June 2008 Archives

Now I know I haven't had enough sleep. I'm 37 years old and I just bought a Mr. Potato Head for myself. I've been struggling with the snowman idea and how it really doesn't tie in with the bathroom environment very well. If I did it right, it would be a snowman's bathroom with more creative objects that relate specifically to the character. It didn't feel right, so I spent the evening trying to come up with something else. I was getting pretty frustrated when Mr. Potato Head came to mind: Walking to the mirror in the early morning, only to find his face is rearranged; testing the water in the bathtub wearing only a towel and a shower cap; sitting on the toilet reading the newspaper. After I finished laughing I came up with a title and then went to Target and bought a Mr. Potato Head. "The Private Life of the Potato." Yep, that's funny.

I have to be careful though. I don't want it to look like I'm trying to do a better Mr. Potato Head than what was in Toy Story; at the same time, I don't want it to look like a really bad version of it either. The newest Potato Head looks a bit different than the one in the movie so I'm trying to play that up, mainly by putting his green ball cap on backwards. He also has an elliptical red nose whereas the movie (retro) version had a nose that looked like a human nose. This is definitely a more casual Potato Head than in previous years and I can (and should) use that to my advantage. The concept is also a little different in that this isn't about what toys do while you're away. It doesn't even really focus on the Potato Head as a toy at all. He's life size. He's a person that looks like a toy rather than a toy that acts like a person.

I realized on the way to work this morning that I had forgotten to model the hinges on the toilet lid and seat. I pretty much decided to wait until I get my storyboard done and then see if that detail is even in any of the shots. Somehow I doubt it will be.

I don't really have time to start modeling tonight, plus I seem to have a little tendon trouble in my finger from all that clicking. So tonight I'll get the latest models into the slideshow and get some sleep. Tomorrow, potatoes!

By the way, the car wash is on hold until further notice. I think I can do everything I need to with just the interior, and if I make it really, really good I won't need anything else anyway. I did finally get my cloudy day reference on Sunday so I guess I'll just save that for another project. I was going to delete the car wash archive page but that leaves too many broken links. Oh well. Who knows, maybe I can find a use for it sometime in the future.

I'm officially two weeks behind, but finally this model is done. I might still have to do a wall to reflect in the mirror but I'm going to wait for that until I need it. Hopefully I've over-estimated how long it will take to texture the room or do the other models and I can make up some time over the holiday. I think I'll redo the schedule and put off texturing until later when I've read more of my mental ray book. Tomorrow, character modeling!

I'll post the models to the slideshow tomorrow when I'm awake. Unless I won't actually be awake again until Tuesday. This is going to be a 3-hour night so that's entirely possible.

Tonight was the first time since I went to the Viz lab that I came out of a movie wondering what was the easiest way to sell 2/3 of my stuff and get my cat to California. And it wasn't just the beauty of the movie, which was astonishing; it was the story. I was so in awe of the originality of the art and the concept itself that I sat there dumbfounded well into the credits, almost forgetting to look for the names of my friends. I was ready to go work for Pixar--earthquakes, long hours and ridiculous cost of living be damned. I haven't felt that way in a long time.

But alas, here I am in Texas, about 12 days behind schedule. I got stuck on a faucet this week and I decided not to post any more pictures until the bathroom model is complete. I have a lot of time to make up and only six weeks to do it. And I get so carried away on the work itself that I stay up too late to read my mental ray book. I have a lot to catch up there too. I'll have to start rendering pretty soon, it would help if I knew how to do it!

I always approach each weekend with extreme optimism: "I'll finish the model this weekend," "I'll finish the model and start the next one," "I'll finish the model, do the character and start the texturing," etc. I never get nearly as far as I think I can, I always get hung up on something, my perfectionism pulling me two steps back for every one forward. If there's one thing that hit home during the movie tonight though, it was the idea of quality over quantity. Yes, I would like to show as many different lighting scenarios as I can. Yes, I would like an outdoor as well as an indoor environment to work with, plus a character. But there are six weeks left and it has to be good. Not big, just good. Really good. The bathroom will be the most complex environment to light so I'm glad I started there. I'm starting to think I might have to stop there as well. I will still do a character but the car wash just might be too much.

No big decisions as of yet, but at least my priorities are set. Bathroom: definitely. Character: definitely (not sure if I'll stick with the snowman but so far it's the simplest idea I've had). Car wash: maybe. If time permits.

If I don't do the car wash, everything else better be damn good.

And I don't have them. I decided months ago to spend the next three days at Lake Bridgeport. I'm committed. I'm bringing the pot roast. I even bought sunscreen. And in three more days, at the rate I'm working now, I could have the bathroom model finished. But no. I made plans. And I even have to train my replacement for a couple of hours when I get back Sunday afternoon.

Today I finished the blinds, shelves and bathtub faucet. I still need to do the sink faucet, mirror, light fixture, towel racks, towels, electric outlet, nightlight, toilet paper holder and toilet paper. Maybe a couple of bottles, soap and soap dish for the shelves too. And bathmats. See? I need three more days AT LEAST. And I'm supposed to be texturing this stuff by now. I'M FRUSTRATED. And stressed. Seriously worried. I'm really sick of the interruptions. Like putting the sheets on the bed, taking a shower and going to sleep, which is what I have to do now.

Grr.

This weekend was an experiment in time management. Friday night, I thought I had the whole weekend to complete this model. I was really looking forward to it. But then I tried to start my car. Bad idea. Dead battery. After an hour of fighting an intermittent car alarm that suddenly couldn't be disabled--apparently the one thing the battery still had enough juice to run--I finally disconnected the horn and gave up, knowing my Saturday morning was gone before it started. On Saturday I got up and with the help of a neighbor, pushed the car out of the driveway enough for him to try to jump start it. Didn't work. So we pushed it back and waited for the tow truck. By 2pm, after a new battery, state inspection, replaced tail light and a new drive belt (it's never just one thing), I was finally back home, broke and pissed. So I took my newly healthy car for a run to Princeton to take some modeling reference shots of the car wash.

I spent the rest of Saturday trying to get as many lighting reference shots as I could. I only have about three left, and those are tough ones. A sunset should be easy, but my entire neighborhood is in shadow. I'll have to find another place to set up the gazing ball and just deal with the crazy looks I guess. The foggy morning is going to be tough. You don't get many of those in June. A cloudy day might be doable in the middle of next week if I can get back from Austin in time, and that's only if the weather forecast is correct. I had a cloudy day for the first half of Saturday, but by the time I got back from the Toyota dealership, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It seems I can never spend less than three hours there at a time anymore.

So that left today to do some actual modeling. I have the walls, baseboards and most of the window finished. It's gotten a lot easier, it's just tedious. So many small parts everywhere. And I'm a stickler for beveled edges, as there are no hard CG corners anywhere in real life. I have to have edges that catch the light.

I'm taking two trips out of town this week, but I hope to still get all the modeling and texturing done by next Sunday night. It might happen.

I'm rather proud of this.

More progress. This morning at 6:20 I took some shots of the bathroom with a cloudy sky outside. (And then went back to bed.) Tonight I did the night shots, some with the lights on, some with candles and some with just a nightlight. I downloaded a ton of stock photography for sky backgrounds and lighting references. I did a little more modeling on the claw foot for the tub. All the reference shots I took have been added to the bathroom page, and more will appear as I get them. None have been color corrected, especially since I'm going to do my own interpretation anyway. I have three out of six scenarios shot already--five environment scenarios plus one for the snowman scene. I need a clear morning shot but I might not get it tomorrow because it's meeting day and I have to get out of the house over an hour earlier than usual. But it's not hard to find a clear morning in June. It is hard to find a cloudy day, and I'm going to need that one pretty soon too. Today would have been great if I hadn't been at work. I guess I say that a lot.

Come to think of it, I'm taking my mental ray book with me tomorrow. Things are winding down and you just never know.

I added two more movies to the inspiration page: Wall-e and Horton Hears a Who. It was interesting to see the uniform lighting throughout Horton compared to the different colors and temperatures in Cars and other Pixar work. I'm going to stop collecting references for now though. It's done me a lot of good to collect all that work and put it together for comparison and analysis, and it's given me a lot of ideas. But now it's time to get back to the task at hand.

Since I wasn't able to get started tonight until 9:00, I decided this would be a good time to redo my schedule and finally decide on a character. I did both. The schedule is aggressive but I have little choice at this point. I was able to simplify it to five lighting scenarios per environment and five for the character, which is going to be a snowman. I'm very happy with my choice. It's a relatively simple model and I was able to come up with five really cute ideas for lighting without too much trouble. And I like the fact that one uses the bathroom environment and one uses the car wash. I really hope I don't run out of time because I want to pull this off and do a really good job. I'm a little scared of the amount of time I have left, but I can't get discouraged. I just have to keep going and not stop for anything. Maybe not even for the fourth of July. Or my camping trip in a couple of weeks. But I'll play it by ear.

If I can get ahead on just one thing, I'll feel better. If I can finally finish modeling the bathroom I'll feel a lot better. I've given myself until the end of this coming weekend and that's it. I have to be done.

I'm a few days late in writing this but it's probably for the best. It's been a stressful, even emotional week and as I sit here in bed with my laptop I finally feel like I have enough of a grip on everything to finally put down the whole story. So here goes the Rendered Speechless Prequel, the post that explains it all.

I quit my job last Wednesday. I have accepted a 6-month contract position with Collin County to work on their HUGE web site. Sound crazy? Well, it might be, and then again it might be the best decision I've made in a long time. I started looking a few months ago for a full time job because I felt like I was in over my head at my current job. I was perfect for that position two years ago when our projects were brochure sites, but now we're getting requests for content management systems and other technical requirements that I personally don't understand very well and don't have the time to figure out, at least not there. So having taken my web team as far as I could, I decided it was probably time I moved on, and hopefully into a position that would teach me more about web development than I had been able to learn so far. The Collin County job appeared on my radar months ago thanks to a friend of mine, but I immediately dismissed it because it was a contract position. I need stability and I need that health insurance. So thanks, but back to the drawing board.

Weeks turned into months and I couldn't find anything that fit. Design, development, you name it, it didn't feel right, I was underqualified, I was overqualified. I applied, I sent out resumes, I got no response. I saw jobs I had applied for disappear off the boards without so much as an email of rejection. I was frustrated and trapped. And the frustration of knowing my team needed a more skilled leader started to show through in my attitude at work and my stress level. Something had to give, but I was running out of options.

One day in February I got an email invitation to a Wednesday night showing of some animated shorts at UTD. Sounded like it was up my alley but I know how lazy I can be and it was a last minute decision to actually show up there. But I did, and I was inspired. Something that had been asleep inside me for a long time started to open its eyes and look around. I walked out thinking, "I need to be doing this again."

And that was the last I thought about it. At least until March, when I applied for yet another job and saw the posting disappear seemingly right before my eyes. It was a position a mile from my house in McKinney, and getting rid of my commute to Richardson was looking really, really good. The job itself wasn't the most exciting but I knew I could do it and probably quite well, and getting home at 5 would be a welcome change. I built a killer application, I got my hopes up. And then, poof. Gone.

So that night at about 11:30, having nothing left to lose except sleep, I looked at the ReelFX web site, which was as far as I was concerned the Portal of the Unattainable Dream. I explored, I looked at their job postings. I saw one I liked: Lighter/Compositor. It was my passion at the Viz Lab; I knew I could do it but it's been a long, long time. I filled out the form and applied anyway. What could it hurt? I knew I wouldn't hear back, but at least I would have finally applied for something I really wanted. I would have responded to disappointment by taking action.

And then something strange happened. As I sat there contemplating what I had just done, thinking of how much laughter my work would get if someone at ReelFX actually looked at my site, I started to wonder, why not build a new reel? I've already applied so I won't be rushed to come up with something brilliant before the posting is gone, instead I can take my time while I wait for the next one to go up. And by then perhaps they will recognize my name. You never know. But it was a big job. Could I do it? Could I tackle something that huge in my free time and see it through?

And then reality hit. What free time? I feel like when I'm not working, I'm in my car either going to work or coming from work. My life was about work and whatever it took to get there, leave there, or just plain keep the job itself. If I were to take this on, something had to change.

But that's where it got complicated. I already needed a new job, but I couldn't just get another full time job and quit in 3 to 6 months when I got my reel done and got the job I really wanted (optimism). "Sorry, didn't really want this job, had something better in mind..." Uh, no. That wouldn't be fair. What I needed was a CONTRACT job, something that would pay the rent and be closer to home. Something that had a beginning and an end, so there would be no surprises when I left.

Gee, didn't I hear something about a contract web developer job at Collin County?

Sure enough, the posting was still up. So I applied and here I am, ready to start on June 23. And as if I haven't given enough reasons why this is a good idea already, here's the biggest one of all. I'm going to learn a TON here. I'm going to learn what I couldn't learn at BWC because I didn't have time and didn't know where to start. So no matter what happens, in 6 months I'll be more marketable as a web developer than I ever was before. There's even a chance I could replace my boss when he leaves to go into politics. If I need to stay in this industry, I can. But I'm hoping I won't.

So that's it. It was just a few days after I made the decision to get back into animation that I got the invitation to the Short Guys portfolio review, and the rest is history (see the "How to be a lighter/compositor" post from last March). I took that as I sign that I was on the right track, probably for the first time since I decided to go back to school. It's been just over 3 months since I decided to go back into CG and look how far I've come. Not only that, but they've already hired my replacement at BWC, someone I recommended. That's right, in only 2 days they've hired one of my former students to take over my position, and she's someone who was not only in between jobs at just the right time, but who can really take that web team where it needs to go. Things seem to be working out all the way around.

So I have one more week at BWC, a short trip to Austin and then Lake Bridgeport, and then I'll be getting off at 5 every day, just a mile from home. It's getting very close to SIGGRAPH already, and I plan to have a reel to show at the job fair. My evenings are about to get very busy. But at least it won't be because of traffic anymore. Stay tuned!

One last happy thought: I saw Kung Fu Panda last night. Awesome! It inspired me (so to speak) to make an inspiration page. It contains screen shots of all the CG scenes I could get my hands on that showed interesting or just plain beautiful lighting. I may also add paintings and photos and any other examples I can find of creative lighting. Right now it's mostly comprised of Pixar's work but hey, might as well start at the top.

It's nice to have a passion again.

I decided after I finished the toilet model using subdivision surfaces that I would go back and redo the sink. It took about 10 hours to do that basin. It was still hard but I think it might be a slightly simpler surface now and it has some really nice round edges. So then I decided I'd redo the bathtub too. That was the easiest thing I've done so far. I simplified the poly model and then converted it to subdivision surfaces. It didn't need much tweaking after that. It was done in an hour. I like all the models a lot better now, especially since I don't have to worry about facets anymore. And despite the marathon session that took me into the early morning hours today (as in 6am when the sun was coming up) I'm going to keep at it until I drop. Yes I did get some sleep. Not much though. I'm on a roll.

All the new models are posted on the bathroom page with their polygonal counterparts (which no longer exist in my Maya file). I need a nap.