Useful information... for me.

This post is just for me, so only read it if you've finished reading the ingredients of your favorite box of cereal.

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/relax-and-quit-bluffing

My Tron!

A Reel Man's Short

I've been trying to decide (for quite some time) what computer animated short film I'd like to make. Since my production team consists of only me, it's been a struggle to think of an idea that is both interesting and doable by one person. At long last, I think I've come up with something that is possible for me to actually complete. I'm hoping I can finish it this year - so for now, I'm giving myself a deadline of December 31, 2011. The clock is ticking!

It's My TRON!

I saw "TRON: Legacy" this afternoon and figured I'd try my hand at making a light cycle. Here's a still from 90 frames I rendered. Full video to come soon! Oh, and if Olivia Wilde is reading this, please marry me.

"Breaking Bad" is the best "new" show!

Okay, a show which starts its 4th season in 6 months could hardly be called "new", but it took me a while to find it. Anyway, "Breaking Bad" is more addictive than the crystal meth everyone is snorting in it. A must watch television series if ever there was one - rent/buy/download it now!

Sizzle

So here's a quick rendering I made of a fireball coming toward camera in an alleyway. Actually, it was the shot set-up and texturing that were quick, not the rendering. The rendering took a few days with the computer processing all day and all night, and running up my electric bill. Fluids devour RAM!

Tutorial on creating a carpet in Maya

http://blog.cgsutra.com/2010/06/29/maya-fur-how-to-create-carpets-using-maya-fur/

The Price

Christopher Salmon raised over $160,000 on Kickstarter to produce a CG-animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "The Price"...

http://www.theprice-movie.com

Star field ball made with sprites

Usually I make a star field using PaintFX, but here's a quick whack at a star field made with sprites. I didn't bother making an alpha channel with the sprite sequence (4), so it's by no means perfect, but this might be the most superior way of making a star field, especially if used with something more complicated than a nodal camera pan.

Hastily-made interior

Thought I'd try my hand at a quick interior. The frame below was rendered with Mental Ray, Global Illumination turned on, using an Area light (scaled to the size of the window) with an intensity of 0, and a photon emission of 1900. The scene is roughly the size of Maya's default grid space. A directional light with an intensity of 1 is present to illuminate the photons emitted by the Area light.