tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63154401337147316482024-03-19T01:48:44.802-07:00Andrew Kin Fun Chan's BlogAndrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-61515267819142981742013-12-04T22:18:00.002-08:002013-12-04T22:33:12.149-08:00Maya API Learning Resources<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">I am on a journey to learn about the Maya API using Python and C++. Below are some helpful blogs, and Autodesk documentation that I have found useful in my development. Feel free to leave a comment below to add to the list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Autodesk Maya Developers:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.autodesk.com/developmaya">http://www.autodesk.com/developmaya</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Maya 2014 API Docs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://docs.autodesk.com/MAYAUL/2014/ENU/Maya-API-Documentation/index.html?url=files/GUID-6CB5FC23-3775-4210-993A-1C82B05B2996.htm,topicNumber=d30e302">http://docs.autodesk.com/MAYAUL/2014/ENU/Maya-API-Documentation/index.html?url=files/GUID-6CB5FC23-3775-4210-993A-1C82B05B2996.htm,topicNumber=d30e302</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Maya 2013 API Docs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://docs.autodesk.com/MAYAUL/2013/ENU/Maya-API-Documentation/index.html?url=files/GUID-856DDB26-93E7-493D-A1D4-60C4CBA38B9C.htm,topicNumber=d30e4461">http://docs.autodesk.com/MAYAUL/2013/ENU/Maya-API-Documentation/index.html?url=files/GUID-856DDB26-93E7-493D-A1D4-60C4CBA38B9C.htm,topicNumber=d30e4461</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Maya Station:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://mayastation.typepad.com/">http://mayastation.typepad.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://mayastation.typepad.com/maya-station/api/">http://mayastation.typepad.com/maya-station/api/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">User groups:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Google Group, Python Programming for Autodesk Maya:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/python_inside_maya">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/python_inside_maya</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Casual Learner:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://whisperwing2011.blogspot.ca/">http://whisperwing2011.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Chad Vernon:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/">http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Chris Devito:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://chrisdevito.blogspot.ca/">http://chrisdevito.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Chris Evans:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.chrisevans3d.com/pub_blog/?p=862">http://www.chrisevans3d.com/pub_blog/?p=862</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Cyrille Fauvel:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://around-the-corner.typepad.com/">http://around-the-corner.typepad.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Daisuke Maki:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.daisukemaki.com/projects.php">http://www.daisukemaki.com/projects.php</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">DJX:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.djx.com.au/blog/">http://www.djx.com.au/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Dimitry Kachkovski:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://derangedartisan.blogspot.ca/2013/02/storing-attribute-values-with-maya-api.html">http://derangedartisan.blogspot.ca/2013/02/storing-attribute-values-with-maya-api.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Dorian Fevrier:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.fevrierdorian.com/blog/">http://www.fevrierdorian.com/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Dunham Lee:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://ldunham.blogspot.ca/">http://ldunham.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Ethan Shilling:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://aflockofpixels.blogspot.ca/">http://aflockofpixels.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Jordan Hueckstaedt:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rubberguppy.com/blog/">http://rubberguppy.com/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Koichi Tamura:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://koichitamura.blogspot.ca/">http://koichitamura.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Mattias Bergbom:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://bergbom.blogspot.ca/">http://bergbom.blogspot.ca/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Marco Giordano</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.marcogiordanotd.com/blog/">http://www.marcogiordanotd.com/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Meng Xie:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://mengxiemaya.blogspot.ca/">http://mengxiemaya.blogspot.ca</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Michael Tsai:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.tsaimichael.com/blog/?cat=11">http://www.tsaimichael.com/blog/?cat=11</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Parzival Roethlein:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://pazrot3d.blogspot.ca/">http://pazrot3d.blogspot.ca/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Richard Kazuo Maegaki:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://riggerman.animationblogspot.com/python-notes/">http://riggerman.animationblogspot.com/python-notes/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Sam Hodge:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.hodge.net.au/sam/blog/">http://www.hodge.net.au/sam/blog/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Serge Scherbakov:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.serge-scherbakov.com/">http://www.serge-scherbakov.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Volker:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://volcore.limbic.com/2011/09/25/writing-maya-plugins/">http://volcore.limbic.com/2011/09/25/writing-maya-plugins/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">WarpCat:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://mayamel.tiddlyspot.com/">http://mayamel.tiddlyspot.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">Video Training:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;">CGCircuit:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.cgcircuit.com/">http://www.cgcircuit.com</a></span></div>
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Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-54458414503479127552013-10-30T20:37:00.002-07:002013-11-01T20:44:56.661-07:00Cluster Edgeloops [Maya Python]<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/77672443" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
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A Maya Python script that adds a cluster to each edge loop based off a single edge ring selection.Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-52389756795042280372013-10-05T21:13:00.000-07:002014-02-27T23:15:30.057-08:00V-Ray Dirt Multi Tile Baker [Maya Python]This is a tool I wrote that will bake out V-Ray Dirt based off a min and max UV Region set by the user. I have used this in production on assets with a hundred tiles and baking out at 4 K resolution.<br />
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I will be releasing this in the near future on Creative Crash.<br />
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<a href="http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help/150SP1/vraydirt_params.htm">V-Ray Dirt Param Documentation</a><br />
<a href="http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help/150SP1/examples_vraydirt.htm">V-Ray Dirt Examples</a><br />
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Video Demo:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="330" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/76126881" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
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Input Mesh:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxxtC3wo6G4x4vvvIN7BKleHGnEeOIQtKH5ffwxbK-DdDoj9ZCkcqnpXmOlvLGA95kYGY1ulOtcuT5GFnRMbyngaCZitjUdq1rJPsUkGPl_aVUAE44GXB-S9biufQSLZnNoxgr-Gqcg0-/s1600/vrayDIRT_Showcase_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxxtC3wo6G4x4vvvIN7BKleHGnEeOIQtKH5ffwxbK-DdDoj9ZCkcqnpXmOlvLGA95kYGY1ulOtcuT5GFnRMbyngaCZitjUdq1rJPsUkGPl_aVUAE44GXB-S9biufQSLZnNoxgr-Gqcg0-/s320/vrayDIRT_Showcase_1.jpg" height="139" width="320" /></a></div>
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Result:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcYlyO11gmD27Uz6CBvZnlq9GCrigsA56kajD90Pycc9eDm9Yoon2zVBHI3Fry726JQZyhFHQoUj6apgYRKljpEs-8TaG1FU3kU8iWyaxABqRIASAbivEG_-aW6uwqPusWDMmziAX2Ef0/s1600/vrayDIRT_Showcase_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcYlyO11gmD27Uz6CBvZnlq9GCrigsA56kajD90Pycc9eDm9Yoon2zVBHI3Fry726JQZyhFHQoUj6apgYRKljpEs-8TaG1FU3kU8iWyaxABqRIASAbivEG_-aW6uwqPusWDMmziAX2Ef0/s320/vrayDIRT_Showcase_2.jpg" height="183" width="320" /></a></div>
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GUI:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLviuNDVmYuh12MtNa35W9IhTQuT95OarmR4cYX8NL_t8sFJU52ZRM0jQGJcgGw2n7LvijZ6tU5hlP9L7JvMSYWuvv4oWssjMVejOaDVnTQS3SwlI_w8aLzNf925EYZs6tYRp-o7TcAL-x/s1600/VRay_Dirt_Multi_Tile_Baker_GUI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLviuNDVmYuh12MtNa35W9IhTQuT95OarmR4cYX8NL_t8sFJU52ZRM0jQGJcgGw2n7LvijZ6tU5hlP9L7JvMSYWuvv4oWssjMVejOaDVnTQS3SwlI_w8aLzNf925EYZs6tYRp-o7TcAL-x/s1600/VRay_Dirt_Multi_Tile_Baker_GUI.jpg" height="640" width="356" /></a></div>
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Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-91591987378959602752013-10-02T01:20:00.000-07:002013-10-08T01:58:07.619-07:00Joint Labeling Function [Maya Python]This is a Python function that I have created to help me do joint labeling in Maya.
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[UPDATES:]<br />
Oct 6th, 2013 - Add help docs. To access this type, 'acJntLabel.__doc__' or 'help(acJntLabel)' <br />
Oct 8th, 2013 - Add functionality for user to pass joints through a selection or a list.<br />
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Video Demo:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/76250432" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
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Source Code:<br />
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<pre style="background: #000000; border: 1px dashed #ffffff; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; height: 500px; line-height: 20px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; width: 99%;"><code style="color: white; word-wrap: normal;"> """
Title: AC_jointLabel.py
Author: Andrew Kin Fun Chan
Email: AndrewChan1985@gmail.com
Date: Sept 2013
Version: 1.0
Compatibility: Maya 2011+ (It will probably work in older versions as well. Contact me if you have issues.)
"""
import maya.cmds as mc
def toList(objects):
"""
This function takes in data and returns it as a list.
"""
if isinstance(objects, str):
return [objects]
elif isinstance(objects, tuple):
return list(objects)
return objects
#acceptable side keys to use.
sideDict = {
'Center':0,
'Left':1,
'Right':2,
'None':3
}
#acceptable type keys to use.
typeDict = {
'None':0,
'Root':1,
'Hip':2,
'Knee':3,
'Foot':4,
'Toe':5,
'Spine':6,
'Neck':7,
'Head':8,
'Collar':9,
'Shoulder':10,
'Elbow':11,
'Hand':12,
'Finger':13,
'Thumb':14,
'PropA':15,
'PropB':16,
'PropC':17,
'Other':18,
'Index Finger':19,
'Middle Finger':20,
'Ring Finger':21,
'Pinky Finger':22,
'Extra Finger':23,
'Big Toe':24,
'Index Toe':25,
'Middle Toe':26,
'Ring Toe':27,
'Pinky Toe':28,
'Extra Toe':29
}
acJntLabel ('Left', 'Other',None, 'oi')
def acJntLabel (side, type, joints = None, *args):
"""
[Description:] This is a function that joint labels using the user input or selected joints.
[Example:]
If the selected joint names were...
lf_joint1_bnd, lf_joint2_bnd, lf_joint3_bnd
I would want to assign the side to Left, type to Other,
and remove 'lf_' & '_bnd' from the joint label name.
acJntLabel ('Left', 'Other', None, 'lf_','_bnd')
@param side: Name of joint label side.
@type side: *str*
Acceptable side parameters:
'Center', 'Left', 'Right', 'None'
@param type: Name of joint label type.
@type side: *str*
Acceptable type parameters:
'None', 'Root', 'Hip', 'Knee', 'Foot', 'Toe', 'Spine', 'Neck', 'Head', 'Collar', 'Shoulder',
'Elbow', 'Hand', 'Finger', 'Thumb', 'PropA', 'PropB', 'PropC', 'Other', 'Index Finger', 'Middle Finger',
'Ring Finger', 'Pinky Finger', 'Extra Finger', 'Big Toe', 'Index Toe', 'Middle Toe', 'Ring Toe',
'Pinky Toe', 'Extra Toe'
@param joints: List of joint names to label. If param is set to None, then get joints based off user selection.
@type side: *str*, *tuple*, *list*
@param *args: Name of strings you would like to remove from the joint name.
@type *args: *str*
"""
joints = toList(joints)
if not joints:
joints = mc.ls (sl = True)
if not joints:
raise RuntimeError('Must select or pass in joints.')
if side not in sideDict.keys():
raise RuntimeError('Side name,%s, must be one of the following: %s' % (side, sideDict.keys()))
if type not in typeDict.keys():
raise RuntimeError('Type name, %s, must be one of the following: %s' % (type, typeDict.keys()))
for jnt in joints:
print jnt
if not mc.objExists(jnt):
print '%s joint does not exist... Continuing to next joint.' % (jnt)
continue
#assigning the side and type to all selected joints.
mc.setAttr ((jnt + '.side'), sideDict[side])
mc.setAttr ((jnt + '.type'), typeDict[type])
jntNewName = jnt
#looping through the args to remove them from the name.
for i, arg in enumerate(args):
jntNewName = jntNewName.replace(arg, '')
#assign the name of the joint label with the new name.
mc.setAttr ((jnt+'.otherType'), jntNewName, type ='string' )
</code></pre>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-65377947005114887102013-09-29T17:32:00.002-07:002013-10-06T00:13:37.946-07:00Save and Reload Selection [Maya Python]This is a Python script for Maya that can save your selection and reload it at a later point in your session.
<br />
<pre style="background: #000000; border: 1px dashed #ffffff; color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; height: 300px; line-height: 20px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; width: 99%;"><code style="color: white; word-wrap: normal;"> ## --------------------------------------------------------------------
"""
Title: AC_RememberSelection.py
Author: Andrew Kin Fun Chan
Email: AndrewChan1985@gmail.com
Date: Sept 2013
Version: 1.0
Compatibility: Maya 2011+ (It will probably work in older versions as well. Contact me if you have issues.)
Function: Commands:
Load Selection: reloadSel = AC_RememberSelection(1)
Reload Selection: AC_RememberSelection(0)
"""
## --------------------------------------------------------------------
import maya.cmds as mc
def AC_RememberSelection(x):
if x == 1:
print 'Storing Selection'
loadSel = mc.ls(sl=True)
else:
print 'Reloading Selection.'
mc.select (reloadSel)
return (loadSel)
</code></pre>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-1336934385468539882013-09-28T23:43:00.001-07:002013-10-06T02:01:09.145-07:00Zero Transforms with Groups. [Maya Python]When it comes to rigging, it's important to keep controllers clean while keeping it's orientation. Since freeze transformations destroys the orientation data, this is a little script I wrote to zero out object transforms using groups.<br />
<br />
Video Demo:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/76249803" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<br />
Source Code:<br />
<br />
<pre style="background: #000000; border: 1px dashed #ffffff; color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; height: 500px; line-height: 20px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: left; width: 99%;"><code style="color: white; word-wrap: normal;"> ## --------------------------------------------------------------------
"""
Title: AC_ZeroTransformsWithGroup.py
Author: Andrew Kin Fun Chan
Email: AndrewChan1985@gmail.com
Date: Sept 2013
Version: 1.0
Compatibility: Maya 2011+ (It will probably work in older versions as well. Contact me if you have issues.)
Install Instructions:
1. Copy the mel script (ZeroTransformsWithGroup.py) to your local user/scripts folder:
Example path to icons folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\My Documents\maya\#.#\scripts
2. Copy the icon file (ZeroTransformsWithGroup.png) to your user/prefs/icons folder:
Example path to icons folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\My Documents\maya\#.#\prefs\icons
3. Then type the below code into a Maya Python tab:
import AC_ZeroTransformsWithGroup as zero
zero.AC_ZeroTransformsWithGroup()
4. Create the command on the shelf and so you have a button.
You should now have a new shelf button.
When you click the button it will create a group above
your selection to zero out the transforms.
Description:
A script that will take your selection and zero out the
transforms by putting an empty group above it with matching
transforms. This script only works on single selection.
"""
## --------------------------------------------------------------------
import maya.cmds as mc
def AC_ZeroTransformsWithGroup():
#Getting the Long and Short names of my selection.
zeroSelection = mc.ls (sl = True, long = True)
zeroSelectionShort = mc.ls (sl = True, shortNames = True)
#Check if anything is referenced.
if zeroSelection == None:
print 'Please select something with transforms to zero out.'
else:
#Check if list is empty.
if not zeroSelection:
print 'Please select something with transforms to zero out.'
else:
print 'cool'
for obj in enumerate(zeroSelection):
i = obj[0]
zeroParent = mc.listRelatives (obj[1], parent = True)
#Create the empty group respecting the hierarchy. Checks to see if there is a parent or not.
if zeroParent == None:
mc.group ( obj[1], n = (zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'), em = True, r = True, p = obj[1])
mc.parent ((zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'), w = True)
mc.parent ( obj[1], (zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'))
print 'Created empty zero group in world space.'
else:
mc.group ( obj[1], n = (zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'), em = True, r = True, p = obj[1])
mc.parent ( (obj[1] + '|' + zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'), zeroParent[i] )
mc.parent ( obj[1], (zeroSelectionShort[i] + '_ZERO'))
print 'Created empty zero group hierarchy.'
</code></pre>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-3524541767912737472012-12-10T19:45:00.002-08:002013-10-02T01:38:35.337-07:00Geometry Paint Tool Maya 2011 and earlier.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcwHav7IpFvAa2laH3FpFtyW_9t-ejU0oibTjD6zhwMS1ONeNdjtoNaEGJzEEq1VnXaqe-FQzFsEIUJ_Lfio-cuwJzwCkfgxTS1nSofzASdtrm6DUgX0F_FZH6yiZejE24obz_O6NkHx0/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_result.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcwHav7IpFvAa2laH3FpFtyW_9t-ejU0oibTjD6zhwMS1ONeNdjtoNaEGJzEEq1VnXaqe-FQzFsEIUJ_Lfio-cuwJzwCkfgxTS1nSofzASdtrm6DUgX0F_FZH6yiZejE24obz_O6NkHx0/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_result.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Geometry Paint is a tool part of Maya 2012 as part of the bonus tools, but this has been in Maya for quite some time now. I will show how to use an artisian brush to paint geometry to another geometry's surface using Maya 2011. I haven't tried this on any version earlier than 2008 but I think it's been implemented as early as that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpaT47vQ1b4Wj4qGRW51EoEl4Al6Zb04EkCe0s3FRKrRfW3JAKZdXwmFY65w3WPqvqNyXCVtU1NyKsi4YMQuPPQfLKxyBbTjaiqX4dI3PEOoXNNsLDqlQA0ua4BuGbOR2paYXFTu4oWNE/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_setup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpaT47vQ1b4Wj4qGRW51EoEl4Al6Zb04EkCe0s3FRKrRfW3JAKZdXwmFY65w3WPqvqNyXCVtU1NyKsi4YMQuPPQfLKxyBbTjaiqX4dI3PEOoXNNsLDqlQA0ua4BuGbOR2paYXFTu4oWNE/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_setup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Make sure the geometry you want to put on the surface has the pivot on the bottom with Y axis oriented up, and have the transforms frozen at 0,0,0 world space. For the geometry you wish to paint on. It must have UVs and must be at 1001 UV space. If you can't modify the UVs because of existing texture maps, than you could use UV sets to create a second set of UVs.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkM2Jc1FuWybPvgDj1eRc2Hbtuj0WG1rQLceW832sbw4k9uWxsh3Uvt_GsoYMwaLesoeN64e-QIJcgakqS59PqwOMEGAC9tbSRnQ2nlXLwvzmv3owZbaQGzYDNWO7SLR9pNLpBkuS8cVYF/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkM2Jc1FuWybPvgDj1eRc2Hbtuj0WG1rQLceW832sbw4k9uWxsh3Uvt_GsoYMwaLesoeN64e-QIJcgakqS59PqwOMEGAC9tbSRnQ2nlXLwvzmv3owZbaQGzYDNWO7SLR9pNLpBkuS8cVYF/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the toolbar go to Modify>Paint Scripts Tool Option Box.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjuQM7aFtavHDtPBRMnqvAO0ttfVsCoMVqo37Q3qPN9CmXTVplo6ah_FN3PGeZDNx936deQO9M-XwWCNejFdLLO01o9wlCPI436SQVEmV9FNYJJ-TOueA6oOWceQvH1oB8oZpn_phxQwA/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjuQM7aFtavHDtPBRMnqvAO0ttfVsCoMVqo37Q3qPN9CmXTVplo6ah_FN3PGeZDNx936deQO9M-XwWCNejFdLLO01o9wlCPI436SQVEmV9FNYJJ-TOueA6oOWceQvH1oB8oZpn_phxQwA/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If this is your first time you'll need to navigate to the Setup tab.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25kev2Mc3BLTRj7PJxJvAx8Oz_uogk29FrrLSSe5gtSTemmrwfH36mA3PVbnHKz77VDMKBuwTAF4KYdVAErvM5t29gXPmSSGDaG5BXuD_7x8vn_rf2fR5M-2VRxnqoE4GMluaRHnX9Pw3/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25kev2Mc3BLTRj7PJxJvAx8Oz_uogk29FrrLSSe5gtSTemmrwfH36mA3PVbnHKz77VDMKBuwTAF4KYdVAErvM5t29gXPmSSGDaG5BXuD_7x8vn_rf2fR5M-2VRxnqoE4GMluaRHnX9Pw3/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Type 'geometryPaint' into Tool setup cmd and hit enter.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6wn6RSWjYn3gNeWEuELj6D7V1BWNr5C2_XFev2JDm51imEVLculdRrr3QlLkGW-aMBCZtNhaWgExQ_FHwWw7CW7tg0gWy56AZlmFDFmJfRos-P7GDgm8iv2MjkaUSlBZIgOAwfpr1PYn/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6wn6RSWjYn3gNeWEuELj6D7V1BWNr5C2_XFev2JDm51imEVLculdRrr3QlLkGW-aMBCZtNhaWgExQ_FHwWw7CW7tg0gWy56AZlmFDFmJfRos-P7GDgm8iv2MjkaUSlBZIgOAwfpr1PYn/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After hitting enter, it will auto complete the rest and pop up another menu.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtrfI2yc0Plsbystgh1yr0Q40raL9Q4SYQpFxtZVY7lmqks0TOmEaXmnEhlCCt1C-4P0HZI2g2KWoJqpN-hzn2GkQW5zuFb3K5caJhXS3Rxsn20eoOh5GZ8OBRWtKsarinpUp3Oe4ex-e/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtrfI2yc0Plsbystgh1yr0Q40raL9Q4SYQpFxtZVY7lmqks0TOmEaXmnEhlCCt1C-4P0HZI2g2KWoJqpN-hzn2GkQW5zuFb3K5caJhXS3Rxsn20eoOh5GZ8OBRWtKsarinpUp3Oe4ex-e/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In Geometry fill in the name of the geometry you wish to paint. In my case, I've named it instance1, instance2, instance3, and instance4. These are the settings I chose to use in this example. I will go over some of the settings below. If you wish the geometry to be instanced have duplicate unchecked.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4J86Fm7dpM0FgwnH170KazFHl53dGzSLK5Ma92xk6KKw5dpheEe6kk3TyFSwErXIrXWL4ciKosyErnO2MweoTbKf1iCB7h1UWF_EUhAqhl1HkkdUHDlW1GQuuzkJZsdqjfU0PSkh1OddO/s1600/paintGeometryToGeometry_step6_extra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4J86Fm7dpM0FgwnH170KazFHl53dGzSLK5Ma92xk6KKw5dpheEe6kk3TyFSwErXIrXWL4ciKosyErnO2MweoTbKf1iCB7h1UWF_EUhAqhl1HkkdUHDlW1GQuuzkJZsdqjfU0PSkh1OddO/s320/paintGeometryToGeometry_step6_extra.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After you are happy with the placement of the geometries you are free to modify their translation, rotation, and scale. You'll need to set the brush to modify, and name the geometry according to modify the correct ones. For example if instance1 what I input, it will only modify those pieces. You'll need to use the brush settings by using replace/add, and using changing values. It may be easier to just manually rotate each piece after you have all the pieces oriented to get the desired rotation but I thought it would be good to cover the ability to modify through the brush.<br />
<br />
<b>Geometry Paint Settings:</b><br />
<br />
One of the important things to take note is the U and V Grid size. In the example below I have it set to 5, and 8. In the below example the surface division level is 10, but the U and V grid size is set to 5. The brush will paint the attach the geometry to the grid point of the U and V grid you specify. In the two examples below I have Jitter Grid disabled so it is placing it uniformly.<br />
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With Jitter Grid turned on it will randomize the position of the painted objects. If you play around with Jitter Value it will also have different results.</div>
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Align option on and off. It seems to take positive Y as the vector it wants to orient to so make your your instance geometry is oriented correctly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGt3soiIR-VhAAnRv_GjELgH0Ra9SKAVOnsmmhR8ePrawlo4UuFifrYJAgw6moQYkU4RoRm-NMS-YAWdUu3DNDdI_tt3EzleMtDBfUN7ms9EOTPd4DHfxcIuyxhwA1qdDeB6BbTpYO21Yh/s1600/align_off.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGt3soiIR-VhAAnRv_GjELgH0Ra9SKAVOnsmmhR8ePrawlo4UuFifrYJAgw6moQYkU4RoRm-NMS-YAWdUu3DNDdI_tt3EzleMtDBfUN7ms9EOTPd4DHfxcIuyxhwA1qdDeB6BbTpYO21Yh/s320/align_off.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwi_z6rG_jWttLYacUrVIC336Ol1Xat8j7yTTlNffwkCZrmfmsMjOIzPPpQBcWCLJ_1XSTCy3IeMafbRoBjzGq61SgMc4kHGOGgOKyUG8gUscETMHqYdgYG_YdqZX4CgqZPo-S69MHO0W/s1600/align_on.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwi_z6rG_jWttLYacUrVIC336Ol1Xat8j7yTTlNffwkCZrmfmsMjOIzPPpQBcWCLJ_1XSTCy3IeMafbRoBjzGq61SgMc4kHGOGgOKyUG8gUscETMHqYdgYG_YdqZX4CgqZPo-S69MHO0W/s320/align_on.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<dd style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0pt;"><div class="definition" style="margin-bottom: 10pt;">
<div style="margin-top: 4pt;">
<span class="term"><span class="uis-unspecified"><br /></span></span>
<span class="term"><span class="uis-unspecified">Below is a link to the documentation for each setting if you wish to learn more about it.<br /><a href="http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/2010help/index.html?url=Modify__Paint_Scripts_Tool.htm,topicNumber=d0e154456" target="_blank">Maya Documentation on each setting</a></span></span></div>
</div>
</dd>Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-4473156537176537462012-01-24T19:16:00.000-08:002013-10-02T01:38:05.229-07:00Joint Labeling Mel Script<div style="text-align: left;">
This is outdated but I'll keep it here as mel reference..<br />
<br />
Please refer to my Maya-Python function for <a href="http://druie.blogspot.ca/2013/10/joint-labeling-function-maya-python.html" target="">Joint Labeling.</a><br />
<br />
// This script joint labels your selected left joints. The script is very easy to modify to label the right and center joints as well.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
// The script is name dependent. Currently my joints are named jntName_lf.</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
// It will strip out jnt and _lf from the name. If your joints are named differently feel free to modify it below in the Subsitute Command. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
// If you have any questions feel free to email me at AndrewChan1985@gmail.com, or leave a comment below. Cheers!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
string $mySelJnts[] = `ls -sl`;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
for ($jnt in $mySelJnts)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
{</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
// center jnts use 0.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
// left jnts use 1.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
// right jnts use 2.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
setAttr ($jnt + ".side") 1;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
// currently sets the type to other.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
setAttr ($jnt + ".type") 18;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
// strips out the name of the joint so have matching label names </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
string $jntNewName;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
$jntNewName = `substitute "jnt" $jnt ""`;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
$jntNewName = `substitute "_lf" $jntNewName ""`; </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
setAttr -type "string" ($jnt+".otherType") $jntNewName;</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
}</div>
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701403509833321570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUmNIkuFu77vQJ1ockMZ0BzmC3-eNhZxXRYsXlPv_QCXdvxnaLWEMqNrRTLdceIZd7pf40j6L7q0YZ37XqXmJ9HSi82A4_wsbpIlJm-utymBMVL7UAWEs6EZ9YWLVaNqOiwGEZCNB4E8Ml/s400/joint_labeling.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; width: 206px;" /><br />
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-22396159125607599082010-08-10T20:48:00.000-07:002012-12-10T20:49:22.261-08:00Interview With Emily Tse.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Tell me a little bit about yourself, about your
life? What made you want to get into this industry and focus into lighting? I
understand you went to Ringling, but what classes did you study and challenges
did you face that helped prepare you to become the artist that you are today?
Was there any special training over at Ringling that produces such top quality
students? Roughly how many hours a week did you polishing your skills to reach
the level you are now, and maybe how many hours do you usually work now that
you're in the industry?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: I started out as a very traditional artists.
Figure drawing and painting. I think traditional skills are what really helped
me get to where I am. At Ringling, they have a set of classes that everyone in
the major takes. You do traditional animation, CG animation, figure
drawing,concept art, and storyboarding. They basically train you to be a
generalist,but focus on animation. They're definitely an art school and not
very technical. At Ringling, you're basically working non-stop. In the industry,
at least I get to go home and rest...except during crunch. Which you still get
to rest, just not as much. Normally we just work around 45 hour weeks, but
crunch is definitely much more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Could you walk me through your hiring process for
the internship Pixar,and Disney which lead to scoring a Lighting position? Did
you just apply to Pixar or did the school provide connections to employees
currently there? How long did it take from the time you applied, to the
interview, and awarding the position? Did you do anything special with
presenting your portfolio, and were you nervous when they called you for an
interview?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: For both Pixar and Disney I applied when they came to
our school. Ringling has a great career services program. With Pixar they were
fast. They came, gave interviews, left, gave phone interviews, then soon told us
the results. I don't think I did anything special really. And yes, I was
definitely nervous. When Disney called me, they didn't even know that I was at
Pixar until I told them. So It was all just really good timing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Was it challenging to keep up with the internship
program? After interning at both Pixar, and Disney, were you offered the
apprentice position or did you have to apply for it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: They were pretty different programs. Pixar was
just the internship, and was more of a classroom setup. Disney was more of
an apprenticeship, where we each had our own mentors. Pixar didn't have
any openings after the internship, but Disney was ramping up for Tangled, which
is what I'm working on now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: How is the environment like over at Pixar and Disney
when you were there? What do you think other companies and schools can learn
from these two companies with the way they train their interns?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: Both environments are pretty different, and
they're both great places to work at. It's interesting, cause you don't really
know what it means to work there as an intern. Nothing compares to what you
learn when you're actually in real production.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Who are some of your favourite lighters? Do they
have any website or show reel online?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: I'm not sure if I have favorite lighters. Since
I'm more of a painter, I have favorite artists. Lindsey Olivares, Sharon
Calahan(who is a DP at Pixar), Bill Cone, Paul Lasaine, Ben Plouffe, and
WassilyKandinsky, and Mark Rothko.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Looking back, would there something you would change
with your demoreel to better meet their expectations? Do you have any tips for
students, and industry professionals who have their hopes to break into the
animation feature film business?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: I don't think I would change anything. I think
most importantly, have passion for what you do. There's always going to be
tough times, and I've been pretty lucky, but love what you do, and always strive
to get better and learn more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: I went to a school called Seneca where they offered
an 8 month 3d program. After failing to get into the Pixar, I was working at a
small company doing 3d work for documentaries which eventually lead to me
scoring a position to work on Tron. It's cool, but my passion is really
cartoons! If you can provide any feedback on my show reel and direct me as to
how I can improve on it that would be super!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily: Congrats on the job! That's great you're working on
Tron. So many people are excited about it. If you want to get more into cartoony
things, you should light cartoonier. In terms of colors, you could use more
variety. Not go crazy, but really look at your color contrasts. You have really
nice work, but instead of the darks going more grey, you could have it going to
a color. Also what's important, is lighting a scene with a character in it. And
try to make sure your lighting sets a mood and tells the story,making sure the
audience knows where to look.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope that was helpful!
I'm sure you've learned much working on Tron! Goodluck!</div>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-53500389301723645992010-05-19T20:43:00.000-07:002012-12-10T20:44:21.145-08:00Interview With Kevin Edzenga.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin was at Framestore since graduation and is now a cloth
simulation artist over at Bluesky. We both graduated the same year but he's
been able to climb the ladder much faster. Here's an interview I had with him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Could you walk me through your hiring process at
Bluesky? How long did it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
take from the time you applied, to the interview, and
awarding of a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
position? Did you do anything special with presenting your
portfolio? Were</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
you nervous when they called you for an interview? What was
your initial</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
reaction when Bluesky awarded you a position? Did you apply
specifically for</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
cloth simulation artist or were you going for another
position originally? I</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
noticed on your Youtube channel, it's mostly crowd
simulation, particle, and</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
mel scripting reels! Do you also have a cloth simulation
reel hidden away?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin: The hiring process with Blue Sky was rather out of
the blue. A recruiter found my reel and resume link online. He was acting like
he wasn't sure where but out of all the places I put up links and my reel it
had to have been found at youtube/vimeo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But after submitting my resume and ncloth / nucleus related
work to Blue Sky, through that recruiter, it took maybe a week or so before
they set up an interview and got me in there the week after that. (figure about
2 weeks to get my work in to the date of my interview. Mainly because there was
a nasty snow storm and kinda destroyed wed-friday of the first week.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was asked by the recruiter to put up a single page related
to the job I was going for. The page had some stills from a few vids including
ncloth and a few youtube vids that I would be able to show real easily.
Definitely a good idea to make things streamline and sleek for people to view.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for being nervous, I've had such good luck with getting
contacts and getting call backs that I don't know that I've ever been really
nervous. Even when I meet "famous people" has happened only a few
times. I don't really care, they are people like any of us, and the last thing
they need are more people falling head over heals at the sight of the
person.... not like I'd do that anyway. Can't think of anyone I might do that
to, maybe les claypool, stephen hawkings, and Michio Kaku(a great physicist
teaching at NYU right now.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got in and showed my other reels to Stich (Keith
Stichweh), my lead, and he watched it all, told me to say some stuff about my
work as it showed (too much to say in only 2 minutes hah). He got a few of the
guys in to ask me questions about my work, then put me on the spot and showed
everyone in my dept. That was pretty cool, but was afraid of what after math
might occur from all my stuff just being put out there in the open. Had a little
bit of a waverly voice, but not really that nervous, kinda more like all these
great 3d guys and I didn't know where I stood compared to them, thinking, hey,
this is Blue Sky after all. Turned out I had something I could add to their
dept.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for hidden nclothness, my newest reel has one bit of
ncloth but nothin crazy. I had shown a few screen shots from my friends thesis
that I set up snow on the ground so as the characters would walk they would
press in the snow and that was all ncloth. I also told them about some RND
stuff I couldn't show because it was locked down at Framestore because the
movie Salt is yet to come out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: How is it like working at Bluesky? Did you have to
do any training or</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
test when you started, or were you thrown right into fire?
Was the learning</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
curve a difficult hurdle to overcome coming straight from
school or was it a</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
smooth transition? What are the work hours like, and how is
the work</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
atmosphere? What are some of the neat things you have learnt
from other</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
artists that you have worked with or seen?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin: Blue Sky is a blast, although the major crunch work
has yet to really hit, the work I have is setting up sims and then having like
30min-an hour to play ping pong or pool. It gets really tiring, I must tell ya.
Ha.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, the first week there was getting used to the pipeline
and an hour training once a day till I got used to all the tools. Everyone here
is so knowledgeable it was well worth it to expand my knowledge base.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The training was a definite help to a smooth transition into
the burning hot kitchen at the time, that since has cooled to luke warm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I can't really mention what neatness I learned. But I
can say everyone has a diverse knowledge base and can contribute a lot in their
own areas, and have in situations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Are there any learning resources or tips you can
give to students who</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
want to become a cloth simulation artists when the school
only offer 3d</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
training in all the fields except dynamics?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin: Uhhhhhhhh, hmmmmmm, cloth sim takes a lot of time to
get processed, soooo ... learn to have patience with the definite need to rerun
sims of the same thing multiple times, hah. Frankly, just try to jump into
messing with settings on the ncloth shape and you can begin to see what the
different settings do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that is what my school was like, character / animation
driven. That they'd rather a nice story rather than a cool looking design and
feel. There were some specialty classes, but when you go up to a teacher and
ask "Should I take your class?" for them to tell you "You know,
if you took my class, it might just be a waste of your time, you already know
more than what I go over in the class." That was from a teacher by the
name of Vic Fina II, a true generalist, modeling, animation, FX, dynamics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My teacher, Vic, who I wanted to take that class with was a
great resource, having worked at CBS, NBC, CNN, and now hes at the John Stuart
show now as the resident lower third, any graphics really at all guy. I would
go to him to ask about dynamics and we would go into a lot of ideas, both of us
learning off each other and the other like ... two students that were willing
to learn things outside of the curriculum. (Both of which are now staff at
Psyop and Rhino FX in NYC, great commercial companies)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew: Tell me a little bit about yourself, about your
life? Where did you go</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to school, and what classes did you study? What challenges
did you face, and</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
what helped prepare you to become the artist that you are
today? Roughly,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
how many hours a week did you spend polishing your skills to
reach the level</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
you are at now?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin: This question is a book in and of itself. I'm not an
average learner. I didn't meet the standards of my public school system for
reading(since I would rather be on the computer playing games or writing
stories and what I called poetry) and was forced into these classes to wax me
into reading more but it just pushed me more and more into my computer work at
home. Starting web design when I was about 6 and level design for games like
Doom and Duke Nukem 3d when I was 4-5. Which from that point turned into Bryce
around age 8 or 9 before my parents bought me Ray Dream Studio 5 when I was
about 10-11. That is when my crazy creations started turning into virtual life,
filming things and trying to overlay 3d with video (pretty poorly I might add,
having no patience for what I later found out was rotoscoping, but what do you
expect I was a middle schooler). Then into highschool I took a set of classes
in a Communications University Program, getting to use Final Cut Pro, Pro
Tools, and everything broadcast and non. This was a great help to me, cause
there was a film appreciation class, a public speaking class, philosophy class,
and a few others that made it worth wild outside of just film and sound.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was early elementary school that I started to begin to
love math, to indulge myself in web scripting like html and java script.
Anything logic based filled me with joy. I would play Myst for hours upon days,
then got sick of it, moved to riven, got sick of that, moved to other MUDs and
MOOs (respectively, Text based RPGs, text with images based RPGs) and odd other
RPG / RTS(mainly starcraft, WOO! Starcraft!! hah) / Adventure games (Exile,
Uru, D'ni). Then starting flash and actionscripting around age 11. Php and
mySQL databases around 16-17. Doing freelance work since I was 13 for websites.
A multitude of games and movie stories that have yet to come to fruition but I
still strive to complete.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even with the ill will toward reading, after going
through my public school system I had found out once hitting college that my
school system went over FAR more things than many many other school systems in
america (from the people I've talked to). Needing to reread books in college
that I read like junior year in highschool. It was as tho most of america stops
where I was in sophmore year of highschool but as seniors.... it's kind of sad
and made me understand why people from other countries think that americans are
dimwits with no sense to even give respect to fellow men and women of the
world. Many of my friends made similar assessments of their peers in college as
well. I guess that is a reason they say there are good public school systems in
New Jersey. Anyway, I digress to the point of your question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I went into the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan NYC from
2005-2009 for a BFA in Computer Art; initially interested in modeling and
perhaps animation having no real cocept of what was out there in this computer
art field.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was pretty much the only one doing 3d graphics in
highschool and was far more interested in physics than art. But I was
enlightened by the problems faced by riggers and FX artists from homework and
classes in SVA; I also had no clue there was scripting in 3d, so I took to that
like knats to someone standing in a field on a summer evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why I chose art over physics alludes me now more than ever,
welllll sorta. Initially I thought it would be more money quicker, but there
are so many jobs that pay so well for physicists. Bahh, the thrill of logic
problems, scripting workflows, particles / dynamics(the two closest things to
real physics, yes, ncloth is just settings, no real physics work there) and
coming up with awesome rigs I guess is the only things I can say now as a valid
reason for being in 3d. This answer has pissed people off before, who's hearts are
filled with everything 3d, sorry if you feel this way as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As preparation for my career choice, I used to overstep my
bounds in classes. To a point where teachers almost and straight didn't like
me. I'd do my own thing to mix it into homework. I thought it was pretty sweet,
and only two teachers really thought it was cool what I was doing(Vic didn't
like it, but took my insanity to heart and graded my work as it was rather than
based around the assignment it was, Vic is soo cool). My thesis teacher liked
my story ideas the first year but the second year began to dislike my work
quite a bit, that I wanted my thesis to be entirely scripted, a particle and
dynamic driven thesis. But he wanted a story. But I stuck to my guns and it got
me an internship with Framestore 2 days after graduation (with the help of one
teacher that I'll get into later in this email); then from there, even more
work with them and many other companies now.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I would be working every day on new ideas. Try to come up
with new things that look cool, that act with a life of their own, or tools to
speed up workflow no one else has made before. I tried my best with what I knew
to make the neatest stuff I could. Every day you learn something new, and I
would make a point off learning something even if I slept from 9 am to 6 pm
because I didn't sleep 3 days prior. For an hour span, boy, sophmore and junior
year I'd catch myself doing my own work rather than school nearly 4-6 hours a
day minimum. In a week I'd spend 70-80 sometimes maybe 100+ hours some weeks
pure work. Literally not sleeping 3 days straight a multitude of times
throughout school; living off of Chapotle burritos and energy drinks. Among
some stuff I shouldn't mention, heheh.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Andrew: What inspired you to specialize in rigging,
scripting, and fx? Do you</div>
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have any other ambitions or did you always know that you
wanted to do that</div>
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when you were in school? Were the professors able to teach
you what you</div>
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needed, or was it mostly self taught?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kevin: Ya know, they taught us young to read all the
questions before answering the first one ha, I'm sure some of this was answered
above.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the logic problems. Figure out how to make this that
or the other thing because an animator is going to need it to do this in this
situation or that in the other situation. But that love of math was a good base
for physics. But that is a story alone. My phyics teacher in highschool didn't
like me much (also my math teacher, but again, another story) but he would
teach us like we were morons because it wasn't the AP (advanced placement
class) that I was forced to take because of class conflictions with that
communications film/audio program in highschool. He would teach us an algorithm
to do one thing and I would realize there was a far simpler algorithm to find
the same answer in half the steps. He wouldn't mark me down but I can't tell
you how many times I saw "Please use the math we learned in class to solve
for variables in the problem."</div>
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<br /></div>
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But in college, I got a great base from every teacher in each
field. Making sure to take teachers of every kind in the industry to widen my
knowledge base as much as I could. I wanted to know everything to be the best
TD I could and will be. Oddly enough not taking a single rigging class beyond
basic IK/FK switches from Vic, which I later figured out better switches on my
own. I was going to take a rigging teacher, but some reason I dropped out of
that class, something about getting given answers to a problem just doesn't
bode well with me.... yeah I know, stupid, but was talkin with my friend in the
class, realizing I covered most of what he was doin on my own anyhow. Latices
to make squash and stretchable eyes, expressions to run math, nodes to process
as equations. Stuff that is basic in math, but not for artists I guess (not
all, but some artists obviously)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Andrew: Aside from portfolio pieces, is there a reason that
you enjoy helping out</div>
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others with their short films? I really appreciate that your
helping me out</div>
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on my short film!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kevin: Haha, no prob man. Well, I've always enjoyed helping
people. I'd help many people in my classes in college just because if it was
something I didn't know already, we'd work it out and find a solution.</div>
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So if by helping you I may be able to show you something you
didn't know about rigging, it makes me feel good that I'm helping you expand
your knowledge base.</div>
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The way I see it, people that don't help those who need
help, don't help because the tricks they hold are all the tricks they know. But
if you can take tricks you have and turn them into something new and unique for
more than one situation, then to show something a technique is simply a small
part of a huge picture.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Andrew: Is there a project, company, or director that you'll
want to work with in</div>
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the future?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kevin: I know nothing about movies, tv, radio, commercials,
broadcast, what ever. Should I even be in this industry? Probably not. Everyone
in my dept talk about movies and tv shows and I'm sitting here reading this
awsome book on Superstrings, Super Gravity and The Theory of Everything, a
really cool book on sub atomic particles and it goes into the history behind
theories along with the mathematics that I've been trying to find in these
commoner books for a while. I may not be in physics, but I will keep my hobbies
as they always were. (These books are one reason my physics and math teachers
didn't like me in highschool.)</div>
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I guess what I'm trying to say is probably ILM because they
have one kick ass RND dept there, that and imageworks has a pretty sick RND/FX
dept. Although my dream may be comin true at Blue Sky, they might be moving
more RND/FX stuff to the cloth dept because each dept here wants to do what
they specialize in and cloth is a bunch of TDs from riggers to dynamics to fx
to modelers/animators. Not to mention all of us program/script in this dept.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Andrew: Who are some of your favourite FX artist, and
riggers? Do they have any</div>
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website or showreel online?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kevin: I dunno, Miguel Salek from Psyop is pretty sweet at
his houdini work.</div>
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<a href="http://www.msalek.com/">http://www.msalek.com/</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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But really, his work is simple but many layers of simplicity
makes something beautiful, amazingly beautiful. The reason I say its simple is
that Spencer Lueders from Framestore NYC taught me sooo much about Houdini. He
taught me for a semester in SVA and got me a job with Framestore working along
side him doing Houdini for a Tylenol commercial and for the movie Salt doing
smoke, particles, dynamics, and more Houdini stuff. He knows his stuff, not to
mention he was the guy testing out Houdini while he worked at Side Effects, so
he knows that program pretty much inside and out. Which is now allowing me to
possibly move to a crowd simulator spot in Blue Sky using Houdini to simulate
the crowds, which isn't too hard remembering what Spencer taught me. (He
doesn't have a reel yet, and he even mentioned while I was at Framestore that
he needed to make one, that it had been yearsssss and he still didn't have one.
But you have definitely seen his work around.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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I haven't seen to many riggers that have done work that I
couldn't figure out some way of doing what they did (besides a few things that
required the API to write a plug in for, which I'm yet to get into, but will be
soon). I hope that doesn't sound like boasting; but I've tried long and hard to
get my rigging skills up to industry standards and beyond.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But this doesn't mean people like James Dick, Andy Walker,
and Theo Jones aren't great, Rigger, TD, TD respectively, at Framestore NYC. I
learned a bit from them, but they were also cool enough to let me do my own
methods to get jobs done, as long as the project met its deadline, everything
was golden.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But like I said, I don't know this industry, there are
people out there that are great riggers, but the names escape me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Andrew: Looking back, would there something you would change
with your demo reel</div>
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to better meet their expectations? Do you have any tips for
students, and</div>
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industry professionals who have their hopes to break into
the animation</div>
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feature film business?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kevin: Well, if you see my fall 2009 reel and my spring 2010
reel, those were the changes I wanted to make. I guess looking at the 2010
reel, I want more transitional videos taking you from piece to piece. Or maybe
some sort of particle based environment that builds up into each peace in a
hologram style effect of some sort. But for me to say "I wanted to adds
betterz workz!@!$%!" would be futile in that I will always be adding newer
and I would hope ultimately better work.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Don't get down if someone says they don't like your work,
because there will always be people who say that. One, because maybe they are
simply better than you; two, you could still be progressing in the field and
don't have the experience yet that they would want to see; three, that you are
better than they are and they feel threatened by this and make themselves feel
better by putting you down.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My friend does the latter of the three often. Man he was
making fun of Avatar as much as he could, I simply responded, your skills can't
hold a flames to the people at weta. Man that pissed him off, and retaliated
with "and you think you could have made any of those rigs or
effects?" I said "yes, most of them", knowing full well there
are quite a few intense rigs in Avatar, but he did the classic "yeah
whatever" and shut up.</div>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-16550061196056037732010-03-06T20:40:00.000-08:002012-12-10T20:40:58.267-08:00Interview With Lindsey Olivares.<br />
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Lindsey graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in
2009. She's been at Dreamworks PDI working as a Visual Development artist ever
since. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Website: <a href="http://webspace.ringling.edu/~lolivare/">http://webspace.ringling.edu/~lolivare/</a></div>
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Blog: <a href="http://www.lindseyolivares.blogspot.com/">http://www.lindseyolivares.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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Short Film: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZRcE9J3Gc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZRcE9J3Gc</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1) Could you walk me through your hiring process at
Dreamworks? How long did it take from the time you applied, to the interview,
and awarding of a position? Did you do anything special with presenting your
portfolio? Were you nervous when they called you for an interview? What was
your initial reaction when Dreamworks awarded you a position? </div>
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<br /></div>
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I had been in contact with some people from Dreamworks
throughout my senior year. I was featured on the character design blog and a
Dreamworks artist saw my interview and artwork and showed it to his production
designer. This really got the ball rolling and when Dreamworks came to my
school (Ringling College) for their recruiting visit they told me I had a job
offer during that interview. I found out the details of that offer in the week
after and accepted the position officially a few days after. I was incredibly
excited and called up family and close friends to let them know the good news. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2) How is it like working at Dreamworks? Did you start off
as an intern, or were you hired fulltime? Did you have to do training or
drawing test when you started, or were you given work to do on Madagascar 3
immediately? Was the learning curve a difficult hurdle to overcome coming
straight from school or was it a smooth transition? What are the work hours
like, and how is the work atmosphere? What are some of the neat things you have
learnt from other artists that you have worked with or seen?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I started off hired full time. I had a day of basic
orientation training, but I pretty much started work on the film immediately.
Since at school I mostly worked in 3d and animating I haven't actually
digitally painted a ton. So I'm still learning a lot and trying to improve
constantly. Work hours are 9-6. I don't really put in overtime. Its relaxed and
not a stressful work environment. </div>
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<br /></div>
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3) Tell me a little bit about yourself, about your life?
Where did you go to school, and what classes did you study? What challenges did
you face, and what helped prepare you to become the artist that you are today?
Roughly, how many hours a week did you spend polishing your skills to reach the
level you are at now?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I grew up in San Diego California. I knew I loved to draw at
a young age. I came from a very creative and supportive family. My father is a
professional guitarist/musician, my older sister Brooke is a very talented
painter, and my mom is the type of mother who'd let her kids paint murals all
over the walls in the house. Growing up I was surrounded by people who
encouraged my passion for creativity. Like most little kids I loved animated
Disney movies; these movies made me want to be an animator. I didn't really
know what that meant, but I knew those movies were all moving drawings…and that
was too cool. I had my first real taste of animation at Cal Arts' summer
program for high school kids called CSSSA. That sealed the deal for me as far
as my decision to go into the animation world. Then I decided to take the 3D route.
I ended up moving out to Sarasota Florida to study computer animation at
Ringling College of Art and Design. At Ringling I took classes in concept,
drawing for animations, 3d character animation, figure painting, landscape
painting, graphic novel illustration, children's book illustration etc. I felt
challenged in balancing my time. I spent most my time animating but wishing I
was drawing. That was a big challenge for me and trying to find time to draw,
paint, and create the type of work I wanted to be making. I worked nonstop,
it's hard to say. At school It seemed like I was always working, unless I was
eating or sleeping. But sometimes those overlap too :)</div>
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<br /></div>
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4) What inspired you to become a Visual Development Artist?
Did you always know that you wanted to do that, or do you have ambitions to do
other specialties like animating, modeling, texturing, etc? What are some of
the things that you do to keep yourself creative?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Originally I wanted to be an animator. I wanted to be a
traditional animator since I was a kid. When the industry went 3d I decided to
go to Ringling College to study computer animation. I still thought I wanted to
be an animator but didn't really understand the pipeline. In our first year we
take two semesters of 2d animation. I really enjoyed those. But when we got
into 3d I just couldn't find myself enjoying animation. I just craved to draw
more. Drawing is really where my heart is. We had a concept class where we
focused on story, character/environment design. I loved this class and started
to learn of what visual development was. I realized this is what I wanted to
do. </div>
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<br /></div>
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To stay creative I try to go out drawing. I like to go to
malls, food courts, and cafes to people watch. Aside from drawing, I don't do a
ton to go out of my way to be creative and get inspired. Inspiration seems to
happen on accident when you're living life. It's hard to plan. I guess for me
it's more about trying to see the artistic charm in our daily life experiences.
My favorite ideas have come from personal experience, sometimes it's a
character, memory, or story message that rings true to me. I love thinking in
cars...driving around late at night, or as a passenger staring out the window. </div>
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<br /></div>
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5) What inspired you with the idea for your short film,
Anchored? Were there any challenges you faced when doing the film, and how did
you overcome them? I was wondering if you could talk about the shading style
for your shorts; is this a diffuse map connected into a toon shader?</div>
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<br /></div>
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The inspiration came from my personal life experiences and
what I believe. When thinking of an idea I was reading the Bible and looking
for inspiring verses. I read, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,
for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind"
James 1:6 and "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit" from Romans 15:13. I also wrote down notes from the parable of the
lost sheep..."What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of
them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to
look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth,
he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander
off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these
little ones should be lost." Before I figured out my story I had written
out verses like these. My sketchbook was full of verses, quotes, parables, song
lyrics, and many loose pieces that I tried to sort together to find an idea. I
wanted to make a film with a strong message, and I wanted to create a feel-good
piece. I wasn't sure what message I wanted to share and felt stressed over
trying to find something meaningful. When I put aside all the pressure of what
I wanted my film to be and started naturally working out the story, the
original meaning of the verses and metaphors were clearly revealed in my story.
It worked out so smoothly that I really felt like it was a story from God, and
I was able to use my art as a messenger. </div>
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<br /></div>
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A lot of the details are influenced by my life. While I was
thinking of a story I was at a low point, feeling discouraged and doubting
things I knew. I had some moments feeling adrift at sea. Also during this time,
two of my really close friends were away for a couple years and the only form
of communication we had was through handwritten letters in the mail. Sending
letters was such a change from the instantaneous communication we have these
days. I was interested in that type of conversation and really appreciated the
meaning of receiving a letter from someone you don't see anymore. Some of the
letters I received were so encouraging and hopeful. They really helped me gain
perspective. I think that feeling shows through in my piece when the man adrift
at sea is surrounded by all the origami crane letters. When I was working out
the story, I didn't plan to put specific details from my life in the film. It's
subconscious and natural. We do what we know, it makes our work honest and
truthful. You need to share a part of yourself to really give a story that
heart and emotion. I really don't feel like the message came from me. I think
it was something that worked itself into my film, and something that I learned
from while working on this project. I learned from the message in my film, it
really spoke to me. I truly have felt like both my characters and have learned
from the message in my film. The inspiration comes from God and how I've
interpreted my life into story. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Just finishing the film was a challenge. When I think of a
concept, I try to be practical about how much work I can take on, but at the
same time I don't like to limit myself with worries about the things I don't
know how to do. Taking on challenges is a great way to learn. This was my
thesis film at Ringling College of Art and Design, so the curriculum was set up
that we'd spend a semester in our 3rd year planning the film with story and
art, and most of our senior year executing the film in 3d. There were so many
parts of the film that I assumed I'd just figure out later..during the second
semester of senior year "later" was approaching fast. I didn't know
how I'd make the water, how I'd rig a rope of words that the characters
interacted with, and how to transition between 3d and After Effects. Some
things didn't seem like too big of a deal, but when it came to actually
executing it, they were much more challenging that I had assumed. My film was
experimental in style and combined several elements so executing the look of
the film was a challenge. I had a lot of manual tracking in After Effects that
was very tedious. I was working in full HD scale so it was slow and challenging
to maneuver in After Effects at times. The shot with the cranes flying from the
man in the boat across the sea to the woman was tricky. It's a mix of After
Effects and Maya and was difficult to blend the two. In 3d it was too difficult
to animate the words moving over such a large distance and have the camera
tracking the words over such a distance while attempting to have words move by
smoothly as if your reading them. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Smoothing up all the loose ends and tightening up the piece
took a long time. There were a lot of pops in the animation's motion, pops when
a 3d model of a crane switches to a stop motion After Effects crane, pops with
the transitions come in too suddenly and etc. There were a lot of jarring
sloppy pieces that interrupted the flow of the piece. Just cleaning up was hard
for me, catching glitches, intersecting geometry etc and getting everything
fixed in time. As a one man team making a 3 minute short in a school year, my
time was so limited. There's still so many things I would've liked to do with
the piece that I didn't get around to. I had to learn how to prioritize and
keep everything in perspective. It was hard finding a balance in my priorities,
working the piece closer to a finish as a whole and sacrificing certain aspects
that remain very unfinished in my eyes. I overcame this challenge by keeping in
mind that I was making this film to motivate and uplift people, The story was
already working so I held on to the hope that my film would have that effect
regardless of the unfinished cloth, various rough parts in the animation, or
all refinement in the water, transitions, and effects that I never got around
to. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The characters have exaggerated color maps for their
textures. I exaggerated the colors in their faces and clothes, including
variations in values. I wasn't relying completely on the lighting to show the
form. A lot of the value and hue shifts are built in to the textures and
shaders. The look was achieved in compositing my render passes in After
Effects. I used a diffuse color pass which is the raw color without being
affected by lights. From there, I manipulated a series of other passes in After
Effects and composited them together to create a look with a watercolor/ hand
painted sensibility. </div>
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<br /></div>
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6) Do you have any plans to produce more short films on the
side?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Currently my greatest ambition is to make short films. I
recently finished my thesis film "Anchored" It was the greatest
project I ever worked on. Working on it was so stressful, exciting, and
addicting. I loved making my own film. After completion, being able to share it
with an audience was such a blessing. I received so much wonderful feedback and
a lot of emotional response. It means the world to me to hear that someone can
feel uplifted and happy from watching my film. I'm craving to do more work like
that in the future. </div>
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<br /></div>
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7) What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why? </div>
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<br /></div>
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I like drawing animals or funny looking people. Generally I
don't like drawing kids and pretty people…I have more fun when things are
chunky, droopy, wrinkly, aged, awkward, etc. It seems more real to me to draw
unappealing things and try to give them appeal. Animals are fun because there's
already a lot to work with when designing them. I think of God as the ultimate
designer… he must have had a blast with the animal world creating so many
interesting shapes, sizes, patterns and textures. Human shapes are more
familiar but the animal world seems to have more unique elements to work with.</div>
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<br /></div>
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8) Who are some of your favorite artists?</div>
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<br /></div>
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When I was interning at Disney I gained such an appreciation
for raw beautiful drawings. I was able to see collections of original animation
drawings…they were incredible, I think some of the most amazing artists and
draftsmen are the 9 old men and other Disney artists ranging from Mary Blair to
Glen Keane. Some other designers and illustrators I enjoy are Charles Harper,
Ronald Searle, Alice and Martin Provensen, Erich Sokol, Nico Marlet, Joe
Moshier, Paul Felix, Tadahiro Uesugi, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Sterling
Hundley, Norman Rockwell, Dean Cornwell, Chris Ware, and so many more than I'm
leaving out.</div>
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<br /></div>
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9) Looking back, would there something you would change with
your demo reel to better meet their expectations? Do you have any tips for
students, and industry professionals who have their hopes to break into feature
film business? </div>
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<br /></div>
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My advice is to show your best work and show a diverse body
of work that will show the company that you can fit in there. That you have a
diverse range so they trust you can take on the style of their film. And to
show the type of work that you'd be doing there, so they can see if you'd be
ready for production. For a visual development job that's usually a lot of prop
design, and lighting/mood paintings.</div>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-49110294545755343702010-02-06T20:37:00.000-08:002012-12-10T20:37:43.710-08:00Interview with Nate Wragg.<br />
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Nate Wragg is a talented artists who started his career at
Pixar as a character designer, production design, and art lead while on
Ratatouille! He is currently working at Dreamworks Animation doing Visual
Development!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
http://n8wragg.blogspot.com/</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1) Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where did you go to
school, and what classes did you take? What challenges did you face to help
prepare you to become the artist that you are today? Roughly, how many hours a
week did you spend polishing your skills to reach the level you are at now?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Well, I went to school at Cal Arts in Southern California.
It's a great school for animation and animation design, I had a blast there. in
school I tried to focus on a little bit of everything, animation, story, and
design. As my time there went by, I grew more and more inspired by designing
for animation, began to focus my studies there with classes in character design
and back ground design, and since I left school, I have gone on to work as a
designer in the industry.</div>
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The challenges I think we all face is finding our own
artistic voice. In an industry where so much has been done, it can be hard to
find where you fit in, so for me I simply focused on what inspires me, what I
like in art and life, and let that mold me into the artist I am today. But
believe me the process doesn't end, I still feel that itch of needing to get
better, more balanced, constantly trying to learn more from those around me,
it's never ending.</div>
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I would have to say I've spent hours on top of hours drawing
to get better. It was usual for me in school to only get 5 hours of sleep at
night, and today, even though I'm working full time at a studio, I wake up at 5
am roughly every morning to paint and draw for myself, work on my own projects
and personal art goals, always trying to get better.</div>
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2) How is it like working at Pixar? What are some of the
most rewarding moments working there, and what are some of the neat things you
have learnt from other artists that you have worked with or seen? </div>
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Working for Pixar was great. It's where I got my first real
start in the industry, and got the chance to be around and learn from some of
the most talented people in animation today. Just getting the chance to walk
the halls and walk by offices of legendary artists was awesome, you just feel
like you draw better being around such talented people. </div>
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I would have to say, some of the most rewarding things about
working there was being involved with some great people on some great
productions. Working with Harley Jessup, Brad Bird, and Teddy Newton on the end
credits was one of the highlights of my career. I went into work every day just
feeling like the luckiest artist in the world.</div>
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One of the best things I learned when I was there was just
from watching how my Production Designer Harley Jessup conducted himself as a
lead designer on Ratatouille. Getting to see his crazy work ethic, how sharp he
was in handling all the design issues that come up with designing a feature
film, feeling like I needed to work as hard as I could, and then maybe, just
maybe I could try and keep up with him. All that was a really great lesson in
knowing that just because you have a good job, doesn't mean you can slack off
and pat yourself on the back. You always have to keep working hard, keep
striving to be the best you can be.</div>
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3) What inspired you to become a designer? Did you always
know that you wanted to do that, or do you have other ambitions such as
animating?</div>
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Well, growing up I always thought that I wanted to be an
animator. Even when I started school at Cal Arts, my ambitions were to be an
animator. And it wasn't until I started animating my film I first year, that I
realized I actually enjoyed the process of designing my film more than I
enjoyed animating it. So from then on, I really focused most of my studies in
the design aspect of animation, focusing on character design, color and
background design, and layout.</div>
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4) When designing, do you have a personality for the
character in mind for animators to follow? Or would you hand off designs and
hope for the best? </div>
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Have you ever had to tell an animator that you envisioned
him as a different type of character from what he/she animated and have them
change it?</div>
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When I design a character, I always have their personality
in mind. In fact, I would say it's hard to design a character without knowing
what their personality is. So much of how someone looks is directly related to
what type of person they are, what type of personality they have. So I always
look to let my designs be inspired by the characters personality.</div>
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You know, before an animator begins on something that you
designed, it's always good to make sure that you are both on the same page.
Both parties have a clear understanding of who the character is, and how they
should be animated. So I think any of those changes or notes on personality,
are usually worked out before the animator begins.</div>
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5) What's the work process like for you when doing an
illustration from start to end? Do you have a preferred medium to work with? </div>
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For me I always like to start with a small thumbnail sketch
of what I'm going to be painting. I usually like to do several little test
paintings over that sketch to help me plan what type of colors and mood I plan
on using. Then I like to just go straight to painting. And since I paint with
acrylic and paper collage, from then on, I usually just feel out the painting
as I paint and either add paper collage, or add paint. It really changes as I'm
in the process of painting. I may think I want to paint something, then I come
across the right piece of paper that will do the job, so I decide to paper
collage that part. I love how spontaneous mixed media can be, you just never
really know what elements in the piece are going to be painted or collaged, and
for me that makes every painting I do feel different and fresh.</div>
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I would have to say my preferred medium would be acrylic and
paper collage for the reasons I just mentioned, spontaneous and always
different.</div>
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6) What do you do to keep yourself motivated to produce
creative and fresh concepts?</div>
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Well, I like to stay busy and constantly find new goals. I
usually keep a list of things I want to do, things I want to draw or paint, and
that comes in handy when ever things get slow, or I feel a bit lost, I can look
back on that list and see that I always have something I could do.</div>
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I'm also constantly looking to collaborate with other
artists, because I find that I get really inspired by surrounding myself with
inspiring talent.</div>
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7) I was always curious about the background story/origin of
Yeti! What was the inspiration behind that concept? And what compelled you to
stick with the design all these years? </div>
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You know, a few years back, I started drawing this little
monster with horns, and the more I looked at it, the more I thought " hey,
this looks like a yeti." And from then on, the rest is history. I painted
the design with white acrylic, and have loved drawing him ever since. I think
aside from simply liking the design, I really enjoy injecting some mischievous
personality into this character, so I guess you could say I live "
mischievously" through him, causing trouble in fun ways.</div>
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8) I've noticed a lot of creature drawings on your blog! Are
they your favorite subject to draw? </div>
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Yeah, I really love drawing monsters and creatures, because
they are just plain fun to draw. You can really let you imagination run wild
with the design of a creature, and try some crazy and fun things with them. </div>
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9) Who are some of your favorite artists? Was there an
artist who influenced you in developing your style?</div>
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You know, I can't really say that one specific artist was
instrumental in influencing my style, I find that I really like a lot of
artists. Some of my favorites would include Paul Klee, Jim Flora, Pablo
Picasso, Tim Biskup, Kiraz, Ronald Searle, and the list goes on. I try my best
to be open to any kind of artistic influence. I'm always looking to find new
inspiration in other artists work.</div>
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10) Looking back, would there something you would change
with your portfolio, and/or work ethics to better meet the expectations of
Pixar? Do you have any tips for students, and industry professionals who have
their hopes to break into feature film business?</div>
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You know, the best thing you can do is really put your work
out there for one. A lot of people are too nervous to send their stuff to
studios and you won't get a call back if they don't have your work to look at
in the first place. But I think the most important thing besides working hard,
is to make sure you submit the right type of work in your portfolio for the
right type of job. If you are applying for a character design job at cartoon
network, odds are, you won't get hired if you submit a portfolio of artwork
that would say be in the style of Avatar. The styles are both great, but they
are different enough that a portfolio of realistic designs wouldn't fit into
the style of animation and design they do at cartoon network. Now you never
want to submit drawing of the characters of a show you want to work on, but you
want to show the studio that you can draw in that style, you can stylize your
designs in a way that you would be an asset to the company, and they should
hire you.</div>
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11) If people would like to contact you for your artwork,
how would you like to be contacted? </div>
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One of my classmates was really excited that you were
available to be interviewed, and wanted to ask what are your rates like for an
original commissioned traditional painting or do you only sell prints?</div>
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The best way to get in touch with me is through my blog or
my online store. I have my email contact posted on both of those places and am
always free to answer any questions anyone might have. Yeah I do commissioned
paintings as well, I would encourage the student or anyone to contact me about
a commission idea they may have so that we could discuss the rates privately,
but just as a general note, my goal is not to make money, it's to give someone
a piece of artwork that they can love for hopefully a very long time, so my
rates are very reasonable.</div>
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12) Random question, but do you have a desk full of toys? :)</div>
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Actually, in my studio at home, I have a bookcase full of
them. I like collecting cool toys and vinyl toys, but it can be a slippery
slope, so I try not to get too obsessed over them, however it does make me feel
like a kid again</div>
Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-41759245047031639742009-12-03T18:46:00.000-08:002012-12-10T20:26:43.798-08:00Interview with Alina Chau. (Technicolor Senior Animator and Animation Professor)Alina is a super talented animator who has worked on many popular games.<br />
<br />
CG Animation:<br />
- Gear of War (Epic/2008)<br />
- The Incredible Hulk (Sega/2008)<br />
- Lead CG Animator/Storyboard Artist - Spyro Eternal Darkness Cinematic (Sierra/2007)<br />
- Pre-Visualization CG Animator - Saint Row Cinematic (THQ/2007)<br />
- Spyro 2006 & 2007 TV commercial<br />
- God of War II In-Game Cinematic (Sony/2007)<br />
- CG Animator/Storyboard Artist - Spyro Beginning (2006)<br />
- Silent Hill Cinematic (Konami/2006)<br />
<br />
2d Animation/Concept Work<br />
-Operation Valkyrie DVD (2008)<br />
-Battlestar Galactica DVD (2008)<br />
-The Bourne Supremacy DVD (2008)<br />
-The Tale of Despereaux DVD (2008)<br />
- Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe DVD (Disney/2006)<br />
- Toy Story III Feature Film DVD (Disney/2007)<br />
-2D Animator/Background Painter - Land Before Time 13 Animated Feature DVD (2007)<br />
<br />
Blog:<br />
<a href="http://alinanimation.blogspot.com/">http://alinanimation.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
1) Could you tell me a little bit about yourself Alina? Where are you from and when, and how did you get started to have interest in this field?<br />
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Alina: I grew up in Hong Kong. I stumbled into animation a bit by accident actually. I always love drawing since I was a kid barely knowing how to hold onto a pencil. To me drawing is always one of my favorite hobbies, but I didn't take art seriously until college. My undergraduate major is Digital Graphic Communication, in which I was introduced to graphic design, web/interactive design, and animation.<br />
After I graduated, I realized I would like to learn more about animation. So I decided to further my study in animation at UCLA Film School as a graduate student. That starts my career as an animator.<br />
<br />
<br />
2) I know you love to sketch a lot. Do you think it helped you in terms of modeling or animation when working in 3d?<br />
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Alina: Drawing definitely helps a lot. In fact, I sincerely believe drawing is the foundation of learning any visual arts forms. 3D in a way is a lot like sculpting. The idea has to draft and polish on the drawing board first, before it can be put in production. Drawing can help artists to be more observant; understand anatomy and the mechanic of movement. It's also one of the most efficient ways to write down your visual idea.<br />
<br />
3) How hard is it for an animator or modeler to break into the business? Is there a difference for a reel for games, animation, and live action models?<br />
<br />
Alina: Getting into the industry could be challenging, doesn't matter what job you are applying. The key is to be persistent. If it's the job you want, chase after it. As long as you are constantly improving and learning, you will achieve your dream. There is different between game, animation and live action reel. Even among the same genre, you need to tailor your reel differently, say if you are applying for a<br />
cartoony project versa a hype real style project. Always research on what the particular studios you are applying for is seeking at the time they are hiring, and edit your reel to fit their requirement. If<br />
you know anyone work at certain studios or the HR hotline, no harm to ask them for more information.<br />
<br />
4) How is it like working? Is it an intimidating work environment at Technicolor and/or EA? I am thinking about applying to the Vancouver EA as a modeler but I don't really have any connections.. I was recently talking to someone today actually.. He said he has connections with the Singapore LucasArts Animation Studio. He told me they are desperate for people.<br />
<br />
Alina: People are usually very friendly and cool. Beside tight deadline and often stressful schedule, usually the work environment are fun and nice.<br />
<br />
5) I was wondering what sort of animation work flow you had? Do you act it out in person, and do thumbnail sketches? Or do you dive right into the program and pose stuff out?<br />
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Alina: In a production, after the storyboard process; before a scene hand down to animation, there are pre-visualization (Preiz) and 3D layout. This process may be slightly different from studios to studios and<br />
different type of production (ie. game, TV and Film). Previz is pretty much a 3D animatic. Some places may call this process rough layout. The idea is to block out the action, camera and present the story in a<br />
movie format. Very often the elements in a previz file are temporary or rough work in progress models or rigs. The idea of previz is to design the overall cinematography and story pacing of the show. Once<br />
the rough layout is approved by the director, it will hand down to 3D layout. A 3D layout file usually contains the actual camera and assets which are going to be used in production. This file will then<br />
given to animator for animation. At this point, when the animator receives the assignment, usually he/she already see the rough layout of the show, and have a good idea of what the scene is about. Plus the lead animator or director of the show, usually will give the animator acting description of the scene as well.<br />
<br />
As for animating a scene ... I usually try to understand the character's motive; listen to the soundtrack a few times, try to relate to the emotion of the character; consider the story as a whole<br />
and what's the character thinking ... Then I will block out the key pose, pay extra attention to the storytelling pose etc.. After the key poses, then do the in-between pose etc.. To me the thinking and<br />
planning process is very very important. Unfortunately in game production, the animators don't always have as much time as they like to think and plan. Very often in game, they require animators to<br />
complete 8 sec animation in a day. This is a much quicker turn around then say feature film production. It forces the animators to think and animate very quickly. The pro is the animator learn a lot of clever<br />
short cut of doing things; good at improvise ideas; develop board efficient acting style. The con is the level of detail usually suffer due to the fast turn around and short deadline.<br />
<br />
6) Do you have any suggestions for a recent graduate when constructing the reel, and applying to studios? I am focusing in modeling.. but I am looking at alot of reels... It seems like most modelers know how to texture very well, and also know how to rig their own stuff... It seems much cooler to see the model rotate and move at the same time instead of in a static T-pose. What do you think?<br />
<br />
Alina: Keep it short and sweet. Try to keep the reel with title cards within 1 min. Some places would say 3 mins, but I have seen even those places only have the attention span for 1 min. Show only your best<br />
work. Unless you are applying for generalist job, you don't have to show animation, texture or lighting for a modeling position. The most important thing for a modeling job, is the quality of the models. Rigging and animation is not necessary.<br />
<br />
7) It seems like there are lots of modelers who are going for character modeling as oppose to enviromental judging from all the reels I see on youtube. Do you think it's harder to get into character modeling? I focus in mainly hard edge modeling, would it be best to do organic as well or should I keep modeling objects the rest of the semester?<br />
<br />
Alina: Both jobs are challenging in their own way. However, it's nice to have a modeler who can model both hard surface and character model. It makes you more marketable and give you a wider opportunity to pick up different kind of projects. But there is nothing wrong to be specialized in one area. Someone who is an expert in their specialty can be a valuable talent to a production team as well.<br />
<br />
8) Do you have any other 3d artists who inspire you? Could you list their website or reel if possible? I am very curious to see as many talented people as I can.<br />
<br />
Alina: My inspiration come from everywhere. It's hard to pin point ... There are so many inspirational and remarkable figures ... let's see ... on top my head, they are more traditional animators and artists ...<br />
<br />
My all time favorite piece of animations or animator is Frederic Back. His films has inspired me profoundly on a philosophical level beyond arts. Animation could be a powerful voice to communicate social<br />
consciousness to the audiences, and make the world a more beautiful place. Frederic is a humble down-to-earth animator with masterful artistry. I am very luck get to talk to him at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screening event, and see his original paintings and animation arts. When I ask Frederic about his paintings, the gentle quite man becomes very lively and talkative. He<br />
starts telling me stories - when he was younger, he love to ride bicycle around his home town, stop at places which inspired his imagination or capture the characters of the local culture. He would<br />
paint the scenery on spot. He did all the beautiful elaborate painting in his sketchbook. It seems to me that his intension isn't merely create a perfect painting, but to capture everyday life in its<br />
sincerity and true form. Don't get me wrong though, each of his sketchbook painting is easily a museum piece. Growing up seeing the urbanization of his beloved home town, he becomes very environmental<br />
conscious. His works often reflects his love and care towards the beauty of nature, traditional culture, hope and care towards humanity. Anyone interested to learn more about Frederic's works, you can visit<br />
his site:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fredericback.com/" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.fredericback.co<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>m/</a><br />
<br />
There are many other animations which I can watch a millions time over - Michaël Dudok de Wit's Father and Daughter - a beautiful and touching animated short; Alexander Petrov's oil on glass animation,<br />
simply stunning!! Miyazaki, Pixar, Disney etc ...<br />
<br />
My favorite Miyazaki is Howls' moving castle. He is an animator grow very close to my heart as I get older. Growing up in Hong Kong, part of the summer fun is to watch the new and latest Miyazaki. So beside associating Miyazaki with happy childhood memory. I think he has a uncanny talent capture the innocent and complexity of a child's mind and emotion. As a kid watching his movie - Totoro for example, I tend to take that quality in his film for granted. It's like what's the big deal ... the characters are so easy to relate to, they pretty much think and act like me - a kid. But when I become an adult, I realize it's actually very challenging to capture the spirit of a child. Adult think and feel very differently from a kid. Say a kid may cry over losing a favourite pencil, to an adult ... losing a pencil is not big deal. Experiences adults see it as an everyday routine; to a kid, it could be a big deal. For example, to a kid, a train ride could be the highlight of fun and excitment ... but to an adult, we may enjoy the ride, but wouldn't get giddy over it.<br />
<br />
Favourite concept designs ... all these animators are great artists themselves. Let's see, my inspiration sources are usually all over the place ... on top of my head ... illustrators ... Lisbeth Zwerger, David Wiesner, Oga Kazuo, Tekkon Kinkreet, Craig Thompson, David Shannon, Alexandra Boiger etc.. And there are many amazing artists in the industry ... like Hans Bacher, Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Marcelo Vignali, Armand Serrano ... the names can go on and on and on ...Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-65913505627914917772009-11-25T18:47:00.000-08:002012-12-10T20:26:25.748-08:00Interview with Dice Tsutsumi. (Pixar Art Director)Today is all about Dice Tsutsumi. He's one of my favourite artists in the industry. I first became aware of him from the Robots film and followed his work since.<br />
<br />
Dice started his career at Lucasarts, then went to Bluesky, and now is at Pixar! He was at Bluesky Studios on the visual development team and worked on such film titles as Ice Age, Robots, Horton Hears a Who. He recently went to Pixar as the art director. He did a bit on work on Wall-E, and is now on production on another title.<br />
<br />
To check out his work click this link. <a href="http://www.simplestroke.com/wp/?page_id=2" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplestroke.co<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>m/wp/?page_id=2</a><br />
<br />
1) Could you tell me about yourself Dice? How were you first interested in this field? You love painting but did you know you wanted to be working in the animation industry when you first started?<br />
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Dice: I studied very traditional oil painting. When I graduated, my visa didn’t allow me to stay in the States unless I got a full time job. That’s how I got into a video game company as a concept artist. Immediately, I fell in love with my job where I collaborate with many other talented artists. I soon made a shift to concept design for animated films.<br />
<br />
2) I know that you are born and raised in Tokyo. I am curious as to why you traveled to study art across seas? Was there something here driving you to come here to study like Pixar?<br />
<br />
Dice: Like I said above, I never thought of animation until my senior year in collage. I left Japan only because i wanted to experience something different. Wanted to look back to see my own culture from outside. I spoke no English and did not know what I wanted to study.<br />
<br />
I always loved Miyazaki films growing up. Never thought I'd work in the same business but that might have affected me a bit.<br />
<br />
But my coming to the US was only for life experiences at first.<br />
<br />
3) From your blog, I always see that you are doing traditional painting, but in the artbooks, and when it comes to work are they mostly done in Digital? Do you like one over the other, or both are about the same feeling for u? Was it hard to translate traditional painting to digital? Your digital art the painterly brush stroke feel that is really unique in my opinion!<br />
<br />
Dice: I have to say i love both just as much. But I do warn every student who is focused on developing their fundamental skills about the digital media. I'm more and more convinced that students these days rely way too much on the convenient side of digital media. While it's very convenient and impressive on the surface, it really allows shortcuts.<br />
<br />
I even don't wanna get into a situation where I only paint digitally. I have to paint traditionally to still brush up my skills. I learn way more painting from life traditionally.<br />
<br />
4) I read on your info that you first started at Lucas and then moved onto Bluesky! That is amazing! For a recent graduate do you have any tips on applying to studios? Should we start off at a small studio and gain some experience, or go for the big fish? I have a few connections with LucasArts in Singapore so I may try to get into there to gain some valuable experience on bigger projects but I just worry I'm not strong enough considering there's so many professionals out there!<br />
<br />
Dice: That's a good question. I'm not sure.<br />
<br />
I can see either way works. I started at a small studio. Lucas video game was a very small company. That allowed me to do lots of things I probably didn't qualify for. Same thing with Blue Sky. When I worked on Ice Age 1, their first feature film, they were still in process of figuring out the way to make films themselves so they ended up giving young kids like me lots of responsibility.<br />
Now, after 9 years of experience, I came to Pixar as an art director. I'm not sure if I had been able to get the position if I started at Pixar to start my career. I might have but I don't know.<br />
<br />
I think in the end, if you are self motivated, and always looking to improve yourself, you will take advantage of whatever environment. And you will probably know what would be the best environment for you at the time. (I had to change my environment twice to seek my challenge)<br />
<br />
5) There has been something bugging me about Wall-E for a long time although I loved the technical and storytelling aspects of it.<br />
<br />
I was wondering how come Pixar decided to use a live action footage of the president? I didn't notice it at the beginning but near the end when the captain is watching a video of the president in live action felt like it broke the continuity for me...like the human was a different species or something. Maybe it's just me!<br />
<br />
Dice: I have no idea why they did it. (I really was involved with WallE production for very short time)<br />
I personally felt the use of live action footage was a mistake. It stood out too much and made it look less believable.Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-34925963514382395132009-03-26T20:00:00.000-07:002012-12-10T20:25:44.963-08:00Interview With Billy Butler.<a href="http://www.pieanimation.com/reel/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; line-height: 16.481481552124023px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://www.pieanimation.com/reel/</a><br />
<br style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;" />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">1) Could you tell me a little bit about yourself Billy? Where are you from and when, and how did you get started to have interest in this field?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy:</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">I was born and raised in Byron Bay, Australia with a true passion in drawing, art and design since a very early age. When I got my hands on MSpaint (lol) then photoshop for the first time i figured that this was the future.. so i studied more into the digital medium side of things.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">This eventually lead to 3d map design & creation (for half-life-counter-strike & quake 2) for fun & eventually i got my hands on a copy of 3dsmax during highschool and then converted over to Maya when i found out that was the industry standard for film and television vfx.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">After high school i moved onto study a 3d animation course in Byron Bay SAE. This was quite a waste of money as the course was not structured very well and the teacher had no idea what he was supposed to be teaching!</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">It did however open the door to my first job in the industry hearing about Photon VFX only 1 hour drive away.I built a good enough generalist reel to get a junior position on the film 'Day Breakers' as a Rigger / Generalist then moved onto the television series 'Animalia' for a good 2 years.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">They were going to employ me on that project as a Rigger but my passion was in modeling - so they assigned me a junior position as a 3d Character modeler instead.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">2) How hard is it for a recent graduate to break into the business as a modeler? Is there a difference for a reel for games, animation, and live action? Do you have any tips? Maybe volunteer or intern somewhere first?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">To be honest its quite difficult to tap into the industry. It really comes down to a good strong reel, a professional attitude and presentation.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">If your reel was to be for a games position, i'd demonstrate low-poly character, prop or set modeling but with a detailed normals map finish.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">[I haven't worked in games but im assuming thats what it would be like.]</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">As for film and television you dont have to worry about polygon or detail limitations as such. But as a modeler its good to provide examples of clean topology on your mesh. An understanding of Rigging and texturing helps a modeler get the position alot easier also as the understanding of the right topology layout (flowline), UV's and providing a test animation or pose of your model helps also.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">3) How is it like working? Is it an intimidating work environment when you start off? I was wondering how many models is the quota for a modeler?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Its awesome! At first it can be quite intimidating because not only are you working with geeks with no real social skills allot of the time, but you are working with professionals who have been in the industry a while who tend to have quite an ego on their shoulders.I think a good social environment helps the production alot. Good social skills and being easy to get along with helps you get further faster.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">The money is quite rewarding, but you have to get used to doing long hours. As for a modeler on say a television series - you would probably get given 2 - 4 weeks to complete a character.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">For film - maybe more than a month..? Iit really depends on the model, the concept art, what rigging need it to do and how detailed its supposed to be. We churn out characters in less than a week though then spend the rest of the time bouncing back and forth from the rigging & texturing departments getting it to work best for them so it can then continue down the pipeline.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">4) Do you have a specific workflow that works best for you when it comes to characters? Would u ever reuse models and modify it with deformers to save on time? </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">When ever we can - we recycle models or bits of models to save time. (depending on time and budget of course) As for the movie im working on now - most of the characters are birds, so we have to create different characters using the same mesh and point order. its quite tedious.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">If i were to be given a fresh piece of concept art and a reasonable deadline then i'd usually create the thing from scratch. using all primitives and tools available i prefer to patch model rather than hacking away at a giant cube. this provides a faster, more accurate workflow. as a modeler you aren't just restricted to the polygons menu I also use deformers, joints, dynamic simulations etc etc to help get the look im after.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">5) Do you think its good to be multiskilled as a modeler? Should we also be masters at texturing and lighting too? Modeling seems like the beginning of the pipeline and when the work is done we're out of a job unless we have other skills?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">It helps alot to be a generalist or multi skilled but not many people are as 3d/2d is so big and department specialized. texturing or rigging contracts usually start around the same time as modeling contracts start. lighting, compositing and animation however start a bit later. so yes. It could be a good idea to learn those fields in order to stay on that same project a bit longer.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Depending on the company's success, how well you did on the last project and how much the company likes you, they will try and transfer you over to a new project when your contract is up. Company's don't like losing people, because recruiting new people is such a big job. so if you want to settle down and not travel much - make a good impression in a good company and you shouldn't have much trouble staying.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">I like modeling because its at the start of the food chain (pipeline) which means less stress, longer deadlines and a more fun relaxed environment.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">6) Do you have a favourite experience at a place? And would u prefer working on feature films or on tv shows?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">My favourite so far is working at Animal Logic in Sydney. Not only is Australia my home country, but the people here are fun, out going, love to party and we get to work on big awesome projects such as Happy Feet, 300, Australia, Knowing, Television Commercials and the current 'Guardians Of Ga'Hoole'.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Its the first company I have worked for that encourages socializing (e.g friday afternoon/night drinks in the office).</span><br />
<br style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;" />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Personally i'd prefer to work on Television commercials i think. i guess that depends on the project really.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Film is lots of fun, but i tend to find it very slow and picky. I like to be busy and work on projects with a fast turn around (TVC).</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">7) When creating a reel.... is it a disadvantage if u show all objects, and environments as models instead of characters and vice versa?</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Billy: </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">Not quite. But always remember this.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">When creating a reel - you dont want to bore the recruiter to tears. they have to look at boxes and boxes of reels every day so the last thing they want to see is: another shiny porche/Lamborghini rotating 1080 degrees, a half nude girl in skimpy ripped medieval clothes holding an oversized sword, a cheezy dragon with a lens flare in the back ground or any character model rotating in T pose.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 16.481481552124023px;">A reel is about presentation, showing you are professional and love what you do. its like an animated business card. if you hand over a black and white business card with 'comic sans' font then its an epic design fail and the person you gave it to is instantly going to throw that thing in the bin. so make sure you take time to present your work professionally so you grab the recruiters attention. A good selection of music is essential (no lyrics!!) if you chose a piece of music that has lyrics then you are taking half of the attention away from your work and into the song. which is a bad thing.</span>Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6315440133714731648.post-75855642284711250292009-02-27T20:16:00.000-08:002012-12-10T20:28:21.712-08:00Interview With Tiffany Wang.<br />
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1) Could you tell me a little bit about yourself Tiffany?
Where are you from and when, and how did you get started to have interest in
this field?</div>
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Tiffany: I was born in Taiwan and lived in Australia since I
was 5 years old. My interest in animation first came when I saw The Lion King
at the movies, I bought a book on how to draw The Lion King from Disney world
and I started drawing the characters from the film. I became so into drawing
the characters I woke up at 5am to do some drawings before school. That's when
I decided that animation was for me :) I love movement and these drawings can
move. I did a few short courses on animation during highschool, then I went to
university to study computer animation. Since then I've worked at 3 studios
(Photon VFX, Flying Bark Productions and Ambience Entertainment) working on 3
different children's tv series (Animalia, Zeke's Pad and Erky Perky).</div>
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2) How hard is it for a recent graduate to break into the
business? Is there a difference for a reel for games, animation, and live
action(VFX animation)?</div>
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Tiffany: It really depends on perseverance, talent,
connections and sometimes luck. In Australia, and I think most places, you are
more likely to get into tv and games studios as a graduate. Film is definitely
possible however rare. The reels are different especially when it comes to VFX
animation, if you prefer to do cartoony animation then your reel should have
cartoony characters, if you want to work in realistic animation then your reel
should reflect that. Another thing I learned is, get into the industry even if
it isn't exactly what you want, but always persevere with your chosen field.
Make it clear what it is you're after but do a great job with what you're hired
to do. You will eventually get there.</div>
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3) How is it like working? Is it an intimidating work
environment when you start off? How many seconds of animation is the quota per
week? And I was wondering if you know or would know someone who could tell me
how many models are required for their quota since I specialize in modeling.<br />
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Tiffany: My first job at a studio was really good. Photon
was a really great environment with a nice balance of juniors, mid level and
really experienced people. My rigging lead was from Dreamworks and he taught me
so much it was slightly overwhelming in the beginning. I would say a lot of my
knowledge was learned on the job. In animation it really helped to ask for
feedback and look at what other people were doing. Generally most people in the
industry are willing to share. My quota varies with each job but I am currently
doing 23 seconds per week. On my first job I did around 20 seconds per week. I
dont know much about modelling quota, I think it depends on the style and
detail of the character or set. I do however know an amazing modeller who I use
to work with at Photon. His name is Billy Butler and his website is...http://www.pieanimation.com/3d.html</div>
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4) I was wondering what sort of animation work flow you had?
Do you act it out in person, and do thumbnail sketches? Or do you dive right
into the program and pose stuff out?</div>
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Tiffany: I am still working out my workflow, but I think my
current one is working quite well. I do thumbnail drawings and use reference
where possible, and then I block it out in Maya in stepped frames, pose to
pose. After director feedback I usually do the fix, feedback, then go through
and smooth everything out. There isnt much time to do much planning with a tv
quota, but I believe planning has saved me from wasting the time that I have.</div>
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5) Do you have any suggestions for a recent graduate when
constructing a modeling reel? I am focusing in modeling. I am looking at alot
of reels... It seems like most modelers know how to texture very well, and also
know how to rig their own stuff.</div>
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Tiffany: I think it's better to ask a modeller this
question. However I do know that it's best to show as much work from your
chosen skill as possible. It may help to have textures on your models to make
things look better, however if you aren't confident with texturing and rigging
then it's best to leave it off, otherwise it will affect your work. Unfinished,
unpolished work can really distract a viewing. Personally I'm not so good at
modelling characters, I do know how to rig and really want to animate, so with
my first reel, I focused on the two skills and used blocks to represent my
character. Apparently it worked. So if you are interested in modelling, I would
focus on that rather than divide your time. Also, remember to show wireframes,
as I see most modelling reels have that.</div>
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6) I noticed on your resume that you were a rigger for a
while! Would you say its better to be multiskilled or still specialize in one
area?</div>
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Tiffany: I would say it's best to have one really good skill
but also do ok in other areas, especially in the beginning. When starting out
it may be hard to find that perfect job for you chosen skill and it's likely
you'll have to begin your career doing something else. It has certainly
happened to me but doing rigging has gotten me close to animation and I've done
animation ever since. I also find that this industry can be highly
unpredictable, one year there may be a lot of animation jobs out there then the
next year there isnt. In that case it's better to have skills in another area
to stay employed. Rigging has been an eye opening experience, I've learned so
much and I am a much cleaner animator because of it. I'm not sure if I will
directly apply for a rigging job as rigging does involve a lot of programming
(which I'm not good at) and there is a lot of problem solving however if I was
offered a job in basic rigging, I wouldnt say no, who knows I may learn
something new.</div>
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7) Do you have any other 2d or 3d artists who inspire you?
Could you list their website or reel if possible? I am very curious to see as
many talented people as I can.</div>
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Tiffany: I am inspired by the people I work with every day.
I'm also doing the online course, Animation Mentor and the people there are
constantly presenting new ideas and concepts. I'm not really the type to surf
the internet and look at other people's work all the time. To me, I am really
inspired by movement, by dance and watching animals move. However, if you are
looking for websites, I like to look at http://www.furiae.com/ Linda Bergkvist
is an amazing digital artist and I love her work.</div>
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Andrew Chanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14960027425741543570noreply@blogger.com0