SIGGRAPH 2009 New Orleans

Many times I have been asked what is SIGGRAPH? Why do you go every year? Well, as many of you are creatives, and many of you are NERDS like myself, this is the Mecca and merging of 1 whole year of new 3D technologies, artwork, animations, research, and camaraderie packed into one memorable week!

This year SIGGRAPH was hosted by New Orleans. A city that is far more welcoming than most of the cities that I have been to (especially Los Angeles). New Orleans offers a perfect evening backdrop for those who don't get out much, to let loose, and to meet face to face to forge new relationships!





This year I was lucky enough to speak with hundreds of professionals about game design ideas that my brother and I cook up (thanks Will Wright), preview new softwares, meet hundreds of new students who are excited about their future, and eat oysters with good friends and well known CGsociety bigs (owners and editors)! Not to mention I received feedback and research on about every part of The Red Kite's production pipeline from several professionals within Pixar, Digital Domain, ILM, and Sony ImageWorks to name a few!







So Why SIGGRAPH? My answer is why not? Its the only place you can go to find people as passionate as you are about your work! And its the one place a lot of you weirdos could fit in! Next Year is Los Angeles hosts once again. Counting professionals, students, and IUPUI Alumni we had 32 Indianapolis people that I know of in attendance! Lets beat those numbers in 2010!

My Students Summer 2009

Once again I am posting the best of my courses for your enjoyment. Once again I am impressed with the results. This Summer brought 2 expedited 6 week courses.

Here are the best of CGT 221 Intro to Architectural Visualization and 3ds Max. Students are required not only to learn the software but to take that knowledge and create a space from a previous project or an image

(In no particular order):









Here are the best of CGT 321 Advanced Lighting and Rendering for Architectural Spaces in 3ds Max. Students are to master both Scanline and Mental Ray lighting and rendering techniques. The final project consists of taking a previous project's lighting and texturing the space as realistically as possible.

(In no particular order):

SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition Interviews

For all of those of you that made it out to the exhibition, you know it went amazingly! I am very proud of all our students and how they presented themselves this year and look forward to being apart of this event for years to come!


Here are links to some pictures and audio interviews Truffle Media's John Blue did. John was a premier sponsor for us, and we hope to continue partnering with him in the future!


Pictures from John

Wenie Rahardja
Zach Barner
Toybox Rags to Roger Purdue Team
Steve Lingg
Stephanie Whealy
Steven Peavey
Marina Sichuga
Marcelo Meijome
Joe Lee
Jenny Sampson
Jeff Szorc
Frank Tai
Erika Yasuno
Drew Shelton
Drew Bush
Chris VanNoy March
Brittny Beauchamp
April Silva


Thanks again for everyone that participated in the event and to all the buisnesses that helped SIGGRAPH Succeed leading up to the event!

Don't SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH IUPUI is proud to release its first live action promotional video for the 2009 Student Exhibition: Don't SIGGRAPH! If you haven't heard of the event, it is going to be face changing for IUPUI and central Indiana students.



The video is for advertisement of the event on Friday, April 17th, 2009 from 5pm-10pm at the IUPUI Campus Center room 450. Everyone including business professionals, students, faculty, and friends are invited to check out the amazing work that IUPUI computer graphics students have to offer!

For more information, visit our website at siggraph.iupui.edu. I better see you at the event, or else! Please share this video and information with everyone you know! Send it to your mom even. "Hell, I did!" ~ Josh Corken

Yashimo is finished and saying hello to the world!

Well, since I can't use this video for the official SIGGRAPH IUPUI mascot I am going to post Yashimo's video on all of the Viral websites. Facebook, Youtube, etc. Please share the link with anyone you might find that could benefit from the SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition!!!

All the best. On to research...

Finished in the Glory of Defeat.

Well,

The competition for the official SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition is over. The final vote me 14, Marcelo Meijome 17 votes.

I hope he posts his animation soon. If not, it will be all over IUPUI in the next week or so. He had a fantastic Flash animation that fits very well with the theme of our event. I think it is much more timely and to the point than my final 40 seconds of animation (which is a bit lengthy.) Our other competitor Justin Hannah had a great 3D turn in also, but I don't have his blog if he has one...

I will try to get my friend Tyler to come up with audio for this because I am just not that great at it and will post the final soon.



Hope you like. Stay tuned for the beginnings of my facial muscle project and short story project!!! On to the next glorious headache as always.

Yashimo Playblast

So, I have been animating now for 3 days on and off and then completely scrapped the feet and started over yesterday. The feet were just slowing me down, and they really didn't help the mood of the character, or the short at all. So I deleted them. Now Yashimo hovers/ flys. (Much easier) ;)

Below is a playblast of the animation. I am pretty happy with it all things considered and am rendering as we speak. If the sound comes together nicely, I should be successful.

Stay posted for the final render!

Yashimo Update

So I am nearly ready to animate the story. It shouldn't be a big problem. He will be very lighthearted and comedic throughout the entire Animation.

Here is the basic rig I set up for Yashimo. He has two bones driving his torso, so I can get some subtle animation and center of gravity changes. He has 4 fingers rigged for both hands. The fingers are driven by IK solvers. His antennae are linked to the head bone tip and have Flex modifiers on them so I don't need to animate the subtle antenna wiggles (hopefully) His eyes may be tricky because I have enabled squash and stretch for his torso bones; so when he squashes the eyes don't stay stationary in their location on his head. I did not want them to be affected by the skin, bu may need them to be after some tests....



I am very proud of the easel because it should be a very easy part of the animation. I created a Master control in the mid section of the easel and then a sub control at the top of the Easel that way I can control its center of rotation from the middle (where Yashimo will be holding it) or from the top when I need to make corrections. Each leg of the Easel can rotate independently from the top at any angle, and the lower legs can telescope in and out with only one axis. I have restricted everything in the scale, rotation and translation axis that shouldn't be moved.



I can't wait to knock this one out of the park!

Yashimo Update

I now have Yashimo modeled and textured. I am still concerned about the eyes and how I can get them to show more movement and animation while keeping it simple. The set is coming together nicely. I have a few more things to model and texture; things like props, papers, laptop, etc.

I hope to have a good dent in the animation over the weekend. He is nearly rigged. I am spending some unanticipated extra time on the flex modifier for his antennas and may add some more geometry for them to see differences in looks. I used a simple lattice modifier on his lower jaw-line with a soft selected group of vertices so the effect would soften during the animation of his facial expressions towards the back of his jaw.

Hope you like!

Yashimo Set

Here is the Set environment for the SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition Animation Spot. Basically it is just a single show table with an easel. The easel is rigged to perfectly open and close on specific axis and angles from the top of the object. The Robot character known as Yashimo will be able to set up the easel and put his work or the Events banner onto it in one of the 5 second spots.



Yashimo will be created in the next couple of days and animated once I get back from Wyoming. The snowmobiling trip should be a nice break from the digital realm.

SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition Animation

So, if life didn't offer me any other awesome projects to work on I would have been Happy. But of course, I receive yet another opportunity to stress out about. My SIGGRAPH Organization that I advise in threw an Animation Pitch competition last week during our X-Mas party. Several members pitched awesome ideas with concept art, storyboards, and Animatics... I had forgotten the one and only drawing I had for my pitch at home and had all but decided not to even attempt the pitch.

Of course I was pressured by a few of the officers since I had told them about my ideal a day or so before. So I did the pitch in front of all the student members with absolutely no visuals. Maybe I should be in sales or contract marketing because I won one of the three spots to develop the animation. Good news: it should be pretty awesome, Bad News: It has to be completed in 3 weeks.

Way to go Zeb... Ass. How did I manage to do it? Who knows. But I WILL win the competition.

So Below is the main character. The animation is acting as a video that we can play on our website and around campus to get more students and employers in the various industries to attend. It is between 5 and 10 seconds. I proposed to do (3) 3-5 second animations of a small Martian character (because of its simplicity to model and texture and light) getting ready for an interview.



- One scene he will be arranging his materials for the Student Exhibition and then the logo and event information will fly up and hit the camera.

- Another scene he will be practicing giving a handshake by himself and appear nervous and agitated, one of his resumes will fly off the table and slap the camera with the logo and event information.

The last scene he will be waiting patiently next to his portfolios and works and then beckon the viewer to his area to network. With the Exhibition logo and information slapping the screen at the end.

These (3) spots should be relatively simple, the character and his objects are all easy to model, texture, and light. The camera will be static through all of the shots and the environment will be all white.

The animation will take the longest and the use of sound effects should add a lot to the feeling and comedy of the character's situation as he prepares for the event.

Here is the Student Exhibition logo and Event information Developed by Jason Smith a CGT undergrad.


SIGGRAPH Student Exhibition
April 17th, 2009 5:00p.m.-11:00p.m.
IUPUI Campus Center
Indianapolis, Indiana

If you, your business, or any colleagues would like to attend this free event please contact me by email to register. zwood@iupui.edu Students and Industry professionals can register via the website.

http://siggraph.iupui.edu/

The website may be on and off as we complete some updates...

Thanks for reading and check back soon for progresses on all my projects.