Life with CG: March 2008 Archives

What an incredible day I had. I made this decision to get back into 3D only a couple of weeks ago, and on Wednesday I got an email from A Bunch of Short Guys. I've been on their mailing list for a few months now but haven't made any of the meetings yet. This one sounded intriguing: a portfolio workshop with a panel consisting of two guys from the animation industry and two from games. What timing, right when I'm trying to think of a good project that will help me ramp back up. I thought, my work is six years old but maybe it still has some value, maybe I can learn something. I would really like to know what's changed in the industry in the last six years. Who cares if I'll likely be the oldest one there with old-looking work compared to what the students are doing now. So I decided to go. And I decided to put everything into it. I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after work designing and printing resumes, shot lists, business cards and making DVDs. I branded everything just like the web site, created a complete package. I even did title screens on the DVD in the same style. I put just the three projects that showed my lighting and compositing skills (Cold Front, the bug ship, the hippo) on the DVD and hoped for the best, fully expecting to tell them my little story, how since my work is old I'm wondering what kind of work gets their attention these days, what software should I look at, etc. It was great, I got to talk to Tim Lannon from ReelFX and Ludo Michaud from Janimation. And here's what I learned.

First, if I were trying to get a job, I would need to be very clear about what I wanted to do. I had a nicely branded package but nowhere on there did it say "lighter/compositor." They need to know that up front so they're not wasting time guessing at what you want to do for them. Along those same lines, I decided I should probably reorganize my motion page on the web site into "lighting and compositing" and "experimental and videography." I plan on doing that tomorrow, including taking off the broadcast reel. Seriously, who needs that? I'm probably infringing on too many copyrights with that one anyway.

Second, cut the reel time in half. It's 4 minutes now, bring it down to 2. (The hippo takes up two minutes all by itself.)

Third, to really work up my lighting skills, I need to be lighting characters and environments. Different times of day, different moods. Effects-based lighting is also useful.

Fourth, Shake is on the way out. I guess that explains the relatively low price. Ludo says it will probably be integrated into Final Cut Pro before it's all over and then it will disappear. They use Nuke and Fusion these days... I looked them both up, and Nuke was developed by Digital Domain, and the price is crazy. Fusion doesn't give a price on their web site, they want you to contact them. You know what that means. Besides, it's Windows-only, and Nuke works on the Mac. So I'm looking at Nuke and my plan so far is to get the 30-day free trial when I'm ready to do some compositing, then use the hell out of it for 30 days. Who knows, I might just love it and be able to work something out later. After Effects isn't bad, but it's not node-based and I absolutely hate having to physically click a stopwatch on the left side of the screen to set a keyframe.

Fifth, to show compositing skills, you can show different render passes. One of the game guys actually told me this when the whole room was watching my reel (intimidating)... he said the bug was "really impressive" and it was a great example of where I could render out a specular pass, diffuse pass, ambient occlusion, shadow pass, etc and then the final composite. Very cool.

Now here's the coolest thing of all. I had brought two DVDs with me and one was waiting in line to be shown to the room while the other was with my resumes. When I sat down to talk to Tim and Ludo, one of them got the DVD I had with me at the time but I didn't notice which one (I kept turning around to hear J talk). When I had finished showing the other one to the group, I walked back to my seat with the disc in my hand, and Ludo said, "Can I steal that from you?" HELL YEAH!!! He also said I should put the hippo first. J said the hippo was too long and I agree with him... I remember my projects that first year or so, I produced animations the same way I write: long and eventually to the point, if you're lucky...

Last night when I was testing the DVDs on my player, I noticed two things that I hadn't noticed before. One, the shadow under the hippo was a little too dark. The second one was that the shadow under the bug ship was a little too blue. Ludo said the exact same things to me today and that just freaked me out. Actually it was great because it told me that I still have a good eye and that I can trust it.

So I'm totally pumped now. I needed a good shot in the arm and I got such good feedback today that I feel like I can do anything now. I didn't get ridiculed, I didn't get "your stuff looks really old," what I got was validation and some really good advice. So I'm going to start with environments, and I have the perfect idea. But I'll save that for the next entry.

Welcome to my project blog. I'm starting this so I can track my progress on some CG projects I want to complete in the next few weeks (optimistic). Web-based project blogging is a habit I developed at the Viz Lab and can't seem to shake. Not a bad thing though -- the process is often as interesting as the result, which is probably why I'm addicted to it. I've named this blog Rendered Speechless because of the tie to CG (rendering) and the unapologetic irony of naming a blog "speechless," which is something I rarely am, especially to those who know me. I just have to be careful to follow the rules though, because rules are there to keep everyone safe... no talking about work (that's going to be hard because I have a lot to say) and no talking about anything else that might get me in trouble (and I have things to say there too). No, nothing illegal... but if these projects serve their purpose, you'll find out what I'm talking about anyway, when the time is right.

So about me. I graduated from the Viz Lab in 2002. Yes, that was six years ago (see my Viz work here). And yes, I actually graduated, with a degree and everything. It was a blast. I found that I most enjoyed -- and excelled at -- lighting and compositing, and frankly, I miss it. Disney even tried to recruit me based on my lighting/compositing work in my second year, but I didn't bite (really wanted to finish that thesis). I miss the whole deal, even the stuff I wasn't so good at. So why didn't I immediately go out and get a job doing what I loved? Many reasons. First, I graduated right after 9/11. Creative jobs were scarce and the few that were left were contract jobs. I needed money to move, I had to start paying off loans, I hadn't had health insurance in three years... you get the point. Second, I saw many of my friends going to California and working 80 hours a week for tiny apartments they still couldn't afford and I just couldn't see myself doing that. I already had three bedrooms worth of crap and I was old enough to want a life after work, something it seemed my friends weren't getting. Sticking close to home seemed the thing to do. So I went to the software side, flight simulation programming. Lucrative, but dull as a doorknob. Nevertheless, I did it for four years, until I thought I would lose my mind if I didn't get back into creative in some way.

So I got back into creative by joining a design firm. I'm still there. That's all I'll say about that for now.

I miss CG. It's what I dreamed of doing, what I studied my brains out for, what they even gave me a fellowship to learn. I've been out of it for six years and I'm dying to get back in. But I know I have a tough road ahead of me. I've tinkered around with Maya a few times since I got out of school, the most recent attempt being the most discouraging. I was very upset at how much I had forgotten. But I've decided to stop being upset and just jump in and learn it all again, whatever it takes. I have Maya 8.5 for Mac, and while I can still use After Effects, I'd rather save some money and buy Shake so I can learn a node-based compositing package. Maybe by the time I have something to composite I can afford to add that one to my arsenal. After all, I don't just want my old skills back, I want new skills. I want it all. I can do this. I AM NOT AFRAID.

Now, all I need is an idea... and see? Speechless IS ironic.