Thursday, July 28, 2011

SIGGRAPH 2011 Heads Up






Wish I could make it to a few of these this year but I'm still working on the other side of the planet.



////Animation Lectures

Animation Production Lecture List

Marvel: The Visual Effects of "Thor" and "Captain America"

*Pixar: "La Luna"

*DreamWorks Animation: Creating the Final Battle in “Kung Fu Panda 2”

*Industrial Light & Magic: Bringing “Rango” to Life

Imageworks: The Smurf-alution: A Half-Century of Character Development

Industrial Light & Magic: New Solutions for New Challenges

Guerrilla: The Creation of Killzone 3 - Game Production Session

 

 

////Courses

 

Storytelling With Color

Color is mysterious, emotional, enigmatic. Opinions are strong about what they mean, or do not mean. Theses have been written about the emotional significance of color in film, psychology, and clothing. This course discusses storytelling choices in fine art, illustration, and films (animated and live action), and how color selection supports the story. Topics include color rules, when and how to break them, and the differences between the analog and digital palettes. The course includes plenty of visuals and is appropriate for everyone interested in color.

Instructor(s) Kathy Altieri/DreamWorks, Dave Walvoord/DreamWorks


Cinematography: The Visuals & the Story

The virtual or actual camera, its placement in a scene, the choice of lens, the camera's movement, the lighting, color, and exposure all contribute to visual communication between the storytelling cinematographer and the audience. How each of these visual variables is controlled and used to help tell a story gives dramatic structure to a sequence and ultimately communicates moods and emotions to the viewer is critical to making any story come alive. A story has structure. The visuals must have structure, too.

Instructor(s) Bruce Block/University of Southern California



Character Rigging, Deformations, and Simulations in Film and Game Production


This course focuses on rigging, deformations, dynamics, and production practices in animation, visual effects and game development. Topics include analysis of performance requirements, motion system set-up, procedural rigging for secondary animation, and efficient extension of techniques over a wide range of primary and secondary characters.

Instructor(s)  Tim McLaughlin/Texas A&M Univ, Larry Cutler/DreamWorks,
David Coleman/Electronic Arts Inc.



New Will Finn Blog 'Stuff I Didn't Get Money For'






Animator/director Will Finn and friends have started a new blog called 'Stuff I Didn't Get Money For'. Looks like it'll be dedicated to scrapped and unfinished short lived projects.

STUFF I DIDN'T GET MONEY FOR


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Hand Reference by 'The Gershwin Piano Quartet'

I grew up playing the piano and love to bang out a few notes every once in a while. I thought this vid was a fantastic opportunity to study hand poses and movement.

UMBRO: Blackout

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tuskegee Airmen Project

The 'Tuskegee Airmen' is a new animation project headed up by animation greats Floyd Norman and Leo Sullivan. Check out their KickStarter page below for more info.






Friday, July 22, 2011

Moving Image Source - Interviews and Lecutures






A friend from work sent this link to me today! There are dozens of fantastic interviews and lectures from artists in the motion picture industry. Great to listen to during long playblasts or renders!

Listen:  Moving Image Source






Pose Your 3D Characters With Your Hands

This is really cool! The next evolution of the DID device eh?





Dinosaur Input Device from 'Jurassic Park' via Codernotes

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Paper Movies - The Genius of Photography [BBC]




Looking 'outside the splines' today at photography and the early years of color. Check out the 'Paper Movies' series from the BBC.

All the episodes are fantastic and can be viewed here:


Genius Of Photography Channel








Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Digital Acting Blog

















Check out Mincho Marinov's Digital Acting blog. Some interesting articles and perspective from a mocap / performance capture point of view.

The Digital Acting Blog 


thanks Oz for the heads up!



Thursday, July 14, 2011

Animal Reference - Kitten vs Two Scary Things

This is just brilliant! Great action reference! The 'Alien' sound track is a nice touch heh heh




Found this one useful as well!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

'Animation Insiders' is a Free eBook Download
















The eBook 'Animation Insiders' is a free download currently over on the Squeez Studio website. The book should provide some fun 'meat and potatoes' insight into animation from a variety of experienced artists.

download here: Animation Insiders eBook 


The artists featured in 'Animation Insiders'

Shane Acker's new short film 'Plus Minus' via Gnomon School

Here's a look at the Shane Acker's project being made at the Gnomon School of VFX.



Monday, July 11, 2011

Animator John Celestri's Blog

Animator John Celestri has a blog now! He has posted some great material on animation technique and story.

Check it out: John The Animator Guy




Wednesday, July 06, 2011

New stop motion blog 'The X Sheet'








My friend Michael Parks has started a new stop motion animation blog called 'The X Sheet'. Take a look: The X Sheet blog