OGAM (Of Gods & Men)...crunch time.

I've been a bit quiet of late for a number of reasons. The one that's brought me the most stress and been the hardest to deal with is the making of my short 'Of Gods & Men'. It become obvious a little while back that any hope I had of getting it done by my 2nd day of Lectures at the End User Event in Holland at the end of this month was impossible due to events outside my control. You may think that that was pretty self apparent anyway when you're trying to make a film quality short on a budget of £25, 90% of the time on your own. Had I been able to put the time in I needed , then there was a very good chance it would have been done.

So I made a decision to finish half of it and in the spirit of the last Harry Potter book split it into 2 shorts (that I'll release eventually as a single short.) Hey if it's good enough for holly wood its good enough for me lol. This should have made things far easier, but that's not exactly the case, as I still have 3/4 absolute nightmare shots to finish and render out. It's the rendering that's taking the time as these shots are :

A - created using my own app 'Exodus' (don't worry I'm not going to release it as it'd be a legal minefield lol)

B - as such they can only be rendered on my machine

C - The render farm I've had use of doesn't have a Renderman compliant render engine ,on it which is what HAS to be used for those shots

D - They have raw polygon counts that are between 100million and 750 million (not counting displacement maps...and all of those polys are animated. I'm pretty sure most people don't want me blowing up their render farm

As exodus is only for me, and is a mish mash of all sorts of crazy code from all sorts of places, it's about as stable as an Italian taxi driver behind 2 nuns in a tractor. This doesn't make for an easy workflow and many man hours have disappeared either on development or solving crazy issues. (such as it suddenly deciding to render bright purple using a constant shader and dump all animation ...Just for shits and giggles it seemed lol. Or the time a forgotten floating point interferred with animation on some characters making them all look like they were having spaz attacks.) That doesn't do good things for your stress levels as come what may I have to have this ready for a complete breakdown on my 2nd En User Event lecture.

I've also had in development for myself only a mental ray PTEX enabling shader, and my own propriety 1 click auto rig and skin solution....and a few other things I'll keep to myself. But alas these items mentioned simply were nowhere near ready for use in even a personal short as stability needs to be worked on. My idea behind developing them is mainly so I can have apps that do what very expensive ones do without having to resort to piracy. Which I cannot and will not condone.

This way I have no license fees to pay, I don't have to wait ages for support emails as I can fix it myself, and if it doesn't do exactly what I need it to I can simply research and add the feature myself. Another reason I won't be putting them out for sale or for free is twofold. Firstly, as not only are there other apps that do these jobs nearly as well (or in some cases better), but also its a mash up of various source code and legally it'd mean I'd make buttons anyway. Secondly I want a set of tools to do certain jobs easily that no one else has to give me an edge in production. I don't want to give my best tools to everyone. Harsh but honest.

Thankfully although I am convinced that this short is cursed due to the sheer amount of things that have went wrong, sometimes nice things pop up that help in some way. So I was surprised today to have a message on twitter from one of the guys working for Pixar on the Renderman side offering a free 1 month license so I could get my short finished (or the 1st part anyway)..Hopefully once that's up and running I won't be reduced to the single core frame at a time crap that I am having to put up with from 3delights free version lol. As I can then use 2 machines and all my cores to render it should...in theory mean I can get the 1st part of my short done.

Of course there are still only 24 hours in the day so let's have a little list of what's left to do before EUE on the 30th June / 1st July.

The List of Doom:

1. · all the complex high poly animated scenes need rendering out , inc passes
2. · final soundtrack edit
3. · final short edit
4. · compositing
5. · final colour grading
6. · write lecture script for both lectures
7. · do breakdown videos for EUE
8. · Sort the PowerPoint presentations out.
9. · Make beginning and end final titles for short
10. · final encodes of short in various resolutions and colour levels (so I can keep it looking perfect no matter what the projectors colour balance).
11. · Round up and arrange all files used
12. · Do sculpt tests for 1st lecture
13. · organise private course for a teaching gig just after EUE.
14. · Have nervous breakdown

That's a list of the top of my head and I KNOW I have left stuff out. Once EUE 2011 is over with I will then have to try and finish of rendering the complex scenes that will be left for the 2nd part of my short before the Renderman license runs out. A big thanks to the guys at Pixar for the helping hand with the free Renderman for a month.

There can't be many times a blokes CGI short is bailed out by Pixar lol. If by some miracle I have time free I'll put an unreleased shot or two up from my short nearer the time.

Wayne Robson RIP

Apprently I am dead and have been since the 4th April this year, although I have to admit that I'm looking pretty good for a dead guy. I shall of course be sure to eat brains and hang around deserted shopping centers shouting 'BRAINS!!!'. I am pleased that death has not impeaded my ability to type. Although my wife has pointed out that I am looking a bit odd after 2-3 months of only sleeping 2 or 3 hours a night. When they say long hours kill ya they aren't fucking joking, I've been so busy on my short I didn't realise I was dead lol. It also explains a sudden fear of shotguns. :)

OK so you got me...I'm not realy dead. However did you guess?

But my namesake the Actor Wayne Robson is.... so as he shared my name, or visa vera depending how you look at it and how big your ego is (guilty lol) I thought he deserved a special blog post. He was the sort of obbing actor who never won a pile of awards, he was just a guy doing what he loved and did well. He's in all sorts of things and a BIG pile of the old disney movies. Like me he didn't always see eye to eye with the system as it stood / stands. It was a odd feeling reading about someone wiht t same name as you being dead I wont deny. However at least now we won't get mixed up on google anymore lol.

This does inspire me to go all 'Jet Li ' in the film'The One' on your asses. (Where he kills all other version in other universes of himself. ) Hey I always did like highlander....now where's my sword... :) (After all there can be only one). :)

But cutting aside my sick sense of humor for just a moment, quite simply to the man who shared a name with me:
Wayne Robson, Rest in Peace.

Hours and Hours of Free Videos

As some of you know my lifes been ...well....'complex' and rather depressing of late. In fact it has sort of went what my brother would rather politely call 'totally fucking tits up'.

Anyway.....as I desperately need drive space for my short, am flat broke and cannot afford a new one and every god damned DVD writer in this house (all 8!) have went the way of the dodo, I thought I'd do the sculpting world a bit of a uncharacteristic favor. This is probably my last gift to digital sculptors as a hole and mudbox users as a specific group. I doubt I'll be able to do something like this again for a variety of reasons.

Tonight I am releasing hours upon hours of free videos in probably the bigggest free video release (length wise) ever (as time is short right now I haven't even counted how many or how long in total)...simply because I need Hard Drive space. There is a bit of everything, stuff from way back in 2008 that never saw the light of day publicly for free to stuff from the end of last year.

Please remember many of these videos do not reflect my current skills and put out simply as its either a case of delete them or put them out for free.

Plus as I have now officialy killed of the mudboxhub on demand stream service (zero chance it will restart in the foreseeable future) anything not packed up into dvd's goes into this free video release. Athough MudboxHub's forum is still open.

This is not just stuff for mudbox, this applies to all digital sculptors, yes even zbrush users can get usage out of these videos. So if you like them, remember the best stuff is on the dvd's you pay for. So don't pirate those DVD's or it's a it like giving me a very big fat slap in the face.

Enjoy and pass the word around as I dont have the time to do it myself this time around as life is 'complex' right now. I will includde them in a simple list form (there are hour upon hours of stuff in the list that I'll let you all discover for yourself).

Here's the list get ready , coz its a bit long......

To make sure everyone that needs these videos gets then I expect every man and woman to do their duty and ensure word gets arounnd. That is my only price, that one simple favour.

Also remember the many existing free videos are still knocking about various places as well for those new to sculpting that may not have seen them.

Reducto videos meant for release but never seen when copy protection was simply to expensive for me to release it.

http://vimeo.com/14163255

http://vimeo.com/14163306

http://vimeo.com/14163738

http://vimeo.com/14368195

displacement theory (or what you didn't know you needed to ask)

http://vimeo.com/9838180

The old original wave 2 (the version I never released a full 2 years before the final Wave 2 featuring ‘the dentist’ surfaced)

http://vimeo.com/8955025 pt 1

http://vimeo.com/9838180 pt 2

http://vimeo.com/8959276 pt 3

Wayne' solid gold Tip

http://vimeo.com/12761755

Hard surface Retop and UV's

http://vimeo.com/13420853 pt 1

http://vimeo.com/13433893 pt 2

Texture Color Space for Compositing

http://vimeo.com/14357932

Vector Displacement tips

http://vimeo.com/13998280

Wayne's Tips #1

http://vimeo.com/13854216

ReTopology Theory

http://vimeo.com/13852429

Brush practice routine

http://vimeo.com/15528354

Siggraph 2010 outtake video: idiots guide to trepanning

http://vimeo.com/13679775

Personal reference videos from the Victoria and Albert museum London V & A

http://vimeo.com/13159921 13

http://vimeo.com/13159171 12

http://vimeo.com/13157933 11

http://vimeo.com/13156277 10

http://vimeo.com/13155732 9

http://vimeo.com/13155079 8

http://vimeo.com/13152702 7

http://vimeo.com/13150490 6

http://vimeo.com/13149907 5

http://vimeo.com/13149429 4

http://vimeo.com/13148759 1

Enjoy

Wayne...

Of Gods & Men Teaser

OK this is the 2nd time I'm putting this up as for some odd reason the entry I made yesterday deleted itself which makes me wonder if I was right putting this blog on such a platform as blogger. Luckily I always type it out in word 1st due to my horendous typos.

So now that the title of my short film is out in the wild "Of Gods & Men" in regards to the End User Event Masterclasses and the breakdown I'm doing on my short I feel I can let a little bit more out of the bag. So I'll let you see 2 still in this blog that are both hopefully vague enough to give you a feel of things without giving away the storyline.

The above is a unfinished shot from the short, now I have purposely kept this as vague as I possibly can as there's a lot about the story very few people know, and some stuff no one knows. I've had this story in my head along with a load of others since I was 17 and I figured it was finally time to start doing what I got into 3D for in the 1st place. This is why I've cancelled all work until after 2nd July and am living on fresh air. This short has been niggling away in my head for 23 years now and along with another few has always coloured the type of models I find myself doing. So the best way to move on from it was to make it, not that that has been easy... in fact at some points it's been nearly impossible.

As you can tell from the still above I'm aiming high in this one and putting everything I know into practice and a fair bit of stuff I didn't. The fact that I have a budget (now all spent) of £25 for the whole short and you can hopefully tell where I'm aiming quality wise for it is the one thing I'm most proud of. So next time you have 20 or 30 quid in your pocket you may think instead of buying a kebab or a new game that you could make a film lol.

There have been a couple of people that have helped out with stuff on the short Some I can tell you what they have been doing , others will have to wait till after release. Rob Angol has been on board since day one and been there as a sounding board for some of the stuff I don't do a lot pipeline wise and as sort of consultant for the render engines I'm using outside of the one I normally use. Apart from Mental ray, as the render farm I've been lent supports them I'm also using Vray and 3delight which is a Renderman compliant render engine. Robs done a bit of everything including some of the many rigs and helping out with the initial concept art. Another person on board for a particular 'thing' is Sascha Herichs that although I would have loved to have done myself I couldn't split myself into two to do so. What I will say is it's an environment piece and that it plays a big part in the short.

There are a couple of other guys who have offered to help out with the many characters I have to have rigged for this (as I'm probably the slowest rigger and skin guy in the world lol). Once this is done I'll be sure to put a detailed list of who has done what so everyone gets the credit they are due. Of course these guys are all doing bits here and there around their jobs and hoe lives, whereas I'm doing this all day every day and have been pulling 3am and 4am work sessions for a few weeks now.

To get this short done for less than 30 quid has meant some major league thinking around corners and making a few things to help along the way. What this is not is a CGI fest.... the story is king on this as is the shot framing, but that's not to say there aren't hopefully some nice CGI shots to look at.

I've tried hard as I can not to hype this short or mention it any more than I absolutely need to as one thing I've learned in life is that hype is great but it can fast turn around and bite you on the arse. So let's not all get carried away just yet as its entirely possible something goes wrong badly at some point.

Yes I do know there is already a film with this name but trust me your not going to mix this one up with it lol. I did play arund wiht the idea of a title change but as I came up with this title 23 years ago in a night club it seemed such a shame to change it. I would say dont read to much into the title, it means something, though not in the way you may think. ;)

The End User Event: 30 June - 1 July, Utrecht, Netherlands

Ok guys and gals and those not sure, its time for me to give some serious pimp-age to the End User Event. This year its from the 30 June - 1 July, Utrecht, Netherlands, which is very easy to get to from Amsterdam by train. (If I can manage it the last 2 years without getting lost then anyone can!)

There's one helluva line up this year and this is the event to go to in Europe if your either want to learn some very cool new stuff from some seriously talented dudes, or just network and do some meet and greet with some big names in 3D (be it companies or individuals.)

I cannot recommend this event highly enough, we all do this event for free (no pay only travelling expenses, and that should tell you something about it, it's the only free one I do each year with very good reason.) This year while not giving away too at this stage yes I will be doing some sessions, although I'll cover exactly what at a later stage. But it will be some very in depth stuff from my upcoming short film.

To give you a feeling of the event I'll stick a few pictures of mine below (sorry most of them involve drinking lol) along with the official press release.

PRESS RELEASE

3DStudio.nl presents the End User Event : EUE 2011

Amsterdam (April 22, 2011) - 3DStudio.nl presents again the international End User Event in The Florin at Utrecht on June 30 and July 1. The End User Event is for everyone in the field of film, TV, Games and DesignVIZ. Two days with a total of 50 workshops and master classes by Autodesk Masters like i.e. Yoni Cohen, Ted Boardman , Michael McCarthy, Wayne Robson and Borislav ‘Bobo’ Petrov to name a few.

Main purpose of the End User Event is sharing knowledge and networking in an informal setting. The 20 expert speakers will educate, explain productions and give loads of tips and tricks. The lunch breaks and networking dinner gives the opportunity to meet the experts and fellow end users. The Florin, used to be an old bank building which was transformed into a pub and separate conference rooms with an informal atmosphere, ideal for the whole EUE experience.
Utrecht is located 25 minutes by train from Amsterdam

The Autodesk Development department will also attend the End User Event. Shane Griffith (product manager 3ds Max) and Neil Hazzard (one of the lead programmers) will be presenting as well.

The price is a €100,- per day.