DAVE School Visit

Well it's that time again!  Time for me to come up with another excuse as to why I have nothing to show you all.
This week, it is simply that I have been too busy with work (as in trying to make money while unemployed), and research.  The research here is actually more important than that of simply drawing and animating, which is why I have not finished anything this week.  I have paid the DAVE school (that's "Digital Animation & Visual Effects School" for those who haven't heard) down in Orlando Florida, a little visit.
Upon checking into our hotel room, we called one of the DAVE school representatives, who happens to also be a 3rd block student, I'll go into blocks a little more later.  He was kind enough to pick us up, drive us around town a little, give us a tour of the school, and answer some of our questions.
DAVE school is located on the back side of Universal Studios Orlando, on the premises.  It is not inside the gate to the back of the park, but it is on their back lot.  While they are on Universal's property, they are not owned by Universal but have a good relationship with them.  Students get employee-like passes to let them into the back side of the park, where they can go on rides, enjoy the shows, or even eat in the staff cafeteria, which I am told has VERY reasonable prices.  Fun aside, the school is currently in a sound stage which they converted for teaching classes.  Despite this, it is decently equipped, with a mocap (motion capture) studio, green screen, small theater, and dozens of work stations.  The front room is the entry where their receptionist can help with anything you need.  Next to this is the guest lounge, where they show off all the movies, posters, toys, et al that they have made.  They also have an impressive collection of student awards on display.
Upon entering the actual classrooms, we are confronted by an array of computer work stations, each one with 3 or 4 computers on it.  They assign all 3rd and 4th block students a computer in each station, and they have to work together to complete their assignment.  Again, I'll go into blocks shortly.  Next to this, is a small theater where they show movies and such to students, and also give lectures.  While it is nice to have it there, in their current location, it looks more like a temporary set up.  I assume this will change in the near future.  After the theater, there is a long hallway that is filled with past works they have done, including story boards, screen shots, character designs, etc.  At the end of the hallway is the 1st and 2nd block classroom, where each student is assigned a computer, which all face a screen at the front of the class.  This lets them see what the teacher is doing, so they can copy it on their own computer.  All of the computers in this school are PCs, and while they recognize that both Macs and workstations are prevalent in the industry, they find it is more affordable and standardized to just use PCs in the classroom.  They will even help a student build a PC, if they want one in their home.
Next door to this, is the mocap studio, which doubles as a green screen.  Here, they have a full sized green screen room, where half the room is a green screen, complete with props and computers and monitors.  They also have a series of mocap cameras in the room, about 20 I believe, to track movements of anyone wearing the mocap suit.  This is the same mocap system that was used in Monster House and Polar Express.
Other than these main areas, they also have a small reference storage area, full of varous reference materials, props and toys all over the place, offices for faculty and staff, a small sound room, and a meeting room I could not see, cause there was a meeting in it at the time.
Now, the entire school lasts for only 1 year for each student (assuming they don't fail).  Each year is split into 4 blocks, which are 3 months apiece.  A student is assigned wither night or day classes, which stays that way for the entire year.  Meaning the faculty have to change which times they teach classes every 3 months to accommodate the new recruits.  In the first block, you are bombarded with information, most of which is 3D modeling.  I understand that while the first few days might be typical for a class, it shortly becomes their hardest and most grueling block with the pure mass of data they require you to learn.  This weeds out anyone that can't handle the workload right off, and anyone who is  not serious about animation.  It also gives student a good strong base to start with the 2nd block, which I understand to be mostly animation and mocap.  I think 3rd block covers the more advanced features, like visual effects and green screen.  And finally, 4th block is one big long class project.  Students have very limited creativity in the class assignments.  While they are encouraged to come in before or after class, and on weekends, to work on their own projects, so they can build their demo reel up and their skills, the class itself acts more like an actual animation studio, where the directors call the shots, and the animators have to make it happen.  Therefore, we have to act like animators to make their vision come true.  Students will have some limited creativity within each shot, but the majority of it is just to make the scene work the way it should.
The computers are not the most advanced, and most are only running Windows XP.  This is fine with me, since upgrading that many computers that often is expensive, and it is always smart to wait on the latest OS until all the bugs are out.  It is my firm belief that Vista is not an OS, it is a Beta.  7 is the real OS, since it actually works the way it should, more or less.
Despite this tour, it appears the school has been in negotiations with Universal Studios about moving into a bigger building.  While this will probably happen after my first block, it will be a big change for the better.  They will be moving into a location very close by, still on the same property, with a new set up.  Instead of horizontal, it will be vertical.  It will have more space for computers, a theaters, and a better mocap and green screen room.  I look forward to seeing this new facility, which promises to be a big positive change for them.
Another change they are seeking is to become accredited by the State of Florida.  Right now, they are not accredited yet, which is always a draw back, especially for financing.  There are no federal financing options or scholarships/grants for non-accredited schools.  While they have turned in all the paperwork to the proper Florida officials, it is now up to the State to declare them accredited.  This will also probably happen at around the same time, while I am in school.  This is particularly good, because it means that I will be able to get scholarships and grants to help pay for all of this, since it is going to cost me a pretty penny to go to this school.
Overall, I was rather impressed with them.  While they are not a perfect school, there are no perfect schools out there.  DAVE school has flaws, but they know they do and work around them to make it the best experience for the students.  Their faculty/staff are well connected with Hollywood directors and actors, and they can sometimes get big names to donate their talents to the students.  If you want to see a perfect example of this, go to http://www.daveschool.com/movies/, and check out "Batman: New Times", which stars Adam West, Mark Hamill, and Dick Van Dyke.  Also look at Antrho, which was made for a Hollywood film maker to try to pilot his idea for a film.  With the boot camp style of teaching, this looks like a great opportunity to really learn what I need to know fast, and get a job doing what I have always wanted to do, making movies.
There is one big drawback though, it is located in Orlando Florida, which isn't the problem, but the fact that my wife will have to stay here in DC for at least a few months, if not the entire year, is a problem.  I hope we can figure something out so she can find a good job down there, and perhaps get her into the school as well, but we will just have to wait and see, and try our hardest.
Well I am looking forward to going, although I am not at all happy about leaving my wife behind.  That is all I will write for now, I have a lot to do, including more work, more drawing, and more research.

Orlando trip

I am going to be going on a trip this weekend to Orlando, Florida.  I am planning to check out this aforementioned DAVE school (digital animation and visual effects) for myself.
I should be able to work on some more drawings when i get back.  I plan to have a big update next week.  I want to have all the backgrounds finished, and start work on the main character animation.
This will be the most time consuming part, but I plan to use a few tricks, such as recycled animation and cut-out animation, to get it done quickly.
I also plan to get some help this weekend and this week on coloring some of these backgrounds so that I can continue to work on the main drawings while the rest of finished.  Multi-tasking so to speak.  I suppose I'll have to ask someone to help with that.
So The next big update should be next weekend.  I will also let people know how my trip to the DAVE school turns out.

Katsucon!

As many of you know, I am part of a group called Tangent Artists.  You can look at our webcomics and other online content at www.TangentArtists.com.

Well, this week, the TA crew, at least some of them, will be representing at Katsucon in the National Harbor.  Katsucon, for those that don't know, is an anime convention that is very popular in the area.  There are a few anime conventions in the area each year, and while Otakon is the biggest out here, Katsucon is a popular alternative choice.  It has shorter lines, fewer crowds, ans lots of good events.
If you are in the area, and thinking about or planning to go to Katsucon 2010, by all means check out our booth in the artist alley.
I myself will not be there this year, but say hi to the members that could make it.

Weak 1 update, with pictures

Greetings!
It's about time I did another update on my progress relating to my Weak 1 animation.  So far, I have given you all a glimpse at the animation through a storyboard, which took enough time, but was well worth it.
Now, I would like to show some of the original sketches I have done.  These sketches are intended to be used in the final animation itself, and are merely elements of the scenes, but not all of them are up to par and will need to be re-worked, some from scratch, before they are ready to be put in the final animation.
I realize that these are very sketchy, and they don't have color and are probably not very accurate, but this wouldn't be "weakly animated" if everything was drawn really well now would it?
The first ones I will show are ones that will need the most reworking done, and the last one is a final image that is ready to be put into the production for coloring and masking, although it may need a better scan first.

Now these are intentionally kept in pencil with a sketchy feel to them.  I particularly like the last image, it has worked out the best so far and probably doesn't really need much more work, if any, to be ready for the rest of the production.  I will probably scan these all again at a later time, but for now these are good to get opinions and suggestions.

The hardest one of these will be the 4th one, as it will need to have animating wheels.  Since I have already drawn this, I will probably have to go back and draw the wheels again separately, in sequence to show the animation.  The traffic light will also need more done to it, to make sure the light sways back and forth as the little car flies past it.  I will be adding the bird, Adam, Marge (the little lady), and the cop at a later date, once the backgrounds and other elements are mostly completed.  Once I have these in place, figuring out how to get the characters in place should be easier since I will have a lot of reference to work with.

So, enjoy these images, and please please PLEASE give me your feedback and opinions.  I look forward to hearing from you about what you think of these images.  I am always striving to better myself and my art and animations.

Later this week, besides working on more of these images, I will probably write a review for the movie 9, a movie that really inspires me, since it is really the director's first major motion picture, based off his college thesis.  I want to achieve that kind of success, and that is what I am striving to do with the DAVE school, and my Weakly Animations.

Avatar Review

Today, I would like to do a brief review of James Cameron's latest film, Avatar.
As most of you know, Avatar is a movie about an alien world inhabited by blue people who are fighting for their own world against humans. Well that is part of it at least. I never like to give away spoilers, although most people have seen this film already.
When I first heard about this movie, I was confused between this Avatar, and the TV series Avatar, The Last Airbender. The airbender tv series is a great animated show with a very different theme from Cameron's movie. Both were announced as movies at around the same time, and with he same name. They are even both due out this year, although one has been in theaters and the other is due out in a few months. Regardless, the confusion over the name used to be a very strong thing, and still affects a lot of people. Just doing a search for "Avatar" in Google Images, you will find the first several pages dedicated to the tv series, not the movie.
Luckily, M. Night Shamalan, the director of the airbender film, has decided to change the name to simply The Last Airbender, which hopefully will clear up any further confusion.
Now on to the film.

I felt that I needed to see this film twice in order to get a full idea of the story, characters, and effects. Both times, I saw this at an AMC "IMAX" 3D screen. This is a great experience, which I could go on about for hours, but I will keep this very brief. In order to summaries, I will split this into sections: story, characters, effects, IMAX 3D, and finally quality and overall.

Story:
I have heard many people say that this movie is just a reenactment of Disney's Pocahontas, or even Dune. However I have to respond that it is not the same, and despite the strong similarities, there is another view. All stories borrow from other stories. Whether they are movies, comics, books, or whatever, there are no original stories. So while this may borrow heavily from other titles, it is still a unique aspect, and a well delivered story. And indeed it was well delivered, closing any loose ends, bringing together all the important and even some subtle bits of information into a cohesive ending. They did an excellent job of giving this story life, and of making it enjoyable from beginning to end. The main themes are universal and well understood, with a strong message that has been repeated many times lately. Our planet is a living thing and we need to treat it better. I do like the aspect that the spiritual and natural ways of the Navi are actually measurable scientifically. By using special neural connections in their hair, they can interact with animals, plants, and event he planet itself in way we can only imagine. The connections between all these living things physically embody the ideals of many of the American tribes, and give us even better reason to believe that these beings are not just pointlessly spiritual, but that they are physically and mentally connected to every living thing.
I have heard others say that even though this movie is roughly 3 hours long, it does not feel like it. And I agree. After we saw this film for the last time, it was already after 10:30 at night, and I could have sworn it was only 9. This may be so in part to the story, and in part to the effects.

Characters:
The characters are well rounded, 3 dimensional characters with a lot of development.  While the main character of Jake Sully starts off with a past, problems of his own, and even a family, the story quickly launches him into a world where we has no more family, no more goals, and just want to stick with what he does best, despite his lack of funds to allow him to be healed so he can fight again.  The changes that happen to him so fast in his life lead to him being the character we all have to associate with.  He knows little to nothing about Pandora, he has never piloted an "Avatar" before, and he open to learning just about anything.  It is this openness, and his skills as a marine (combined with the only way he has been able to walk and run in years) that has lead him to really engage with the Avatar program.  He must pilot a biologically grown Navi body.  It is this same openness and warrior status that drive the Navi to teach him their ways, and accept him, eventually, as one of their own.  That is all I will give away, since it is really the premise of the film, but I will say that many of these characters are strongly affected emotionally by the events and actions of the story.  The heir to the clan is of course skeptical and only wants to protect his clan, his people and planet, his position, and his woman.  But as he grows, eventually he too changes his views as events unfold.  The female lead here, a Navi flying warrior, also grows.  She is next to be the spiritual leader, and at first views Jake as an enemy, then as an annoyance, growing into curiosity, to a friend, and eventually lover, only to feel betrayed later on.
Even the character of the General in charge of the human forces is well designed.  He has one goal in mind, to protect his people while they mine for resources.  But in the end, his own tough attitude and power hungry ego gets the best of him as he wages an all out war not only against he Navi, but also against his people, and the man he once relied on for intel.  Even the head of the company's operations is a conflicted characters, not wanted to hurt or attack the Navi, but not understanding their view and forced to look out for the company's best interest as he sees it.
I must say that these characters are all multifaceted, with a lot of development and emotional connections.

 

Effect

Wow!  Amazing!  I can't think of anything as amazing as the effects in this movie.  The quality of the effects is astounding!  Every minute of the work that went into this film was well worth it.  Every frame is a masterful work of cinematic art.  But lets get down to it.

The effects are indeed drop dead gorgeous.  If the story and characters weren't also excellent, this movie would still have a chance on the graphics alone.  Granted, all these aspects are astounding, but none of them show off the quality of this work as well as the graphics do.  The characters interact so flawlessly, I can not for the life of me see where the CG begins, and the acting ends.  It is just flawless.  I feel that the best part about this was the outdoor scenes.  Every blade of grass, every leaf, every animal, every drop of water, mist, clouds, fire, everything is completely believable!  It is full of subtle details that really make you wonder how they could have done so much!  The characters are a close second however.  The Navi are incredibly amazing, with perfect details and animation.  The subtle emotions on their faces, the body movement, the way they balance on their feet, their tales, even the fact that the Avatar bodies (having human DNA mixed with Navi DNA) have 5 fingers while the natural Navi only have 4, are flawless spectacular details that I only dream about doing myself one day.  Even the humans are perfect.  Makeup on the colonel is amazingly good and distinctive, really adding to the character.  The actor Sam Worthington, who plays the main character Jake, is a healthy active guy who stars in many action movies, and yet here, he is a crippled human with legs that have dystrophy (weakened and unusable).  I am amazed at how realistic they made his legs look when you see him moving around with these 2 bony weak legs, like anyone in Jake's position would naturally have.  Amazing.

On that note, I did notice two, and only two things that may or may not have been there.  With my keen eyes and attention to detail, I noticed 2 scenes, fairly close together, where is something off.  The first is a scene when Jake wakes up in ashes (you know what it is when you see it), the arm band he wears is black with little blue stones in the center.  However, without any interaction from navi or humans in between scenes, by the time he is landing before the people on his newly acquired "ride", he has a cyan beaded armband.  Why would be go change armbands, and how?  Still, I might have overlooked something there.  The second issue is actually in this same scene.  As he approaches the clan leader, the look on the leader's face is priceless (mouth agape), but it is also a little off.  This one is a graphics issue, which I have noticed twice now.  The lighting that shines onto the face of the leader doesn't look quite right in the area of his mouth, almost like too much light is getting into around his teeth.  It almost looks like he has a CG glowy mouth, but the rest of him is real.  Now it could be that it is an artifact of the light shining into his face, and is at just the right angle to make it look this way, but it did look off to me.

Regardless, if these are the only problems that I could find, then I have to say it is by far the best CG I have ever seen in my life.

IMAX 3D

 This film was presented in IMAX 3D.  In the AMC screen I went to, this is not the IMAX format screen, but an IMAX brand screen.  Therefore it is NOT the full sized IMAX screen and you may actually lose information due to this.  What I mean is that some movies, like Dark Knight, and Transformers 2, use select scenes to fill an IMAX screen, and present an amazingly engaging scene.  But the IMAX format for these traditional IMAX screen are very square, and very large, at a 1.44:1 ratio.  In fact, the average traditional IMAX screen is 72 ft × 53 ft, while the largest is 117.2 ft × 96.5 ft.  Typical films use 35mm film, while IMAX films use 70mm film.  Regardless, the AMC IMAX screens are not even close to this.  However, they are very impressive.  One big disadvantage of the traditional IMAX screen is that any seat that is not in the ideal spot can be downright painful to watch a movie in.  I have seen several films this way, where in one I was so far off to the side that I got very bad neck aches, and in another I was so far to the front I got awful eye and head aches as well.  This screen is still very high quality, and does not have this problem no matter what seat you get.  Luckily, it is a good experience in most seats.  The IMAX quality is still there, although, like I said, not in IMAX format.  This means it is not a 70mm film, not is it a 1.44:1 ratio screen, and is probably not as wide either.  But I would still say that this is an excellent experience to see.  These screens are high, high quality, and have sharp detailed images with no distortion, no noise, no dirt, nothing.  A flawless presentation.

The 3D, aka stereoscopy, was impressive, but more subtle than I would have liked.  There are 2 planes for 3D films.  The back plane, where the stereoscopy happens "behind" the screen, and the forward plane, where the effect is in "front" of the screen.  Really good movies try to utilize both, to great effect.  Downright bad movies focus too much on sticking out and can really give you a headache trying to focus on the action.  However, this movie focuses more on the back, pushing the effects into the screen.  Instead of seeing the flying reptiles hovering over the front row, you see him on the screen, while the background goes way back into the distance.  I like this for the reason that it presents itself more as a film, and less as a gimmick, and lowers the amount of headache complaints.  However, as others have told me as well, I think it should use a little more of the forward plane than it does.  I does indeed use the forward plane, and to good effects, but usually for minor foreground objects like debris and floating seeds.  It brings you into the scene this way, but I feel they could have pulled a few things out a little further to really show off the 3D.

That being said, I will say that this subtle 3D style is perfect, and looks amazing.  You get so used to it, you hardly even realize it is there after a while, you just get used to seeing it.

OVERALL

 Finally, the overall quality of this film is perfect.  You can not find a better presented film with better effects, better story, or more memorable characters than this.  The amazing visuals really bring in the audience, who are then taken by surprise by the amazing story to go with it.  Everything from the grand outdoors scenes, to the subtle details and movements, to the lighting and color, this movie is as good as it gets!

I can not give any movie a higher recommendation than I give this one.  A+++!!!  If you only see one movie this century, Avatar is the one to see.

Well that about raps it up.  Again, Avatar is an amazing movie worth seeing multiple times.  I can't wait to get it on Blu-ray, and by the time this film hits 3D in the home, I may just have to upgrade my system again.

If you have already seen it, see it again!  If you haven't, GO SEE IT NOW!

If you really get into the story and world of Pandora, check out this great book, Avatar, An Activists Survival Guide.  It shows a lot of things you didn't notice, teaches you things about the world you didn't know, and is a fun book to just pick up and flip through.