:00.002-05:00

I'm deep into reading the classic Animation bible "The Illusion Of Life". So far it's not exactly what I expected. The writing is good, but so far it's less about the art of animation and more about the history and the people involved. I think the biggest thing I'm getting out of it so far is that animation is a lot of things. It's art, it's acting, it's staging, and a lot of those things come from your gut. Meaning, that a lot of your choices come from your instincts about what is entertaining and what works best to convey your story. Or at least that's the impression I'm getting. I also get the impression that there is a ton of planning and experimenting that goes into this work.

Okay, just a few thoughts for today. School starts in 6 days. Wish me luck.

Everyone has had more

2008-11-19T13:32:00.004-05:00

I have no idea how I discovered this video. But I'm suddenly obsessed with it. The video is for the song "Everybody has had more sex then me" by the band TISM.

What's so brilliant about this film? Personally I'm not sure where to start. I think the song is great. And the concept for the video is hysterical. But on top of the that there's the amazing character animation. Which most people (myself included) focused on CG animation, this example of traditional 2D animation reminds me o that I love about animation.

I hope you enjoy it as well.

A sketch a day

2008-10-31T11:20:00.003-04:00

So while I'm sitting here waiting for my video to render I thought I would update my blog. The past few weeks have been nuts. I haven't started my animation classes yet, but I've been trying to prepare in my free time by sharping up my drawing skills.

I know a lot of animation students make it a point to do one sketch a day. I'm hoping to get up to that speed. Right now I'm lucky if I do one sketch a week. But I am taking a drawing class on Saturday mornings. I think the hardest part for me is freeing myself up enough. It seems like when I sit down to draw I feel like whatever I'm doing is someone how wrong. I guess that's because when I was a little and drew all the time, I had no idea if it was bad or good. Now I look at what I do and think it looks like crap. Right now my favorite artist is Jack Kirby. I've been reading the Essential Fantastic Four and I can't believe how amazing the art is. I wish I could draw hands the way Kirby did.

The say it's practice, so maybe I'd feel better if I just could spend more time to draw. I guess this means giving up playing XBOX, but come on Gears Of War is pretty damn cool.

To Wacom or Not To Wacom

2008-10-24T21:11:00.004-04:00

So after much research and much thought I decided to go with the Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium. This is sort of a long name for a Wacom tablet but believe me that's the name. The reason I went with this model was because it had a nice size drawing area 8"x6" and wasn't so expensive that it was going to break me. And believe me this things are exspensive.

Anyhow, I'm super excited because I love to draw and have always wanted a tablet like this. I'm sure I won't use as much as I should but isn't that the case with everything. Just take a look at my golf clubs with are sitting in my garage or my rollerblades.

Animation Mentor

2008-10-06T16:08:00.004-04:00

Well I've been accepted into Animation Mentor (www.animationmentor.com) for the Winter 09 session. I can't wait to get started. Animation Mentor is an online Animation school located in California. What makes this program so amazing is that they focus solely on character animation and only character animation. After looking at a number of schools and other programs such as VFS and Full-Sail I decided to apply to AM because of the quality of the faculty and because it was something I could do while I continued to work at my current job.

Anyhow, like many of my classmates I will be keeping a blog of my activities and since I already have this one I figured why start from scratch.

I'll keep you posted.

Wall-E is the best movie of the summer

2008-08-19T09:37:00.003-04:00

So I finally saw "Wall-E" this weekend and I want to say flat out, I believe it's one of Pixar's best movies and I think the best movie of the summer. Sorry "Dark Knight" Now I could get into all the technical reasons why it rocked, but lets be honest. Great story telling. As Brad Bird said once, Pixar isn't a Hollywood studio who spends a lot of time looking at market research. They just find ideas that they think are interesting and go for it. It's very gut instinct based and very risky, and that's why they continue to blow away anybody else trying to do this type of work. Anyhow I encourage everyone to see it. It's beautiful, touching, funny and has a positive message.

Back to work.

DOF takes too long to render

2008-08-14T22:06:00.003-04:00

So I was playing around with Mental Rays Depth Of Field Lens. I do this a lot. I want to know what something does and I just experiment. I'm not sure why. My guess is because I want to know how everything works, so that I can apply it or use it some way if I ever come up with a cool idea. The truth is I have a ton of ideas, but like everything else I often am trying to do too many things at once.

Anyhow I thought I would share this image. It's a still taking from an animation I did this spring for class. I'm using a low end PC (AMD Dual Core somthing or other and 2 gig of ram), but even rending in Mental Ray using production quality it only takes a a few minutes. This still took 33 minutes.

I guess I won't be using DOF any time soon.

Global Immuination Test

2008-08-07T20:42:00.003-04:00

Yes anything can be keyed in Maya.

Bender

2008-06-20T21:05:00.004-04:00

Just something I have been playing around with.

I'm still learning how to sculpt and manipulate pixels around. Modeling is just one of many areas you can focus I don't understand how people can make movies even shorts by themseleves, but I'm starting to see that most people don't won't alone.

Anyhow I like how the head and parts of the body look. The arms are too long and the legs are still funny.

Summer post

2008-06-12T20:32:00.003-04:00

So i've been sort of busy these past few weeks, mostly helping my parents out, as they prepare to sell their house and move away. But I have gotten some time in now and then to watch some 3D modeling tutorials over at DIgital Tutors. This is a great web site which sells tutorial DVD's but also allows you to watch bits and pieces of certain stuff online for free. It's an excellent resource especially if you want to refresh yourself about something and you don't feel like digging through Maya's help files.

www.digitaltutors.com

Aside from that I saw a couple of CGI heavy movies. The first was of course Iron Man, which l loved. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly was the best part of this movie, because as a comic book fan, they did so many things right. The casting, story and direction where all perfect. And as an aspiring/wannabe/amateur animator I loved the CG in the movie. Sometimes this works against a film, especially when the director focuses too much on it EFX and it becomes a distraction. Yeah Lucas I'm talking to you. That could have very easily happen with this movie, but the director (John Favour) smarty knows that the heart of this film is not the Iron Man but Tony Stark.

Next I was pretty dissapointed with the new Indiana Jones film. I've heard reports that the script for this movie took ten years, and that maybe is where the problem with the story lies. To many drafts. Too many revisions. [BEGIN SPOILER] I had no problem with the whole aliens as gods thing, although it took someone else explaining it to me to understand it. [END SPOILER] But the movie isn't as much fun as the originals, and has a lot of problems with charcater development. For instance Indy main squeeze Marion shows up and basically stands around in the backgroun for most of the film unused. Then there's the terrible CG. I could ramble on, but I'm pretty sure no one reads this blog.

More soon.

Astronomy Animation

2008-05-23T10:21:00.002-04:00

This is a simple animation I did for work a couple months ago. It's really one of the first animations I've ever done using Maya. I've learned a lot since I did this, but I thought I posted it anyways, since it's a nice example.

Animation of KH 15D

There really isn't a lot going on here. A couple of simple shaders (a ramp and noise on the stars), and some orbits where done as path animations.

More soon.

The Simpson Movie 2D or 3D

2008-04-23T12:38:00.004-04:00

Just watched the Simpsons movie last night. I hadn't been avoiding it, I just missed it when it was in the theaters (last summer?). Anyhow, it's actually good that I didn't see it until now, because of the fact that I have been studying Maya.

So the thing that struck me about the film was that so many of the set pieces and all the vehicles where 3D. It actually worked really well. The characters looked 2D but then most of the buildings and cars and stuff where (what looked liked) 3D models with a toon shader on them. It was a very cool effect and really gave the film a very cinematic quality that would have been missing if they did the film exactly like the TV show.

Other then that, I really liked the film. It was very funny, and I think more in tone to what I liked about the early shows, while at the same time still feeling like today's Simpsons.

I recommend.

Maya, how far down does this thing go?

2008-04-12T19:36:00.004-04:00

So I havn't check in in a week or so because things are a little busy right now. I've been working on my finale project for my 3D Animation class while keeping busy with work and moving. But on the up side Spring has finally arrived. Anyhow, I've been working with Maya for about 3 months now and have learned a lot. I feel like I know the basics now. But it's such a deep program that the more I learn the more I realize I haven't even scraped the surface. We watched a video tutorial on dynamics in class the other day and I couldn't help but laugh at how complex is was. There was something like 40 steps to make fire emit from a surface. What is even scarier for me because is I have a terrible memory. Every time I memorize something I pretty sure I'm forgetting something else.

Anyhow, that's it for now. I will post some stills of my finale project soon. I'm starting to texture now which should be some fun. I hope.

Travel to New York on a $100.00 a day

2008-03-31T19:35:00.006-04:00

Well because this blog is about everything and anything I think is cool I wanted to talk a little about Infinite Solutions. What the heck is Infinite Solutions? Well damn if I know. But basically it's another video blog (or vlog for the ultra hip) of incredibly odd and off beat how to videos. Offering tips on everything from traveling to NYC on $100.00 a day to quickly defogging your goggles while skiing.

So why am I writing about this? Because none of the tips actually work. In fact most of the videos are made up. But the videos are so damn funny because of the straight forward and totally dead pan delivery at first you can't tell if it's a joke or not.

Take for instance his suggestion that on Thursday's in New York City your free to bring a hand gun to the top of the Empire State Building for target practice. He notes that you should be careful to only fire at targets and not at pedestrians. He does this while shooting a hand gun at giant targets Photo-shopped onto buildings laid out across the Manhattan sky line.

Anyhow, if your looking for a good laugh I urgh you to check it out.

http://www.marksinfinitesolutions.com/

Sky Captain .. and the world of tomorrow

2008-03-24T20:10:00.008-04:00

It's been a a week or so since I last wrote, but I was off, enjoying my Spring Break. Anyhow, I'm back to work now, and I wanted to talk about a movie I've seen a few times that still surprises me doesn't have more of a following. Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. This movie was released in 2004 and the story behind the film is almost as interesting as the movie itself.

A first time film maker by the name of Kerry Conran made a six minute short using his Mac and a blue screen. According to IMDB the process took him nearly four years complete what was essentially the opening six minutes of the film. He then showed the film to numerous people before a big time Hollywood producer saw it and got involved helping to finance the movie as well as get A-List stars like Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie to star.

The movie draws very heavily from old black and white movies, 50's sci-fi comic books and even experimental Post modernism flicks like Metropolis. It's visually stunning, mixing cg backgrounds and live action actors together. I guess this is why I love this movie so much is because in some ways it draws a lot on some of the same influences I do. Comics, sci-fiction and old movies.

Anyhow, as far as 3D movies goes, I feel this movie is often over looked. Not only in terms of story but also in terms of the 3D animation. If you don't believe me I challenge you to see for your self.

Martian Attack?!?

2008-03-11T12:27:00.003-04:00

Okay so I'm sure a lot of people remember the film "Mars Attacks". This was a big sci-fi/comedy that came out about 10 years ago. Somehow I don't think it was a big hit despite that fact that it had an all-star cast and was directed by Tim Burton.

I loved this film and I often think about it because of the 50's era style and tone of the movie. In some ways it's like another Tim Burton film "Ed Wood" because it's meant to be a tribute to bad movies, but it's also trying to be a big budget Hollywood action/sci-fi movie which is where it sort of fails.

Anyhow, my favorite part of the movie without question are the UFOS. As a kid flying sauces scared the heck out of me, but I still think they are cool. I hope if there is life on other planets that aliens fly down and visit us in UFOS that look like these.

Metal Gear Solid 4

2008-03-05T09:44:00.003-05:00

So since I started this blog because I'm taking a 3D Animation class, I wanted to talk about something that got me interested in 3D-- video games. Yes like millions of young men and woman I love video games. I guess it goes back to childhood for me, but now I'm in my 30's and when I'm looking for a way to relax and have a bit of fun I instantly turn to my XBOX 360. Now I'm not what you call a hard core gamer, but I do own at least three different game consoles and I've lost count of how many games I actually own.

One of my favorite games of all time is Metal Gear Solid. I won't even attempt to go into why this game rules, enough people have done that already. But I did want to talk a little about this trailer for the new game coming this year. MGS4 is the long awaited sequel and picks up in the future. This trailer debut sometime last year and blew me instantly away.

I loved the look and style of the game. The gritty realism mixed with the sci-fi tactical stuff is very cool. A couple of things I noticed about this trailer where the muted colors and smoke effects, both make it seem very authentic to me. Plus I like the way sound is used here especially in the first person views.

You suck ... at Photoshop

2008-03-03T13:16:00.005-05:00

My first love has always been comedy. So when I see something that's interesting as well as hilarious I have two reactions. The first is I want everyone I know to watch it. And the second is total jealously.

Anyhow, this week while I was trying to figure out how to modify an image I stole off the web, when I discovered a new video tutorial series called "You Sucked at Photoshop". As soon as I read the title I knew I had found what I was looking for because, I do suck at Photoshop.

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

I believe there are about 7 or 8 of them all together. Just cruise over to YouTube and search for, "You Suck at Photoshop".

Listening to music.

2008-02-19T14:38:00.003-05:00

I love to listen to music while I work. I honestly believe that I have ended up in the job I am in now just so I can listen to music while I do it.

Lately I'm sort of wondering if music I listen to influences the work I do, in the way it can influence my mood sometimes. If that's the case is there a song or a melody that can make me work faster? Is there a score or a lyric that can make my work more creative? If only it was that simple.

Anyhow, I listen to a lot of different types of music while I work. Everything from indi-pop bands to jazz to film scores. I like just about everything. Here is one of my new favorites. It's call Streaming Soundtracks. It's an online radio station where they play a variety of music from movies, tv shows and even video games. It's pretty eclectic.

Current Favs.

The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Beck - The Information
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga
Nada Surf - Lucky
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

Atari 2600

2008-02-19T14:26:00.007-05:00

So here is another little experiment I have been doing. As you can see I did this in the PLE or Personal Learning Edition of Maya so there is that ugly watermark all over it.

Basically this is a tribute to my childhood, the Atari 2600. When I was about 8 or 9 ever kid I knew had one of these things. I used to love it, although to be honest I wasn't very good at videro games. Hopefully I'll redo it in the real version of Maya sometime this week.

The Atomic Age

2008-02-12T10:31:00.005-05:00

I wasn't born until the seventies, so I missed out on all those cool education films that they used to force kids in public school to watch in the 50's and 60's. I remember seeing filmstrips in high school on the demons of doing drugs and driving, but none had the charm of an 50's "duck and cover" in case of an atomic bomb cold war feeling.

Anyhow if your like me and live for the good days of bad proganda films then you will really love the Prelinger Archives. A collection of thousands of education films on ever conceivable topic hosted over at www.archive.org. Some of my favorites include the dangers of not "Washing Your Hands", "Bicycle Safty" and of course "How to be Popular".

Since this blog is suppose to be about inspiration, let me talk about something else I find cool about these movies and that's the design. Specifically the graphics design in the titles and in the case of the clip I posted below the animation. As you can tell from other posts I love this look and although I don't know what you would call it, it reminds me of the cartoons I grew up on. Back when most animation was still hand drawn and down here and not over seas.

Animation Test One / Breakfast

2008-02-09T15:13:00.001-05:00

Okay, so like many people I have always wanted to know more about 3d animation. Currently I do a lot of animation but it's mostly 2d and to be honest pretty boring. Anyhow, the reason for this blog is because I started taking a class in 3d Animation. So far we are primarily learning about Maya which is a very popular 3d Animation package (model, animation, render).

This week for class I made a breakfast table and then animated a single camera zooming by it. It's all very amateurish, but I'm still learning, and thought it showed some promise. Besides I had so much fun working on it and to be honest that's all I cared about. It was fun for me.

So I'm going to try and upload it and see if I can share it.

Venture Bros. Beware!!

2008-02-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

Over the past few years I have become a huge fan of a little show on Cartoon Networks' adult swim called The Venture Bros. Adult Swim has always been the place for some of most original and bizzare stuff in animation for some time going all the way back to Space Ghost Coast to Coast. And calling Venture Bros original and bizarre is sort of an understatement. But it's highly entertaining and I think very funny.

Briefly the cartoon centers around a scientist named Dr. Venture, his two sons and their body guard. Dr. Venrure is sort of a mad scientist lite. Not really in it for the world domination as much as the chicks and fame. His two sons are the Hardy Boys if the Hardy Boys rode the short bus to school and their body guard is a military trained killer who tends to fly off the handle.

The show is in many ways a tribute to Hanna Barabara cartoons of the late sixties and early seventies. The shows look relies heavily on the animation style from shows like Scooby Doo and Johnny Quest. One of my favorite things about this show is the art direction. The best example is really the opening montage, which uses still images, mixed with a slick baseline and some 70's style animation. Every time I watch it I just think its the coolest thing ever.

Tell me what you think.

Boneville

2008-01-31T11:02:00.000-05:00

So it probably will sound a little childish to admit this but I love Bone. What is Bone? It's a wonderful comic book from writer and artist Jeff Smith (yup that's his real name) about three cousins who get chased out of their homes from Boneville and get lost in the forest. This leads them to a small village and a lot of crazy adventures.

I discovered this book when I was in college, and even though it's sort of gear toward kids, I immediatly fell in love with the story telling as well as the art. And like most great books for kids, it works on many levels, so even though it seem childish I think alot of adults would enjoy it as well.

The book was published for almost ten years and I think there was around 60 issues in total. But Mr Smith manage to craft a story as rich as any of the Lord of The Rings novels, and did it using only black and white artwork.

I guess what inspired me about this was the simplicty of artwork, the hurmor and the sense of adventure that came out of this one little comic. Anyhow, if your interested I suggest picking up the complete Bone off Amazon. It's about 40 dollars and contains the intire story in 400 pages.

Ka-Pow!

2008-01-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hmm, I'm not sure how to explain this, but for some reason, ever since I can remember I have always loved the fonts in comic books. I'm not just talking about the old school hand drawing dialog where everything is uppercase, and overly bold, but also the larger then life splash page where the words jump out at you. To me those images are like candy. Big and colorful and bold that you can't help to ignore and beg for your attention.

Some of my favorites where the EC Comics. These books were a series of horror and suspense comics from the 50's and 60's. The EC line of comics was considered controversial because of it's graphic depictions of violence and not so subtle sexual undertones. But they set the standard at the time for cool artwork and edge story telling help to define an entire generation of artists.

I also need to give a shout out to those famous Marvel splash pages front he 60's and 70's. A splash page is usually the second page of the comic after the cover and was the introduction to the story. Much like a movie poster it listed the credits along with the main characters as a way to introduce the plot. This one above was credit by the man himself, Jack "The King" Kirby.

By the way if your interested in comic book lettering here are two really cool sites to check out.
Balloon Tales and Comic Book Fonts.

Frank Miller

2008-01-26T10:57:00.000-05:00

I have always loved comic books, but it wasn't until maybe high school when I truly became hooked. It was after my buddy Keith gave me his copy of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and suddenly I saw comic books in a whole new light. It was the first time I realized that a popular character could have many interpretations. Briefly the story is take places in the future and Bruce Wayne has long ago retired and giving up being a super hero. But the world has not become a nice place! Gangs control the streets, the government controls superheros, the streets are in decay and the city is crumbling. What's an old vigilant to do but fight.

Anyhow, most of the modern interpretations of Batman now are based on this version, including all the movies in recent years. But at the time it was a huge departure from the version I remember as a little kid. Mostly the Adam West version, of a silly, middle age looking guy, in goofy looking tights.

I guess it was the beginning of something that still interests me and that is taking somthing that people are alreay familiar with and looking at it in a whole new light.

Hollywood and Vine

2008-01-24T21:13:00.001-05:00

This video reminds me of living in LA. Anyway, this ckip is an another example of something I love. Taking something familiar and tweaking it a little into something new. In this case the director decided instead of doing another cliche rap video, that he would replace the rappers with theme park animals. My favorite part is when the shark dunks on the tiger while playing basketball. In case your wondering the band is called DJ Format and I think they are from England. Also on this track is Charlie Tuna from Jurassic 5.

Set them free

2008-01-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

I think I was having a bad day the first time I saw this video, but after watching it I was in a completely new mood. Anyhow, if you can't afford Prozac and your feeling down I suggest watching this. Also (full disclosure here) The Shins are one of my favorite bands. I like them so much I have to be careful not to play their albums too often because I'm afraid of that day when I grow tired of them. Luckily it hasn't happened yet. Free the ballo0ns. Enjoy!

The animation wins

2008-01-24T20:39:00.001-05:00

One of my all time favorite Flash animations. It's a simple idea, executed really well and I guess the word clever sums it all up. Here the animator wrestles with his own creation which of course takes over in the end.