Finally! My Last Days on Mars Reels

My 2014 Reel

After finishing my work as 3D supervisor on Last days on Mars at Screen Scene  on the 17th march 2013 I can fianlly show the two reels and some images of what I did on it including something not seen in any breakdown reels by screen scene (as it was done directly for the director on an evening and weekend).  So there have been serious additions to the main site.

My Last Days On Mars 3D Supervisor Reel

I don't actually any of this to get work now, as I work as Senior Environment Artist at Rockstar North.  The main LDOM reel of mine is as way of a thank you to every single person I had the joy of working with back then and that helped me to create such happy memories.  I count every single one as a dear friend now and if only we were allowed to tell some of the crazy stories of things that happened in those 7 months. Once I get time I may do a blog on some of the interesting facts and figures from us guys in 3D and the dev and shot times from last days on mars...if I am allowed that is.

Me sculpting the suit for the Liev Digital Doubles...total dev time till ready for rigging.. 24 hours. With all shaders and textures.

But while I can't list everyone I worked with (the comp dept get a special mention for saving our arses more than a few times and making  all us crazy loud 3D people look good).  But let me list the core 3D team that did the majority of the 3D work on The Last Days on Mars

John O Connell

The only shot I have that is fit to be shown publicly of John..here at work on the infamous 'shot 1016' that everyone worked on at one time or another

John is a good mate, someone I had met prior to screen scene at the end user event one year previously.  He is without a doubt one of the best technical artists I have worked with and always was able to knock out a Maxscript to get us out of a bind or make life easier.  A total savant at optimizing Vray (but definitely not an idiot!)  and cutting down render times.  John did all sorts on the film and was indispensable, John is the ultimate 3D Generalist.  I hope one day we get to work together again. (You'd better be blushing at this point John! ;) )

Daniel Rath

Daniel modeled and textured  the lander and the Rover, seen here on with the lander

I remember when I 1st started at Screen scene Daniel sitting at his corner desk, this serious young German lad.  He turned out to be one helluva modeler and texture artist, and had a wicked sense of humour.  Put it this way...neither myself or Glen Southern could fault a single thing he did.  The guy who single handedly modeled and textured the rover and the lander.  I would recommend him highly in the strongest terms.  He worked hard, always exceeded what was required and was great fun to be around. (Just don't mention 99 red balloons to him or garloff).

Garloff  'Mr Garloff' Langenbeck

Oh no! Deadline crashed again!

The mad German!  Garloff was responsible for just about every bit of wheel dust you see in last days on mars, a lot of the lighting, most of the blood and god alone knows what else.  One of my favorite people to be around and sort of like a younger better looking German version of me.   I am proud of the fact I learned him many new English swear words.

Garloff on with the zombie blood Simulation

He lit the best lit shot in the entire film and made it look so good out of the gate that I re-evaluated the whole lighting pipeline afterwards.  The fact that Garloff also managed to stay sane after sharing a house with me for 2 weeks is testament to his fortitude.  Definitely a person who you can enjoy your work and off times with.

..and a third shot of garloff because its such an awesome shot.

Glen Southern

Glen hard at work avoiding using shotgun again lol

Glen doesn't need an introduction at all, he's been a mate for a good few years now and I asked him to come over to help with the modelling duties as we had a serious amount of stuff to do and not enough time to train someone to do it to the required standard.  Glen and I always have a sort of short hand that meant we could get assets out between us very fast indeed.  Glens now creative director over at Egg in Dublin.  When you see the Pit...glen did one side in Zbrush I the other in Mudbox...only glen and I know which is which and we're not telling ;)  (fanboys of either app should have fun trying to work it out lol)

Yanko Slavov 'The Terminator of 3D Tracking'

Yanko at rest...as he had run out of shots to track.

A member of the infamous [NAME REDACTED]'family'  The Bulgarian Mr Yanko was the fastest and most accurate tracker I have ever worked with. Every 3d tracker has a percentage of failure... Yanko didn't..his tracks were always perfect and done at warp factor ten. Often before you even realized you needed them.  A really nice guy and he saved my bacon one night in the early hours when I got back off my flight from seeing my kids and the lock had jammed, Yanko gave me his bed so I would have somewhere to sleep while he slept on the couch.  That says everything I can about the man.  If you need the best 3D tracker... go for Yanko.  I count him as a dear friend and look forward to visiting him in Dublin again soon.

Giacomo Cavilleti

Giacomo's Lighting face

Giacomo came straight out of Aardman and into screen scene.  He cranked through lighting shots like a man possessed and I always knew if I gave a shot to him it would get done well. A great guy who likes a laugh but takes his work very seriously.  Giacomo is someone that anyone would love on their 3D team.  I do miss having lunch with him.

Martin Naydenski

Martin after 5 months of 7 days weeks and late nights..he still looks better than I did lol

If you saw a dust storm in Last days on Mars...it was martin, done on his own in impossible time limits that would make any large studio bring out a team of 30. He managed to exceeded anything anyone thought was possible. A Bulgarian particle mastermind, he now runs BottleShip FX with Hristo Velev. 

Ed Bruce and Glen pretending to understand what Martin is doing.... I swear it was black magic somehow.

Ben Klimmeck

Ben had the distinction of working on both the screen scene LDOM crew and the directors crew over the road.   Ben is a hardcore production 3d guy with some good skills and the ability to get shit done well.  He was also (amongst many other things) responsible for the facial rig on the marko zombie  head I did for RR.  Alas I don't have a decent shot of Ben.

There were others who came and went during the course of LDOM but these guys and myself were the core 3D Crew.  Add to this the production staff with VFX sup Ed Bruce, Mighty VFX coordinators the legendary Sarah Mooney (another member of the [NAME REDACTED]' ...as am I ;) )and Amy James, along with Nico Murphy and Kenneth Coyne.  The comp dept headed by Grainne Freeman (with special mention to another of my favorite people Joe Courtis).... It was without doubt the most hectic , but also most fun time I have had working anywhere in my life.

So guys and gals who worked at Screen Scene on Last Days on Mars..I salute you all.