10.30.2009

Making progress...

Well, I finished up the animation for my short film and began re-working the shots for my demo reel. I had set a final deadline for my short or I'd be polishing it for another 10 years. I'm trying to do the same with my reel, setting deadlines, and (trying to) stick to them. My plan is to finish all the animation render out playblasts, so at least I have something to upload and show. Then go back and set up the lighting and render them out over a weekend or two. I rendered a few test renders for my short and using Mental Ray each frame took between 45 minutes to an hour. So I still have some settings to tweak as well as the lights themselves. I'm getting closer with each week and more excited to get it all done!

Other than that we endured a 2 day blizzard and got 2 feet of snow. It's awesome if you don't have to leave the house... the roads are icy and dangerous. I'm curious what it's going to do for our Hallowe'en trick-or-treaters....

Stay tuned.

10.13.2009

Student Showcase.

Here is the latest and greatest student showcase from Animation Mentor. Absolutely amazing work!

They've done it again....

Now that I've completed Animation Mentor, I'm even more overwhelmed with ALL of the 3D animation surrounding me, on the Internet, TV, commercials, movies and video games. One studio in particular, if you happen to mention 3D Animation, will be the top of everyones' list... The studio, of course, I am referring to is the one and only Pixar Animation Studios. That's right, they have, hands down, produced my favorite movies (not just animations) and short films since their conception. I can watch any Pixar movie at any time and be completely entertained for the duration of the film, then watch the shorts, and all the special features on each DVD... I'm completely blown away from not only their animation, but the style in each of their films, the originality they possess, the overall feel of each film, and how they have hidden Easter Eggs throughout each of their films (like putting in the Pizza Planet truck in every movie).

If you look at Pixar's later films: Wall-E, Up and even Ratatouille, they take on a more serious feel (still fun, don't get me wrong), where if you look at Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo and Cars, they have a more comical/fun tone. Now in said comical movies there is still a serious message in the undertones of the movie, but they aren't as apparent. One thing that Pixar strives for is the story, that's their number one focus no matter what. Originally Toy Story 2 was going to be a 'straight to DVD' movie, and John Lasseter took a step back and said that its not Pixar's style. So they put some more money and time into the story and made it 'theater-worthy'. And look at what a great movie it turned out to be! I'm usually not as concerned when hearing that Pixar is making sequels to their amazing movies, there's Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 on the way(although, parts of me loves when they have an original movie coming out) as I am when say there's another Shrek movie in the making (although, I'm pretty stoked about Shrek 4). Shrek 1 was great, Shrek 2 was sub par, and I still have yet to see the Third, from all the bad reviews I've heard... Without further ado, here is the trailer for the upcoming Toy Story 3, June 18th, 2010.... It looks like such a fun movie and you know the story is going to be great!! I'm planning on seeing Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D this week, and can't wait to see TS3 in June. Enjoy it.

Toy Story 3 Trailer from d C on Vimeo.

10.07.2009

Two New Blogs Added....

Alright, well since graduation I've been doing a little bit of work on my short film and demo reel. Mainly just artwork and putsy type work, in that process I did create two new blogs: one, my online portfolio site where my reel will reside CLICK HERE to see it. Second, I posted a new blog with my short film 'Fresh Out the Box' the entire process, from pitching the story to my mentor, the animatic, layout, blocking and animation. CLICK HERE to see it, it goes chronological from the latest stage to earliest.

Short film update, I have completed seven shots, only nine more to go!! Then the lighting, rendering, and put it all together and clean up/add some more sound effects.

Stay tuned!