Technical Artist and Character Rigger

This is awesome.

It was brought to my recent attention that our friends over at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have a site dedicated to offering free lecture notes, exams, and videos – yes, free – without any registration. You can check it out here.

Pythons is one of the more popular programming languages, with a huge support base. A very effective tool for technical artists looking to maximize what they can get out of Maya (now supported), rather than just using MEL – Maya exclusive – and also be able to transition to other areas of expertise. Python is a relatively easy program to learn, especially for those with a scripting/programming background.

I’ve currently taken a liking to their Introduction to Computer Science and Programming course, which uses Python as the programming medium. This is perfect because I can develop a better methodology for figuring out how to create tools to create in Maya, troubleshoot them for effectiveness/efficiency, and at the same time, improve my skill and knowledge in Python.

Win win.

Just recently, I found my report on the Hero’s Journey that I did for my final project in my Media Studies class back when I was at the Art Institute of Vancouver back in 2004. I still find it very informative, and a good refresher of identifying character development in stories for games, film and other media.

There’s also a neat little story that goes with it.

My instructor at the time was literally stunned to find that one of his students actually spent quality time and effort to properly write up a decent report. He had high hopes for the majority of the class, only to be greatly disappointed. As for me, after the semester was over, he confided in me that he had originally thought of me as a slacker, always sleeping in his class – which is only partly true; I had intended to sleep in his class. The reason is because the class was a four hour, 8:30am morning class on a Saturday, and after I had pulled an all-nighter doing lab work the night before… repeating this almost every single night of every single week of course.

Truth is, I could never sleep through his class. I tried. Even with my eyes closed, sitting in the back of a large dark auditorium, having been awake for maybe 60 of 72 of the previous hours, groggy, nutrition-deprived, sore, and with bags under my eyes, I wasn’t able to do it.

What happened was that my brain would end up focusing on the sound and dialogue of the film, and out of curiousity, I’d end up sneaking peaks at the events on screen, thus creating a memory capture of events of the film. This method is probably also compounded by the fact that I am a strongly auditory, and visual learner.

We never had any assignments, only discussions about the Hero’s Journey and how the different films we watched portrayed it. So at the end of the course, it was a surprise when the instructor announced a final project that was a report to explain the Hero’s Journey, and use examples from the movies we watched to define seven of the 15 phases.

You’d think that it wouldn’t be that difficult, and it shouldn’t be, however, that wasn’t the case for the majority of the students. As for me, it was just another task on top of doing full-time classes, labs and homework, creating a grad portfolio, and working on a UT 2004 Game Mod to be entered into the NVIDIA Make Something UNREAL contest.

Anyways, I’ve posted it below for public viewing. Enjoy!

Download (PDF, 38.49KB)

Or for those that just want to view it in .jpg form:

[View with PicLens]

Joint Orientation is critical when preparing characters for animation, and especially so when developing animations for game development. It is an integral part of the character animation skeleton. Beyond mere joint placement, which acts as a pivot for the joint or limb, joint orientation contains information as to the direction/angle of the X, Y, Z axes, and their ranges of motion.

For example, you create a skeleton with the correct joint placement, and do not consider joint orientation. When the animator takes a hold of the skeleton to animate (Forward Kinematics), a common occurrence is that the animations will not transition correctly (most likely horribly) between key frame poses, thus creating a lot more work for the animator to modify/clean up the animation curves: highly inefficient. This is particularly due to the fact they don’t have defined ranges of motions to base their movements on, and will have to animate based on camera perspective, which is not very efficient or effective.

Animating joints via Inverse Kinematics with Pole Vectors can simplify some of the work for the animator for certain animations, however, visible gimbal rotation malfunctions are common, and are more complicated to adjust via animation curves because the object being animated is the IK controller, not the joint.

If you are building a character skeleton for game development, and not just for working within your 3D software package, poor joint orientation can cause some major integration issues since game engines import skeleton/joint information differently. I will provide some examples of this later.

For now, here are some screens of a clean joint oriented skeleton. These are from my orc character I’m currently working on. As I expected, integration into Unreal Development Kit was clean, simple, and uneventful.

[View with PicLens]

Tip: Orient joints with the X axis pointing down the joint, have the Z axis point in the same direction (world space) for similarly aligned joints (head to toe, arms).

The most animation-impressive games I have ever played look even more impressive emulated in HD. For me, Shadow of the Colossus in particular is the pinnacle of “epicness”, efficiency, effectiveness, and beauty in games thus far. These two titles hold a special place in my heart, and in my game collection.

I remember seeing ICO in the video game bargain bin at the local Superstore… it was only $7.99! The game was in my hands, pass the checkout counter, and out of the store so fast, you’d have expected a security guard to come chasing after me believing I had shoplifted it. Never underestimate the bargain bin, for jewels they hold.

Check out the Eurogamer post here for videos of both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus being emulated in HD.

One can only hope that Sony gives them the God of War Collection-style treatment… and soon.

For those that managed to attend the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert here in Vancouver back in October in 2009, it was quite the experience. Performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by Arnie Roth, the concert performance brought tears to many a person’s eye (I know, people were crying tears of joy all around me).

For any Final Fantasy and video game enthusiast that missed out on it, you get another opportunity coming in December. Play! A Video Game Symphony is coming to Vancouver on Monday, December 6th, 2010 at the Orpheum Theatre. Click here for more details.

Performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a full choir, Play! A Video Game Symphony features award-winning music from a catalogue of bluckbuster video game titles, including Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and many more. Stunning graphics on large screens above the orchestra accompany the exciting scores, highlighting memorable moments from the video games (let’s hope better choice of visuals this time).

If you are a VSO subscriber, you can get your tickets now. If not, make sure to bookmark Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 10:am on your calendars, because that’s when single concert tickets for the season will be open to the public. See you there.

I’ve recently started some new 3D work for use with the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) to keep my skills in check, and express some creative juices.

Here are some screen grabs of a character I modeled in Maya with some minor Zbrush enhancement, I’m calling it an orc for now.

[View with PicLens]

I’m going to develop more efficient, effective, and advanced rigging features after insuring that it imports into Unreal OK.

Update: Couldn’t get UDK to install correctly, I spent more than my fair share of hours over a few days, multiple downloads, error checking, and testing to finally be satisfied. The latest May Beta still errors out & auto shuts down on startup of the Editor, however, the March and April packages work well enough. By the way, asset integration is a success, yay!

Also, I will be working on a tutorial that will show some of the do’s and don’ts about skeleton asset integration, among other videos of my progress, so stay tuned!

The game and film industry in China isn’t so little anymore. Here, the business of digital content for games and films moves like the big red machine that it is, and they’ve got the green light… or is it ‘leaf’?

Last month, I got in touch with my good friend Ken Liu, a school/work colleague and former 3D character modeler at EA, who is currently living in Beijing, and exploring the surging opportunities in the game and film industries. He brought to my attention one particular studio that he expected for massive growth in many areas of digital production: Green Leaf Film Studios, which is based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, of the Peoples Republic of China.

Curious, I decided to look into them, and I would soon become a believer as well.

Green Leaf Film Studios had just recently finished their Exceptional Exhibition – Weta Workshop Introduces the World of Dr Grordbort’s (event website). The museum premiere was spearheaded by renowned five time Academy Award winner Richard Taylor, who donated all profits to relief efforts for the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province.

According to their website, Green Leaf Film Studios is a multi-focused 3D animation and CG film studio established in 2009, they also make references to 3D games. Their mascot is a CG Panda. Pandas are unique to Sichuan province, which is also famous for its’ silk (I know at least that much because my family currently hosts an international student from Chengdu, I got my silk and panda swag to prove it).

Green Leaf’s website (click here) clearly shows a strong relationship with New Zealand’s world renowned WETA Workshop and Digital FX studios. They are the guys and girls behind AVATAR, the Lord of the Rings, i-ROBOT, X-MEN: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and King Kong to name several, click here to check them out.

The question is, how does this happen? There must be some troubles and challenges to overcome in order to reach this level of achievement, especially in – the not so little anymore – China, right? I don’t see Jack Burton anywhere, who gets the job done?

Enter Gavin Crombie, Studio Head of Green Leaf Film Studios, CEO of IDFGlobal (their site), and a fellow ‘Kiwi’ to his Weta Digital counterparts.

Fortunately for me, my strong curiosity as to how he is able to lead such a large and ambitious studio in China with such confidence garnered me with an opportunity to ask him a few questions (I was almost half expecting a C&D, or perhaps a restraining order… never mind that).

What motivated you to choose the path that you are currently on, and what are your ambitions, goals, and dreams?

Hi Scott, I got onto the path I am on after working in China as a business consultant for 5 years, and coming across the opportunity to get into visualization – not being able to draw a straight line on a piece of paper, obviously I don’t do the work – I understand how to make a business work and how to get good people on board.

Eventually I have a desire to spend the latter years of my life utilizing the resources we have accumulated to do some things in helping other people – particularly children in the world’s worst areas.

How have you changed? Have your goals changed?

The goals have never changed, I have lost far too much hair for my liking – and got a lot fatter – but the vision is the same and the goals are the same.

What were some of the early challenges that you faced, and how did you overcome them?

Early challenges were technical: learning the industry, not having people take us seriously, solving he communication channels between China and the west, and having to live unbelievably frugally as all cash was poured into the business to get it going.

How did you make the most of your strengths, and how did you manage your weaknesses?

My main strength is tenacity and perseverance. I believe, so I simply never gave up. No matter what. For my weaknesses I should have checked myself into the Betty Ford clinic, but here I am, still drinking red wine (chuckles).

What systems did you use to improve efficiency/effectiveness, manage time/space, and to achieve milestones?

We created our own on-line management system. The first one we did in house, cost us $400K USD, 3 years of development, and was a total disaster – I had believed the people who were responsible knew what they were doing – alas that was not true.

The second one took 18 months and cost us $150K USD, and I managed the process myself. It was a roaring success, and it basically runs our extremely complex business. By creating a system that simplifies and collates every single business function across 30 offices and multiple currencies and languages, we are able to grow faster than normal – without the system we couldn’t manage more than 5 offices I believe.

How have your systems changed?

With time comes depth of knowledge and experience – so you just learn the areas to avoid for the future when you make mistakes. Mistakes are your best friends by the way. Without mistakes you have no way of emotionally knowing what not to do, and more importantly, WHY!

How do you define failure and success?

Failure is simply letting circumstances beat you, no matter what happens the guy who gets up off the floor the most wins the fight. Failure is simply giving up in the face of opposition. Success is charting a course and sticking to it until you achieve it, “The world is not interested in the storms you encountered. Did you bring in the ship?”

Time and growth provide new challenges, what are some of the challenges that you look forward to today?

Getting the movie studio off the ground and becoming a world force in movies – this field is so exciting and gets me jumping out of bed like a rhinoceros every day.

What is/are the most important thing(s) you have learned during your experience?

Life is mostly froth and bubble. Two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble. Courage in your own.

What are the most important things do you think a young entrepreneur should focus on?

Identify what you want to do. Learn everything you can about that area – but don’t just think, act – jump in as soon as you can and learn as you go. Don’t be afraid of anything, there is nothing that the world can do to you. Once set on your course stay the distance. You don’t know if the race is 1500 metres or a marathon, and you won’t know until you reach the finish line, so never, ever give up.

Who, and what do you attribute your achievements to? Why?

A number of things. When I was 17, I said I would read 2 books a week for the rest of my life – I still do to this day – so I have a lot of knowledge to draw on in there. Secondly I love looking at the lives of famous people and emulating them – (Winston) Churchill stands out among them – get his biography and read it several times and you will see how important it is to keep going.

There is only one journey in life – you are on it – if you don’t enjoy it, then your life is worthless. You get given one gift in this world and one gift only – and that’s the gift of life – no matter what circumstances you start off in life, you have this precious thing in your hands that you are allowed to do whatever you want with.

Gavin Crombie is the author of the best-selling business book “The Way of the Dragon: A Guide for Australians Doing Business in China“, which is currently used in more than 15 MBA programs around the world as course material.

Click here to learn more about Gavin Crombie.

I did.

Well, to be more accurate, I used to. I used to believe that vegetarian/vegan food was for hippies, and enviro-green wannabees and fanatics.

Then, I researched about the food industry, the chemical companies and big food corporations involved… and I became a believer. Hallelujah!

Now, my mind, body, and especially my stomach have since opened up to the benefits of eating more organic, local fruits and vegetables, and less meat and dairy products.

Don’t get me wrong, I love meat, cheese, ice cream, and I can’t grow bananas and kiwis in my backyard. I can however, at least provide better direction, and take better accountability and responsibility for my diet, and personal well being.

Presently, I roughly prepare 90% of the meals that I eat every week (based on 35 meals a week), and I am committed to only cook/serve vegetarian/vegan dishes, using locally grown, or organic produce preferably. That way, I get a lot of practice, here are some of the results:

The Final Fantasy Ultima Vegetarian Pizza
A final boss-level weapon of mass domination used to convert meat lovers into liking vegetarian food – trademark violation free lol (I think).

Ingredients
Store bought flatbread/thin crust pizza dough etc
- organic tomato sauce, seasoned with organic dry basil, organic dry oregano, and organic no salt seasoning
- mozzarella cheese
- roma tomatoes
- locally grown mushrooms
- onions
- jalepeno peppers
- roasted, locally grown potatoes, seasoned with organic, extra virgin olive oil, and organic no salt seasoning
- black olives

Minimal work, preparation, and supervision involved, and ready in about 45 minutes (roasting the potatoes alone takes up half the time).

Just try to order this at your local pizza delivery place. They’re both about the size of a 10″ medium, take just a slice or two, and you will feel full. Now that’s the power of real food. Enjoy!

Hey hey,

The website layout has been updated. I noticed that some links were broken, or old, and a good portion of my portfolio was not accessible, click here to check it out. That should be fixed now.

Enjoy!

Hey hey all,

I really wanted to get some drawing in the other day, so I ended up doing a quick random drawing of what I call “Adventure Girl”. I typically name my drawings based on the description.

Nothing to it really, just wanted to draw, and figured I’d draw a woman, and then the next thing I knew, I had a gesture, and I just filled it out.

Like the majority of my drawings, I don’t really focus on the face, and I usually get slowed down, or get stuck deciding what clothing should be on my characters.

Some more fashion research and a better sense for fashion could probably improve that (not that I’m sad about it). Guess it’s time to pick up a few fashion magz.

Enjoy!