SIGGRAPH: Day 4

One of the unexpected aspects of SIGGRAPH was the inclusion of a gallery that showcased artworks based upon technology either in process or aesthetics. I had a couple of shifts in the gallery which required me to talk to the artists about their pieces and then explain or demonstrate those pieces as attendees wandered through the gallery.

The first piece I demonstrated was a tactile artwork consisting of heat sensitive colour changing material. Designed to be a public art piece in places where people have to wait for a period of time, the idea was that as you held your hands over the material a series of web-like lines would trace across the fabric and connect with others who also had their hands on the material. There were heat pads under certain parts of the fabric to help heat retention and the artist explained there heat conducting elements sewn into the fabric itself. Artists are Eszter Ozsvald and Kart Ojavee and the work is entitled, Symbiosis O. To see it in action see the work on Vimeo here. 

My hand print

The second piece I worked with was a lovely juxtaposition to all the high tech gadgets and technology. Entitled 'Shadow-play' the artwork was essentially a large scale magic lantern that was wind powered and designed to tell the story of modernisation and urban living. The piece was very popular and I think people really enjoyed the simplistic appearance of the piece but appreciated the complexity that would have gone into such a throwback to animation history.

Wind powered turbine at the top

2 Layers both laser cut acrylic 

The projected image moved by the cogs

Even the light was wind powered

Artist information

During my gallery shift I took a short break and dashed into the exhibition hall (opened that morning) to pick up an appointment card to have my folio reviewed by Walt Disney Animation Studios as part of the job fair also included as part of the conference. 

My afternoon shift saw me on a help and directions desk for 4 hours. 

SIGGRAPH: Day 3

My shift today was supervising one of the many presentations and lectures that were scheduled for today. As siggraph is a computer and CGI centric conference, many of the panels and presentations were extremely specific and specialized well above my knowledge of technology- however as many of the presentations were research papers I found it an invaluable experience to see how research can be structured and analysed to present findings to a collection of industry peers.

Waiting for the Brave Panel to begin

After my shift I had organized to attend the Pixar Brave: From Pencils to Pixels panel wherein the directors,animators, riggers and art dept were to trace the development from their latest film from concept and research to final product. Each stage of production had a representative and this was the panel that provided me with the most relevant information regarding the use of place to progress narrative in addition to information regarding the role of the visual development department in the creation of a CGI film. 

Panellists included Colin Thompson (Technical Director); Tia Kratter (Art & Visual Development); Paul Mendoza (Animation); Claudia Chung (Simulation Supervisor) and Chris Burrows (Shade Lead). 

Brave Panel about to start

The main focus of the panel was to trace the journey of the film Brave from design to production via the process of art meeting technology. 

Art & Visual Development Team: Tia Kratter

-19 years at Pixar

-Brave took 6 years to make

-Team of 10 in the Art Department

-Initially Brave set in a snow storm, a lot of the early concept work based in winter snow. 

-Visual research for Brave, looked at Scottish folklore

-Goal to make the environment part of the story telling- language of the environment with the inclusion of repeating long slow curves and the creation of a stage or fish-bowl style shape for the character within the environment to show the density of the landscape in the Scottish Highlands, whilst being economical in the rendering time. 

-Weather key in demonstrating mood and atmosphere

-Visual concept and development for landscape and sets often done in any medium in which the artist feels most comfortable, this can include oil painting, sculpture or digital art. 

-Work from the big picture to the detail- to this end they will draw out a large structure for example a castle, then overlay with tracing paper all the details that would be included and can be changed as the story demands it. 

-Tia works predominantly with flat colour combinations for character design and character combined with the environment. She calls it glorified colouring book style. 

-Takes a year to nail down character design from sketch to colour to sculpt and then clothing design and details. 

-The art department will provide packets for each other department connected on the pipeline to outline the associated details of a particular aspect of the film. For example character clothing, or rocks- all the information regarding size, weight, colour, texture are included to give the other departments as much information as possible thus aiding in their part of the pipeline. 

Tia Kratter- Merida Concept Art www.pixartimes.com

SIGGRAPH Day 2

First day of the conference and although the exhibition halls had not yet been set up there was still a lot of activity and lots of attendees about. My first shift was helping to set up ETech, an area where experimental projects in the area of digital art, design and animation are available for demonstration and hands on interaction.

ETech Setup

My second shift of the day saw me working in the area of registration. Many of these jobs were pretty straight forward, but the value of the volunteer system was in the people that you met whilst working. Many business cards were shared, and although most of the student volunteers are only just starting out in their careers; the contact is invaluable as it lets you also see the standard in other parts of the world.

After my shifts were done I had booked a folio review through the SIGGRAPH organization. It was quite informal, but invaluable in having your work looked at. That's been one of the unexpected benefits of the conference thus far is that you learn quickly that showing your work is something that you have to get used to and that you can verbalize what role you would like to play in the industry. It's not enough to simply state that any job would be good. 

I found that most people were aiming for some kind of character centric position, obviously because it was SIGGRAPH there was a dominance of CGI animators over 2D. Modellers seemed to be the most popular position amongst the student volunteers. I found myself looking more towards layout and background creation- especially given my current honours project and this desire to move into background development and even concept art seemed to rare in the SIGGRAPH context, probably because of the technological focus.

My folio review was with character animator and texture artist from Nickelodeon (Laura Hohman) and it was seen by me as an opportunity to really get a sense of what major studios are looking for in folios. This process was incredibly useful and i really think it would be advantageous to offer a similar process as part of either undergrad or hons assessment. It was also validating to have your work looked at by someone in the industry and removed from the university context. Being a straight forward person I asked Laura if she believed I was wasting my time, being a student in Australia, away from the studio industry that I want to become a part of it can be difficult to gauge whether or not you have any semblance of ability. Thankfully she believed that I had some talent and could definitely work in the industry. Her perspective was honest and objective and she really gave me some excellent pointers. 

Laura's Tips

-Include a wide variety of styles

-Look to include 6-8 pieces

-Include 2-3 pages of life drawings- both studio and real life

-Given my interest in backgrounds, consider also the role of prop design, set design

-Laura prefers an physical folio as well as digital as she believes that you have more control over how the image looks in reproduction. 

-When including a particular piece rather than including all aspects of WIP choose certain points such as composition, colour value, roughs as thumbnails that surround the piece in addition to blurb of explanation. 

- Find TV shows and movies that inspire you and use them to influence your pieces in terms of style, colour and lighting. 

-Avoid showing too much, the more you show the greater the possibility that you may display your weaker work. 

SIGGRAPH Day 1: CGW Presentation

Our first SV presentation was given immediately following the orientation lecture. Computer Graphics World Magazine (CGW) had organised for a panel of animators and industry professionals to outline how they got into the industry, what they had learnt during their time in the industry and how they would improve the transition from student to professional for those of us yet to make that transition.

The panellists included professionals from Teagan Morrison (technical Art Director) from Naughty Dog Studios; Rob Engle (3D FX Supervisor) from Sony Imageworks; Jeff Kember (Technical Director) from Tippett Studios and Ben Grossman (VFX Supervisor) from Pixomondo studios .

The collective resumes and experience in the industry was impressive, but it was their approachable attitude and willingness to share their journeys that made the panel an absolute must for students to attend. Each panellist shared their tips on creating opportunities, networking and breaking into the entertainment visual arts and computer graphics world.

Tips from Teagan: Naughty Dog Studios: 

-When applying for positions, don't let the job descriptions put you off; especially in reference to experience. In his words, throw your hat into the ring, even if you are not what the studio is looking for at that moment at least your work is being viewed.
- Studios also appreciate enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.
- Know the terminology associated with each studio for each section of the pipeline.
- If you are unsuccessful with your application, ring or email the studio for feedback on why you were unsuccessful and how you can improve.

Tips from Jeff: Tippett Studios: 

-Contact industry people for advice and possible mentorship
-Include animation or CGI tests in your showreel, things that you have tried demonstrate perseverance in place of experience.
- If you want to work in a studio SPECIALISE as soon as possible and be sure that your folio or showreel shows this specialisation
-Research employment trends and find out what areas are in high demand and which are oversubscribed
-Showreel should be no more than 2minutes and should include an on screen breakdown plus accompanying breakdown notes.
-In your showreel also include how long it took you to complete something- this shows efficiency
-Knowledge of the pipeline makes you a valuable asset

SIGGRAPH: Day 1

 Today was the first time that we got to meet with other Student Volunteers (SV's), pick up our badges and see the convention centre in downtown LA. In the weeks preceding the conference we had been in email contact with Siggraph SV chair Mikki Rose who provided us with our volunteer schedules. Altogether there were probably close to 200 Sv's once we were all gathered in the lecture hall for orientation and our first SV learning session.

Red Vest and hat: student volunteer uniform 

One of the things that we didn't realize was that Siggraph SV's had organized a series of SV specific panels and presentations that we could attend when not on shift.

The only drawback for many of us was that 30hours of shifts as a volunteer meant that many of the sessions were missed or only part seen, but then again 'thems the breaks.' If I were to have one suggestion for future SV's I would recommend doing shifts during setup, prior to the start of the convention, to allow you time to attend these lectures and I would also recommend scheduling some of presentations outside of shift times so that we could really benefit from the program and ensure they were well attended. As you can see there were some excellent panels and presentations that were relevant for students, I will write about the ones I attended in later blog posts.

Walt Disney Concert Hall: Downtown LA

Epic Pans are Epic

Trying to finish as much as possible before leaving for LA this Thursday. My plan is to outline the backgrounds and then go back into them to complete the render process. This will allow me to sort out the size and camera movements plus the illusion of depth and details before I start to colour. I will be working in photoshop and am determined to keep my layers tidy and organised so that I can adhere to the lessons regarding layout and design that I have been researching.

Here are some of the latest ones from a pan shot. Each background has to be done twice as this will reveal what the community was like in the 20s and 30s and what it is like today.

Ashfield in the past

Ashfield in the present

Both layers together showing the similarities and differences between the two eras

Close Up of shop fronts- Modern Day

Close up of shop fronts- 1920s and 30s era

The final background renders will not have the heavy outline but will instead have a very thin hand drawn, not ruled, outline that will enable recognition of the background details.

Backgrounds Slow and Steady

For the past couple of weeks I have been struggling with motivation, found a little bit more now that I'm back at uni this week. I put my lack of motivation down to isolation; being away from uni and people who push me at uni has slowed me down I think.

However, progress has been made. In addition to working out screen ratios for backgrounds I have started to outline on perspective grids the actual backgrounds for each scene. As I create each outline I have also been separating the layers that will add depth and realism to the finished project. Here are the background outlines done thus far:

Act1 Scene 1

Break down depth analysis of Act1 Scene 1a

Act 1: Scene9 - The last hook is reserved for the hat which will be animated

Act 1: Scene9- Depth Analysis