Fishy Update

I took a ride with Modi to a pet store in North Beach to observe the Orandas, the fancy goldfish, I started a while back.

They are really beautiful fish, and they come in a variety of shapes and colors. Modi and I were considering getting the fish as a studio pet if we were going to seriously tackle this laptop/fish animation we were developing.

After researching the fish I realized that I had modeled the fishes main tail incorrectly. (I modeled loosely on a few images I found online) That wasn't too much of a concern, as I was still able to do some blend-shape, mental ray shader tests with my existing model.

We got pretty far with this project, but due to some computer limitations, and some paid projects coming up, we shelved the development of this projection.

Upgrading our machines was a low priority compared to covering salaries; trying to get high quality renders using 2gb ram with dual core processors on 32x windows xp is a little tough.

This slowed RnD quite a bit when I was waiting around for render tests, and intending to produce 1080 HD renders.

Getting back into ZBrush

Among the different areas that I am learning, Z Brush has been introduced earlier then I expected.

I had wanted to take an Advanced Lighting and Rendering class, when I was surprised to find I had got the days mixed up.
Now I am in a Advanced Modeling and Texturing class which is featuring Zbrush as the main tool.

One of the first assignments was a Fish. The project was just to get our feet wet, but the sculpt showed a lot of promise and fit nicely with something I was already working on.
Everyone at Palma seemed to have an idea about what we could do with a fish. So it has come to be incorporated with an internal project we have going. So I look forward to posting some images of that.




This the first draft of the fish in Zbrush.

This is the reference that I found; it the starting point for the art direction of the fish.

Technical Director

"the technical director is known as a generalist-someone who can shade, light, model and more..." ~Pixar Artist Corner

I am now a Technical Director at PalmaVFX.

I was hired back in July to work as a full time employee.
Things picked up right away as if to give me a preview of what I was in for. Work was pretty hectic with 3-4 projects in the air for a few weeks coupled with lots of overnights. Making deadlines was a challenge but we pulled through.

One of the things that really got me enthusiastic about taking the job was that Fred would like me to head the Lighting and Rendering at Palma.

Though these were not my area of focus I have become increasingly confident of my ability to learn on the fly during the course of a projection. I will also be given resources and support for learning these topics, and expanding the areas I am already familiar with. I have a really good work/learning environment here, and expect to see vast improvements in my contributions at Palma in this coming year.

I found this interview with Neil - Technical Director at Pixar very inspiring.

Update Soon

This poor blog has fallen to the wayside.
I will be making an effort to update it with lots of content and links.

Here is a running list of some of the projects/companies so far in 08:

Ninja Gaiden Customizable Wallpapers - AKQA
Intel
Genetix
Sprint - Mothers Day Chocolates
Texaco
-unreleased-
Flip Mino
Binder - the Pillz Vacation
Roche - Transformer
Proactiv
Rearden
Cobra Creative

Change of Scenery

I have been reading this book everywhere: I went to the beach, too sandy and cold; then to the park, to windy; now I just sit indoors and try to get through it.

I am branching out at Palma, getting more heavily involved in Lighting/Rendering. We are currently using Mental Ray for Maya, I have a passable knowledge of how to get what I need for compositing, and enough Pre-Prod background to produce assets for rendering. 

Still, lighting and rendering can make or break a good model, and you can only fix and hide so much in post. 

More Recent Work: PGR4 Update

Clients: AKQA
Microsoft's XBOX360 PGR4 Project Gotham

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/splash/p/projectgothamracing4/

Every project I take on gives me more experience, and more confidence in my skill sets. This recent project for the promotional website of PGR4 had me taking on the role of compositor. I came in later on the project basically just to help out with some composting.

Using Shake I finished compositing and adjusting the remaining cars, and rendered out the first batch of deliverable files for the client.

Currently I am working on refining what we delivered for a nice sequence for Palma's 2008 Reel, as well as my own. I am taking the stationary 2D background, and realizing it in 3D. Creating new render passes, and generating an animated composite.

Manning's Mind

Clients: Sprint and Silverstein & Partners

I did a short stint on this project contributing mainly to the look and feel of the piece. I spent most of my time working out an efficient way to composite the players, and achieve a interesting holographic effect. Todd later took over and really polished it up giving more control to the distortion and boundary effects.

This turned out to be yet another interesting project at PalmaVfx.


Check it out while its still online at:
http://www.manningsmind.com/