Fall Term

As always, it has been a busy few months for me here at Drexel and a lot has been going on. To start things off I have been teaching two animation classes and I can tell you that I have enjoyed every minute of it. I really like going back to the principles of animation and teaching to a new generation of artists. The best part is, I'm also reaffirming those principles in my daily thought process when approaching my projects. I feel that we can get lost sometimes in the crazy technical world we live in but we all need to remember to go back to the principles that make stories believable. It has been great to find weekly clips that relate to those principles and point them out to the students. Its best for the students to see these principles being practiced in the real world. There are many times that we hear "Sure, when will I ever use that?" There are reasons that these principles exist. They do work, they help create believable characters and stories we can relate with.

On top of that, I have been doing a lot of my own research and taking my scheduled graduate courses. I have been spending a great deal of time focusing on my research with motion capture and how it's pipeline works. For starters we were able to get a hand motion capture system working. That can be seen here:

This system is much different than the Vicon optical system I have been mainly working with. This is more of a mechanical based system since you need to wear this crazy glove system in order for it to track the motions. It was really accurate to our surprise. For now we just tested the equipment but I look forward to looking to setting it up along with the optical system. Also I was able to work with the virtual camera rig we have at Drexel. You can see the camera in the image below:



This was another great experience. Basically, the "camera" that you see in this picture is the camera in your virtual space. After calibrating the camera you are able to enter the virtual world you created and film it! We were able to walk around the Coliseum we built last term. It was pretty unreal! Along with that I have continued researching the post production timeline by getting my hands dirty with Motion Builder. The software is actually a pretty powerful piece for animators. I was able to learn the best approach to altering data and creating seamless cycles. I'm currently researching how to work with props and also the best way to combine motion. During the gladiator development I was able to come up with a solution but I feel there is a more efficient way to approach this process. I'm hoping that once I get a good feel of this process, I can create a piece for my reel. Should be fun!

On top of that I have been helping a lot with troubleshooting some computer issues, jumping into the basics of the VFX software package Houdini, and reading a lot for my classes. Needless to say it has been busy and things in the next few weeks are going to be quite crazy. I believe our gaming group has come up with a project that can turn into something exciting. I hope to share more details about that soon. On that note, I need to get some grading done! Look forward to sharing more info soon and Happy Fall! Go enjoy some honey crisp apples.

Just a few thoughts

Believe it or not, the end of the term has come and gone. It's even harder to believe that it has been a full year since I started my graduate degree at Drexel.

Over three years ago I started my search looking to expand my education in the Digital Media field. I always have had an interest in the CG world but never really knew the specifics as to where I may fit in. It was crazy spending several months looking at schools all across the United States. This is also coming from a student who said, “I’ll never go back to school”. I’m glad that I changed my mind on that front.

Within a month of moving back up to New Jersey I toured Drexel University and took a look at their Master's Program. One of the biggest things they offered was an introductory year into the field. This was important since I didn’t have much experience with the technical aspects but have been exposed to some of the theory involved. Drexel was one of the few school's that offered this and also offered a program that was a mix of different digital areas. It really turned out to be the perfect fit.

I now sit here excited to see where the next few years are heading. I find my self saying this phrase a lot "We all reach the goal we want, but sometimes the path may have some side streets. Sometimes we may get lucky and hit that one way street but in my opinion, it’s those side streets that make you stronger". I found this to be the case for me over the past few years. I had worked at company that was a dream of mine and I’m still very fortunate for the opportunity it presented. Achieving this goal at a young age put a lot of perspective on what I wanted to do in life. I was able to focus on different aspects of the field and see what else also drove my passion to create new experiences. In the end, it’s passion that drives us to do what we want to do.

My first class at Drexel was entitled "Computer Animation 1". I was really excited but also really unsure as to how I can approach this class since I had no experience with CG at all! The morning of my first class I was walking to campus and received an email on my phone saying that class had been canceled and that the first weeks assignment was due the following week. I spent the week in a crash course in a program I never opened and only saw in behind the scene videos. In the end, I finished that assignment and my crazy journey involving computer graphics started. A year later, I'm now scheduled to teach this class and pass on the information I have learned from all the talented people in my program.

Teaching is something that I have really grown an interest in since my times working down in Orlando. There is so much that one can learn from working for a major corporation and also working as an independent contractor for them. I went through and learned a lot over those few years. It makes me wonder how entry-level artists would be if we all just "pay it forward". Therefore, I'm really looking forward to the challenge of teaching and hopefully passing along the information I have learned.

So what is the true meaning behind this post you ask? Well in the end, it really is about paths and how we choose direction in life. It's funny; I recently watched the film The Adjustment Bureau. This film threw me for a huge loop (I highly recommend it)! I thought it was going to be another Bourne Identity action thriller but it was something completely different. It's all about our paths and how we make them. This is the ending quote to that film (spoiler alert?):

"Most people live life on the path we set for them. Too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while people like you come along and knock down all the obstacles we put in your way. People who realize free will is a gift, you'll never know how to use until you fight for it. I think that's The Chairman's real plan. And maybe, one day, we won't write the plan. You will."

Exploring that other path and taking that step is one of the scariest things you can ever do in my opinion. Pulling yourself out of the norm and putting yourself on another path is crazy right?! I mean why would I leave my comfort zone? I have left my comfort zone quite a few times and sometimes it works and other times it hasn’t. Though, in the end, leaving that comfort zone has made me stronger. If I had any advice for anyone, it would be, give it a shot! Take that side street towards the end goal. That side street is filled with experience's that may be good or bad. In the end, you will become wiser and figure out what street to take in the future.

One last thing, (OH NOOO!), surround yourself with inspiration in whatever you do. For me, I can’t go a day without listening to music, watching an animated short or talking to family/friends. This past year was crazy for me traveling too or having family and friends visit. It made me realize how lucky I am to have such awesome people in my life. You know who you are, and I hope you are reading this; just want to say "Thanks". With that, we need more just general acts of gratitude in this world. On that note, I read an interesting chapter in a book recently entitled “Happiness Hacks” but more on that later.

Whew, that was a long post! This upcoming year is another big year in development and I look forward to sharing it with you all. See you in a week when things get back to the normal grind.

Give a listen to Nate Morgan – Notes on Progress / The Twilight Singers –There’s Been An Accident

The Summer Continues!

It is hard to believe that the summer term is slowly coming to an end but we are in the final weeks of development. Over the past few months I have been challenged in many different ways between the two classes I am taking. My organic modeling class has challenged me to think about poly flow and edge flow in a whole new way. Its amazing to see what type of detail you can achieve with just spinning a few edges and making sure that all models avoid a dense mesh. I'm currently in production on my final creature project. This character is going to be mainly humanoid but it will be a mixture of a bull, snake, and human. I'm really looking forward to setting the mesh up in maya and then bringing it into ZBrush. I have always wanted to explore the possibilities of that software and this seems like the perfect project to start with.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I am currently working on a gladiator fighting game with some fellow students and it has been a great experience thus far. The biggest "hump" I am trying to overcome is motion capture data. I have been put in charge of the development process for this pipeline and it's quite a learning curve. A lot of people may think it's a simple process but it is far from that. There are a lot of different variables that need to be considered when setting up your models in Maya and also pulling the data in from Vicon Blade. I hope to do a video tutorial once I get a good workflow down.

Thats a small update for now! I hope to get some photo's of the project soon but until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

Yeh Summer

Hola all-

Look forward to hopefully sharing some updated projects for you soon. We just started summer term here at drexel and Im taking an organic modeling course and a game engine course. Should be a fun summer and hope to share more with you soon. For now, check out a work in progress of my hand!

Meet Benjamin!

I apologize for not being around as much this term. Im actually not getting to spend as much time on the compositing work as I hoped and I have been pretty much doing a ton of presentations thus far this term. Also, in the depths of C++. Overall, Im enjoy the C++ class but I think it is something I would like to just learn at my own pace after this term. It actually worked out that way! Tomorrow I register for my last term in my pre - grad sequence. This summer I will be taking organic modeling and a game scripting course. Im really excited for the summer term since things seem to be a bit all over the place right now. For now, here is a sketch from a super talent group member, Yujie Zhu. His name is Benjamin Noc and he is our main character for our game we are developing. Really looking forward to diving in! Ill have some news about another gaming group that is going to be in a competition this weekend. Keep an eye on the blog and my twitter feed about that. Until next time!

Spring Term

Well it has been a bit since I have posted and I apologize for this. The last few weeks of winter term were complete madness! Things went really well with my final project and after cleaning them up I hope to post them on here. I learned quite a bit in the final few days about trouble shooting. It was a little over whelming but I was about to finish everything and have things presentable. There were some minor things that happened in the animation which I didn't realize until the final renderings but Im currently in the process of fixing that now. Within the next two weeks I will have it posted.

Spring term has arrived and you would never think it. I left Philly to visit some friends in Florida for the break and returned to cold temperatures again. I think mother nature is playing a game because its suppose to snow again on friday! Hooray! (Sarcasm) Overall, things are looking great for this term. Im taking three courses again and they are Compositing, Computer Programming, and an intro to gaming course. Im looking forward to all of these and cant wait to dive in. As always, look forward to sharing my work with you, until then, have a great week!

Compositing Test

This is a test for a label for compositing class.

Texturing and animating

Still alive here. All went well with the critique this week. Currently in the final weeks! Below you can see the updates on the texturing. Im pretty much where I want to be and the basic lighting has been laid out. This week will be focusing on refining the animation and getting it ready for rendering next week!

Scene Developments

So the past 48 hours has been an extreme scene development session. I didn't really get a chance to get a jump start on things as much as I would have hoped but I am feeling in a better position after getting most of the modeling done and the base colors and lighting laid out for the assignment. After getting some feedback tomorrow I plan on hopping back in and applying all the details to these items. There is still a ton to do but Im in the groove. Till next time.

Rigging Finalized

Finalized all my rigging today and also modeled the aviator hat and goggles, which are key components to the story. The next 7 days I will be focusing on modeling and texturing the scene while producing a pop through animatic. T-Minus three weeks.

Rigging

The Rigging continues. Quite a learning process but I think, I have the basics down. Lots of organizing and planning. He is coming along. Some design changes needed to occur. Slowly getting there!

Rendered

Still some things to do..but he is getting there

Robot Turntable from Glenn Winters on Vimeo.

Rigging continues tomorrow.

Its all in the eyes

Painting the bot

And here...we...go!

So we are moving right along here. Its officially crunch time. The production schedule has been mapped out and still tons to do. I figured Id share some more renders of Toby. He has been updated. The biggest update here was his hands. I ran into a lot of issues with clipping with my previous thoughts but Im much happier in this direction. I will get a bunch more mobility with this set up and I think it will work out the best. More to come!

New Plane Renders

The plane has been updated slightly. This will be a key component in the story for the animation. I need to spend a little more time on the window. The glass came out nice but overall its getting there.

Hard at Work

Im currently modeling Toby (robot) and I have learned quite a bit about character design and movement. The Animators Survival Kit was and still is a huge resource for how this character was built and the things I needed to consider when looking into his movements. Its things as a viewer we usually take for granted and dont think about. I thought I had figured them out through the concept designs but once I brought it into maya, things changed. The power of learning! There is still a ton to do to the model but I just wanted to share what I have so far. Feedback is always welcomed!

Meet TOBY

Below is the final design of TOBY. Learned a lot by creating this robot and still much to learn about figure drawing and look forward to exploring it more over the next few years (even though, this is the basic of basics in character, LOL). Its amazing how the slightest tweak changes everything. Hope you enjoyed seeing him change on a sketch front. Next step is the critique tomorrow and then building him in maya.

Pre Production Continues

Hi all. Its been quite busy on my front for the past few weeks. We have been focusing on particles and fluids for the past few weeks and recently touched on soft bodies. All different techniques I hope to explore in my final animation assignment. Below you can see the final result of my particle project. Overall I was happy with this but there are many things that I would change and be cautious of in the future. I really needed to focus more on the planes and their movements. At times they become a bit too jerky. I was really excited for the explosion collision, since it was a new territory with the collision event editor. Also gave me the opportunity to explore the hypershade more. Enjoyable stuff!



I have made some updates to the character design of my robot and I hope to share that with you this week. For now, this is one of the main items the main character will be holding.




Im really trying to push texturing on this one since I have some time to focus on it. Im not 100% thrilled on this right now but it is getting there. I still would like to get a more brushed texture look, which I got rid of my attempts for this render. Hope to discuss it, in modeling class tomorrow to see where I can go with this next.

Other than that, I have been hard at work gathering inspiration and sketch ideas for the setting of the animation project. My goal is to start modeling things tomorrow and to get the "set" done by the weekend/early next week. I would like to start texturing next week. We will see if I can hit those goals. Until then, lets have mother nature stop the snow!

Updated Robot Design

After reviewing the last sketch I really didn't like the overall vibe and sense of feeling he was creating. Im trying to go for a serious tone with my story and I want to make sure I reflect that in the design. Therefore I made quite a few adjustments to the design. I also added some more elements that will hopefully help in the actual rigging of the character by putting essentially ball joints where the movement will be taking place. Also due to limited time in the process I wanted to make sure I felt like I could handle the animation load. Therefore the main emotional connection will be coming from the characters eyes and Im going to do a test to see if I can work with the flatness of the grin and the eyes to convey it. We will see how it goes. Hopefully everything will be approved thursday, so I can start modeling.

Dynamics Ahoy! Pre Production Ahoy!

Already two weeks into the term and I feel like things are kicking into high gear! Im thoroughly enjoying all my classes and Im having a blast jumping into the subject matter. One of the first assignments was to approach dynamics in Maya. Let me tell you that it was quite an experience. I learned quite a bit about how certain things can effect the overall picture and trying to get things to act in the correct manner. The first video I have here was a "Little Big Planet" approach to the subject matter.

I ran into a few issues trying to convey that and overall really wanted to go back into the assignment. After the class critique I decided to head back and focus on cleaning up the actual cause and effect of some things. I apologize for the dead space thats in the project but after cleaning it up, I ended up with a decent amount of it. I needed to speed up certain aspects to help convey weight and speed. Overall I was happy with it but alas I needed to move onto the next project.
We are currently learning the basics of particles and how we can apply them throughout our animations. Looking forward to exploring them this next week.

Below I also have some rough sketches of my robotic character for my final animation 2 project. Im currently waiting for story approval but I wanted to get started on preproduction. I can adjust if alterations need to be made. This will at least get ideas down. As always, would love feedback. Have a great day everyone!