Even if Epic came out in 2013 and most of those screenshots might be outdated, I still feel they would be of interest for people interested in facial topology and a good resource for a future overall facial topology article and facial rig calisthenics.
Blue Sky topologies are very rare online so I used ChopRig system lead developer Daniel Lima’s showreel for reference. You will see meshes and wireframes from 2019 “Spies in Disguise” and 2013 “Epic”.
Back in 2008, I was privileged to attend Ed Catmull’s keynote at Siggraph as a Microsoft/Rare representative.
During his talk, Ed Catmull looked back at the mistakes Pixar did in its early years and the secrecy surrounding their technologies was one of them.
Instead he explained, everyone would benefit if studios became more open about their projects and technologies.
Fast forward to 2020, Ed Catmull stayed true to his words and everyone is now fully acquainted with Disney’s Ptex and other Pixar’s USD but did you know that Blue Sky and Dreamworks have also embraced the idea of sharing their ideas?
Few days ago, I shared an old article from the Blue Sky’s tech blog on Linkedin and I was astonished by the success it received. In the space of few days, my post, received a little bit less than 3.5k views on a blog post I had assumed everyone had already read and no, the article became viral.
Most animation related websites are too mainstream those days and not technology focused enough so it is easy to fall out of the loop. When using a 3d software, yes you can pretend you are working like a 2d animator but realistically, you are more like the pilot of a fighter plane and need to keep an eye on your memory use, processes and autosaves.
For anyone wanting to stay up to date for at least what the main Feature animation studios are doing, I would highly recommend to bookmark the following links and keep an eye on what is being discussed.
The Blue Sky tech blog is a fairly new one and I read some really interesting articles there, one of them regarding the gamification of Quality Checks (Introducing achievements into QC).
Well well well…. no farting or burping jokes, no pop culture references, fairly realistic look …. this definitely seems different! The trailer reminds us a bit of “Arthur and the invisibles” but it is obviously too early to know what this is about.
At a time where most Animated Features look alike, it is nice to see Blue Sky is trying something different. Let’s hope it works out.
I mentioned that great interview with Pixar animator Aaron Hartline a while back but loads of people seem to have missed it.
Make sure you watch it this time as it is really good.
Aaron was a Blue Sky senior animator until he finally made his dream true after years of effort and attempts despite many hurdles. A great lesson on persistence.
You might as well be interested in watching the following interview I just found:
Pencil Kings recently spoke with Art Directors, Animation Supervisors, Layout Designers, etc. from the most notable studios in the world. Pixar, Walt Disney, Sony Imageworks and Blue Sky Studios were all represented and some of their top artists provide insight and share their story on what it took to reach the top of their profession.
It is a very refreshing interview where Sergio explains what triggered his leaving from Disney. He talks about how animation is perceived in Spain vs the USA and how much of a challenge it can be to set up your own studio but as long as you take action, show persistence and learn from your mistakes, you should be able to reach your goals and Sergio Pablos with his involvement in Despicable Me, Titeuf, Rio and other secret projects is definitely proving this.
He also mentions the kind of movies he would really like to make, using the Iron Giant and Ratatouille as examples, but explains that comedies are probably the easiest stories to market and sell. The failure of the beautiful Framestore feature “The Tales of Despereaux” could prove him right actually.
Right, go on, why don’t you listen to the full interview now? It is only 11 minutes but it is packed with great insights by a guy who has been involved with many of the recent successes of the past several years from Tarzan, to Rio…
If some of you also speak spanish, you are in for a treat. Arte y animacion also recorded some podcasts with other talented spaniards currently officiating at Disney and Dreamworks, here are few links for you:
Animschool just announced a live webcast next week with Blue Sky animation superstar and amazing actor: Jeff Gabor. The live webcast is already fully booked but Dave Gallagher announced that a replay will be available at a later date
I am doing a lot of research on broad animation style and found ex Blue Sky animator Jason Martinsen’s showreel which is featuring his great work on Dr Seuss’s based movie “Horton Hears a Who”.
With the Mayor, Vlad the vulture was one of my favorite characters in the movie and I am surprised so few people have seen that very entertaining movie.
I hope this is the style Mac Guff will go for in their next production “Lorax”.
Since Aaron moved/switched blog/joined Pixar I lost track of his posts and missed that one about his work on one of my favourite “Horton” characters: Vlad the vulture. I love it!
Check out his video reference and final animation on his blog
I was writing a Twitter Tweet and while comparing the boxoffice takings from Pixar’s “Up” to Blue Sky’s “Ice age 3 (Dawn of the Dinosaurs)”, I realised that the numbers are actually much worse than what jumps to the eyes.
