Pixar vs. Pixar

Yesterday my family and I went to the Disney Studio to watch Wall-E. We all liked the film but some more than others. I took a little informal poll but since my family refused to give me answers to my questions until I promised not to post their answers on the Internet so here are the answers of some unnamed strangers who sat next to me at the screening.

The tendency is always to compare Pixar to Pixar so my question to these unnamed strangers is give me a list of all the Pixar Features / most favorite on down. Forget how the Pixar film at the bottom of your list compares to the features of other studios, just compare apples to apples (That`s the Jobs, Steve).

L (An aging Animation Educator, Computer and Stop Motion Animator)

1. The Incredibles
2. Monsters Inc
3. Finding Nemo
4. Toy Story
5. Bug`s Life
6. Wall-E
7. Toy Story II
8. Ratatouille
9. Cars


R1 (A female artist, mother of 2)

1. Monsters Inc
2. Wall-E
3. The Incredibles
4. Finding Nemo
5. Toy Story
6. Bug`s Life
7. Toy Story II
8. Ratatouille
9. Cars

R2 (A female artist, age 17 who just gratitude from high school)

1. Finding Nemo
2. Monsters Inc
3. Wall-E
4. The Incredibles
5. Toy Story
6. Bug`s Life
7. Toy Story II
8. Ratatouille
9. Cars

T ( A male, age 20 in his second year of college)

1. The Incredibles
2. Wall-E
3. Monsters Inc
4. Finding Nemo
5. Toy Story
6. Toy Story II
7. Bug`s Life
8. Ratatouille
9. Cars

So does this tell us anything other that the fact that I will live up to the letter of my promise but not the spirit of that promise when setting on a juicy blog subject?

For one the subjects with the Y - Chromosomes both listed The Incredibles as their Number 1 pick. Since superheroes are big with male empowerment fantasies I can see that.

All 4 lists listed Ratatouille and Cars in that last 2 spots. Which means that our sample are not car nuts and that the idea of rats in the kitchen makes us, I mean them, uneasy. I had a student who thaought that Cars was the greatest movie ever, bar none. This student wanted to be a race car driver before he wanted to be an animator.

I think that my problem with Cars is that the love story did not work for me. The idea of cars have sex in a bed or in the back set of heaven knows what, just did not work for me. Just too much thought to make anything work in the Cars world. Killed the flow.

The love story works for me in Wall-E. Therefore Wall-E works. So why is it so far down the list of this unnamed person called L?

This person L loves story. If the story is not there he isn`t either. Never a problem with Pixar but a story without a threat is not a story and this story tries to make a threat without a real villain, bold but falls a little short of other Pixar stories.

Next, anything that does not fix gets to him. The live footage and the preaching message about environment gave him problems even thou he is the greenest of green and has been since the 60s.

So there is our poll from unnamed sourse. Don`t know if it means anything but I would like to see other people`s listings of Pixar Features.

Rules for CGI Special Effects Animation:

I have been spending a lot of time off line rendering effects, thus not posting much here. Shame on me. As I get back into CGI Effects Animation I am reminded of my rules for CGI Animation Rendering.

1. Simpler is better. Particle Systems and Particle Arrays are flashy and sexy but they are time communing because they are number intensive. If you can find another way to do it, do so.

2. Always render to large uncompressed Targa (TGA) files. You can always throw away resolution at a later date. And if the render crashes your computer, and it will, you only lose the frame you crashed on.

3. Name every object in your file. Leave the object type and add on the function.
EXAMPLE: gravity01-fallingleaf
Months or even years later you will thank yourself and anybody else who accesses your files will too.

4. Create Job Directories for each new job. Keep all the elements in an orderly hierarchy. That includes Maps and Materials if at all possible.

5. Back up all files on a weekly basic (copy working directories) and when you back up your files make sure to copy all your Material Libraries. Make sure to label your backup medium with all of the names of all elements contained on the backup.

6. Keep your Hard Drive as clean as possible. Remove old jobs from the system once they are safely backed up.



ANIMATION EDUCATORS` FORUM MEETING:

Another project I have been busy on is the upcoming Animation Educators` Forum Animation Festival. There will be a meeting of the AEF on this Friday (June 27th) at 8 PM at Glendale Community College.

Glendale Community College
1500 North Verdugo Road
Glendale, California 91208, USA
Tel: (818) 240-1000
Fax: (818) 549-9436

Here are directions from Roger Dickes, the head of their animation program:

The meeting this Friday will be held in a nursing classroom on the first floor of the HS building, just around the corner from HS117. Folks may park in Lot A, so there will be parking close to the meeting place. I may need to get permits for everyone, but there`s a strong likelihood I will not need em because Friday nights are pretty empty up there.

Info:
Lot A is halfway between the 2 fwy and Verdugo on Mountain Avenue. ASIFA visitors should go into Lot A

Make that right turn around the culinary arts building, then make a quick left (don't go up the hill) and proceed to the stop sign next to the elevator tower.

Go through the stop sign and continue through campus parking (quick left, then right), do not make the u turn back to the Lot A entry way on Mountain.

At this point the HS building will be visible about 100 yards away. It will say Bhupesh Parikh Health Sciences and Technology on it.

There's parking to the right of it if you stay right as you approach the building. If you park here, you enter the building on the 1st floor, no need for stairs or elevator.

If you teach animation or are interested in animation education you are welcome.

This and That Again;

The big problem with computer animation is the rendering time. I have been off line for 2 days finishing up a water effect. The time involved is considerable and all other computer functions take a back seat. That is just the way it is. Oh a Readerfarm would be nice, lots of processor time in the background but that is not realistic for the small home studio. All water over the dam or in this case waterfalls.



The L.A. Times book section had a review of Strange and Stranger, the Fantagraphics book of the life and career of Steve Ditko, the creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Ditko is one of my major art heroes. I have a few of his originals.

The reviewer was unsatisfied with the depth of research. You can research an enigma all you want but never get inside the door. Ditko does not let people inside his door, quite literally.

In the early 80s Ditko had a hospital stay. The Kubert students did up a get well card and Ben Ruitz, and older more dignified student, took the card into the city to wish him well and meet with our hero. Ditko came to the door. Thanked him for the card and closed the door.

Art should be enough. Why do we as a nation feel that we have the right to walk around inside the souls of our heroes? Steve Ditko gives us his art but that is all he will give. We should respect that. I am still going to read the book.

Also Sprach Kanye West?

Last night my daughter, Raven, graduated from High School, another milestone on the way to my old age. She is a great kid. Well educated, knows who the Marx Bros. and Buster Keaton are. Knows Nietzsche and Thurber and James Barry.




I am not sure that education has that much to do with schools anymore. Which is a horrible thing for a teacher to say. Truth be told, most of what my daughter learned she learned on her own at home.

The Graduation Speaker, the best of the best with golden robe and all the smart person ribbons, ended her speech by quote Kanye West (sic) What don`t kill me makes me stronger. If Kanye West is as far as our smartest go to find the stolen wisdom of the ages then it is time to despair.

This & That:

Today is Father`s day. My talented daughter, Raven, created this card for me. Gods she is getting good. She may have to barrow this back for her portfolio. Killer image. Very haunting.



I have been really looking forward to Wall-E from Pixar. The last 2 Pixar animations were below Pixar standards. Which only means that Cars and Ratatouille are outstanding films that would have made the name of any other studio but fall short when comparing Pixar to Pixar. I know it is not fair but those are the facts.

Ratatouille has some great moments but Brad Bird took it over way too late in the game and it shows a little. He did a marvelous job in the time he had but it has not the brilliance of The Incredibles. And anyway, rats in the kitchen sets poorly with this former Chef.

Cars; the concept was strained from the start. Cars living in a human world that is not made to fit their dexterity or lack there of and not a human in sight. No one but John Lasseter could have made a feature length animated film in Susie the Little Blue Coupe`s universe minus people and made it work. That being said it was still a stretch and it made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief.



If you are a ASIFA-Hollywood member you too can come check out Andrew Stanton`s time back up to bat on Saturday June 28th. Your invitation should have arrived in the mail last week Here is hoping Wall-E comes through when comparing brilliance to brilliance.

The Mark and Cathy Show:

Fine stuff over at Mark Kausler`s It`s The Cat blog. A report on his new short animation; There Must Be Some Other Cat. I am a giant fan of his film It`s The Cat that came out 4 or 5 years ago. I am a major fan of 30s style animation with all movement synchronized to the beat of the music. And nobody does it better than Mark. I can`t wait to see his new film.

If you haven`t seen It`s The Cat you can download it for $2 at the Cartoon Brew film page. Well worth the money. I show it to my students along with copies of the Hugh Harmen bar chart that Mark dug out when he came to talk to my students at Laguna College of Art & Design on animating to the beat.

Also published at Mark`s blog; a here-to-fore unpublished Mad Raccoons stripe by Mark`s very talented wife Cathy Hill. My old QB school daze roommate Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing) is a major fan and turned me on to her work. Fun stuff all around. I am also a major fan of her fine art. She did a killer portrait of me that is amazing.

Programming

I have been working on programming for Comic Con for the last couple of days and have been unable to get back to my effects work. More on that later, for now here is the lineup for the: STATE OF THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY:

Friday, JULY 25
6:00-7:00pm
ROOM 3

Tom Sito : Roger Rabbit, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Osmoses Jones, Click & Clack; as the Wrench Turns.

Jorge R. Gutierrez : Nickelodeon - Creator and Executive Producer of El Tigre

Lennie Graves : Supervising Animator on the game Harry Potter and the Sorcerer`s Stone, Animator on The Iron Giant, Beauty and the Beast, Animation Educator, etc

Aki Umemoto : Pioneer in the use of CGI Animation for TV commercials during his 25 years as Creative Director of Mattel currently with Apache Films working on a Tomy Toys spot.

Ryan Ball : Editor Animation Magazine

Larry Loc : Moderator

Have a Blast

Moving right along with my Effects Diary: I took the head off the alien yesterday. A lot of the work I did can not be seen because I am getting the head ready for a Partial System Shatter by a Force. That means that all the insides of the head have to be created if I want them to show up in the exploding shotgun blast. There is another thumbnail video of the animation work that does show up. Same page as before: http://www.agni-animation.com/blog/splat2.html

Effect Diary: Splat Day 4

CLICK IMAGE:

Moving on with CGI effects work. Four days into the shotgun blast to the head effect. I have tightened up the animation of the blood on the splat and changed it to green alien blood. I have added an alien model I built about 3 years ago for a game I was trying to float. The basic pre shotgun blast animation for the alien is done but the Animation needs to be speeded up. The head needs to be blown up. There needs to be a shotgun ala First Person Shooter, smoke, body parts etc.

Looks like another 3 or 4 days work. The model is cartoony and the blood splat is cartoony, which works. Think I will give a try at very realistic blood next. Maybe with the same model.

More Fun With blood:

My on going CGI effects animation is still bloody but oh so much fun.

Today I added an animated blood material to my animation. I also changed the wall material and put in some buckshot embedded in said material. Compare version 1 to version 2 here:

Blood and Gore: Back to Basics

I feel like I am back on grade Z slasher flicks in a New Jersey graveyard at night manning the blood pumps with one eye out for the cops. It’s a circle of death kind of thing.

I spent yesterday creating a CGI basic blood splat on the wall for a shotgun blast to the head. The blood material and highlights are not there, the buckshot damage to the wall is missing, as are basic smoking body parts splatter sliding down the wall and an exploding head in front of that wall but so far, so good Mr. Twain. I have forgotten just how much fun destruction can be.

Not Only In It For The Money, Frank:

As a teacher I get these questions every so often from former students just out in the marketplace. Students will not hear this message in the classroom. And maybe it is a good thing for the Arts that they will not listen. Here is the email:

I was wondering, with what I've learned so far would it be at all possible to find work? I wasn't able to get the 3D side, which kind of puts a damper on things but I'm willing to do just about anything to acquire experience.

I apologize that I am asking you like this, I wasn't able to see you when you left but I'm kind of scraping by and rather tired of my current predicament. If you have any ideas, it would be extremely helpful.

B_ _ _ _

CRUEL TRUTH TIME: I try to tell my students this in class but they never listen. You can look forward to more of the same for the rest of your career. But if you love what you are doing it is worth it. We artist are always just scraping by. A few make it big but the rest of us just keep trying. It is a way of life. Get use to it. I have been scraping by for the last 30 years. I`m looking for work right now myself because Brooks College was my summer job. You can look forward to more of the same for the rest of your career with patches of work and money along the way. But again if you love what your are doing it is worth it.

Do a film, prove to yourself and the world you are a filmmaker. The artists life is rough. There is no reason to live this way if we are not having fun doing something that we love.

Once you get the film done then enter it in film festivals, lots of film festivals and go out and meet all the people who go to those events looking to make money off the starving talent. And before making any deal get a good lawyer to look out for you butt.

See you at Comic Con but look me up at my presentations I will not be at the ASIFA-Hollywood Booth this year.

Larry