Siggraph 2008 LA August 11 - August 15th

Siggraph 2008

I am so glad that Siggraph is in Los Angeles this year. I don't have to travel or get a hotel! Also, the new staff for Siggraph seem to be working very hard to make the show more accessible to artists and broader than just the white papers and the usual techie stuff. The theme EVOLVE for this year's show couldn't be more on point.

I love the new perspective on what the show should be about, in light of the evolution of the medium and more and more artists working in visual effects. CG Society has a great article covering many of the new things Siggraph is exploring this year...Check the article out! It's looking like it might even reflect more of what Massive Black has been doing in San Francisco with the show Insomania.


The show is actually Monday through Friday (August 11 - August 15th) this year, instead of the usual starting on a Sunday. This is really better for the exhibitors since most people just are not there on a Sunday.

Last year, I was working for Side Effects Software. I got a real "behind the scenes experience" of what it's like to be an exhibitor for Siggraph. It's exhausting, so be nice to anyone you see working the floor and bring them a water or buy them a beer if you see them out at night. Especially Leyla Tirgari or Cristin Barghiel - they are going to need it.

As far as speakers, it's no secret I am a HUGE fan of Ed Catmull. last time I had the opportunity to see him speak in person it was 1995 at NATE and he was talking about the revolutionary new tool - NURBS. Wowsie Wow, that was a whiel ago. Anyways he is on fo the featured speakers and I just might have to be a little under the weather that Monday morning for work, if I am not allowed to attend.

Ed Catmull - Feature Speaker at Siggraph 2008

SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair Terrence Masson says to prepares for Siggraph this year: Ask your vendors for Exhibit passes as always ... but Basic one-day passes are only $45 (deal of the century IMHO), one day Computer Animation Festival passes are also only $50.

More details :
http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/registration/fees.php

BOF's are here :
http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/birds/

****************************************************

Siggraph Parties:

Houdini - No Party This Year :(
It's the end of an era.
Houdini always was known for the best
party of the year at Siggraph.
But, no more...


****************************************************
Siggraph Chapters Party

...going to be at Dodgers Stadium this year!
http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/reception/



****************************************************

Softimage User Event & Party
Where: Club 740
Tuesday, August 12th, 8:00PM – 1:00AM

Club 740 in downtown Los Angeles
Celebrate at one of L.A’s premier nightclubs.
Featuring the latest news from Softimage
and unforgettable guest performances, this event is sure
to be the talk of the show.
Space is limited – register now

That is all I can find at this time.

If you know of an event, let me know and I will add it to this posting.

99 Rooms

So kewl...Turn your speakers up...

99 Rooms is a unique internet art project that interweaves wall painting, photography, animation and sound in a manner entirely unknown until now. Shortly after its launch in June 2004, more than two million individuals throughout the world have already visited this interdisciplinary composite work of art.

99rooms stemmed from the mystical, often apolocalyptically charming pictures created by Berlin artist Kim Köster within the countless vacated premises of East Berlin‘s industrial sector. Photos of these paintings were initially produced in digital form and then animated through a cooperative effort between Richard Schumann & Stephan Schulz and then subsequently complemented through a personal sounddesign from Johannes Buenemann. The final product of this year long effort is a scintillating intermediary world which invites the observer into an journey through its morbidly-beautiful rooms.

ROSTLAUB Gbr Mainzer Strasse 1, 10247 Berlin, Germany Email: wir@rostlaub.com Kim Köster (The Artist) Richard Schumann (Art Direction) Johannes Bünemann (Sounddesign) Stephan Schulz (Flash / Programming)

A Short Story

An experimental short from Marcos Vaz and Daniel Blanco of Wondermint.

Nice!

Watch “A Short Story”.

Looney Tunes Theater

I found a bunch of original Looney Tunes cartoons online in their full splendor. I know some folks will think I am old as dirt when I tell you this, but these cartoons are how me and my brother and sisters spent Saturday mornings fighting over the remote.

Speedy Gonzalez was our "Dora The Explorer" - I think Speedy is wayyyy coooler.

~Enjoy!

Elmer's Candid Camera

Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears

Fast and Furious

Hair-Raising Hare

Awful Orphan

Hare Devil Hare

For Scentimental Reasons

Frigid Hare

The Hypo-Chondri-Cat

Baton Bunny

Feed the Kitty

Don't Give Up the Sheep

Bugs Bunny Gets Da Boid

Canary Row

Tortise Wins By A Hare

Bunker Hill Bunny

Kit For Kat

Putty Tat Trouble

Bugs And Thugs

Canneed Fued

Lumber Jerks

Speedy Gonzales

Tweety's S.O.S.

The Foghorn Leghorn

Daffy Duck Hunt

Early To Bet

A Broken Leghorn

Devil May Hare

Bad Ole Putty Tat

Alll A Brrd!

Room and Bird!

Tweet Tweet Tweety!

Gift Wrapped

Aint She Tweet?

A Bird in a Guilty Cage

Snow Business

Tweety Pie

Kitty Cornered

Baby Bottleneck

Old Glory

Great Piggy Bank Robbery

Duck Soup To Nuts

Porky In Wackyland

Radiohead Contest Finalists

AnimBoom is in the final stages of their animated music video contest for Radiohead’s “In Rainbows" album. Voting just opened to determine which of the semifinalists will be presented to Radiohead themselves. From a field of more than 1000 entries, 13 semifinalists have been selected by users and judges from Aniboom.com and Radiohead for the final voting period and a chance of winning the grand prize of $10,000.

I find it interesting that animators went into a steampunk or vintage-y direction with their shorts. Radio head has such a moody sound, I guess it lends itself to these art directions.

Below are MY favorites from the 13 semifinalists.
Vote for your favorite here.

Top 25 Animated features - by Moviefone

Moviefone released their list of the
Top 25 Animated Features of all time.

Animated movies can do everything live action movies can do -- make us laugh, make us cry, make us go agape at the sheer wonder of it all. Actually, they can do all those things better than live action movies can, sometimes -- because they're drawn, which makes them that much more, you know, impressive. Check out these 25 awesome animated treats and see if you don't agree. -- By Glenn Kenny

The Animator's Survival Kit Animated Logo

The Animators Survival Kit Animated Logo.

I never go on a job without this book. Ever new project presents a new set of obstacles. No matter how seasoned you are, the content in this book will help you work out solutions, faster. Especially, when working on a new walk cycle.

Siggraph 2008

Click here to see the teaser



I can remember when the Computer Animation festival was a show everyone looked forward too see each year at Siggraph, because it was supposed to be all the best animation completed from the year - student wise and professional.

The past few years it has gotten a bit stale, but this year it looks like some folks have taken the presentation and Siggraph more seriously! It's a tough nut to crack because these days with the Internet many people have seen most of the content out there, but this promo got me excited to go and actually see the festival in the theater this year, instead of ordering the disk and watching at home.

"The Computer Animation Festival is evolving into a full-scale film festival featuring curated and competition screenings; discussion panels with filmmakers, artists, and producers; a full day of 3D panels, presentations, and screenings; and an awards evening celebrating the artists' accomplishments. Events will be held at both the brand new Nokia Theater and at the Los Angeles Convention Center alongside the rest of the conference."

... CG Society Article

THE VENICE MEDIA DISTRICT HOSTS SPRING 2008 MIXER AT WIT ANIMATION

Join me at my friend Jeb Milne's Studio - WIT ANIMATION - Tomorrow Night for a fun little party! Ten bucks gets you in. Jeb has a gorgeous house and studio - come by and join me for a drink, great food from the Argentinian place Santino's and some fun.

I am usually sitting right here...in his front yard.

THE VENICE MEDIA DISTRICT HOSTS
SPRING 2008 MIXER AT WIT ANIMATION

Venice, CA — (May 8, 2008) – The Venice Media District will host its Spring 2008 Mixer at member company,

Wit Animation
on Thursday, May 22, 2008
from 6-9 pm.
(959 Superba Ave. in Venice,
at the corner of Lincoln Blvd.)
$10 at the door;

RSVP by calling 310.429.4169
or email events@venicemediadistrict.org
by Monday, May 19th.

The event features a demonstration of the new redBOXX technology from BOXX Technologies, Inc., as well as catering by Santino’s and a selection of wines from Venice Beach Wines.

In-kind/event sponsors include: Gustavo Morais, ST8 Creative Solutions for logo and invitation design; Daryl Barnett for event production; event photography by Photographer Jean Pritchard; web site design by Pablo Toledo of Venice Arts; web site design and management and evite design by Catherine Chevalier of Not Maurice; Robert Feist of Ravenswork for providing meeting/event production space; pr by
Hype and event promotion by HypeFest.

The Venice Media District has been created in response to the changing business landscape in the beachside community, and has very specific goals:

• Create networking opportunities and business-to-business awareness
• Raise awareness of the VMD through city designation and promotion
• Attract business & entrepreneurs to the area.
• Create a vehicle for non-profits to access the assets of the VMD

Venice Media District: bringing the creative companies of Venice together.

For more information, go to:
www.venicemediadistrict.org

Premiere Sponsor:
BOXX Technologies Inc.:
BOXX® Technologies Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance workstations and render nodes specifically designed to meet the high-performance and reliability requirements of digital content creators working in the 3D, animation, visual effects, digital film, architecture, game development and broadcast markets. BOXX’s rapid integration of cutting-edge computing technologies selected and optimized to deliver the best possible performance when running digital content creation (DCC) applications is reflected in its extensive line of uniquely featured and highly customizable systems, including BOXX APEXX®, 3DBOXX™ and 3DBOXX RTX workstations, and renderBOXX™ render nodes. For more information on BOXX Technologies Inc., visit the BOXX website at http://www.boxxtech.com

Sponsors:
WIT ANIMATION:
Dedicated exclusively to the art of character animation. Based in an idyllic compound in sunny Venice California, WIT has been providing world class character animation for clients such as McDonalds, Post Cereals, Nvidia, and countless others. WIT was started in 2000 by owner/creative director Jeb Milne. www.jebmilne.com
www.witanimation.com

Santino’s:
Three years ago Sergio Amata opened Santino’s, naming the place after his son, Santino. Sergio created an eclectic menu that reflects the many different cultural strands of his native Argentina, from Spanish Tapas to Italian pasta with a dash of Mexican flare thrown in. Each day of the week showcases a different specialty. Tuesday and Friday nights feature pizza from the grill, served from the quaint patio at the back of the restaurant. Thursday nights’ feature the paella recipe handed down to Sergio by his mother. Friday and Saturday nights encompass all of the favorites. If you are looking for the perfect place for a special event, Santino’s takes reservations for private parties on the patio. The space is the perfect place for anything from a ‘tete-a-tete’ dinner for two to an intimate group dinner. Santino’s also has an extensive catering service including ‘off-site’ Asado (Argentine BBQ tradition), and a variety of other party services and platters.
http://santinossantamonica.com

Venice Beach Wines:
A family owned retail wine shop open since January of 2007, focusing on small production boutique wines and artisan foods. The wines come from small producers from all over the world. We have, Spanish, French, Italian, South African, Australian, New Zealand, Portugal, Mexican, Chile, Argentina, domestic from Napa/Santa Barbara/Oregon/Washington state and even oddities such as Brazil and India. Venice Beach Wines is anticipating a remodel and reopening in June, offering its customers the opportunity to taste wines and receive on premise food service.

I Will Punch You!

Action Figure in Ceasar Chavez, Texas has this great Punching Promo they did.

I have used the image of what a boxer's face looks like just as the glove hits! as an example of heightened entertainment and exaggerated motion to show impact in animation.

You never actually SEE the pose of the face when hit - until the camera is over cranked like this demo or if it's a still taken by a photographer, but man o man you FEEL that punch when you watch it live. These poses I am sure have been pushed in comp, but the concept is still there.

Awesome!

Action Figure Punching Promo

Susan (1.7 MB) [01.07.08]

Julian (608 KB) [01.07.08]

Matt (928 KB) [01.07.08]

Cody (1.1 MB) [01.07.08]

Meredith (1.1 MB) [01.07.08]

Dan (799 KB) [01.07.08]

Vicki (26.2 MB) [01.07.08]

Will (4.7 MB) [01.07.08]

Emily (1.9 MB) [01.07.08]

Jason K. (1.6 MB) [01.07.08]

Jason M. (1.1 MB) [01.07.08]

Mark (966 KB) [01.07.08]

Ariel (1.6 MB) [01.07.08]

Animation Mojo

I just watched the Documentary by Leslie Iwerks - The Pixar Story - on Starz Kids and Family. I had no idea it was on and was just flipping channels - to my surprise, there it was. Wowsie Wow - good on ya - Ms. Iwerks!

I found myself energized watching this film
and excited to be an animator again.

Working as an animator (outside of Pixar), sometimes we can loose sight of how creative and fun it can be. The stories and films made in Hollywood are not always the best. Many times, the suits in charge loose sight of why they are being made. No one seems to be ready to stick their neck out for an original idea. Everyone seems to be out for the quick buck rather than investing for a long term goal. Generating profit - NOT creativity...seems to be the primary goal in Hollywood. Animated films should be created to entertain first!!! and tell a great story. Do this well...and the money will come.

If Steve Jobs hadn't been willing to invest his money and lose money for years on his investment in this new technology of computer animation and graphics, who knows if Pixar would have even made it? Success in any industry demands people willing to take risks and people who possess a fearless pursuit of new ideas to create something new.

One of the most important points made in the film was when Brad Bird gave his first talk to the people at Pixar. It was his point of view coming from the outside world, outside the vacuum of Pixar's success. The gist of what he tells them is this...

What you guys are doing here (at Pixar) is an anomaly. Most studios are not swimming in a creative jug of spontaneous creativity and making hit after hit. So value this.

Then he said one of the best things ever that sums up working in film making.

"Film is forever...pain is temporary."

Innovation, optimism, and original creativity in corporate American feels like it has died in many ways - but at Pixar it is alive and well. Money seems to skew any idea, especially when large amounts are involved, but Pixar is handling that balance.

The historical value of this film is as important as the story itself. Jamie and I worked tirlessly to cover much of the history of animation both 2D and CG in our book - Thinking Animation explaining how we got here as and industry and where we are going. Iwerks echoes most of what we wrote and offers even more insight through her interviews with the very people making that history.

I encourage any animator to watch this
film as soon as they get a chance.

The Pixar Story

Ki Ku Town Films

I think Elizabeth Ito's stuff is awesome!~

Elizabeth Ito's senior year project at Cal Arts. An animated documentary about a family of monsters trying to lead a normal american life. The voices are really her family. This won the Producer's Choice Award in the first Nicktoons Film Festival, was nominated for a Student Academy Award in 2004, and has been in various festivals around the world.

Elizabeth Ito's Sophomore film at Cal Arts

Elizabeth Ito's junior year cal arts film. Mister Monster is born!

Check out her blog too!

And her Flickr!

Musicotherapie

Musicotherapie

So kewl!

Fostering Innovation

In the beginning weeks of this blog and right after our book came out, we met Henry Caroselli. Henry wrote a great book called Cult of the Mouse. I encourage you to get it. He speaks on the loss of innovation in corporate America passionately. He makes many specific references to Disney regarding the loss of innovation, since he worked there for many years. Henry has a look at "what we as a country must do to reinvigorate idea generation––to reestablish innovation, not quarterly-profit imperatives, as the top priority in American business."

Well thanks to my friend Paolo, I see that Brad Bird also understands that its very important to keep innovation alive within your studio in order to keep creativity fresh...from Found Read.

Pixar’s Brad Bird on Fostering Innovation

This week The McKinsey Quaterly asks: what does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? Apparently, a lot. In Innovation lessons from Pixar, McKinsey writes:

Brad Bird makes his living fostering creativity. Academy Award-winning director (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) talks about the importance, in his work, of pushing teams beyond their comfort zones, encouraging dissent, and building morale. He also explained the value of “black sheep”—restless contributors with unconventional ideas.

Steve Jobs hired him, says Bird, because after three successes (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story 2) he was worried Pixar might struggle to stay innovative. Jobs told him: “The only thing we’re afraid of is complacency—feeling like we have it all figured out,” Bird quotes his boss as saying “…We want you to come shake things up.” Bird explains to McKinsey how he did it — and why, for “imagination-based companies to succeed in the long run, making money can’t be the focus.”

The piece is behind McKinsey’s pay wall, but we extract its 9 key lessons below.

Lesson One: Herd Your Black Sheep

The Quarterly: How did your first project at Pixar—The Incredibles—shake things up?

Brad Bird: I said, “Give us the black sheep. I want artists who are frustrated. I want the ones who have another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to. Give us all the guys who are probably headed out the door.” A lot of them were malcontents because they saw different ways of doing things, but there was little opportunity to try them, since the established way was working very, very well. We gave the black sheep a chance to prove their theories, and we changed the way a number of things are done here.

Lesson Two: Perfect is the Enemy of Innovation
The Quarterly: What sorts of things did you do differently?

Brad Bird: I had to shake the purist out of them—essentially frighten them into realizing I was ready to use quick and dirty “cheats” to get something on screen… I’d say, “Look, I don’t have to do the water through a computer simulation program… I’m perfectly content to film a splash in a swimming pool and just composite the water in.” I never did film the pool splash [but] talking this way helped everyone understand that we didn’t have to make something that would work from every angle. Not all shots are created equal. Certain shots need to be perfect, others need to be very good, and there are some that only need to be good enough to not break the spell.

Lesson Three: Look for Intensity

The Quarterly: Do angry people—malcontents, in your words—make for better innovation?
Brad Bird: Involved people make for better innovation… Involved people can be quiet, loud, or anything in-between—what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: “I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.” If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them.

Lesson Four: Innovation Doesn’t happen in a Vacuum
The Quarterly: How do you build and lead a team?
Brad Bird: I got everybody in a room. This was different from what the previous guy had done; he had reviewed the work in private, generated notes, and sent them to the person…. I said, “Look, this is a young team. As individual animators, we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but if we can interconnect all our strengths, we are collectively the greatest animator on earth. So I want you guys to speak up and drop your drawers. We’re going to look at your scenes in front of everybody. Everyone will get humiliated and encouraged together…

to read the other Five steps click here...

The Pixar Story

The Pixar Story

Directed By Leslie Iwerks

Written, Directed & Produced by Leslie Iwerks
Edited by Leslie Iwerks, Stephen Myers, A.C.E.
Cinematography by Suki Medencevic
Music by Jeff Beal
Narrated by Stacy Keach
88 Minutes

Review from Variety

By PETER DEBRUGE

Leslie Iwerks' documentary 'The Pixar Story' tells of the rise of the animation company through the visions of people such as the three Pixar principals, John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs. More than one option (Person) Steve Jobs (Person) Steven Jobs

Leslie Iwerks' "The Pixar Story" charts the company's rise to infinity and beyond, so to speak, and who better to chronicle the journey than the Oscar-nominated granddaughter of animation pioneer Ub Iwerks? Though a talking-heads retrospective by nature, pic boasts not only all the right heads (from the three Pixar principals -- John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs -- to Michael Eisner and honorary godfather George Lucas) but also plenty of animated eye candy from Pixar itself, including early shorts and concept art. Result makes for a rosy inhouse portrait, sure to interest fans, especially down the road on DVD.

Version screened at San Diego Comic-Con was well polished but not quite complete, with credits still in flux and clearances still pending on a few of the clips.

In retrospect, it's easy to mistake Pixar's success as savvy planning on the part of Lasseter ("talented artist"), Catmull ("creative scientist") and Jobs ("visionary entrepreneur"), but the docu goes a long way to remind just how remarkable the meeting of these three minds proved. After all, even Lucas, who developed Pixar as the computer-graphics arm of his own filmmaking operation, decided to cut it loose before the division had revealed its true promise.

Narrated by Stacy Keach, pic opens with the image of a spinning zoetrope, followed by highlights from a century of hand-drawn toons, a fitting reminder of just how far animation has evolved to reach the sophistication evident in Pixar's product. The key, of course, was the introduction of the computer -- a tool Lasseter has elsewhere referred to as a multimillion-dollar pencil.

In other tellings of the Pixar story, Disney figures as the would-be villain (for letting Lasseter go during the early days of computer animation), with Lasseter's promotion to chief creative officer of Disney animation seen as the underdog-hero's poetic victory. But now that Disney and Pixar are one and the same, and because Iwerks' docu was produced internally, such dramatics have no place in this telling -- which probably makes for a more accurate account of events, considering that neither company would be where it is today without the other.

Read More...