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.

Quick Back Plate Shoot

Where is this? Its a little hidden place my dad knew about that is perfect for one scene.

I went out today for a sort of impromptu film shoot for some back plates for my short. It was very much a last minute thing as the light was a perfect match for some back plates already in the edit. (I'm never one to pass up and oppotunity.) So I rang my dad (as I don't drive) and off we went for probably the fastest shoot in history lol. I had just over an hour to get to the location (about a 15 min drive deep into the moors) gets about 9 shots (I was planning on only 2 or 3 being of use in the final edit, but I like to have 'options' in case I change my mind), get back home so my dad could make his appointment at the docs for a check up. Not bad considering we managed to cover 5 different locations that were not close to each other.

We managed it but it wouldn't have been a Wayne shoot if one thing didn't go wrong, and it did. During a nice dolly shot that I wanted in case I needed to add a bit of padding to time to the background track my dolly literally fell to bits. It's not reparable, so no more dolly shots for Wayney. This did however give me the perfect chance to give my design for a steady cam rig a roll out in a production type shot. Turns out it works A1 fine and saved my life today.

The shot above is from a short scene in the short (as the edit currently stands), and luckily won't need as much 'modification' or stuff added to it as other shots. So far 3 shots from today have been added to my edit to fill places I was missing (and badly needed) a back plate. I've also got a few more to take that luckily are in a far easier to get to location if the weather holds up.

Some of the gear for the shoot today

One of my rules is to always have a backup plan in case shit goes wrong or data is lost at the last minute for a shot. So as a result I now have some panoramas...a 25k wide one, a 15k wide one and a 11k wide one as a side effect of this of 3 seperate locations. Chances are they won't get used in this particular short, but go into my library for use in a later one, should my sanity hold out once this one is finished.

The time is fast coming for the most hectic 2 months of my life, in may and June I will have more stuff to get done than ever before and to make this short look the way I want and need it to, it's going to be a full on ball breaker.

Having a new publicity photo taken always starts so well....

It does start with the best of intentions having to take a new publicity photo, in this case requested for the End User Event this year in Holland (which is on the end of june / start of july and you can find details here: www.enduserevent.com). But usually it soon decends into farce, especially when I've got it sent on timelapse while I try to keep my 2 year old daughter amused at the same time lol). In the hope it would provide a few smiles for readers of this blog, lets look at how it progressed....

Ok we're starting well...the 'real wayne' that my family and mates know..

Then its on with the the persona I use on my DVD's and videos (what you didn't think I was some crazy assed due all the time did you?... interesting characters are always better recieved than borring ones. Fact of life)

Ok....so I'm starting to look a bit like a bloody Ted Bundy type on this one..this is not the face of a man you would trust with a weapon lol

ok slightly more sane again although I look like I've done my neck in.

nope...sanity is finally gone now and into dicking around mode.

this would probably make a great expression reference for someone lol

A picture that is bound to bring the work flooding in obviously, My daughter is so used to me pulling faces like this , that this is probably how she thinks of 'daddy'.

Next time onto more sane things, I hope you liked this short humourous interlude.

This is not the post you are looking for.....

No doubt your all busy playing with the new versions of Mudbox, Maya, 3D Max and Softimage etc that were released to public a short while ago. For me the Mudbox and especially the 3Ds Max release were really strong this time round. If time allows I'll do a few vid's on each with some interesting stuff in them.

VIDEO LINK (Coz I'm not uploading it yet again!)

I was asked a short while ago to take part in a viral campaign the 3dmax team instigated called 'I'm max' (You can see my particular video, which is one of many, above). As it was a weekend and my kids were off school this meant dragging my chroma rig (the travel version not the full George Lucas orgasmatron version) to my brothers while he was out and setting up, filming the piece against the green screen (with no lights as mine had went 'bang! some time back and I haven't replaced them yet), packing up and getting everything back home, keying and editing and grading the footage and uploading to their server. I managed it in just over an hour and was a serious rush job to get it done.

Things have been progressing on my short, I'd love to say smoothly but that would be a blatant lie lol. But progress of any kind is good and I've got about 4 shots done up till now and have mainly been doing the environment stuff for it. There are a lot of funny and not so funny anecdotes I can dine out on for years once it's done that's for sure. Until now the shorts costs have been ...wait for it....£25. I don't foresee at the moment it rising much higher than that as most of it is down to software I already have and skills I either already have or have needed to brush up on, the main cost is time though. Every waking moment I'm not working on a project for someone else is spent on this short, stress is not as high as you may think as I know one way or another this will get done by the end of June supposing I have to move fucking mountains to do it. (There's a private joke in that last line.)

Today and for the next few days I'll be tracking, , colour grading and otherwise making look awesome the back plates I had done. (the awesome part is meant in irony as at this stage nothing is set in stone, hey for all I know it could turn out shit.) Although looking at these plates it'll be a shame to have to down res them to 720p as they are beautiful shots and exactly what I need. Now I do still have a few holes for the short that I haven't been able to either block out or fill at this stage, but I'm crossing my fingers those will sort themselves out over the coming weeks.

Should I, by any miracle, have time left over for my deadline I will spend that time making it look as good as humanly possible. This is the one thing I've done in CGI and film making that I want as near perfect as I can humanly manage in the time available with a budget of £25. I will tell you one thing about it....it's not a horror and it's not going to be a 'monster fest'.

Death of a Drive

Today was what is technically known as a very bad fucking day. At first it started off a what I assumed would be a boring day mostly consisting of waiting for a few emails before I proceeded with work on my short. But it fast descended into land of the bad. This was as the drive containing the majority of my models and all but one or two from my short so far died on me. Without going into the techy details so far I've spent since about 10am this morning trying to get any data from that drive or recover it in a number of ways. So far it's all failed.

Now if it turns out the other ways that a few people have recommended to try also do not work I'm up shit creek without a paddle. It will mean that the 3 weeks plus work I've done on my short is all lost apart from a character model I was working on and 1 enviro piece. All back plates and everything else....gone. So cross your fingers as I really would like to make this short the way it must be made to match the version I already have playing in my head.

What if it fails? Does this mean I'll give up on it and move on? Nope. I'll have a rethink certainly and probably have to change things round a bit or even use an alternate story idea of mine so I can keep on track time wise, but give up? Never. But one way or another this year the short I was working on will be made, hopefully somehow I can save the work on it, if not its rethink and adapt.

To those of you who have been trying to help, I'd like to say a massive and very sincere thank you, your help in trying to get that data back is appreciated trust me. What else is new? Well I have been approached by a firm who wish to put a series of my models out for people to buy as figures / physical prints. It's in the early stages and they are on printing out a proof of 2 models as a test right now. Although 'The Dentist' model still remains 'un printable ' in a 3d machine, this time capable of a resolution of 3 microns. (Which should give you an idea of the sort of detail that that model had!) I've always said it's a perfect test model for 3d printing technology as if it can print that...it can print anything. (..and I'm talking about the polygon reduced version put through my app ReDucto.)

Now the loss of a lot of my recent models is a bit of a blow, but it's happened once before and I came back a lot stronger and a better artist as a result. So even shitty stuff has a positive side sometimes. Also a big thanks to the guys at Autodesk for sorting out the problem that had occurred accidently where I was no longer entitled to free software lol. They sorted it out in no time thus saving my bacon yet again software wise.

Some of you know I've grown a beard the last month, and yes a large part of it is grey due to my wicked long houred caffine fuled lifestyle, Will I keep it, to be honest I'm not sure, part of me actually likes looking middle aged, but the other part (at the moment safely locked away lol) hates it and wants rid of it. Eventually that part of me will win, or I'll hit my midlife crisis which I'm sort of looking forward to if it means I get to buy motorbikes , wear leathers like when I was 16 and act like a total dick (in comparison to my current behaviour that is lol)

Project Insanity: Teaser backplate

Above is a test back plate from the short I'm working on, there'll be a lot going on in this shot one of about 70 to do. Everything apart from the sky is 3d and will be in 2.35 aspect ratio at720p (so the render farm we've been lent doth not explodeth lol.) This is probably one of the easier shots, and curenty lacks set dressing, grading and final lighting. So call it a previs.

Its definitely goingto be an easier shot so if Rob and myself go 100% CGI. Don't ask as I won't answer any questions, this is a teaser...that's all.

Wayne out....