Tag Archives: 3D Animator

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Deva

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I am Deva, born and brought up in Chennai.India. I completed my art graduation at Chennai Government Collage of Arts and Crafts.

I got married and I have beautiful princes named Prathusha. Having 15 years of experience in animation industry as creative and animation director with both 2D and 3D animation across Asian countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, etc.)

How did you become interested in animation?
It was accident. Well a very interesting accident. When I was a student in Chennai collage of arts and crafts I got a chance to see the movie “Lion king”. In that movie there was a scene where Simbha the cub will cry in front of his father’s dead body “Help me… Anybody… Somebody…” I was moved in to tears, it’s so amazing that an Animator can make audience laugh and cry. Yes art has that capability to bring emotions in to the people mindset and let them go vivid with their imagination. Animation is a structured way for making the audience think what you are thinking or what you want him to think, that’s the power of animation and that has been keeping me moving on all these years.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Chennai, southern part of India, Animation was not a well heard name those days; it was Mr. Chandrasekhar, Managing Director of Pentafour software & Exports Limited (Pentamedia Graphics) who introduced us to this industry. After graduation I took up my career in Animation with Pentafour.

What is the most difficult part for you about being in the business?
In animation business, most difficult part is you have to deliver the project in Continue reading

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Chris Cookson

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What is your name and your current occupation?
I’m Chris Cookson and I am currently a freelance animator, I work in Flash mostly but sometimes I get some AfterEffects and Photoshop work.  I’ve been lucky enough where everything I’ve done before animation has been some kind of visual based work. The first job I did out of high school was making animated assets for the LED sign demo room at Trans-Lux (yes, that Trans-Lux of the 1959 Felix the Cat cartoon). It was a uniquely fun experience, they had this old LaserDisc system that would trigger all kinds of signs to light up in cue to music and audio, the audio was very much a product of the ’80s but they wanted me to modernize the visuals and make some colorful stuff for their new centerpiece display.  Apart from that, I’ve done a good amount of web design work in my formative years. One of my clients was a Cuban percussionist who was really into anime and kung-fu movies. He even offered to pay me for making his site with a samurai sword, which to 15-year-old me, was the coolest thing ever. Though, if I were to ever come home with a samurai sword, my parents would probably kill me, likely with that very same samurai sword.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
In terms of cool projects, a psychedelic TV ad for Linda McCartney’s line of frozen vegan foods has been really satisfying. What I loved was the ad had a different style than the usual aesthetic I get but had a lot of understated weirdness and quite a few distinct shots to work on. I got to meet Paul McCartney’s son-in-law and Rick Astley’s wife while on the project too which made me geek out pretty hard. A couple of months after I finished work on the spot, I started to see posts about it show up on sites like Motionographer, The Huffington Post and was linked by a lot of the sites I follow on Twitter, which made me feel real warm and fuzzy on the inside.  I’m also really proud of a lot of the smaller commercial projects I have worked on at Shoulderhill Creative. For those, it’s great to work with a couple of my classmates from art school and since it’s not a part of a giant team, I feel a lot more creative ownership over what I’m making. It’s absolutely wonderful to have a chance to work more within my own style and have more room to experiment with the colors and see what kind of little visual jokes I can put in to the advertisement.  Other projects like William Caballero’s documentary short film “How You Doin’ Boy? Voicemails from Gran’pa” were really great to be a part of. For that, he wanted me to make a squiggly text treatment based off of his grandfather’s handwriting to go up on screen in sync with actual answering machine messages left from his grandfather. Having the freedom to design the word treatment, as well as play around with text sizes was really fulfilling, the tone of some of the messages allowed me to really go crazy in some spots too, pushing the graphic element of it, trying to get it to match his grandfather’s own personal tone.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Stamford, CT and I’ve always wanted to either be a cartoonist or animator for pretty much my entire life. I taught myself how to use Flash when I was 12-years-old and would constantly look for an excuse to use it any chance I had, whether it be for making buttons or logos on the aforementioned web design projects I got or making short films whenever the opportunity arose. After making more and more stuff, over the years, my skills started to Continue reading

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Adobe’s New App Turns 2-D Selfies Into 3-D Magic

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FastCodesign.com has an article up about a fascinating new tech from Adobe that turns 2d pictures into 3d. It’s cool, but clearly has it’s limits. I can’t imagine the practicality of it above and beyond, “Hey check out how cool this is.

From the site:

To be presented tonight at Adobe MAX Sneaks, the Photoshop maker’s annual peek inside their development labs, 3-D Portraits smartly recognizes faces, eyes, mouths, and hair, and then efficiently turns them into a usable 3-D model. This is actually already possible in Photoshop, but it requires a number of tedious manual steps, and the results can range in quality. Thanks to research by Menglei Chai, a PhD student from Zhejiang University, and a team of Adobe Research scientists, though, they’ve now figured out how to largely automate the process.

You can read the whole article here.

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Jason Carpenter

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What is your name?
Jason Carpenter; Animator for the new film He Named Me Malala based on the life of life of Malala Yousafzai, directed by Davis Guggenheim.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
In High School, I worked at a gasoline pump factory with a good friend of mine. I stood in a line and hung different parts on moving hooks before they went into a spray booth. It was repetitive and pretty grueling. I was only there for a few summers, but I learned a lot. Mostly about doing a hard days work and what that’s worth. Honestly, it was a valuable experience and one I remember fondly. Each day we had to find a way to make the work fun because it was so repetitive. Hey, animation can be pretty repetitive. Maybe it helped!

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I co-directed the animation for Spaceship Earth at EPCOT center a few years back with my brother. That was a fun project to be a part of. There’s nothing quite like being backstage in Disney World in the middle of the night when the animatronics are still on. It gets pretty surreal. There’s definitely a different ind of magic than during the day.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m originally from North Carolina. Growing up, I didn’t know that animation was something you could do as a job. So, I guess I’m a bit of a late bloomer. It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I made a very short film and got a sense of what animation was about. After graduating, I moved to NY where I did some early Flash animation music videos. They were fun projects and I was left a lot of room to be creative, but we had to do them quickly. It was a great learning experience. After a few years in NY, I applied to CalArts, got accepted and moved out to LA.

What kind of technology do you work with on a daily basis, how has technology changed in the last few years in your field and how has that impacted you in your job?
I mostly work in 2D, so I’m in Adobe stuff most of the time. Lucky for me, drawing is still drawing and story is still story, so I find that technology helps most in speeding up the workflow, which is always a good thing. New tricks are always good. It’s funny, I remember working in Photoshop 3.0. It was pretty terrible compared to today, but conceptualizing a project is still the same. I think it’s all about the process, which I’m always trying to improve on.

Any side projects you’re working on that you’d like to share details of ?
I just finished working on the animated sequences for He Named Me Malala. It’s a feature documentary about the life of Malala Yousafzai, directed by Davis Guggenheim. The animation plays a big role in the film, which I’m very proud of. Animation is such a powerful art form. It’s easy to forget what it’s capable of and how expressive it can be. I hope that the animated sequences in the film connect with people and give them a better sense of Malala’s story and message. I’m so lucky to have worked with a great team of people and to have spent 18 months focusing on a project with such a great message. That’s a rare and special thing.

Any unusual talents or hobbies like tying a cherry stem with your tongue or metallurgy?
That’s something I need to work on. A crazy hobby could be rewarding.  I’ve given some though to lion taming. I had a cat growing up. I’m sure that would help me quite a bit.

Is there any advice you can give for an aspiring animation student or artist trying to break into the business?Making a film, TV spot, show, etc. is always a shared process, and that’s a good thing. Working with other people well is what makes everything work. Find the part of the process and the place that speaks to you, and focus on that. I’m big on collaboration. It’s impossible for one person to be good at everything, but a team can be. Sharing the creative process across a team and be eye opening. You’ll get creative solutions and ideas you never would have found on your own.

 

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Age of Ultron Previs reel

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Previs reel from a very talented fella named Chris Olsen, who did some amazing shot in Avengers Age of Ultron.

For those that don’t know the term Previs signifies someone who lays out animation rigs along with setting up camera moves and linking them to the data mined from live action plates. From there the director can change angles and shots before they spend the money to render it to full resolution and quality. From The Third Floor’s website (who worked on shots in the film) it is:

 …an abbreviated term for “previsualization”, the process of visualizing and improving a project before the final endeavor is attempted. Historically, filmmakers relied on storyboards, concept artwork, and physical models to help them plan their visions.

Now you know! Cool stuff!

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Jobs: Roto Lead based in Toronto- Stereo D

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StereoD

Roto Lead

Stereo D is currently seeking a Roto Lead based in Toronto.

The Lead Roto artist is responsible for giving detailed instruction per shot on all projects for international facilities while also being extremely experienced in all facets of roto to provide quick fixes and roto in a timely fashion.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:

  • Give detailed instruction and provide annotations on all shots sent out for roto
  • Assess a complexity level and estimate the number of man days needed to finish a shot
  • Responsible for fast and efficient roto on complex shots as needed or time allows assuring accuracy and quality
  • Interviews and reviews potential candidates when requested and recommends for hiring
  • Travel internationally to work within intercompany studios when needed
  • Review and assess the changes needed to new versions of plates
  • Work closely with other department heads and relay notes to International team
  • Quality control on elements from local and outsource talent, delivered to Roto department
  • Review/revise roto work coming into the studio for quality assurance

Qualifications:

  • 2+ years of professional experience in rotoscopy and/or compositing
  • Strong Knowledge of Silhouette and Nuke
  • Excellent communication skills and experience working with external vendors/clients
  • Previous experience as a lead artist or leading a team of artists is ideal
  • Leadership skills such as mentorship, giving direction, feedback and assigning work needed
  • Some experience with Stereo Conversion
  • Knowledge of Windows ideal

We’re looking for the best in the business. If this sounds like you, please apply using the link below!

https://stereod.catsone.com/careers/index.php?m=portal&a=apply&jobOrderID=6077951&portalID=38845

About Stereo D

Stereo D is the recognized leader in high-quality conversions of 2D theatrical content into stereoscopic 3D imagery. Formed in 2009 and acquired by Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. in 2011, the company works with major motion picture studios, directors, cinematographers, and VFX supervisors to bring their vision of 3D storytelling to the screen. Stereo D has completed work for such films as JURASSIC WORLD, ANT MAN, THE AVENGERS, JURASSIC PARK and TITANIC in 3D to name a few.  The company also provides end-to-end 3D production services on feature films, television productions and commercials.

Stereo D is a business run by filmmakers, valuing artistic excellence and speaking the language of film. Our production teams and artists are among the best in the business, driven by an innate passion for all things film. Our unique artist-centric environment enables our people the creative freedom to conceptually support the creative visions of directors, delivering the finest, most dynamic 3D imagery in entertainment.

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer.