Vespa SS180

Here's a picture of the action! thanks to bryan for the shot.

The Vespa comes home!

Today I picked up my Vespa from the shop. It's the first time I've been able to ride it as it was previously immobilized while getting a new engine, shocks and speedometer among other things. On friday I managed to get my motorcycle permit, so today I was able to drive it home! It's a fast little thing and I put almost 80 miles on it today! I love how it feels like a perfect extension of my personality. I drove it home from sherman oaks, then drove it down the sunset strip and then took it up to the griffith park observatory. There were some snags along the way, but at least neither my bike or I got hurt. One time I stalled the engine while at a stop light - it almost stopped my heart since you have to get off the bike to kick start it up again! Thank God I managed to get it started right as the light turned green. Then, I lost the ignition while on Lankersham blvd, thank God I found a small construction road to coast off and see what was the matter. After some frustration I fianally discovered a metal bracket that holds a wiring circuit had snapped and the circuit was hanging by four wires - one of which had disconnected and cut my spark. I found a piece of chain link fence that I bent into a makeshift bracket, reconnected the wire and managed to get back on the road. However, my bracket needed some adjustment since it happened all over again while heading down cauhenga! I'm home safe and sound and the bike is locked up out back - but it sure was an adventure. Oh, and besides being wicked cool looking and totally retro, I still have what looks like a bit more than half a tank of gas! It has about a 1.75 gallon tank and I travelled 80 miles today - you do the math!

XSI - some tough competition for Maya

For those of you not in the know, XSI and Maya are two leading and competing 3D Animation and Visual Effect software packages. I admit I'm a Maya user through and through and as such, I've been ignoring XSI for a while now. However, two weeks ago I attended an XSI evangelism meeting at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and it finally pushed me over the edge. Don't worry, Maya is still where I call home, but I got a chance to see how aggresively XSI is working to gain market share. They pulled out all the stops and gave everyone in attendance a free XSI T-Shirt! While the T-shirt is nice, what really suprised me is that they also gave everyone a free academic license of XSI Advanced (it's got syflex and everything)! That's a $3000 or $300 value depending on how you look at it. Besides that, they awarded me a free XSI training class at Gnomon for submitting a 100 word essay on why I needed to learn XSI. That's a $900 value! It starts tomorrow! But dont worry, I havent been bought. The reason why Maya should be worried is that XSI really is motivated to get to the top and has the R&D to prove it. While Maya has been resting on its laurels and really only updating its simulation engines, XSI has developed some SERIOUS strengths, the newest of which is a visual scripting and tool development system called ICE. It's completely multithreaded meaning these tools scale perfectly across multiple processors and cores. What's more, they've gone ahead and rewritted many of the established tools in XSI to take advantage of this performance boost and opened up the tools so everyone can see how they were made and modify them at will. It's pretty amazing and why a technical guy like me should immediately stand up and take note. So if you've been ignorning XSI like I had, now's the time to learn it before everyone else does. People are staring to request XSI skills in job descriptions so it'll give you an edge - for a little while anyway :-)

A new job...already!?

Well it hasnt even been a year for me yet here in southern california and I'm already picking up and leaving! Two weeks ago a job offer came out of the blue and it was an offer I couldnt refuse. Deciding to leave my job and life here in Hollywood is one of the toughest decisions I've made yet in my 24 years, and so I thank all of you who prayed for me and gave me advice. I am very concerned about leaving XLT in a bad position, since they gave me a chance and were so good to me, but I successfully negotiated a start date one month from now with the hopes that it will be enough time to find my replacement and tie up loose ends. After agonizing over this decision, things have started to fall into place. The only real hitch is that breaking my lease will cost me three months rent as a penalty - no small fee when you consider my rent here is as much or more than my parents morgage in Indiana! My new job wont cover this and I wont be making any more than I used to either - but the opportunities for learning make it worth it. I'm starting at the bottom, but it is a staff position, so at least there are opportunities for some benefits. That's right, you're looking at Industrial Light and Magic's newest Assistant Creature Technical Director. See you in San Fran Sicko!

How much is my head worth?

While my Vespa is still in the shop getting a look-over, I took the opportunity to shop for a helmet. At first I had my eye on one of the Vespa Vintage Soft Touch helmets since they look so cool and appropriate for a classic scooter like my Super Sport. However, those helmets are only 3/4 coverage and not full face which may look totally sweet but aren't nearly as safe - to me there's nothing worse than the thought of cracking your jaw on some concrete just to look cool. It was tough, but in the end I went for a compromise and bought a modular helmet. These are unique in that you can flip up the whole face for a 3/4 feel, and then flip it down to get the protection of a full face helmet - all while still having the option of flipping up the visor. Scope the pictures - mine is the matte black one - but it has a clear visor. :-)

A new adventure!

 

Well after some ups and downs I now have the title for my 1965 Vespa 180 Super Sport!!!!!!!! (The exclamation points are a small indication of my excitement) I even have the original 180cc engine in my trunk (right now it has a new - though not as powerful - engine in it). I have yet to get it licensed or even get a helmet, but all in good time. The woman who sold this to me was extremely kind and went out of her way to help me get this scooter - even by lowering her asking price and giving me first grabs. Since I cant drive it yet, it's still at the shop, but I'll be sure to get some pictures up when I get it home. So sweeeeeet!

What could happen next?

I'm THIS close to buying a 60's era Vespa 180 Super Sport. The one I found needs some work, but the price is right and Super Sports are super rare. It has some major drawbacks (its missing the original engine and the original cowels), but those things put it in my price range. It has a new engine in it, replacement cowels and really just needs a new paint job (though, those are pricey). Im banking on the paint job being a theft-deterrant so it doesnt bother me too much right now. Tune in tomorrow to see if I pulled the trigger (or swung the bat, depending on how much you know about anime references).

tabletPC sketch...

tablet pc...oh how i love thee

how i've lived this long without my tablet pc is a mystery.  i picked this up on craigs list a few weeks ago - is it wrong to be so in love with a machine? scope the pics yo.  (thats not my drawing, btw).


 

LA Zoo

Guess who's LA zoo's newest member? That's right! Here check out some pictures from our outing this weekend. Thanks to Freddy Burgos for being the man behind the camera (and posting the pics at http://flickr.com/photos/ianimate/sets/72157603766030574/ ).

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Toon from: http://blogs.indystar.com/varvelblog/

Malibu in November

When my parents were visiting a week ago, we took the PCH up to Malibu and spent the day just relaxing. You gotta love going to the beach in november. Besides a few brave surfers, some pelicans and sea urchins, we got to see the fallout from the wildfires. It's amazing how much was on fire, and even more so, how many houses were completely untouched in spite of the charred landscape surrounding them. In a tragedy like that, it's good to look on the bright side and count the lives saved instead of the property lost. Malibu is a really nice place though, and if you remind me, we can go there when you come visit!

Rigging Tutorial!

First off, a big thanks to everyone who has posted in my comments section. I really appreciate you stopping by to say hello, especially since my posts are so few and far between. It's fun to hear from some of my favorite people. I especially liked Debra's comment about Jeremy's Vespa, which makes me feel better because people at work are often giving me flack about wanting one.

Now to business, I've just posted a rigging tutorial about a feature I've called "smart blinks". We've implemented this setup at work and it's pretty handy. Though the eyes rarely get much attention, I think something like this is a small, but important feature for speeding up the animation process. I thought I'd share it since I had fun figuring out how to make this kind of thing work. I hope you'll enjoy it too. You can find it at the rigs and scripts section of my website. Expect to see it as a part of the new JTDriggingTools and Andy 2.0 if I ever get those done :-)

In other news, I finally cut my hair. I've had long hair with a part ever since middle school, so I thought it was time for a change. I'll see how the short hair/no part thing goes over. So far its gotten good reviews. Now if I can just get myself to the barber shop more often I can keep it that way!

Also, I picked up the Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers DVDs last week and have been enjoying re-living some fond childhood memories. When I was a kid I was crazy about this show. I've always had a fondness for rodents, adventures and inventing things, so needless to say it was the ultimate afternoon cartoon. Also, I have to admit that I had a crush on Gadget the mouse and I wanted to see if it still held up. Well, it's true, Gadget is still one great lady mouse. Now if I can just figure out why she's the only girl in a house of four other guys (Monteray Jack, Chip, Dale and Zipper)...

Lastly, a big endorsement for the people at Valve Software and the recently released: Orange Box. I picked this up the hour it came out on Steam and have been enjoying it ever since. I had forgotten how great the Half Life games were and can't recommend them enough. Halo who? And yes, ep 2. is the best episode yet! Portal (which also comes with the Orange Box) is truly an innovation in gameplay and really messes with your head when you play it. I can't wait to see how they integrate this mechanic into Half Life 2 ep. 3. Good work Valve!

wip's

I've got a number of works in progress that should be seeing the light of day in the not too distant future. First off, I've already started the rewrite of the JTDriggingTools. When I started this project over a year ago it was half utilitarian and half learning experience. Now that I've got a better handle on things, I felt like a complete overhaul was in order. Last night I got pretty close to finishing off the new arm rig. This time around there's less restrictions on how you rig things - for example you no longer have to specify if it's for the left or the right side because it works with any position or orientations in the world space. Also I'm doing a proper implementation of rig primitives so it's now possible to make as many arms or legs or spines as you want and easily hook them all together. It's also possible to unrig things with the press of a button. Besides cleaning up the code and making it smarter I'm also throwing in new features all the time. For example the arms and legs now have smooth stretch (so the IK handles dont "pop" when they hyper extend) and I significantly improved the auto-bending feature to get bendy elbows/knees for free. Also, I'm finally taking into account rotation orders which are untouched in the previous versions. It's already a huge improvement over the old code and quite a lot of fun to see it working the way I had envisioned it from the start. By the time it's done, you'll wonder where all the errors went!

Also in the pipeline is a rewrite of the andy rig. Once the rigging tools are done Andy will get a complete overhaul to use the new rig. I'm planning on remodeling it to better accomidate clothes and body blendshapes and making an all new facial setup. Some friends let me look over their shoulder at the animation mentor rig and it gave me a few ideas, so expect bishop to positively influence Andy 2.0.

Now if only I was getting paid for all this I could have some extra Vespa money :-)

a pipe dream

I've started saving for a Vespa. A 1964-65 Vespa 180 or Rally is the sweet spot but I'm mainly aiming for any vintage vespa with a unified seat (some have the split seat), the square headlight (instead of the round one) and a glove box (so I can stick a lowjack in there). I figure that LA is perfect motorcycle country and if I leave here without taking advantage of the fact that it never rains I'm going to regret it. It's even legal to drive between lanes so the horrible traffic doesnt affect motorcyclists! I've found a shop in northern CA that restores and modernizes vespas from this era, but I cant decide if I want an authentic restoration with all original parts, or a modernized version that wont break down.

http://www.classicalwheels.com/codenew/product.asp

These things go for $3-4000, so it's a ways off, but I'll be hunting one down as soon as I pay off my credit cards. They're awesome!

Observations from California

Who knew I'd ever end up living is good-old southern California. It's truly a different culture here. California is the place where people feel guilty about all the wrong things. By and large the people here love to kick time-tested morality to the curb, instead choosing to fight for the most fashionable cause of the day - even if it doesnt make sense. Take catastrophic man-made global warming for example. Over in Santa Barbara they want to paint a $12000 blue line to represent the area that will be under water when the sea level rises due to the consequences of global warming. As if there was nothing better to do. Likewise you've never seen so many people proudly drive "eco-friendly" prius's as you do in this state. For all the non-sensible chatter we hear about mankind [i.e. america] causing global warming, I'm relieved to see that the tide is finally turning.

Read this story:
http://www.dailytech.com/Blogger+finds+Y2K+bug+in+NASA+Climate+Data/article8383.htm

Though I'm sure it didnt make any headlines like the alarmist stories always do, NASA quietly corrected their mistake that led many greenies to believe 1998 was the hottest year ever recorded and thus fuel the fire that things are only getting worse as the economy expands. The corrected data now shows 1938 as the hottest year on record - confirming what we should all know by now- the earth warms and cools on its own and we dont have thousands of years of accurate temperature information to know if there is any sort of abnormal warming (or cooling) trend. Thankfully, more and more people are starting to realize that there's little more than environmentalist propaganda [*cough* al gore *cough*] to support the notion that your car exhaust is causing hurricanes, killing polar bears, and raising the ocean . Add this story to the mounting evidence debunking the myth of man-made catastrophic global warming and we may just start solving the real problems in this state. *sigh* I wish I could believe that.

pics of the place!

my new sofa couch! Thanks Ikea.

Check out the bathroom. What more do you need?

This is my house. I live behind the big window on the first floor. My car's parked in the back.

This is wilton street looking toward the Hollywood Hills. The Hollywood sign is just to the left.

My bed is behind the divider. There's the big window you can see from the front of the house. Notice the other windows behind my computer - it's a curved wall (like a turret).

This is my tiny kitchen. There's no counter space! Notice the doors on top where I store my stuff.

My fridge is very centrally located.

This is one of the beaches in Santa Monica at night.

I'm not updating much, but I figured I at least owed you some pics of my place. It's a small place, and it really does cost a fortune for what it is - but that's California for you. I really like the studio setup, and it's less than a mile away from work, so I walk there most days. It's probably too small for two people since there's no bedrooms, but perfect for just me. Plus it's all yellow and the utilities are included! I'll try to put some pics of my work too. Thanks for checking in.

It's been a while...

Wow, it's been a while and so much has happened. Unforuntately I dont have internet access yet so I'm doing this on company time (oops) and I can't write much right now. Here's a few highlights:

-Played some Guitar Hero

-Graduated with my MFA in Savannah!

-Travelled across the country - Georgia to California!

-Tire flew off my car in Louisiana

-Saw Mark in Texas!

-Working at Extra Large Technology (XLT) - it's great!

-Saw Bryan at Jim Henson - and got the tour

-Found a place to live in Hollywood CA

-Ate some good Sushi

Here's a few pictures until I can write some more:

It's that time again...

I think I'm going to have to rename this blog. Now that school's over, there's not a whole lot to write about. For now, I'm back home again in Indiana so I can attend my old roommate's wedding on the 19th. I left my car and stuff in Atlanta because I got plane tickets for $39 each way - it was such a deal because I can't even drive home for that little. At the end of the month I'll return to Savannah to turn everything in and get my signatures. However many people have asked me what I'm going to do next...

The big news is that I have secured my first official job! About two weeks ago, one of my professors told me about an opportunity at XLT (extra large technology). Apparently, they tried to hire her first, but when she decided to stick around SCAD, she pointed them in my direction. One of her former students (David Bokser - creator of "The Old Man and the Fish") has been there for a number of years and offered me a position as a Character TD and Animator. XLT is a small company that is most notable for its direct to DVD animated films, but what really sold me is that it seems to be a really good fit for what I do. I wasn't getting any love from the bigger studios (Pixar finally got back to me with the bad news - surprise, surprise) and I hadnt heard anything from the promising companies we met with at the job fair (LucasFilms, Framestore, Charlex, etc.) so I started looking at video games. I have nothing against video game work, but my best skills and interests are in animated film, so I wasnt all that excited about doing global tool development or pipeline work for interactive stuff. The cool thing about XLT is that they still make films, and since they're small I can wear a lot of hats and do the things I like to do. I'm not so worried that I'll show up at their door and not have a clue either, which is a really good feeling.

The catch is that this job is contract work, so I'm only hired until January - and I'm paid by the week instead of a salary with benefits. Don't get me wrong, the pay is very good for a first job, even in California where everything is more expensive (9.3% in state income taxes!? are they insane?). That's right, I'm moving to Hollywood. The day after Graduation I'm driving my little Volkswagen convertible across the entire United States (Savannah and Hollywood are two extremes). It'll be quite the adventure. I still dont have a place to live, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I start work on June 8th and if I make it past January, they're likely to hire me on for longer. However, I'd also have the chance to go somewhere else, since there's so much work out in LA. I just hope it doesnt fall into the ocean when I'm there.

So that's the news. I'm working for my dad while I'm home and finishing up writing my thesis paper. I'll see some of you back in Savannah for Graduation on the 2nd!

I've also been prepping a new Andy release:

Scrap Metal and Such

Now that the wedding is over, it's possible that you've been wondering what I've been up to. Well, Sean and I have gone into the scrap metal business. We're pulling old cars out of the woods and selling them to the local recycling center. How redneck is that? The upshot is that we get $0.07 a pound for scrap and we've made two runs at around 5000 pounds a piece. The first trip we made $333 and the second trip we made $369. It's fun work and a good way to pass the time between writing my paper and playing guitar hero. Yes, we spent the first $280 on a PS2, Guitar Hero II (with guitar) and a second wireless guitar. The rest of my cut will go toward the clutch in my car.


I also spent some time writing a speech in preparation for an interview to decide who would be awarded excelsus laureate at graduation in June. I made it past the first round interview, but it seems I lost in the second round. The good news is that now I dont have to speak in front of the entire school and since I had to go to SCAD Atlanta for the interview, I got a chance to see that campus. It's a really nice place, and I really liked it there. It even has lockers and windows (take that Montgomery Hall!). If you're reading this and you had any involvement with getting me nominated for this award, I want to thank you for the honor, I'm very grateful.

I'm working on another update to the Andy rig. This one will add some nice texture enhancements. I just added a nice skin shader, and now Andy renders out really purdy. Maybe I'll even have time for a new hair style.

Stay tuned.