Tron Legacy: Sam Meets Quuora

Sintel

Be sure to check this out, its quite inspiring. Sintel is an open movie project created entirely in Blender. Blender is a popular open source 3D software package that can do just about anything, even compositing, film editing and digital sculpting. Sintel really shows off Blender's dynamics and camera capabilities the best.

The project was created by an international group of 14 artists and took a little over a year to develop. Kudos to all of you for an outstanding and inspiring piece. Learn learn more about this project and support it, to do so, be sure to visit the Sintel.org site.

And to learn more about Blender, and where you can download the program for free, be sure you check out the Blender.org site.

Happy blending everyone!

Fire it up!

IRON BABY

A sweet, well crafted, cute and highly entertaining piece from Patrick Boivin - Oh, did I mention that this piece is very cute. Patrick was also responsible for crafting the piece "Iron Man Vs. Bruce Lee". Hey Patrick, keep doing the good work, we love your stuff.

Fire it Up!

Randolf

Omar Fernandez: VFS Modeling Reel

And yet another outstanding VFS Modeling Reel from Omar Fernandez. A reel you should definitely check out, this displays great renders, and a subtle casual handling of the camera that makes for a a believable scene that is followed by a crisp clean wireframe presentation. Also pay attention to his variety in subject matter.

Fire it up!
Randolf

"Skyline" Trailer - 11:12:10

The more I see of this movie, the more intriguing it gets. Hmmm, "Independence Day" meets "2012"? Looks cool to you? Or would you wait for this on Blu Ray?

Fire it up!
Randolf

Designing "Toy Story": Featurette

As we start another exciting quarter here at (place your animation school name here), we must not forget the movie which started it all. This "making of" featurette can be found on many versions of the Toy Story DVD and I'm thankful that it was produced. It gives you a short introductory glimpse into what was needed to put the animation together, especially back in those days, when computer animation was new, when all that was available was a monitor, mouse and some tape.

For those of you animating now, you have vast computer processing power, advanced controls and slicker renders to make the entire process easier, just remember that it wasn't always this way.

Enjoy the quick history lesson. Hopefully it inspires you and puts things into perspective.

Fire it up! - Randolf

...and some behind the scenes animation footage from Toy Story 3.

Halo Reach: Live Action Extended Trailer

The flavor of the trailer is well done - understated, quiet but still very beautiful to look at. Nice work guys! Enjoy and fire it up!

Shrunkenheadman 15 Year Reunion

Just recently, I had the pleasure of attending the 15 year reunion for the Shrunkenheadman Illustration/Animation Club of San Jose State University. The first night, a formal dinner and retrospective presentation was held at the Corinthian Event Center, and day 2, was held on campus. Current students attended the second day and it was great to meet them and to reconnect with old friends and colleagues. To this day, I'm proud to have been part of that club. The training, work ethic and the notion of helping each other continues to fuel me today. I'm posting the pictures from my tour for inspiration.

Keep up the great work guys, and fire it up!
Visit the Animation/Illustration Shrunkenheadman Club website here >>

Let's start by showing you where our famous logo came from...

and a shot from the formal event Saturday night, 500 Shrunkenheads in one room - lots of fun.

God of War III: Making Chimera

Chimera in Greek mythology is a creature that is part lion, goat and part snake, and is featured as one of the main obstacles in the Playstation's God of War III video game. This featurette is something that you will enjoy and learn a lot from. It features various interviews from all of the designers who contributed to the creature and it takes you through the many cool stages of development from conceptual development, modeling, animation and even fighting strategy - something you don't see very much these days.

Very nice and inspiring! Those of you who got a feeling for this conceptual art stuff, this is what you got to do, can you match this stuff? Yes, of course you can...just don't stop.

Fire it up and keep going! See ya'll at the top.

Ali - thanks for the heads up, and congrats on graduating.

Randolf

Gatchaman: 2011

In the 80's, the show show was called G-Force. Well, we all know that the name was taken over by a bunch of hampsters, which is okay by me. Gatchaman is a little more catchy wouldn't you say. If you are big fans of the TV show from back in the day, I'm sure you'll enjoy this when it comes out.

Dragon Age 2: Trailer & Interview

Dragon fans, here's something coming down the firepit...can't stop watching this one. Its got great character design, animation, fight choreography and action packed editing that rivals film. Pay close attention to the camera movement. Nice work Dragon Age 2 .Crew. Can't wait for this game to come out - March 2011. To learn more about Dragon Age 2, click here >>.

And for something a little extra: Mike Laidlaw is a lead designer for Dragon Age 2, and in this interview, he gives insight into story structure, and unique programming concepts (2:55) new to the game. Enjoy.

Disko Studio

Redbull BC-one re-uploaded from Disko Animation on Vimeo.

Got an email from Ferdi, a 3D illustrator and animator based out of South Africa - Always a pleasure to get notes from abroad. His group is called Disko, he's got a great sense of storytelling, and a unique take on CG that is unique and aesthetically pleasing. I really like the Red Bull BC animations.

Check out his site by clicking this link here >>

Coyote Falls: WB 3D Animation

Really nice CG animation that captures the flair, exaggeration and spirit of the original Warner Bros. Road Runner cartoons that we all grew up with. Great to see that Mr. Coyote has never given up.

Keep an eye out for more of these animations in the theatres, each episode will be about 3 minutes in length...super geeeniusss.

Click here to learn more >>

Enjoy and Fire it Up!

Randolf

Sketch Theatre

Sketch Theatre is a website that features the industry's best conceptual designers, by featuring their work and video demos set to cool music. Leave it up to former students of mine who are always on the lookout for cool things that help us become more powerful. This comes from Char all the way from Minnesota...thanks Char for the heads up!

Check out Sketch Theatre by clicking here >>

Fire it up and enjoy. Be sure to check out Peter Han guys, he's the bomb. We'll learn about him next.

Randolf

Gen Arts: VFX Demo Reel

Gen Arts is a software group that creates high octane programs used for animation and visual effects for companies like Autodesk, ILM and Adobe. See how many commercials you can recognize in their robust demo reel. Hopefully, it'll spur some ideas in you too. Fire it up Ya'll! - Randolf

Be sure to check their site by clicking their link below:

http://www.genarts.com >>