Some small insight

Just a little insight from good ol' Hammish McKenzie regarding scripting:

"...of course, more often than not, advanced tools generally enable people to work faster and find other problems based on the new tools. which of course means my work is never done. and thank goodness, or I’d be out of a job…"

As with the real world, If you're careful to always keep learning, automation won't put you out of a job. Instead, it will let you move on to bigger and better problems, which is very good because I hate doing the same thing all the time. "Forever a student," as they say.

Some great news...

First of all...the andy rig is posted (check my website)! There's bound to be some bugs in this release, but I won't know unless you download it and try it out for me! I think I managed to accomplish everything that I wanted to put into version 1.0. Sometime I'd like to put in the palm lifter (thank you Jason Schliefer) but I dont want to add anything that you can't get out of the JTDriggingTools, since the andy rig is supposed to be a demonstration of what's possible using that tool. However, when I figure out how to integrate it with everything that's there already, Andy will be updated accordingly. Also, I want to encourage everyone to modify the textures, create new hairstyles or even add some blendshapes. If you want them to be included in the next release (and I like them, of course) I'd be more than happy to give you the credit.

Also, I have a phone interview with Pixar on Monday! This is a huge deal for me, so I hope that I dont screw it up. I know that the reason for the interview is to see if I would be a good fit for them and if they would be a good fit for me, so I'll try not to get my hopes up just yet. It's for a chance at the Technical Director Internship in the Fall, which would be perfect timing as well.

That just goes to show you that especially in the hard times, you never know where encouragement will come from.

Currently listening to: Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible, The Submarines - Decare a New State

it is finished!

That's right, you heard it here first, Inside The Box is finished - and just in time for the siggraph deadline. It took some serious work, but it all paid off. Great work to all those involved, it's been a privilege to work together. Here's hoping the festivals like it as much as I do!

Generic Character rig and ITB screenshot

I know that I've been talking about this mystery rig that I'm building, but I decided to finally post a picture. Everything is still in flux, and probably will be for a while but I like where it's headed. Also, here's the latest composite for the opening shot of Inside The Box. It's beautiful!