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I was fortunate to do some pre-vis for this nice little piece created at Passion Pictures, directed by the great Pete Candeland.

#vfx 3d

Descriptions of how RealFlow was used to create the effects in different projects. A pretty interesting read if you're into special fx.

#RealFlow #vfx

Lots going on since my last post.

It's certainly been a while since my last post (which talked about an XSI ICE compound I created, check it out!). Recently I've been sucked back into the world of web design but, fortunately!, within the realm of the VFX industry. Executive producers Rich Rama and Zak Thornborough recently formed a brand new studio BREED in Manhattan with a roster of directors that is kick ass. I've been crowned the resident "web guy" as well as wearing my usual "cg artist" title. Sharing the same office space is the VFX company ARTJAIL whom you've definitely see on television. I was tasked with converting their current Flash website into the HTML5 equivalent so that it can work on non Flash devices (like the iPad). The site is nearly finished and when it is I'll let everyone know.

#web design

Screenshot of the week!!!!

Today I was pleasantly surprised that a "harmonic motion" XSI compound I created made it to the screenshot of the week on the eX-SI Support website! Screenshot of the week

XSI ICE "Harmonic Motion" compound

Today I decided to make an ICE compound (honestly my first useful one) that creates an oscillating "harmonic" effect. This is useful for creating pulses of different amplitudes and frequencies for various point parameters (i.e. position, or scale). Simply attach the input you want to oscillate to the input and set the same value as the output position. There are other parameters for isolating the effect to a specific axis as well. Once the compound is installed it can be found under the "Simulation" section of ICE tools. "Harmonic Motion" ICE compound I encourage you to find any flaws or if you can make it faster please do so and let me know. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any comments or questions!

#CG #Softimage XSI

I love particles!!!

I love particles, A LOT. While I'm still somewhat new to Softimage XSI I've quickly become a fan of ICE and what it is capable of during my experiments at work. The following video is of a new plugin by Eric Mootz called "emNewton2 v.2.0" and I consider it pure particle porn goodness! Enjoy!

Quick Rendering Tip #1

An ambient occlusion pass can help you determine if your geometry has overlapping faces or not!

#CG

A little Friday inspiration

"Style Wars" Style Wars <--- Click the link Being a avid fan of Hip Hop culture, the documentary "Style Wars" covers the graffiti aspect of the life style. I think it's really awesome to watch street "graphic designers" defy the status quo in hopes of being an "all city" writer. Definitely a must watch film if you're into the art form.

Playing around with my friend and photographer Eduardo's motorized dolly. A quick and imperfect roto in After Effects and 2 minutes in Garage Band.

#After Effects

My time at Cut and Paste 2011

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to participate in Cut and Paste 2011. I competed in the 3d round where I had 20 minutes to create an image based on the theme of "My Playground". I chose to create a hamster cage to infer the "primal" similarities between humans and animals (thats my story and I'm sticking to it!). This image was created using Maya 2012 and Mental Ray.

#cg lighting

A synopsis of my Cut & Paste 2011 qualifier that took place at the Soho House in New York City.

#CG

A short abstract motion graphics animation created using Maya and After Effects. Sound effects done using Garage Band.

#3D animation

Rendered out a small time lapse animation of the light moving in the scene.

#cg lighting

Added the depth of field pass to the render. Still need to render the animation sequence.

Modelling and lighting is complete for this interior chair scene. The time it took to render on my ancient Core Duo macbook pro was about 20 minutes. All elements were modeled in Maya while the lighting was created using Mental Ray. The final and tedious task is to render out the 7 second time lapse of the light moving as well as complete a final composite of all the passes (the depth of field is missing!!!).

Wind tunnel effect test created in #AfterEffects using #particular.

#After Effects

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