Swine Flu: I don't want it.

Every once in a great while, living in California sucks. Like right now, I kind of wish I wasn't so close to Mexico and the impending doom of the Swine Flu. If you need me I'll be holding my breath.

Life Can Make You Tired

Today I went surfing around 3pm. Low-tide was around 2pm and there was talk of a swell coming in tomorrow, so I thought I might be able to catch a few lucky early sets and have some fun. I walked down to the beach and the wind was blowing a lot harder than I had expected it too. The surf was around waist high and it wasn't quite blown out chop, so I decided to go for it. Though, who am I kidding I would have gone out no matter what the conditions were. I really needed some salt water.

I paddle out and the waves are very uneven and messy, but I manage to get a couple of really fun rides. In fact, one of the best rides yet on my new board was today. It surprised me, but I turned and paddled back out yearning for more. There were a couple other guys out too, though it was a little more chilly than normal and with the wind blowing, surfers were scarce.

As I'm paddling back out I notice a larger set coming in, so I paddle out quickly to get over the first wave and make it just in time. My large nine foot board makes it very difficult to duck dive under the waves so I try my best to get over them and use the board's speed to my advantage. I get over the first wave but it still pulls me in about ten yards. As it peaks and I look over I see another, not abnormal so I just paddle out again. Normally a set will have 3-5 of these big ones and calm down again, but instead they kept coming. They were getting bigger and I was getting really tired by about the fifth one. I raised up on a peak and sat up and saw that there were at least ten more coming, so I said "Shit." and let one tumble me into shore a bit.

The combination of the wind, low tide, and these random out of nowhere chest high waves were draining my stamina a lot quicker than I was comfortable with so after getting bashed on the head by about three more waves I finally road one in to shore. As I got onto dry sand and turned around to look at the surf, I realized that Thursdays swell had arrived early. The surf had gone from messy knee to waist high sets to chest high plus and dumping like nobodies business. Low tide and big waves do not mix at this spot. It's always a funny site. I walked back to the beach where I found that my $5 sandals had been taken by someone. I presume they thought they were abandoned. I don't mind, hope they are happily aboard somebody's feet. I walked back to work barefoot and dug back in to my computer.

A few hours later we headed down the beach again to the Ocean Park tennis courts for our Wednesday session. Brian, Than, Tom, and myself all played a bunch of games and leveled up our tennis a bit, but ultimately they beat us each time. 5-7 and 4-6. Blargh!

I am damn tired. Minutes before I hobble to bed and drown myself in Zzzz's and Sonata Arctica, I felt a quivering need to write a little. I hope my five paragraphs were an acceptable expenditure of your time.

Summer Trip, FJORG!, Siggraph!

Reporting in here from Cape Cod, Massachusetts right now! I've been here about a week visiting family and friends, soaking up the sun, and preparing mentally for FJORG and a hopefully busy month of August.

August 8-9th -|- AnimationMentor.com Graduation -|- San Francisco, CA
August 10-13th -|- FJORG! Animation Challenge @ Siggraph '08 -|- Los Angeles, CA
August 13-17th -|- Siggraph '08 -|- Los Angeles, CA

FJORG! is going to be freakin' amazing! My team is Bill Buckley, Ken Robkin, and myself. We'll be held up in a room full of animators where we'll have 32 hours to make the best short film we can. I've been working with Ken for almost two years and haven't had a chance to meet him yet (he lives in Florida) so it's going to be a good time for all no matter what happens I'm sure. More updates when I can.

Once I get back from Siggraph I'll be back to work full time on my short film until I find some work in the L.A. area. It's been a really neat summer so far with so much free time but it's about time to get back into some real work. =)

So far on the trip Emily and I have taken a couple hundred photos so it will be a good time going through them all. I'll definitely put them up once the time comes. Stay tuned!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life

Today was my first day at Image Metrics as an officially employed character animator.

Image Metrics does advanced facial animation for film and video games, most notably they've done almost all of the games made by Rockstar. (Grand Theft Auto Series, Bully, The Warriors, etc.) It's exciting to be working on well-known titles that I know people will actually play, so now when it's finished I can show you what I did. =)

My day started with paperwork in the front office, then I went in for the animation dailies where I finally got to see first hand the caliber of animators I'd be working with. It was really neat to see all the different facial rigs for the games, and to see what they were and were not capable of. For the film work the rigs are extremely detailed and the animation is the same, where as the game rigs have a lot more limitations and the animation can't be as complex. After dailies they got me set up with a computer and I got started on my first shot.

My first obstacle was that the scene files for the game I'm on are all in 3D Studio Max. For those who don't know, there are a few different programs you can use to animate in and they all sort of do the same thing but have different buttons and ways of doing them. So in theory if you know the core principles of animation then you can animate on any software, but there is still the hump of learning the buttons. Took me about half the day before I felt like I was doing anything productive. Still though, to learn a new 3d application in half a day made me feel smRt.

After I got it (pretty much) figured out I was able to start workin' on the shot. We do all facial animation, so I have to polish this one long sequence of facial work on the shot I'm given. My current shot is 3641 frames long, which is....a lot! There is a lot of time where he isn't speaking since someone is talking to him, so that's a nice save at least. It's great though, my first professional shot. I'll remember this forever.

Spent the rest of the day working on that and around 3pm we had a studio meeting with one of our guys talking about FACS (Facial Action Coding System) this crazy system that Pyschologists use to analyze facial expressions. Neat stuff! I continued working on the shot until about 6:30pm and realized I forgot to take a lunch break and was starving, so I picked up and headed home.

It's so awesome. So, so, so awesome. Finally.

Here is my list of thanks to people who have helped me:

Emily Grossman
Ken Robkin
Dan Edwards
Karna Nelson
Sean Cannon
Cedric Busse
Kevin Scott
Randy Haycock
Sean Ermey
Martin Hopkins
Dave Vallone
Mike Bahurinsky
Alexiss Memmott
Rich Fournier
Mike Wong
Bobby, Sean, and Carlos for starting AnimationMentor.com!
Tyson, Cam and all the guys and gals at SimplyCG.net
My Parents
Everyone at AM

I hope I didn't forget anyone but seriously everyone has helped me so much I could never have learned how to do all this stuff without the support of so many good people. Thanks to you all. =)

Man it feels so good for a dream to start to form into something real.