Furtastic!!!

So I downloaded a puppy rig and thought I would have a little fun so I gave it fur. Not the greatest, but I also did it quickly so I still consider it a work in progress.

Character rigs

So I found this site that has a list of 22 of the most fun rigs for Maya, and they are fun!!! I'm going to take a lot (if not all) of them through their paces. I especially like the horse quadruped rig. So should any animators stumble across this and haven't seen this before, download and have fun!!! :-)


http://lesterbanks.com/2010/03/22-of-the-most-fun-rigs-for-maya/

Demo reels soon... very soon

Since I currently have a render running and don't like to sit around while Maya hogs my PC power, I have a short but important post.  I'm planning on getting demo reels together soon. I say reels because through research, I learned that demo reels that cram everything an artist does on one reel is frowned upon and a potential employer doesn't like to sit through texturing work if they are looking for an animator. The research I found said make a reel for each one. So that is my plan. I'm going to make one for texturing that I will send to not only smaller studios, but some big names like ILM or Weta Digital. I'm going to make one for modeling that I will send to game companies, and another for animation that will be sent to various animation studios. I plan to have them all compiled and put together in a few months. All of which will be heading with me to SIGGRAPH 2011. I'm kinda excited. :-)

One more blog post for the evening

 So yeah, for my texturing class we have to texture an alley using only real photos that we took ourselves. A great deal of fun but totally different from what I'm used to because I usually paint my own textures. So here is my alley model after doing the color and bump maps. Spec maps will be done very soon. I also threw in a little throwback to something from the 80's and yeah, I'm really aging myself with it. lol

So, yeah this is a little animation I did. The assignment really only called for her to walk along a path but I wanted to do something funny. Cause really most any guy or girl can relate to this. Either a guy has been the one to stop the car to look at girl or a girl has been the one being looked at. I just it took it a step further. I also got major kudos from my instructor for being one of the only two students in class to animate a female and for using a rig far more complex than what the class requires.

Negative people suck!!!

So I have to get this off my chest. I went to the barbershop today to get haircut because it's been months and I was started to look to have some crazy Einstein hair happening.  I've been going to this barbershop since I was a kid, and only one of the barbers I like and the other one... not so much.  Well today, the one I don't like is the one cutting my hair. He asked me what I was going to school for and I told him. Unlike the other more encouraging barber, he asked if I actually planned on making a career out of being an animator and I said, well yeah! This douche bag actually started laughing at me. He then basically went on to say how tough it was, and it's never going to happen, blah blah blah. He then asked where I went to school and I told him. I also told him they were online courses because I can't afford to attend the school on campus. He then started berating me for taking online courses because it's not "real school". The fucking hell it isn't. It is damned real school and it's probably 10 times harder because there is no direct or real time interaction with an instructor.  Also, it was the school that intrigued me the most and many if not all of their instructors are either working or have worked in the industry.

Case in point.

Advanced Animation Instructor: Steve Segal- Character Animator for Pixar. Worked on Toy Story and A Bug's Life. Continued working for Pixar doing game animations. Created his own studio. This guy freaking knows his stuff, let me tell you. I've learned more from him in 5 weeks than I have in the past 2 years.


Fundamentals of Texturing and Lighting Instructor: Howard Gersh- Texture Artist for ILM and worked on all 3 of the Star Wars prequels.

Perspective Instructor: Leonard Ng - I can't even begin to remember all the video games this guy has done concept art for. He's been around.

So anyway, back to the point. This stupid barber then goes on to talk about the film "Secondhand Lions" and how it was based on a book. This I know because it was written by Cormac McCarthy. One of my favorite authors. He then talks about how the author was at one point an animator and became  an author. WRONG!!!!!!!!  Cormac McCarthy has no point ever been an animator and always been an author. Geez, if people are going to try and insult me, at least do your homework. Secondly, this guy certainly doesn't have the right to be like this towards me. He does not know me personally, he is not a close friend, a relative or anything of the like. He cuts my hair for god's sake.

Now where I start getting really pissed is when he starts saying I'll never make it because there is no animation in Indiana. WRONG AGAIN!! There is actually a very large animation community in Indiana. It's actually a pretty big damn deal in this state. Also, I have no intention of any kind of staying in this state. Los Angeles is most likely where I'm going to be living in the future. Which brings up another thing that bothers me. I live in a very small town. The kind of town that people don't escape from. This is a town where you walk around and see a bunch of older folks talking about how they would have liked to have done this and that but never did. This creates resentment towards those who actually have the potential and ability to escape this town. The people who live here never succeeded at anything or even tried and as such, they don't want anyone else who lives here to succeed either.  I swore to myself when I was a kid that I would not live in this town my whole life and would move on to better things and I won't hesitate to leave everything behind in an instant. I know this because a couple of months ago, I came very close to getting involved in a relationship with a girl in a nearby town and when she said she was content to live here forever, I simply told her, "well I'm not so you don't fit with my plans". That is how serious I am.

But I'm also actually glad this guy did what he did, because all he really did was add fuel to my fire to become a great character animator.

A small representation of what I love to do

This is where I make it all happen. Where all the things in my imagination, my child like qualities, my nature, and my love occur. This is where all my animation, 3D modeling, and texturing is done. Take note of Belle sitting on the printer and Buzz Lightyear hanging out in front of the monitor. :-)