Computer Generated Animations
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"Action-Sequence Pre-Viz"Created: 3/2007 Size: 15.2 MB
Software Used: Maya 7, Mental Ray, Combustion 4, After Effects 7, ZBrush 2
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The final project for my Visual Effects Theory class required us to individually design an animation that contained 20 practical
and digital special effects into a 2+ minute pre-visualized action-sequence. This Lo-Res, preliminary animation and accompanying documentation would serve as a guide for a
VFX production house. Then they would know how to most effectively create, photograph, & composite all the elements required. They could also assess the workforce necessary to complete a
particular project and evaluate potential cost using this type of animation. (7 days of rendering & 2 days of animating)
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"Space Station Flyby"Created: 11/2006 Size: 2.59 MB
Software Used: Maya 7, ZBrush 2, Renderman, Photoshop CS2, Cutter Text Editor, After Effects 7
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This animation is a test rendering for the opening shot of my thesis animation. Through its creation, I learned how to use
SCAD's renderfarm and integrate it into an effective production workflow. Now I have a much stronger understanding of texture and displacement
map size in relation to close-ups and render times when using Renderman.
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"Violator's Rampage"Created: 1/2005 Size: 1.52 MB
Software Used: Maya 6, ZBrush 2, Combustion 3, Blastcode 1.0, Turtle 2.0, After Effects 5.5
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This animation's purpose was to better understand how ZBrush-created models and displacement maps can be applied within Maya.
In addition, I wanted to experiment with the powerful dynamics found in Blastcode while polishing my key-frame animating skills.
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"Ro-Bort Marching"Created: 4/2007 Size: 1.99 MB
Software Used: Houdini 8, After Effects 6.5
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This robot was modeled in Houdini and animated procedurally using expressions and variables. The concept was inspired by a Simpsons episode where
Bart attacks Lisa in an arm-swinging, windmill fashion. The link below contains all the robot's modeling and animation components.
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"Robot Dancing"Created: 4/2004 Size: 0.30 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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This animation shows two shots from a short called "Remote-A-Dad". I wasn't completely satisfied with
the final results of this collaborative project, but I was happy with these "break dancing" shots I animated. I modeled,
textured, and rigged the two characters.
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"Swish Introduction"Created: 3/2004 Size: 0.93 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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This is the first animated segment in the Stuttering Foundation of America's "Stuttering for Kids, by Kids" video. The virtual-host Swish
is introduced and displays his ability to morph between biped form and his invulnerable ball form. I designed, modeled, textured, rigged, animated, and
rendered everything seen.
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"Jungle Gym Summary"Created: 3/2004 Size: 2.35 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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In this animation, Swish summarizes previously shown segments and emphasizes that it's ok for stuttering children to speak about their problems.
To grab children's attention before the important message is stated, I incorporated a Matrix "bullet-time" effect which was very popular at the time.
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"Ignore Teasing Bullies"Created: 3/2004 Size: 0.46 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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Many stuttering children unfortunately have to deal with teasing. This segment has Swish asking children to share their own solutions.
Afterwards, Swish implies that it's best to walk away and ignore teasing bullies.
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"Speech Advice"Created: 3/2004 Size: 0.59 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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In this segment Swish asks children if they have any advice for kids who go to speech. In the final product, the first child
to respond transitions through Swish's open mouth. The backflip was surprisingly fun to animate.
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"Speech Advice"Created: 3/2004 Size: 0.29 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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For this segment, Swish asks kids to define "stuttering". Seeing several kids acknowledge their own plight
helps to comfort similar children in knowing that they aren't alone and that it's alright to seek help from a speech therapist.
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"Buddy Vs The Ball"Created: 9/2003 Size: 2.39 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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This was a lab exercise for my introduction to Maya course. It combined two commonly practiced animation exercises:
a walk cycle and a bouncing ball. I'm proud that the result was better than I anticipated.
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"Gambling Sun Introduction"Created: 5/2004 Size: 1.17 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Photoshop 7
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With the increased popularity of poker, I decided to take “Rich Sun” literally to create this introduction for an old demo reel. The fire effect
was created in Maya and was the first time I used a particle emitter.
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"Persistence of Memory in Motion"Created: 10/2002 Size: 1.18 MB
Software Used: Maya 5, After Effects 5.5, Combustion, Photoshop 7
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I imagined what Salvador Dali’s famous painting would be like if the 4th dimension of time was added. Since the painting comments on nuclear
devastation, I felt lush vegetation should precede a cataclysmic event. This project helped me become familiar
with Maya’s Paint Effects and introduce me to the interesting particle effects in Combustion.
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"ReCreation"Created: 6/2002 Size: 1.09 MB
Software Used: 3D Studio Max 5
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This was an independent animation I did for practice. Before taking my first 3D animation course, I wanted to be familiar with the basic tools to
know what I needed to improve. It gave me a first glimpse into the computer graphic production pipeline. I designed a much more lengthy short, but discovered
how time consuming key-frame animation can be if you don't know how to rig propperly. Overall, I had a lot of fun with it, and I saw it as an encouraging first try
into 3D and animation.
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"Banana Rotting"Created: 11/2006 Size: 1.35 MB
Software Used: Maya 7, ZBrush 2, Renderman, Photoshop CS2, Cutter Text Editor
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The purpose of this project was to write a custom surface shader
in the Renderman Shading Language (RSL) to simulate the illusion of fruit decaying and rotting. The technique I used is a blend of procedural cell-noise and texture mapping.
As a result, I was able to create a random spotting effect with control over when and where the rotting areas would occur.
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"Space Invaders Scene Rotation"Created: 9/2006 Size: 1.57 MB
Software Used: Renderman, Photoshop CS2, Cutter Text Editor
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This was my first assignment for my Renderman shader programming class. A few textures were created in Photoshop, and everything else was created through code.
Without the aid of a graphical user interface, I became much more comfortable with constructing basic structures and navigating in 3D space using only an X,Y,Z coordinate system. The project guidelines
stated that the image could be abstract, but I felt that a small cityscape would be more interesting.
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