Sculpting correctives "end of chain, tangent space"

Lip Service (plugin for Maya) shows nice corrective approach for skinned model

http://www.youtube.com/user/joealterinc#p/u/0/tWfgyXzr6rU

MPC on youtube

check out for some Making Of stuff from MPC vfx:
http://www.youtube.com/mpcvfx

rigging TD`s website

interesting stuff to check and nice blend of skills
http://www.mrbroken.com/

good to see especially if you want to learn rigging and you look for inspiration.

student ANIME short film

simple idea but really good! Mix of Warner Bros. action animation and japanese Anime. http://cghub.com/blog/view/fumiko-s-confession/

Dragon movie from DreamWorks

this teasor has been out for a while but not to stay behind here`s link:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809998233/trailer

For me, first pictures really look fantastic. Maybe because I like fantasy, but there`s again (as in Panda) very convincing acting, weight of movement, appealing character design and rich environments.

Avatar trailer with czech subtitles

http://film.moviezone.cz/avatar/trailery/

some pretty animation reels

one from a veteran guy from Soho and one from my friend:

Craig Penn
http://www.vimeo.com/7020377

Andrea Kozakova

http://www.kozakova.com/

MPC hiring

is hiring for a senior rigger for Vancouver office, starting November:

http://www.moving-picture.com/index.php/recruitment/jobsvancouverfilm/725-recruitment-senior-rigging-td.html

How to train your dragon

first look with a bit of dragon from upcoming DreamWorks feature:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ej2Ne4cKlo&feature=related

it`s so black, I thought it`s Batman..! :)

Maya API adding attributes

if you`re doing some Maya API plugin stuff, quite useful experience with making efficient plugin node attributes (Andrea Maiolo):

http://www.angelfire.com/ex2/andreamaiolo/skinningAtILM.pdf

-describing development of custom skinning system

-MPlug VS MDataHandle

-MArrayDataBuilder

-etc...

Chad Vernon

I thought I would forward Chad`s blog. This guy seems to be quite active in 3d animation apart from his job in Imagemovers Digital, which now works (maybe finished?) on Christmas Carol, full cg movie, starring motion captured Jim Carrey. Chad is also modeling characters, texturing and rendering them (does facial animation etc.). It`s really cool. It`s good to always stay generalist even when you specialize. In cg everything overlaps anyway.

http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/

you can find there python and directX tutorials, also some interesting downloads including his Tinny rig (which is basically gorrila skinned using his custom muscle system, for all rigging TDs: check this out!)

anatomy illustrations I

added one more link to my blog... thanks go to Radek!!

those illustrations are sort of like Gray`s Anatomy, combined with photos, precise and also include very useful simplifications. In czech language... nice collection piece :))

UPDATE: Priprava na profesi 3d animatora

I have updated my work experience advice for czech and slovak 3d artists:
http://www.jakubkrompolc.net/data/document/priprava_na_profesi_3d_animatora.pdf

BOLT

I`ve seen Bolt cg feature now on DVD and it was awesome. Don`t know how previous Disney`s thing (Meet the Robinsons) was doing, but Bolt seems like very good quality both how it`s rendered and animated and the story is also not bad. Eventhough it`s obvious, it`s the dog`s journey back to Hollywood which is interesting and entertaining. Animation is brilliant. I like how weight and softness of that dog is done, but other character are also really good. The cat, Bolt`s friend acts very real and also the TV show`s manager got my attention from first scene. The perfect timing and facial expressions. And I shouldn`t forget fatty hamster and incredibly stylized pigeons.

The scenes and effects are created in high quality, there wasn`t time I`d say, this is missing texture or this shadow looks weird. The fur of animals and overall lighting of scenes was done really well. Also lower detail cloth simulation on human costumes again adds to make things more believable, even in the cartoon world.

Now boxoffice-wise the revenue ratio was 1:2. Production cost 150 million dollars (quite high) and it made almost 300 worldwide. Opening weekend was weak, 26 m. dollars (Wall-E 63 m.). It might have been marketing, who knows. Still I`d say, not super-original, but really nice movie.

really big headphones UK online store

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/

just got exactly those I needed here. There`s exhausting choice of all brands and their products. I got the package in 5 working days.

VANESSA IS BACK

yes....

http://www.lidovky.cz/pojem-domaci-elektronicke-sceny-vanessa-je-zpatky-fsp-/ln_kultura.asp?c=A090727_112343_ln_kultura_jk

for those who don`t know, here`s more samples (one is on the linked website):

http://bandzone.cz/vanessa

ICE AGE 3

the old 3d classic is here again! Now we`re going into dinosaur realm and it`s a good time spent there. It`s really fun, there`s lot of happening and it`s also high quality cg animation.

Blue Sky used their hair render they used on Horton and also environments with lot of plants and clouds/fog is looking stunning. There`s a scene high up in skies with a cloud vortex, speachless. The rest as well, things that Sid`s rig is doing are nuts. The story is simple but not dumb or boring, nicely balanced. All well done!

Here`s Making Of article. With focus on fx development.

Doom3 on iPhone

isn`t this cool?? now I`m not an owner of this apple phone, but this would be one of the reasons if I buy it:

http://www.idsoftware.com/doom-resurrection/index.htm

hiring rigger / character TD

MPC is looking for a rigger (character TD), graduate to medium level. Send reel to MPC recruitment or you can contact me with a question or a reel you`re working on, I`d be interested.

Full description of requirements is here.

Despicable me trailer

not bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJNtPv5To8

MPC Evian babies

this document shows a bit behind the scene MPC Commercials did recently for Evian `babies` commercial (wait few seconds after flesh advert is over):

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5148123n

and more info on MPC website more in detail...

Also quite interesting, it made 3.7 milion hits on youtube in one week, congrats to all vfx team!

xray and CT anatomy

I`ve made a public album of X-RAY human (and few animal) skeletons. Feel free to browse. I`m going to expand this as time goes.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/syntetik1/XrayAnatomy#

also I`ve made a CT scans album and I`ll be adding lots of images as well in future:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/syntetik1/CTScans#

Both links are now added to my blog links.

This can help riggers to solve problem of correct joint placement in 3d character models, but also to understand the function of inner body structures and the reason for certain bone shape, position in human body and the flesh grown around them.

harmonic deformation

now some more stuff continuing the recent Siggraph tech video:
http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~weber/Publications/
~
this link is the demo

SIGGRAPH `09 preview

this is video of Siggraph 2009 preview with new technical papers that will be presented using some sexy demonstrations...

Welcome to MPC, Roman!

I wanted to give my congratulations to my friend Roman Vrbovsky who will start working in MPC commercials, London, as lighting TD from monday. With his talent and dedication there`s no doubt he deserves this job! :)

This is one of his latest art works inspired by a simple 2d graphic he converted to full 3d render (model, textures, lights). What`s interesting, he didn`t use any final gather or GI, but fairly simple lighting techniques:
http://xsiuser.com/xe/files/attach/images/56/986/036/4960_1237562507_large.jpg

Partly Cloudy - Pixar short

full version of new Pixart short is here.

it is quite simple story that says all creatures have right to live, even those who bite or look dangerous. But it doesn`t say much about why the stork decides to come back to his heavy duty, if it`s because he can see the bigger picture or he`s just too nice or is very loyal to the Dark Cloud, not sure. And that`s important turning point to understand what the stork really thinks. So it could be told little bit better but it`s still quite emotional and that`s most important for me. Also the cloud characters look ace. First time I`ve seen a volumetric cartoony character done so well from design to animation and render.

tetris on google

Google is celebrating 25 years of Tetris computer game, and their logo changed in this very good graphic image

Surrogates

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=55741

elephants animation

my friend was recently rigging elephants for two SanDiego ZOO videos, find them in the thumbnails right from video window...

This is another link to view the videos.

tricks - new website

check out this new website of my czech 3d animation colleagues from TRICKS studio:

http://www.tricks.cz/

Tricks is progressive czech 3d animation and post production studio from Prague. They have been working on commercials, but have done also some vfx work for film and previs/postviz for Narnia: Prince Caspian.

quite interesting, apart from that Pixar is now interviewing people in Stuttgart FMX `09

they have posted experience from new graduates, young people first time in industry who went straight to Pixar, interesting (btw. they got each one`s caricature, same like Pixar`s interview page, better than real picture!)

http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/jobs/uni_newgrads.html

and their interns:
http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/jobs/uni_internships.html

muscles and cloth tutorials

I`ve found Autodesk Online has Maya tutorials for muscles and cloth under basic documentation. It`s basic stuff but still useful for a quick start.

The muscles are the old stuff from cMuscle Systems from Comet and nCloth is new for me, but looks good!

for TDs, save these links:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=13710022&linkID=9242256

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/mayanclothadvancedtechniques2010.pdf

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/mayanclothadvancedtechniques2010lessondata.zip

MPC L.A.

this article is about our new L.A. commercials post production office and talks also about how they take advantage of having MPC London as its base:

http://vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=3958&page=1

recently they worked on new Depeche Mode "Wrong" video.

chill out radio

here`s one of my recent favourite web stream radios, it plays very good chill out music:

www.sofaspace.ch

always interesting sound, I`d say perfect for rigging when you need to focus on some stuff :)

about Pixar`s UP

first comments about next Pixar film from inside the studio, mostly accenting that movie was generated as 3d (stereoscopic) and how it will take the story even further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McxtPAhYuDQ

I thought Monsters Vs Aliens looked great. Let`s see how UP will be doing. As Pixar was always ahead with image quality I`m really curious this time. Maybe even more than about the story. That seems a bit linear, grandpa (the serious one) and annoying/cute boy go for adventure and meet bad guy with his robotic dogs. But it might turn out as a nice surprise, as it was with KungFu Panda or Over the Hedge. Actually Dreamworks have succeed a lot with their 3d animated comedies. Have to say that I wasn`t laughing so much on Rat. and Wall-E.

a commerical...

I`m posting this because of a lot of great digital effects used in this spot... ;)
http://beta.stinkdigital.tv/work/flegima

Autodesk Maya 2009 service pack

here is the page for downloading and below the details of the release:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/autodesk_maya_2009_sp1_release_notes.pdf

I`ve picked some notes interesting for riggers:

Preserve Child Transform added to Rotate and Scale marking menus

You can now select the Preserve Child Transform option from the Rotate ('E' +

the left mouse button) and Scale ('R' + the left mouse button) marking menus.

When this option is selected, moving a parent object does not move its children.

MayaPluginWizard now works with Maya 2009

The MayaPluginWizard has been updated to work with Maya 2009.

Importing a .obj with Create Multiple Objects on

In previous versions of Maya, importing a .obj file with the Create Multiple

Objects option turned on rearranged the vertex order of the meshes. This has

been fixed.

Locking rotateOrder attribute no longer locks its rotate attributes

In Maya 2009, attempting to lock a transform's rotateOrder attribute also

locked the individual rotation attributes (X, Y, Z) as well. This has been fixed.

Error when opening Maya Muscle Spline window

A problem with the Muscle Spline window has now been fixed. You can select

Muscle > Bonus Rigging > Create Muscle Spline to open the Muscle Spline

window and set up a spline rig as expected.

Using curve influence objects with the wrap deformer

A problem that caused unexpected deformations when using curve influence

objects for the wrap deformer has been corrected. You can now use curves to

deform surfaces with the wrap deformer as expected.

Monsters Vs Aliens - again

there`s nice article about Dreamworks process of doing good stereoscopic images and also about the rigging and fx behind the movie`s characters (from page 2).

NEWS

my main website is down. It`s due to big data traffic. It will be back in april ;)

but good news is on this blog anyone can comment to the posts and whole blog is now in english.

Monsters Vs Aliens in IMAX

so, I`ve seen Dreamwork`s Monsters Vs Aliens movie in Imax cinema. It looked fantastic! I can imagine it wouldn`t be so good without the 3rd dimension. You just feel much closer to those guys almost like you can touch them and also feel the big scale of things. Especially with giant and small proportioned characters in this movie, it was really magical. It might all sound obvious as it`s IMAX afterall, but I`ve seen Beowulf in IMAX and it wasn`t as exciting being 3D as this one. Maybe because Monsters Vs Aliens is cartoony movie and it was more fun to feel standing next to giant foot of Susan or flying along with Insecto around huge alien spacecraft. Also it looks like people have learned a bit more about how to use this technology.

Good stuff!!

p.s. Pixar`s UP is supposed to be stereoscopic too, and actually first movie of this kind from Pixar, so let`s see in june (prem. is may 29)

nVidia fluid particles

this would be nice to see in some game

online czech game Samorost

By accident I found this game Samorost2. It`s flash online game adventure and won couple of awards. Very simple point and click, but quite fun and a bit dark atmosphere. You are small guy (dwarf?) looking for his dog on a small planet full of creatures, corridores, old pipes and rusty fridges. What gets me the most is the design. The hand-drawn style combined with real images in very original way makes a detailed world, that feels like small scale, somewhere out of our reality. Each level has its music that fits to the environment and makes the right mood for it. Sometimes it sounds like some ambient work of Nine Inch Nails... really cool.

I found that the company Amanita Design has recently got 2 nominations: British BAFTA and Excellence in Visual Art from IGF. Even more surprising was that one of their collaborators is my favorite artist Adolf Lachman!

And now my friend told me they are really famous in online game stuff for long time already. Well, at least I found them now! :)

who says I can`t play music!

I have used my PC keyboard and some free program called Electronic Piano:

pckeyboard_alakmfdm_jam.mp3

pckeyboard_generatorblues_jam.mp3

pckeyboard_jarreooooh_jam.mp3

pckeyboard_synthtimpani_jam.mp3

interview

I've just done interview for www.grafika.cz, czech language only. It has 2 parts:
PART 1
PART 2

Mechanical Rigging Class

this is quite interesting stuff. For all you fancy rigging cars and robots, as I enjoy this as well besides bio-mechanics of creatures with flesh and skin:
LINK

The online class is taught by Todd Widup (ILM, Weta, Core) who has really cool showreel here showing some cloth and rigid simulations too, check it out.

so enroll and roll... ;)

Framestore`s Despereaux

5 page article about making of one of London`s major vfx houses first cg feature Tales Of Despereaux. It has so far earned $65 million in more than 3 weeks being shown on 3600 cinema screens according to boxofficemojo website. It`s official production budget (not final cost) was $60 million so it seems to have paid back so far at least.

Not seen it yet, but the trailer looks great and I hope it`s not the last time Framestore was running cg feature production of this high level.

This is crazy but reminds me a bit my own experience: "... the biggest delivery in one week was 335 shots, with 1,200 shots delivered during the last month of production..."

MPC pipeline

after couple of pipeline posts, this one covers R&D of Moving Picture Company (MPC) and also few of its pipeline features, link.