Rose Adler: Digital Artist

Light Ramp Fall-Off

2011-05-10T21:11:00.005-04:00

As an exercise, I wrote a PyMel script that would require the user to select objects in the scene. The script would check object types, identifying lights and cameras - and would then create a node tree that would allow for a ramp with random color attributes to be attached to the selected light's fall off.

As a result, all lights in the scene would give off unique falloffs based.
I thought this was pretty cool. I was also rather proud of this exercise because Python and PyMel are starting to make much more sense to me.

Next up - Data Visualization! This will also lead into my final project. More to come later.

THREE MORE WEEKS OF COLLEGE! Yikes.

Jobs, Zebras, and Triangulation

2011-04-11T00:04:00.006-04:00

It's been a while since I've updated, but I will try to make this brief. Tomorrow will mark the start of week 3 of my last quarter at SCAD. I got most of my hefty classes out of the way, and I'm taking this quarter to learn some things I don't "need" to graduate, but I think will help me in the long run.

The only required class I have left is VSFX 490 - or Portfolio. We're creating everything we need to successfully land a job, right down to a detailed budget of all expenses on a potential salary. Scary. This class also inspired me to get my recruiting packets together and head over to the SCAD Career Fair that took place this past Friday. I spoke with some great companies - RTT, Perception, The Mill, Click 3X, Method, and a few others. Hopefully I will hear back from someone. This whole "not knowing where I'll be living in 8 weeks" thing is a bit unnerving.

I'm also taking a class in Python, taught by the brilliant Ken Huff. I am certainly not a programmer, so it's been tough so far, but Ken is a spectacular teacher, and I'm much more focused than I was even a short time ago, so I know I will get something out of it. For now, we're working past "Hello World," and working in the Python Interpreter doing simple stand-alone scripts, like the one below.

For my final project, which I am working on a proposal for, I have decided to work with Data Visualization inside of Houdini (possibly implementing CHOP Networks). - But more about this later.

On top of Portfolio and Python, I am also taking the Visual Effects Supervision class, mostly because it sounded fun, but I figure I can use the opportunity to learn some things that would make me useful on set. This weekend I did an exercise in camera triangulation, which is actually insanely cool.

I shot a background plate.

Then I recorded data on the camera and it's placement according to an established baseline, which then dictated where this baseline would be in relation to an object I want to comp into the scene, in this case, my friend's car.

I could then composite the two shots together, and the perspective would be in tact, as you can see in my comp below. Cool, huh?

Here is a little diagram that shows the triangulation aspect a little clearer (maybe).

Our next assignment will be similar - only with a scaling element added. I'm pretty excited! It's nice to finally get away from the computer screen once in a while and actually get out to shoot something.

Anyway, that was my "quick" update! There should be more coming soon! Although, not many pretty pictures this quarter. :)

February 2011, Reel

2011-02-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

My updated reel:

The Rose: Jan 31st

2011-01-31T21:44:00.002-05:00

Well, the rose project was due today, so this is what I ended up with, even though Youtube puts terrible compression on it.

I would still like to continue this project because I really think it has some potential. I still think it needs some variation in the model, but it was coming down to the wire and I had to just call it. I am however really happy with how the velvety feel is coming across. When I was setting priorities for this project, that was very high on the list for what I thought it needed for a level of believability.

I also need to increase the bump, but I was having issues with that because of my UVs. It could also benefit from some better occlusion, but I was worried about pushing it too far because I have a habit of under-lighting things and I think I over-compensated for it a bit too much. I'd also like to continue working on the texturing. I was having a lot of trouble getting it much redder, but my shading network goes so deep that there are so many different elements feeding in to the overall color. I did a higher-resolution still of a close-up of some of the petals, and you can see some of the veins through the subsurface. I'd like to embellish that to make it a lot more obvious.

Anyway, overall I'm happy and proud of how this turned out, even though it isn't as Photoreal as I would like. Hopefully I will have the time to continue it to really push it to the next level.

Rose Update: Jan 30th

2011-01-30T17:47:00.004-05:00

The rose has come a long way since last week, but it still has a long way to go. The sub-surface is working well. I used Steven J Tubbrit's velvet tutorial , which uses Facing Ratio with incandescence to mock the velvety highlights. I plugged this into the Diffuse layer of my sub-surface shader. It seems to be doing it's job, but I am still working on some tweaking. The following image is before Occlusion or any other kind of composting.

More updates coming soon.

The Rose: Update #2

2011-01-22T23:54:00.005-05:00

Well, the rose is coming along slowly. I've been experimenting with the Subsurface Scattering mental ray shader. I also experimented a bit with lenses, and I ended up with a 24mm. I'll start to add textures tonight and post another update soon.

The Rose: Update

2011-01-18T17:57:00.005-05:00

Well, I've completely remodeled, and I'm about to start texturing. I threw a matte red on it for sake of this render. Still texture and bump maps to worry about, as well as lighting. It is making progress though.

And a little bit of progress....

A little more progress... This image looks really dark, but hey - it happens to be what I'm looking at on the screen right now, so I'm postin' it. Trying out this Mental Ray Sub-Surface Scattering Shader nonsense (that was a mouth-full).

The Rose

2011-01-17T22:29:00.001-05:00

Well, the rose is coming along. I've started over several times, and am working on another one that I think will be "final." Here is one of the variations I ended up with, obviously, it's not textured or lit yet.

I've been changing around the model because I can't decide on a composition. I've decided to get really close to the model, so that I can show extreme detail in the texturing. The one I'm working on now is much more detailed, and I think more realistic. Renders to come.

A rose is a rose is a....

2011-01-09T22:25:00.003-05:00

So for my first project for Photo-realistic rendering, I decided to do a rose. It's not super-creative, but hey, it'll be cool, right?

Anyway, here's how it's coming. I started modeling it today and it proved to be a lot more complicated than I originally thought. Here's how it's looking as of right now. Obviously it is still a work in progress.

This is the first "organic" model I've done, so I know it's going to be a huge learning experience. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt, but it's going to take a lot of tweaking to get it where I want it. A huge part of this project is the lighting and texturing, so I don't want to spend too much time focusing on modeling. We'll see how it goes. Back to work!

Tomorrow Marks...

2011-01-04T22:16:00.002-05:00

.. My last first day of Winter quarter! This is the homestretch of my SCAD career! It's bittersweet - I'm excited to get into the industry, but I'm going to be sad to leave college behind me. But more about that later.

Tomorrow I pitch my idea for VSFX Studio II to the class. I've started a blog specifically for that, which you can find here. It's still in the works, but I will be posting updates there regularly, and I will post large landmarks here to let both of my readers know how it's going. Right now the project is still in it's concept stage, and I've got my good friend Arielle working on some concept art for me. This project is going to present a lot of challenges for me, and I'm excited to get it started.

I am also taking Photorealistic Rendering, which I know is going to be TOUGH, but I am excited to take it head-on. It's going to be a great quarter!

Stills From Studio 1

2010-12-14T13:58:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm still fighting with Youtube to get an HD version of the video uploaded. I think I'm going to have to try uncompressed, but it will be interesting to see how it gets handled. In the mean time, here are a few stills. They are not full quality, but you can get the general idea behind it.

The first shot is an overhead shot of the city. I don't have it uploaded quite yet because I'm not happy with the quality of the still, so just pretend it's here.

This second shot (directly below) probably provided the most challenges. We had to make it a 50% mix between the city in the first shot (which looks entirely normal), and the city in the 3rd shot that is entirely overrun with toys. We kept adding and removing elements from the 1st and 3rd shots to create a balance that was more believable.

This third shot (directly below) was probably the most fun to work with. Coming up with ideas for toys and seeing what my group members came up with was a blast, and we had a great time reminiscing about toys we had years ago.

This final shot is my favorite. We decided last minute that we needed something more, and ended up adding it in the last 2 weeks. It was a bit of a rush getting it together, but I think it was rather successful. We got a lot of great feedback on this one.

Overall, this turned out to be a great experience. I'm glad I did a group project, it was a great learning experience. I was surprised about how well we all communicated. I've heard about, and experienced less professional group projects in the past that fell apart or hurt friendships because of miscommunications. But the three of us came out of it with a nice portfolio piece, and some strengthened friendships.

Hopefully more to come soon. And preparation for Studio II (YIKES!).

Update on the Studio 1 Project

2010-12-08T13:48:00.001-05:00

We did end up successfully finishing our Studio 1 project! I am currently working on getting an HD version uploaded to the web, and then I will be adding that here. Sorry for the delay!

Match to Live With Animation

2010-11-17T21:00:00.001-05:00

Object animation from my match to live project.

More to come later.

Exploding UVs!

2010-11-03T22:19:00.004-04:00

Well, I had some more issues with my UVs from shot 1 of my Studio 1 project. But I DID manage to find a solution with the help of one of my friends. But still, I can't help but laugh at the ridiculous damage:

So anyway, apparently the trick is that you have to delete construction history before moving an object with it's UVs laid out. Hey, who knew? Ok, probably everyone, but now I've joined the ranks.

Jinn Teaser!

2010-10-31T16:56:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! I thought I'd take a few minutes to update! Running around like crazy trying to get things done. Lighting Mood-Match project and also class 15 presentation for Studio 1 are in the works for tomorrow.

My mood match is coming along, I will post it later when I have the movie all put together. Studio 1 is also coming along, and we're working on a fourth shot to try and tie things together. This project has definitely presented some challenges, and I will elaborate on that when I have some visual reference to show.

On another note, the teaser trailer for Jinn, the movie I had the pleasure of working on during my internship this Summer has been released! I am so pumped to see this movie! It's crazy seeing it from it's most primitive form, and watching it transform into a real film.

Check out the teaser:

I worked on the Jinn title at the end. I created a fire simulation using Fume that was only used in the reflections. Just a small part, I know, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. :) Can't wait to see more!

On another note, there are only 3 weeks left in the quarter. WHOA. This has to have been the shortest quarter yet!

Anyway, back to work! Another late-night date with Montgomery Hall. Don't wait up.

Studio 1 Update!

2010-10-13T02:09:00.008-04:00

Well, Jackie, Leighana and I are well on our way with the texturing! I did have some issues with my UVs when I switched from my laptop to a school computer, I almost had a heart attack. I think the UV Editor threw up. Check it out:

Also, I rendered out the city layout with an occlusion pass... which just makes everything look so pretty. :)

And here is one with what textures I've been able to get done, and rendered with some fancy final gathering. Render times are still under 1:30, which I'm thinking is excellent... we're going to need all the time we can get once we start adding lights.

We were thinking of rendering just with Maya Software, but after doing some FG tests, let's just say that everyone else on the Render Farm isn't going to be too happy with us. :)

And don't forget you can check out even MORE progress from this project by visiting our Studio 1 blog here.

My First Match To Live

2010-10-11T23:32:00.006-04:00

Here's my very first Match-To-Live! It was for project 2 for my TECH 316 (Digital Lighting and Rendering) class. We had a critique today, so there are some things that I still need to fix, so I will repost it when it's more "final."

I have to say this is probably one of the hardest projects I've ever done - but at the same time, I don't think I've ever been as proud of one. It's given me a new way to look at things, and find a huge number of details in even the simplest of objects.

Anyway, I think it's coming along, but it's still not perfect yet. I'm struggling with Nuke a bit because I don't have a lot of experience with it. The shadow isn't quite right, and I still need to work on the highlights and bounce at the bottom. Also my shader still needs some work. I think (and the class generally agreed) that they both look real, just not quite right together. It's getting there!

Also, here's a screen shot of my Nuke script. It seems really jumbled to me, but give me a break, I'm learning. :)

Studio 1 Project Update

2010-10-05T23:18:00.001-04:00

I'm almost done texturing the city!!!!! Yea, just kidding.

Capture

2010-10-02T13:03:00.002-04:00

Dear readers (both of you!),

My good friend Courtney is in the midst of doing her senior film. A few years ago she met a little girl named Bailey. Bailey was very sick with Leukemia, so Courtney bought her a camera so that she could record her journey. What she didn't expect was what was revealed on the screen - even though Bailey was sick, her ability to overlook that fact, and still maintain a childhood as best she could was remarkable.

Please support Courtney's film by checking out the trailer on the site below. Courtney is a very talented filmmaker, and this is going to be an absolutely beautiful film.

http://www.indiegogo.com/childhoodcancerdoc

Thanks,

Rose

I'm learning how to light!

2010-09-27T00:49:00.007-04:00

Not my catchiest title, but give me a break - I'm excited.

For one, I am FINALLY taking a class with Bridget Gaynor. I've known her for some time now, occasionally conversing in the hallway and at SIGGRAPH this Summer. I've only heard great things about her teaching, and I haven't seen one person come out of her technical direction classes without at least one portfolio piece. With 2 weeks down, I've already gained a great deal from her tech lighting class. I'm finally starting to understand a lot of the different render settings and shadow types. It also helps that she's very approachable, extremely willing to help. I'm not kidding when I say I want to be her when I grow up.

Our first project was to create a composition with a simple object, and render with 4 different techniques - raycasting and raytracing with Maya Software, and photon mapping and final gather with Mental Ray. Here's my final result:

Our next project is a "match-to-live," which I am quite excited for!

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

2010-09-24T17:03:00.004-04:00

... As Aristotle once said. Very true. Especially because there are no people in this city. Here's an update on how the modeling is coming:

We've completely revamped the layout - going with more of a rooftop view, before the next shot which is much closer. There is still some modeling to finish up, and a ton of texturing to do, which we will hopefully be able to get to soon.

Suggestions and criticisms are most welcome, especially at this early stage.

I think it's really coming together and is going to look pretty AWESOME when it's done. But of course, I'm a bit bias. :)

Studio 1 Project Update

2010-09-21T23:06:00.004-04:00

Jackie, Leighana and I are shoulder-deep in production of our Studio 1 project. There is an early render of the city below. We are nearing the end of modeling and will hopefully stay on schedule with the texturing - and get to that this weekend. I can't believe this is only week 2 of the quarter! It feels like we've gotten a lot of work done, but at the same time it feels like we are going to run out of time any day!

A Twist of Something Awesome

2010-09-19T14:34:00.019-04:00

Let me preface this post with an apology. I've been neglecting this blog for much longer than I would have liked, and I am going to try my hardest to keep up with it! At any rate, lot has happened since my last posting, so I'll do this in sections so that it makes more sense (hopefully).

First and foremost, a majority of my summer was taken up by an amazing internship at With A Twist Studio in Rochester Hills, Michigan - That's a little over an hour commute from where I live in Ypsilanti. At the beginning of the summer, I made the decision that no matter the inconvenience, this was something I needed to do, for my career and for myself. I got tremendous support from my family and friends, and it turned out to be the best decision I could have made.

My first day was a little scary; I had no idea what to expect, but walking through the doors to With A Twist was like walking into someone's house (someone that does a majority of their shopping at IKEA). It was easy to get involved and judge the atmosphere after spending only a few minutes with these people. It's a children's clubhouse, to put it frankly (except girls are allowed and there weren't any strange initiation processes... that I knew of). The amount of geeky fun that went on made for a fun working environment, and it was no surprise that the work produced there matched the enthusiasm of the artists, so much that it would jump off the screen (No, seriously, they did 3D stuff). Beyond the hilarious memories I now have, I learned an incredible amount during my time there. Not one person there found me even the littlest bit inconvenient (or at least didn't show it), and they were all more than willing to go out of their way to teach me something or help me out. They made it a collaboration, where there are no weak links, everyone is in it together. It's exactly the kind of working "family" I'd love to join one day, and I hope my experience at With A Twist has in no way come to an end.

My summer could not have gotten much better after having an amazing internship, but I did some other awesome things too! I was a student volunteer in Los Angeles for the SIGGRAPH conference, which lasted about a week. It was a lot of work, but I got to meet a lot of amazing people and see a lot of amazing things. The lectures were great, and I came home with a ton of free stuff. I'm definitely looking in to applying again next year. I need some more free swag.

Also, this quarter marks the beginning of the end of my time here at SCAD. I am already deep into production of my Studio 1 project, where I am doing a collaborative project with two of my good friends. We are keeping a blog about the whole thing, so feel free to check it out here. There will be more updates about it posted there, rather than here.

This year is already off to a great start. :)

Glass Shatter: Take 1

2010-05-22T01:39:00.003-04:00

Here's a quick look at something I'm working on in Houdini. Doing a basic wine glass shatter. Still experimenting with look development (can't WAIT for my lighting class this Fall!). I'm also working with Houdini's particle fluid system, so we can fill this baby up with some luscious red wine before we shatter her.

Sorry for the lag in posts. More to come this week.

My Apologies.

2010-04-29T22:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lag in posts. THREE (possibly four) epic projects in the works. I promise.

Spring 2010

2010-03-24T07:48:00.002-04:00

Classes you can expect to hear about this quarter:

ARTH 207: 20th Century Art
VSFX 428: Particles and Procedural Effects
VSFX 406: Concept Development for Visual Effects

CHOP CHOP!

2010-02-24T14:52:00.003-05:00

Creative title, I know! Here's another little animation I did, this time using CHOP (channel operator) Networks.

I won't have too much time in the next few weeks to post, because we are heading in to finals and then end of Winter quarter. I will, however be posting my Houdini, which I have started working on. I don't want to give anything away, but it's going to be pretty awesome!

Rozin Mirror Animation!

2010-02-09T14:04:00.002-05:00

My animation from the Rozin Mirror project, for VSFX 350.

I used a piece of footage from my favorite childhood movie, Homeward Bound. Basically what was created was this. First, a grid of 1x1 squares was created. A piece of footage was "placed" on top so that the rotation values of the squares would change depending on the luminance values of the footage. The look was inspired by Daniel Rozin's artwork with mechanical mirrors.

Daniel Rozin's Mechanical Mirrors!

2010-02-04T22:55:00.004-05:00

Whoa! Have you seen Daniel Rozin's work???? This guy is insanely awesome! If you haven't checked him out, I recommend you do so immediately. For VSFX 350, We have to recreate the feel of his mechanical mirrors work using Houdini. Although ours won't be interactive, it will be based on luminance values of a piece of footage.

Here's some of his amazing work! I have no idea how this stuff works, but I hope I have an opportunity to see it some day in person. Basically he uses technology to create an interactive "wooden mirror". You've got to see it to believe it.

Houdini - Cruise Control to Awesome.

2010-02-03T18:52:00.008-05:00

Awesome title, I know. Let me first start off this blog entry as a HUGE apology to those who actually read it (hi mom!). I haven't had much time to devote to posting as I would like. Fortunately, I have been really enjoying my classes, and I've been having a lot of fun! Here are some images to prove it!

This quarter, I'm taking VSFX 350: Procedural Modeling and Animation, which really means I'm learning Houdini. I was a little hesitant, having spent the last 4 or so years of my life engulfed by the amazingness that is Maya. However, I was soon re-faced with a lesson I had learned back in elementary school: You're allowed to have TWO best friends! The first day, I was already dropping my jaw at Houdini. While I still see Maya as being exceptional (especially with things like modeling and shading/texturing), Houdini runs much smoother and more intuitively. But most of you don't care about that, so let's move on to the pretty pictures!

One of our first projects was to create a procedural staircase.

We had to create a custom interface that would allow the user to adjust the number of steps, revolutions, and several other attributes. (This would allow for easy animation... plus it's just pretty cool!)

The image to the right is a screen-capture of my created user interface. It looks pretty simple. All it took was some simple expressions, and Houdini runs it easily. That's another advantage of Houdini over Maya - you wouldn't dream of putting a large integer value, like 1000 into any attribute in Maya for fear of a "fatal error." Houdini however, takes it without question or hesitation.

Another project that I found really interesting was called, "Fizz Buzz." Basically, we were given an image that contained 4 patterns. We had to figure out the patterns, and create a network with expressions that would allow the patterned to be repeated no matter how large it got.

If you can't tell, the four patterns are as follows

1) All numbers divisible by 7 are colored red.

2) All numbers divisible by 9 are colored red.

3) Every 5th number is represented with a Buzz.

4) Every 9th number is represented with a Fizz.

The code for this project was a little more complicated, but still quite intuitive.

Our first large project was a procedural building. We had to create a building that when scaled in any direction, would "grow" more windows/doors/etc accordingly. We were then required to do a short animation of our created user interface. This was a little more challenging than our previous exercises. My animation is as follows!

I threw the animation and video together a little last minute, so I am planning on revisiting it in a few days to make it look better. Overall, I'm really enjoying getting to know Houdini. It's challenging my math and logic skills, as well as challenging me artistically. In the next few weeks, we'll be going over and learning about some procedural animation techniques. In lamen's terms: awesome stuff! Next quarter I'm taking Houdini 2, which covers particles and procedural effects. That should definitely be a fun one!

Hopefully it won't take me as long to update next. Thanks for reading, happy Wednesday!

Level of Detail

2009-10-14T14:19:00.004-04:00

For our next Renderman project, we were required to model a 6 inch or so strand of spanish moss, which is found everywhere here in our beautiful city of Savannah. We created a high resolution model, and a fast rendering low resolution model. Using Renderman and the Renderman Shading Language (RSL), we created a script that would allow the renderer to render the high res model of the moss when the camera was close to it, and the low res model when the camera was farther away, thus saving valuable rendering time.

In the above image, I "told" the low res model to render red, and the high res model to render green. Because of the created script, a "Level of Detail" effect is created. For a more complete technical breakdown, you can check out my Renderman Portfolio here. The site is not finished yet, so check back next week for the completed page.

I really enjoyed doing this project, not only because it was fairly simple to do, but also because it's an invaluable technique.

As difficult as this class is, I am really enjoying it. Professor Malcolm Kesson is a joy to work with, and has a way of explaining the procedures that makes them not-so intimidating.

I look forward to the rest of the semester! More projects to come.

Illustration Friday Topic: Germs!

2009-10-07T23:21:00.002-04:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic also conveniently coincides with my homework! The above image is text generated using Pixar's Renderman. This means that I was not working in a 3D interface like I am used to, but instead used the Renderman Shading Language (RSL) to generate the image. I did however use Photoshop for the background. I started with a series of cylinders and spheres, which I then positioned to generate the above shapes. If you would like to know more about how I did it, you can feel free to visit my technical breakdown page. If you would like to follow my progress in the class, you can also visit my online Renderman Portfolio, which will be ongoing for the rest of the quarter.

More from my Renderman class (as well as my other classes) coming soon!

There's an App For That - FINAL

2009-05-26T15:42:00.003-04:00

Our final submission of the iPhone commercial for VSFX 210, which has been accepted for the Spring 2009 SCAD Visual Effects Quarterlies Showcase, held on Wednesday, May 27th at 8:00pm in Arnold Hall on Bull St. Come support us!

The SR-71 Blackbird

2009-05-20T14:51:00.001-04:00

The SR-71 Blackbird from my VSFX 210 class.

There's An App For That

2009-05-14T12:45:00.001-04:00

First submission of our completed iPhone commercial. We will have the last 2 weeks of the quarter to fix and perfect it.

ElectroMagnetic iPhone App - Update

2009-05-13T10:02:00.001-04:00

There's an App For That.

Electromagnetic iPhone App - Update

2009-05-12T17:53:00.003-04:00

Here is a pretty still from the animation. Looks like it's going to be awesome! Right now it's rendering on the RenderFarm at Monty, and I am monitoring it from my room. It's taking about 9 minutes to render each frame, and with about 300 frames... well, its going to take a while. Hopefully our priority on the farm goes up and it'll start rendering faster. Wish us luck!

iPhone Electromagnetic App

2009-05-12T12:20:00.002-04:00

Here is a quick playblast to show you how the iPhone "There's an App for That" commercial spoof is going. I key framed this sequence last night because the dynamics were just not working properly.

The timing is still off a bit, we will be fixing that today, and the entire project will be rendered and finished by Thursday at 2:00pm.

A Day and a Dino Like No Other

2009-05-10T02:07:00.010-04:00

I find myself sitting here, AC on full blast, cold compress on each shoulder, red, swollen feet suspended high enough to barely be comfortable, thinking about whether or not spending all day at the beach on Friday was worth the potential threat of terminal skin cancer. Splitting $350 of prize money with my three comrads might have improved the situation, but as my friend Sarah made blatantly clear, “We must have come in fourth.”, which clearly explains our lack of overall triumph in the competition. We assembled “Manly Stanley”, a self-assured, tango-dancing, prehistoric dinosaur. It was truly an experience.

As you can see from our "Before" picture, we were all ready to go!

But we were a little wiped our afterwords....

Here we are with Stanley

Although we did not win the competition, we are all now the proud owners of undeniable, irreversable skin damage. Don't get me wrong, I had a spectacular time. I always have a spectacular time with Sarah, Courtney and Arielle.

May our friend Stanley rest in peace. He now lives with the fishies, and lies at the bottom of the ocean. An ocean he always dreamed of returning to. See you in Heaven, little buddy. Save me a shady spot... and some SPF 45.

"Always in Season" Concept

2009-05-06T17:24:00.002-04:00

While I am temporary putting my SR-71 model in the background, I will be focusing the next few weeks on TWO major projecets. The first is a group project, and since I have a spectacular group, I have no doubt that it will turn out fabulously.

The second project is a bit more fun, and open. I am doing an iPod commercial for my color theory class. I plan on doing a sort of "always in season" type of deal with the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle. I'd like to use each color ipod to represent the 4 seasons. For instance, the orange iPod will represent Fall, etc. I'd also like to employ Maya dynamics for this project... because they are SO much fun, and awesome.

More to come.

Portfolio CD

2009-04-29T20:30:00.002-04:00

Possible cover for a portfolio CD, done for my Color Theory class. This is not a completely original idea, so obviously I can't send it out like this, but it is a rough idea at what I am looking at.

The SR-71 High Res Model

2009-04-23T11:35:00.004-04:00

This is a photograph of the SR-71, followed by my render.

*Cue epic music*

My SR-71A model for VSFX 210. We'll see in a few hours what my professor thinks of it. Wish me luck!

Harmony and Discord

2009-04-19T23:55:00.004-04:00

Here are the two renders from my "Harmonious and Discordant" colors project for Color Theory. I didn't get a lot of time to spend on this project, so a lot of these objects are from the animation project we started in ANI 260 at WCC.

Harmonious Colors

Same scene with Discordant Colors

My professor really liked my project, even though I know it wasn't my best work.

Taking Risks

2009-04-16T19:53:00.001-04:00

I believe that one of the most important things in life is understanding the difference between taking risks, and making decisions based on fear.

High Key/Low Key Color

2009-04-15T11:46:00.001-04:00

Here is a quick video I did with my friend Danielle for our color theory class. The assignment was to explore the differences between high key and low key colors.

Render settings arent so great because I wasn't sure how to use the render farm. Next one will be better. Notice the explosion... my favorite part.

VSFX 210 High-Res Project

2009-04-04T13:52:00.004-04:00

Objective: Create a photo-realistic render of the SR-71 "Blackbird."

After much negotiation, my professor told me that he would let me do this plane for my high-res project. It was one of THREE from the "Hall of Fame" that he VERY reluctantly let a student do.

In short: This project WILL be epic, or I WILL fail.

Details to come.

Art School Credo

2009-04-01T00:12:00.004-04:00

This one is really for Courtney. Some wise words from an illustrator friend of my by the name of John Dinser. Printed on the inside of my sketchbook.

SCAD's visit from Pixar

2009-03-27T01:05:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago, we here at SCAD had the wonderful opportunity of having a presentation, followed by a short Q and A with some important people from Pixar Animation Studios. The experience overall was delightful in itself. I went with my friends Alicia and Courtney , and I know they enjoyed it too! Courtney and I have decided that we WILL be working at Pixar one day, and a good 5 seconds of eye contact reassured us that they would love to have us in the near future.

Ellen Lee (above) was one of the Pixar...ians that presented to us. She talked about the use of graphic design in their films. Since animators need to create what is essentially an alternate reality, it is important to have fake "real-world looking" logos that saturate this alternate world as equally as our world is bombarded with insane amounts of advertising.

Becki Tower (above) also gave a brief presentation. Becki is a recent SCAD graduate, and now full-time animator with Pixar. She explained her experience as an intern there. In light of Pixar's latest movie, "UP", Becki joked about how the interns were treated like scouts, and even had to earn badges! Sounds like fun!

Jason Johnston (above) is an effects artist for Pixar. He explained what it meant to be a good effects artist, and also shared his experience of working on Wall-E. Blowing things up is FUN!

We also heard from a few others, including Danielle Feinberg (Director of Photography).

Everyone that works at Pixar appears to have an electric personality. Even during the presentation they mentioned a "Pixar Mentality" that is required for the job. They are all excited and extremely passionate about what they do, and work well with the people around them. Pixar really stands out against other similar companies. I'd really like to be apart of something like that one day.

Who knows, maybe sometime in the near future it will be me visiting SCAD, talking enthusiastically about my Pixar experiences. :-)

Happy Animating.

Practically Precarious Programming Project

2009-03-11T23:03:00.002-04:00

Alliteration aside, I'm just glad it's finally finished.

Tracking Project

2009-03-10T21:14:00.001-04:00

Here is my cinematography project. The goal was to use "tracking" with Shake. To achieve this, a tracker must be placed on a piece of footage, which will then track individual pixels and simulate movement. It is easiest to achieve this by determining during filming where you want to place the tracker, and place a brightly colored object of some sort in that spot. In this case, I used a red chapstick lid.

Life in Miniature

2009-03-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

Heading to class in the 30-40 degree weather wasn't so bad, knowing that I was going to spend the next two and a half hours inside, hunched over a computer screen trying to pay attention to Mrzowski's lecture slash random tangents. Instead, Mrzowski had different plans, and informed us last minute that we would be holding class outside. We all stocked up on hot coffee, pulled together what layers we could, and headed out to the back of Montgomery Hall to see what Mrzowski had in store. Long story short (and believe me, it was long), we learned about miniatures, and how they are still used in film today.

It was hard to tell that the footage would look this realistic until after it was finished. I think it turned out pretty cool! At first look, it looks entirely real. It's rather interesting to think that this simple technique is still used in movies made today - Titanic, The Good Shepherd, The Aviator, and many others. It's quite flawless.

Facebook Graffiti

2009-03-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Sarah Riser, a taste of my Facebook graffiti.

Inuyasha I think, for my friend Ana
Shadow Heartless from Kingdom Hearts
Some abstract stuff

Adventures in Bash Scripting

2009-03-02T20:22:00.000-05:00

This quarter (which is thankfully two weeks away from being over) I am taking Intro to Visual Effects Programming. We spent the first half of the quarter attacking MEL Scripting, which is challenging, but somewhat understandable. The second half of the quarter we attacked Bash scripting in Linux. Bash is a lot more forgiving than MEL, but equally as hard to understand. I completed my final bash project, and I wanted to show it off a little.

When you run the script in the command line of the terminal, a window pops up, asking the user to select a visual effects related site to launch in Firefox. The user then makes a selection of one of the radio dials, and it opens the corresponding site.

This script is rather simple, but I am proud of it anyway. Here is the actual script.

I was having a lot of trouble, and ended up hitting up the Ubuntu forums for some help. They introduced me to the zenity commands, which seem really useful for basic UI functions. I originally tried doing it with an if/then statement, since that's what I knew, but a user on the forum showed me that a case function would be much more effective.

Anyway, once I get my MEL project up and running, I will be sure to post that, since it will be much more interesting. Off to work on more finals.... woo?

Hey Arnold!

2009-02-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for my lack of attention to this blog the last few days. My friend Emma has been visiting me until Sunday, and I feel I have a moral obligation to show her as much of Savannah as I physically can.

Right now we're watching Hey Arnold, and I'm sitting here thinking how secure of a woman Helga Pataki must be, to wear a bright pink skirt and matching bow while still managing to maintain her flawless tough-girl attitude and reputation.

I did a green screen shoot today. It went much better than the last one. I am working on a tracking project that should be pretty sweet when I finish it. If it's worth posting, I'll make sure to do so. My cinematography professor has an interesting teaching style. Or lack of. Don't get me wrong, the man's a genius, he just goes off on random tangents about dinosaurs... or tar. I think he's one awesome dude, I just haven't learned much of anything from him.

Anyway, I'll post the tracking video if it turns out half decent. Right now... It's time for more Hey Arnold.

Moulin Rouge

2009-02-23T11:15:00.000-05:00

In the blog before last, one user asked me what my favorite movie was. I thought I would take this opportunity to write a little review of what I consider my favorite movie. I have seen a lot of movies in my day, but none that compare to the awesomeness that is Moulin Rouge. Everything about this movie amazes me.

There were however a few slip-ups that probably wouldn't be visible to the average viewer, but once you notice them, it's hard not to think about it every time you watch the movie. I love it when you find visible crew in movies, especially GOOD movies.

The first instance in this movie is during the "Spectacular Spectacular" dance sequence.

As you can see, there is a watch-wearing crew member in a beige hat just barely visible on the bottom right hand side of the frame. I had to watch this movie at least 5 times before I realized this.

The second instance is during the "Tango Roxanne" scene, where very briefly, a camera and kneeling crew member is visible, and the spotlight even pans over him at one point.

It's much easier to notice when the camera is actually moving, but on the right hand side of the frame, it's easy to see.

All movies have problems like this, and I don't think it takes away from the experience at all, because rarely are these things even noticed. Everything about this movie is phenomenal, and despite these little things, it still amazes me. The passion put in to this story is what makes it so moving. This is by far Nicole Kidman's best movie.

The most memorable scene from this movie, in my opinion is the "Tango Roxanne" dance sequence. It is by far the most emotional moment of the movie, the moment at which the audience is most engaged in the story. Everything about it is intense - the music, the dancing, even the colors.

For me, Moulin Rouge is an emotional movie experience that I have not seen in any other film. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to.

Art and Spilled Coffee

2009-02-22T19:17:00.000-05:00

Today I had what my roommate describes as the “unfortunate experience” of retrieving my soaked clothes from the faulty dryer, only to find the elastic from a pair of underwear had detached itself from it’s proper place and crudely wrapped itself around the pull string to my favorite hoodie. After carefully considering my roommate’s suggestion to “rock that shit and own it”, I immediately jumped to action, knowing that even if I could not salvage my favorite pull string, it was not worth the potential embarrassment of running around Savannah with a pair of bright orange skivvies hanging from my neck.

After the successfully epic battle that will from now on be called, “The Separation of Laundries”, I realized that I had spent too much time this weekend on household tasks, and not enough time on what some people like to call “homework”. All of that aside, there are much more important things to focus on like… art, and spilled coffee.

Coraline

2009-02-22T01:43:00.000-05:00

A few nights ago, myself and several of my new college friends made the expedition to the movie theatre to see Coraline in 3D. Overall, I have to say I was rather impressed with this movie.

I liked a lot that she was from Michigan, because I, myself live (when I am not at school of course) about 45 minutes from Pontiac, where Coraline and her family are from. Far too many characters are from New York. It's a city.... it's exciting... we get it. I did appreciate the attempt at making her look like a "legit" Michigander when she referred to her friends back home as "trolls" (a term used for anyone living below the Mackinaw Bridge that separates the lower peninsula from the upper peninsula). However, this term is normally used only by "Yoopers" (people living in the "UP" or Upper Peninsula), and is directed, almost, but not quite, in a derogatory manner. Anyway, like I said, I appreciated the thought, even though it was a little inaccurate. Of course, I might be reading far too in to the term used in the movie, but I still like to think they tried.

What I also enjoyed about the movie is that it was a genuinely interesting plot. It wasn't too terribly unique - girl wants new family, decides old family is good enough. However, it was of a quality we don't run in to too much lately. I'm starting to get tired of all of these remakes. It seems like all of the good movie ideas have already been done, so movie makers feel like they need to revive 20+ year old stories rather than make up something NEW and interesting. The revival of this Neil Gaiman story was unique in a way. Now I'm just starting to ramble.... Bottom line: Coraline was good, surprising at times, heartfelt, and beautifully created. The fact that it was 3D added to the experience, but I think it will be just as magical without the 3D effect. The last movie I saw in 3D was Beowulf, which I thought was excellent from a graphics standpoint, but was less so interesting without the 3D effect.

Anyway, I suppose that's all from me today! I hope all you [2] readers of mine had great weekends!

2009-02-19T17:18:00.001-05:00

This will be my first attempt at posting a blog entry. My friend Courtney has been relentless in getting me to be an active part of this community. Let me first start off by saying thank you for stopping by! I hope I can keep up with this, and live up to the "blogging potential" that Courtney thinks I have!

As far as my work, I don't have as much as I would like - just a lot of ideas that will probably never get completed. This first one, of the clarinet is one of my very first pieces, and I think it will always be my favorite. There are still a lot of things that I would like to fix on the scene, but for history's sake, I think I will leave it as it is. It's done in Maya 2008, with a little depth-of-field that was simulated in Photoshop.

Not sure what else to say at this point. Hopefully this will be post 1 of many. I look forward to getting to know the Blogspot community, and moving forward as an artist.