Animation with a moustache

February 23, 2012

Pixar Brave, sneak peek clip

Something new from Emeryville just came out and it is looking really nice. If you still needed to be convinced to go and watch Pixar’s next feature, Brave, you are in for a treat.

I like the sound they put at the end of the clip, reminds me of a “Lost” episode.

I am not too sure about the rendering/compositing though. I feel some reflected light and maybe some colours in the shadows are missing. The dark areas seem too bright in places and the green of the “straw like grass” seems a bit strange for such a rainy kingdom but this could be due to the Youtube compression and my taste for saturated colours 😉

Character design wise, I was worried Merida and Queen Elinor’s design would be too bland but they have some nice subtle wrinkles and sharp features that work very well in animation.

I can’t wait!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1SBjAuMN6A[/youtube]

0

Education

February 15, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

AnimSchool Model review

I just came across a really good 3d model review by Dave Gallagher and I found it verry interesting as Dave is giving some really good tips on how to best adapt a 2d concept art into a working 3d model.

It is only 15 minutes but I have never seen anything like that online before. Don’t expect anything technical except at the very end where he talks about adding more edges to the chin to create more volume and the problem it will cause. The video is mainly about translating a 2d concept into 3d and spotting areas that usually get overlooked.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqsvG_vjD4#![/youtube]

AnimSchool General review Gary Hsu

0

Animation / Education

February 14, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

Animschool interview Josh Carey

If you want to know a little bit more about those crazy cartoony Looney Tunes short films Reel FX has been producing since last year, head out to the AnimSchool blog!

They just interviewed Reel FX Rigging Department supervisor Josh Carey and the article is pretty informative regarding their pipeline and the kind of R&D they do. I had never imagined anyone would create a “data mining” tool to evaluate controls usage and I think it is a great idea for a TD to see which ones are the most used.

There are also so useful tips for aspiring TD so check it out!

AnimSchool interview Josh Carey

4

Animation

February 10, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

Daffy’s Rhapsody

I love naturalistic animation but cartoony animation with that kind of rigs must be a LOT of fun!

Great work by ReelFX and if you missed Josh Carey’s VES rigging submission, hit the link below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5cwY4qsqkQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Shorter clip but more accurate colours here

I think that Pixar logo would fit nicely after so much keyframe awesomeness. In your face Serkis! 😉

2

Animation

February 4, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

Pixar “Brave” Disney world display

Ahah! something new to see!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRqpCeKTEKo&feature=share[/youtube]

2

Animation

January 27, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

Pick my brain…with a Moustache

Pick my brain with a Moustache

Ever wanted to participate to a one hour one-to-one Q&A with an expert in a field related to animation?

There will be a free beta test for the first 5 people who sign up next week after the official announcement.

And if You are an expert in Character design, Modeling, Rigging, Animation… make yourself known! olivier.ladeuix@gmail.com. Use “I am an expert” in the subject line and provide me with a link to your showreel video or portolio

2

Animation / Friends

January 18, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

“Yummy” – short film

After many years, my friend Maciek finally finished his short film “Yummy”.

Maciek and I started Animation Mentor together in Cassidy Curtis’ first class and after some struggles and set back, he eventually fulfilled his dream to became an animator in Feature Animation. I just hope he gets interviewed one day so he can explain how tenacious one needs to be to succeed. Ah and he could probably talk about his current workflow compared to when he started 😉

He recently revamped his blog, check it out http://www.maciekgliwa.com/

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/35064505[/vimeo]

Related posts:
Daphne’s new broom
102 Q&A

0

Animation / Education

January 17, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

A day in the production of La Luna

Pixar’s story artist Enrico Cassarosa wrote a nice series of article where we follow him for a day, during the production of his short film “La Luna”.

One thing that surprised me was to see Mudbox being used at Pixar. I thought they were still using that stylus and digital arm we have seen in the past but it looks like they have now fully embraced digital modeling and chosen a tool that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. No Zbrush nonsense here. I wonder if they also use 3d coat or Topogun.

The series of articles starts from the following post and you can access the next ones by clicking on the link above the posts to the right, “9am off to work” being next.

A day in the production of La Luna

While we are at it, you can also have a look at that nice 30 minutes interview with Enrico

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olxTcA18lXo#![/youtube]

Related post:
Enrico Cassarosa

5

Animation / Education

January 16, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

Food for thoughts

Doing some research for my shortfilm, I went through the first twenty of the 49 Wile E Coyote and Road Runner short films and it saddens me to say….. I didn’t break one laugh.

The worst is that those were all directed by animation legend Chuck Jones, a man that is wildly accepted as one of the funniest men in the animation industry.

Despite the great Carl Stalling soundtrack, gorgeous stylized Maurice Noble backgrounds, the crazy animation, brush work and comedic timing, nothing helped. I might have smiled few times to how Chuck Jones played with our expectation on the final gag but I didn’t find anything worthy of a laugh.

The Wile E. Coyote series came out at the end of the 1950s and was probably really funny at that time but I feel that the humor didn’t age well.

Would this be due to the fact that, he … invented it all? So many variations have been seen for the past 50 years that maybe we have now become desensitized to the original material?

If you want to do the same test you are in luck, Youtube user CoyoteAndRoadRunner uploaded pretty much all the shortfilms, by chronological order, to his channel .

While watching the shorts, one thing struck me…. For some reasons, Youtube kept suggesting the viewing of a series of candid/hidden camera gags and I eventually did.

Man, I didn’t expect what would follow.

After only watching one video, I was in stitches.

“Just for Laughs Gags” is an hilarious Canadian secret camera show using all the comedic elements of cartoony pantomime. The gags are beautifully set up, staged and acted by a cast of very likable characters. Even with the inevitable “background laughs” muted, it is impossible to resist laughing hysterically.

For comparison, here is a selection of Chuck Jones directed “Wile E. Coyote” short films followed by “Just for laughs gags”. See what you respond the most to. Maybe you will differ from me but if not, we need to rethink what constitutes comedy in animation.

Coyote and RoadRunner – Gee Whiz-z-z-z (05.05.1956)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_xJmvk9utA[/youtube]

Coyote and RoadRunner – Chariots of Fur (21.12.1994)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0nrLIcdOdE[/youtube]

Infinite Ice Cream
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsGplFM6Ue4[/youtube]

Honking At Hookers
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEos0ej9CEY[/youtube]

Worker Stuck In Ceiling
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdlaZQyVxxM[/youtube]

Mall metal detector
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-pPusCToyY[/youtube]

Stretcher In Water Prank
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6SLDCIJzA[/youtube]

4

Education / Modeling / Portfolio

January 14, 2012

by Olivier Ladeuix

3d Modeling portfolio

Since animation work is pretty scarce at the moment I have decided to put all my modeling work together just so I can apply to 3d modeling positions.

Those are props for a long overdue short film, personal work, professional work and character design studies. The work was done in Maya 2009 for the most recent pieces, 3ds Max 5 for the rest.

The Pixar related models are obviously fan art as I have never worked on Ratatouille or Brave. I only did those to get a better understanding of Pixar’s character designs, wireframe edge flow and rigging (articulations).

During a recent visit to French sculptor Bourdelle’s museum in Paris, I was reminded it is how the best artists learnt their art, by copying the masters. Michaelangelo was a great source of inspiration for Bourdelle, Daniel Lopez Munoz is mine.

Download the PDF version if you prefer Olivier_Ladeuix_modeling_2011.pdf or click the pictures below to zoom in.

You will probably find a timelapse video for most pieces in the “Related Posts” section at the end of the post and I would suggest their viewing to anyone wanting to learn about CG modeling and clean edge flow or just to see wireframes.