CG Diary of Siosi

Over the past couple of years, I’ve devoted a lot of time to narrowing down my career choices. The choices evolved in this order:

[i]Computers > Information Technology > Computer Engineer > Programmer > Designer > Animator & Visual FX Artist[/i]

I am very certain on placing myself in the Animation & Visual FX industry, but I discovered that there is a lot of different positions to fill in this industry. I thought about specializing straight out of High School, but my father told me to do a broader degree (such as the one I am taking at the moment, Bachelor of Design (Multimedia Systems)) - just in case. As reluctant as I was at the time, I decided to listen to his advice. It turned out to be a good choice, because the fad of the industry (back then) leaned towards heavily specialized workers. A couple of years later, the industry realized that they needed people who were disciplined in a wider range of skills. However, it should be noted that the industry still favors workers who are a bit more solid in one specific type of work (i.e. modeling, rigging, animating, lighting, etc.).

Although I’m appreciative of what has been taught in my degree, I feel that students who are pursuing animation & visual FX, may be let down in terms of the options available during the “specialized” third year. I’m currently doing my second semester, as a 3rd year student, but feel as though I have not learned enough to create a comfortable/satisfying demo-reel. I have taken on two 3D classes this semester (3D Character & Advanced Imaging & Animation), to hopefully make up for that.

As of today, I have decided to narrow in on the art of character modeling and animation. I will be refining this idea over the next couple of weeks, but for my initial demo-reel idea, I plan on including 2 or 3 character models and small clips of each character animated. So, by the end of this semester, I will have something ready to entice myself and of course, prospective employers.

Before I begin modeling this assignment, I thought I’d post up a model I did earlier on in the year. This model is high-res and a bit more detailed, but it was made using a different technique - starting out with a NURBS sphere, instead of the low-poly box technique we’re using at the moment, which is required. Therefore, I’ll just use my previous face model as further reference.

From: IMDB
Author: Merklin

The simpsons movie is witty,fast paced, touching, hugely entertaining and most importantly: laugh out loud funny.And if your a simpsons fan who’s loved every episode , thats all you’ll need from it.

However if , like me , your an obsessive fan who’s noticed a drop in quality on the show from the late nineties onwards you’ll see some problems. You’ll see that structure wise the movie is basically an extended episode.You’ll notice that the villain is a Hank Scorpio rip off. You’ll feel that a lot of the plot points and character drama seem all too familiar.But in spite of all this , in spite of being a film based on a show that exhausted its best gags long ago, the simpsons movie is still absolutely hilarious and i take my hat off to the creators for managing to make it so.

A simpsons movie in the early nineties (when the show was in its prime) would have been better, but the very , very , very funny one we have here in ‘07 works just fine. Funny stuff.

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This semester, I’ve decided to integrate all the assignments (in each of my classes) to promote, and to create awareness for, Tuvalu. For my 3D classes, I will be creating the characters and buildings for the short-film project I have in mind. Once I have these completed, I’ll be able to use them not only for my short-film, but for my demo-reel as well.

Understandably, a lot of the old-time stories we know span from European mythology, fairy-tales and folklore. Many of the old stories of the Oceanic region has yet made its way to the eyes and ears of the “outside” community - with the exception of say Australia and New Zealand (with films such as Whale Rider, Walk About and some recent animated shorts entitled Dust Echoes).

One of my aims is to integrate stories (initially and specifically from Nanumea) outside of the well-known, into the well-known (general knowledge/collective consciousness), so as to gain a tighter grasp of multi-culturalism in today’s “global society.” With the aid of today’s technology (with an emphasis on 3D animation in my case), I believe that a lot can be learned from the small islands that inhabit the South Pacific. Education is a very important part of our lives, and is imperative that we continually refine the ways in which we teach and learn. In closing, I leave you with a quote that has recently captured my attention:

“If you think you’re too small and insignificant to make a difference, then you’ve never spent a night in bed with a mosquito.”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve devoted a lot of time to narrowing down my career choices. The choices evolved in this order:

Computers > Information Technology > Computer Engineer > Programmer > Designer > Animator & Visual FX Artist

I am very certain on placing myself in the Animation & Visual FX industry, but I discovered that there is a lot of different positions to fill in this industry. I thought about specializing straight out of High School, but my father told me to do a broader degree (such as the one I am taking at the moment, Bachelor of Design (Multimedia Systems)) - just in case. As reluctant as I was at the time, I decided to listen to his advice. It turned out to be a good choice, because the fad of the industry (back then) leaned towards heavily specialized workers. A couple of years later, the industry realized that they needed people who were disciplined in a wider range of skills. However, it should be noted that the industry still favors workers who are a bit more solid in one specific type of work (i.e. modeling, rigging, animating, lighting, etc.).

Although I’m appreciative of what has been taught in my degree, I feel that students who are pursuing animation & visual FX, may be let down in terms of the options available during the “specialized” third year. I’m currently doing my second semester, as a 3rd year student, but feel as though I have not learned enough to create a comfortable/satisfying demo-reel. I have taken on two 3D classes this semester (3D Character & Advanced Imaging & Animation), to hopefully make up for that.

As of today, I have decided to narrow in on the art of character modeling and animation. I will be refining this idea over the next couple of weeks, but for my initial demo-reel idea, I plan on including 2 or 3 character models and small clips of each character animated. So, by the end of this semester, I will have something ready to entice myself and of course, prospective employers.