Bishop Animation

Maya's renumber option in render settings

2010-01-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm working on a super quick turn around short film. There are several shots that use basically the same animation, but I look at it from different angles to help minimize the amount of animation I actually have to create. Enter Maya's renumber frames option.

Each shot is the same frame length (15 frames). One shot starts at 1023 and goes until 1038. I rendered that shot out just fine, then went back into the Maya file, repositioned the camera, and then rendered with a new name, but also used the renumber frames option. I told the frames to start numbering at 1129.

While I could have just written them out with a different name (this would have not overwritten the other frames), I wanted to get the frame numbers correct during the render, so there would be no question as to where they should go in the edit.

Another little used feature of Maya that proved to be quite helpful!

First Day of Winter Quarter Begins...

2010-01-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

...and everyone has an "A" so far. Don't mess it up for yourselves!

Alleged Unfair Work Conditions At Rockstar San Diego

2010-01-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

Kotaku has an interesting story today about Rockstar San Diego. I'm really looking forward to Red Dead Redemption. Everything I've seen from it looks amazing.

The Princess and the Frog

2010-01-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

So I finally got around to watching "The Princess and the Frog". I went in really wanting to like the film, and overall, it was a decent movie. I did think it had a few holes though. If you haven't watched the film yet, this is the part where you'll want to stop reading.

A lot of this film felt like a TV special rather than a film. What I mean by that is that several parts of the plot seemed to go by very quickly, or have the audience accept a lot of the story with little or no explanation. Why would the servant character go against Prince Naveen so quickly and easily? Why would the Shadow Man buy the sugar mill? What would he want to do with it? Why would the Shadow Man be so set on destroying Prince Naveen in the first place?

A lot of the character design looked like an episode of the Proud Family as well. This is not really a surprise, given that one of the lead animators on the film was the creator of the show.

Like I said, the film was halfway decent, but hardly the glorious return to 2D animation that it was touted to be. While this is not the fault of the technique, hopefully the businessmen and women greenlighting future projects understand that as well.

Did you see the film? What did you think?

-Floyd

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

So this is a New Year, and as such, it's a time of year that people like to make resolutions. I plan on blogging a lot more this year. I'm also going to get a CG group started in San Diego. I used to have one years ago, but it kind of fizzled out. I'd also like to maybe write a book about getting started in the animation industry. I started in animation over ten years ago now! These are some pretty big goals, but I think it's possible.

Keep watching this space!

-Floyd

My Aniboom History challenge

2009-08-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom

This weekend I had a few beers, grilled some steak, and animated my arse off. This was the result. If you like it, please go over to the Aniboom website and give me a good vote.

Gullible isn't in the dictionary

2009-08-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

So tonight I got two emails from my mother that had been forwarded to her via a long line of gullible people (including one of my sisters). The first one was about an internet virus hooked up to a Hallmark postcard. The second one was about carjackers using paper taped to your rear window to trick you into getting out of your running vehicle to remove it. Both emails are scams.

Snopes is your friend.

John K Does A Cartoon Pitch

2009-08-07T08:21:00.001-07:00

John Kircfalusi did a great panel at Comic Con where he pitched a cartoon. It sounds simple, but as anyone who has done a storyboard pitch can tell you, it's not a simple thing. Check out the video and see for yourself.

Spiders

2009-08-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

I spent the day animating a spider walking out from its den, only to later in the day have the location of the den moved somewhere else. The bad news is I have to pretty much start over. The good news is that I have pretty well nailed the leg patterns of a walking spider, so I should be able to animate it much faster this second time around (and the spider doesn't have as far to walk now, either).

No word on if the spiders will have to bark or not.

A dated demo reel

2009-08-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

With Ice Age 3 doing so well in theaters (it's a pretty good movie), many people have asked me about what I did on the first film, nearly nine years ago. I found this older demo reel that includes some shots from Ice Age. The reel also contains some clips from other projects, including several proof of concept/pitch animations and some shots from 6 Monsters.

Milt Kahl Goodness

2009-07-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

Milt Kahl (Mowgli) from Victor Ens on Vimeo.

Milt Kahl was solid.

Very cool building projection

2009-07-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

555 KUBIK_ extended version from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

I thought this was pretty cool. The amount of set up must have been huge, but the results are nothing short of amazing. This would be great to see in person.

CG Society goes to Comic Con

2009-07-28T23:58:00.001-07:00

I was quoted in the Comic Con 2009 story from CG Society.

"Even though it's a game for kids, we're not skimping on any of the graphics quality or game play," said Floyd Bishop, senior animator for 'Free Realms'.

What? You haven't played it yet? What are you waiting for?

Frederator blogger no more

2009-07-28T23:43:00.001-07:00

Well, my stint as a blogger for Channel Frederator has come to a close. Times are tough all around, and fat must be trimmed. It looks like it's time to get my own blog up to speed once again. I've neglected it for far too long. Hopefully some readers from Frederator follow me over to my new digs.

An easy to understand breakdown of the Writer's Strike (WGA)

2008-02-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-01-29T19:29:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from Bishop Animation!

2007-12-18T22:35:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

The California fires

2007-10-28T22:21:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy couple of days out here in Southern California. There have been (and still are) fires burning across much of Southern California. There are several people injured, a few that were killed, many acres burned, and many houses destroyed.

My family and I were some of the 500,000 + people that were evacuated. We actually left before we were asked to. My wife and I had been talking last week about what we would do in the event of wildfires, and we stuck to our plan. We put the kids, the dog, some paperwork, and some hard drives in the van and took off.

We left our home around 11PM on Sunday. We drove to Mira Mesa high school and stopped there. My wife and kids slept while I stayed awake, listening to the radio news reports and watching the large flag in the parking lot to get an idea of wind speed and direction. The shelter filled up fast. My family stayed in the van so that others could have the cots and such in the shelter (the gym of the high school). I did go in to the school from time to time to find out what was going on from some of the workers there as well as grab some coffee from the Red Cross.

We left the shelter parking lot at around 4AM. We made a brief stop in Sorrento Valley so I could check online to see where the fires were and how widespread they had become. Most of the sites from the local news stations were down or had not been updated since midnight. I drove to the beach, figuring we would only have to worry about fire from one side then. We headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway and then on the 5 North until we got to an area where the air quality was better.

We saw some more smoke up ahead, farther up the 5, but it was far enough away that we felt like we were safe. We found a hotel just north of San Juan Capistrano. I was beat by the time we checked in and got everyone in an unpacked.

After nearly a week of watching the news and not knowing what was going on at our home, we finally got back today. The Rancho Bernardo area lost several homes, and there were two people found burned to death in Poway. There was no fire damage in our neighborhood, and only some signs of strong winds at my house.

We lucked out, but there are many people in the greater San Diego and Southern California area who didn't do too well. If you would like to help, money seems to be the best thing you can donate at this time.

Here are some ways you can help.

Here is how YOU can be ready for an emergency

The next few days will be interesting. Just because the fires are out (or close to being out) doesn't mean the crisis is over. There are many families with no place to go, and nothing but the clothes on their backs. The clean up and rebuilding efforts will continue for months. The investigation and search for the arsonists who started some of the fires that started when the blazes began will continue until the crimes are solved.

On an animation note, the Walt Disney Company pledged Wednesday to contribute $2 million to restore burned areas and help victims of the Southern California wildfires. It is going to be quite some time until the area returns to some semblance of normal, but with the nation's help, we can get there faster.

Best of luck to anyone affected by the fires.

The Happy Pumpkin

2007-10-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick Halloween greeting cartoon we made. Enjoy!

Coming in October...

2007-09-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

keep watching for further details!

A quick fluid sim test

2007-08-23T20:59:00.001-07:00

This is a quick fluid sim test I did using Real Flow. I animated it in about six hours, using a character model and rig from another project.

Revamped website

2007-07-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

So we've updated our website. It's been a wild and crazy few months, with a complete overhaul of the company, moving from one coast to the other, and the birth of my latest child (that makes four for those who are keeping track).

We've also been asked by Fred Seibert to create the logo for Frederator Films. It's pretty exciting, since one of the projects they have announced is a Samurai Jack feature film.

San Diego CG group screening of " Ratatouille"

2007-06-19T08:57:00.001-07:00

Next Friday, June 29th, the San Diego CG group will be watching "Ratatouille" at the Mira Mesa Edwards Cinema at the 9:35PM screening. You may want to Fandango your tickets now to make sure you get a seat. We'll be headed to the Studio Diner afterwards for a discussion of the film as well as planning upcoming meetings. I hope to see you there!

Pixar animation progression reel

2007-06-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

I saw this on IGN and thought people might enjoy seeing it.

Anthropomorphic

2007-06-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

an·thro·po·mor·phic
Function: adjective

Etymology: Late Latin anthropomorphus of human form, from Greek anthrOpomorphos, from anthrOp- + -morphos -morphous
1 : described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes (anthropomorphic deities)
2 : ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things (anthropomorphic supernaturalism)

Read more over at Channel Frederator...

Anthropomorphism

2007-06-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

What is it? How is it used? Keep watching this space!

"Surf's Up" this Friday

2007-06-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

So this Friday marks the release of "Surf's Up". If you are in the San Diego area, the San Diego CG Group is planning on seeing "Surf's Up" this Friday. Afterwards, we'll head to the Studio Diner to talk about the film. We would love to get some of you to attend.

We're looking at going to the show Friday, June 8th, at 7:20PM at the Edwards Cinema at Mira Mesa.

We're also going to be talking about upcoming meetings, as well as special events during Siggraph.

I hope to see you there!

Sopranos Soda

2007-04-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

"The Sopranos" is arguably the best show on television right now. I'm a huge fan of the show, and have been watching since season one.

A few months ago, Bishop Animation was asked by Imbibe, Inc to create a commercial for Sopranos Soda, a line of all natural Italian sodas they were creating.

The commercial features the three flavors of soda (Chianti, Amaretto and Limoncello) as if they were characters from the show. They are roughing up an energy drink, looking for information. The commercial ends with "the Big Guy" from the rival energy drink family getting capped. You can see the entire commercial on the official website of the soda: Drink Sopranos.

From a technical stand point, the commercial was a tough one to pull off in the time frame we had. Computers make metal boxes really well, everything else is tough. This commercial features four characters that are full of moving liquid, foaming liquid, breaking glass, and more.

The sodas themselves are delicious. One of the perks of this project was that the client sent us a case of the soda for reference. I like the Amaretto the best.

"Kung Fu Jimmy Chow"

2007-04-28T02:34:00.000-07:00

A project we worked on has gone live over at Heavy. It's called "Kung Fu Jimmy Chow".

The project was done for Camp Chaos. They created the characters, story, did the audio and boards. We did everything from just after the intro.

It was a long hard slog, and the last project we did at our studio in Pennsylvania before that version of the studio imploded and we moved to San Diego.

Have a look and let us know what you think.

"Fan Boy and Chum Chum" is a great cartoon

2007-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

So we were in Los Angeles yesterday (well, Burbank, but close enough)for the Nickelodeon screening. Thanks to the guy who decided to drive his truck into the overpass on the 5 North, we missed everything. Eric Robles was nice enough to screen his short for us though.

"Fan Boy" is a great cartoon. The look is hard to describe, but you really need to see it in motion to appreciate it. It's a 2D animation style applied to 3D, and it works great. I'm not talking about 2D animation principles, but the timing itself. Held poses, camera moves, etc all come directly from 2D.

It was a nice use of the medium, and hopefully we see more from Eric Robles and Red Eye.

San Diego CG Group starting up

2007-04-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 19th at 8PM
The Studio Diner

We're planning on meeting here to start up a CG group in San Diego. The group won't be software or discipline specific. We hope to eventually have tutorials, guest speakers, group events, etc. Show up and help shape this group from the beginning. We hope to see you there!

New trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

2007-03-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Soon...

2007-02-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

This week's Channel Frederator Podcast

2007-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

Zelda music

2007-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

This guy is very good, combining one of my favorite games with one of my favorite instruments. Enjoy.

Drugs are bad

2007-01-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Check out this nature video to see the effects of drugs on spiders. Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs.

Bishop Animation Classes in 2007

2006-12-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

We've batted around the idea of classes for a while, and we're finally ready to get started. We're thinking of doing two Saturday classes a month.

One of the class days would be focused on beginners. Topics covered would include an introduction to computer modelling, and introduction to texturing, an introduction to rigging, an introduction to animation, etc. There would be three classes a day, each two hours a piece. You can take each class individually for $12.00 per class, or take all three for $30.00.

The second type of class day would focus more on people who already know a bit about the process to expert level. Some of those classes would include topics such as how to animate a bit of dialog, hair and fur simulation, fluid simulation, particle effects, etc. There would be three classes a day, each two hours a piece. You can take each class individually for $15.00 per class, or take all three for $40.00.

If you would like to sign up for classes, keep watching our website for the official schedule and topics. http://www.bishopanimation.com

If you have a topic you would really like to see covered, either in the beginner or advanced classes, let us know!

Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe

2006-12-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts of Disneyland is the Golden Horseshoe. One of the reasons is that it was a part of the park since opening day, but the other reason is Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. If you're ever in Disneyland, do yourself a favor and check out their show. You'll be glad you did.

Death Cab for Cutie "Crooked Teeth" video by Rob Schrab

2006-12-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

I thought this was cool. His animatic is fun to watch as well.

Interview with Shane Glines

2006-12-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

I usually don't like to double post, but this was a cool one. I'm a blogger for Channel Frederator, and today I posted an interview I did with Shane Glines, a character designer who has worked on shows such as "Superman", "Batman", "Justice League", "Samurai Jack", and many more.

You can download my audio interview with him HERE.

Enjoy!

2006-12-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

Bishop Animation reel

2006-11-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

We just finished up our latest reel. Have a look and let us know what you think.

Alex Toth and animation

2006-11-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

What do "Jonny Quest", "Space Ghost", and "The Herculoids" have in common? Well, if you read my posts over at Channel Frederator, you already know. The answer is Alex Toth.

You can read more about Alex Toth on his official website.

If you are interested in solid design, adventure stories, comics, or animation design in general, he's a great person to study.

Fartbot learns to use an iPod

2006-11-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

Fartbot didn't know what an iPod was, then someone told him you put your music in it. I still don't think he understands though.

This image will appear (along with others featuring robots and iPods)in a book given out to attendees of the Channel Frederator awards show next year.

Sparse blog posts... blame the robot

2006-10-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

image by Jessica Borutski

You may have noticed that the blog posts here have been few and far between lately. That's because I'm now blogging for Channel Frederator. If you don't know what that is, and you are a fan of animation, you should.

One of the coolest things about blogging for them is the weekly interviews. Recently I got to interview one of my childhood animation idols, Will Vinton. There's a 27 minute interview with him if you follow that link. It's an easy to listen to MP3 file.

Anyway, keep checking out Channel Frederator for the latest in animation, and keep checking this blog for our Bishop Animation posts. I'm going to try and keep posting here once a day as well... wish me luck!

Floyd

Figure Drawing every Wednesday night!

2006-10-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

Figure Drawing at Bishop Animation
Every Wednesday night
7PM - 10PM
Bishop Animation

Pro, hobbyist, student...whatever. Everyone is welcome.

$7.00 per person

Please RSVP so we have an idea

of how many people to expect!

floyd@bishopanimation.com

(570) 251-7749

Muppet Design

2006-10-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Jim Henson had a great sense of design. I've been doing some research for a project and was impressed with the range of emotions and character traits his characters posess. While much of this comes from how well the characters are performed by their Muppeteers, the design of the characters has a lot to do with it as well.

While everyone knows the Muppets and what they look like, I'd like to look at an animated segment from Sesame Street:

It's a short piece, so you need to establish your characters pretty quickly. Based on appearance alone, you can tell that the king is a kind fellow. He loves his daughters so much that he'd be happy to tell you all about them in song. He probably carries around a bunch of photos of them as well.

The daughters are hard to see in this clip, but on the close-up you can see that this daughter is beautiful yet humble. The eyes and posing of the head are especially nice.

The knights have a nice design to them. Their bodies make it seem as though they are mainly ceremonial in their duties. I doubt they slay dragons or fight in battles.

My favorite character in the piece is the Messenger that shows up at the end. His eyes show his excitement, and his mouth opens wide to help him deliver the great news.

While one could argue that the song and voice work are the strong suit of this piece, for me the character design choices are what make it memorable. The simple shapes and minimal facial details help sell the characters in a fast yet convincing way. This is one of my favorite bits from Sesame Street. Jim Henson and his creative team have a great way of using design elements to help sell a character by looks alone, before the first MEEP, Wakka-wakka, or Yep yep yep.

"Open Season"

2006-10-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

I saw "Open Season" tonight. The animation was nice, but the stand out for me was the FX. Fur and fluids never looked better. Unfortunately, the story and character development was rather weak.

I didn't really care about the characters. The wild animal with an urban sound has been done to death, and this film has it in spades. There are also snippets of backstory that we learn about some of the characters, but it's explained to us rather than shown to us... which isn't very interesting.

This film also suffers from the same thing that plagues many recent CG films (including Pixar films) - WAY too many characters. I understand that there are many animals in the forest, but there is no reason to show each different kind of animal or give them all business in the film. This is time that could have been spent building up the main characters and making their bond seem more realistic rather than forced.

Animation = A
Effects = A+
Character design = B
Story = C-

-Floyd

Fartbot final animation

2006-10-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

HERE it is.

We were recently asked to be part of a collaborative film called "FredEx". We had to come up with ten seconds of animation that featured a robot. Each creative crew was given a topic, and ours was "farts".

Credits:
Character design: J Chad Erekson
Modelling: Kevin Wisdom
UVs: Mike Kopa
Textures: Veronica Harper, Kevin Wisdom
Rigging: James Jones Jr
Animation: Kevin Wisdom
Lighting: Kevin Wisdom
Effects: Floyd Bishop, Kevin Wisdom
Audio: J Chad Erekson
Final comp: J Chad Erekson, Kevin Wisdom

Fartbot final

2006-10-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a frame from the final animation.

Fartbot Animation WIP

2006-09-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Enjoy.

Character rig: James Jones.
Animation: Kevin Wisdom

Fartbot textures WIP

2006-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

So here is what the Fartbot's textures are looking like. Cast iron stomach, rickety joints, and a red hot belly. Textures by Veronica Harper and Kevin Wisdom. Mike Kopa laid out the UVs.

Fartbot

2006-09-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Character design by J Chad Erekson

We were asked to be part of a collaborative project featuring robots. Our segment features a robot that farts. Based on that brief description, this is what we came up with.

Character model by Kevin Wisdom

As always, let us know what you think.

We need more interviews like this one... from all political figures.

2006-09-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

No Z depth, but tons of great gameplay.

2006-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Midway recently put several of their arcade classics online for people to play. Some of these games were released before some of the people who work at Bishop Animation. Take a trip back to the olden days of videogames to see what gameplay and replay value are all about.

Vladimir (Bill) Peter Tytla - One of the Non-Nine Old Men

2006-09-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of talk about the Nine Old Men. I started to blog about them a few posts back. While researching the Nine Old Men, I started to learn more and more about the animators that aren't part of the list.

Bill Tytla is responsible for a lot of great character animation, but perhaps his best work is on Stromboli. Have a look at this sequence from "Pinocchio", and try to count the emotions Stromboli displays. In my opinion, Stromboli's animation outshines Pinocchio's in this sequence, as the burden of acting is on Stromboli. Without such a grand performance, there is nothing for Pinocchio to react to. Take a look and see for yourself:

Even though Bill Tytla was paid well as an animator, he was a part of the Disney strike in 1941. The strike was a dark time for the Disney studios, and many of the artists who did strike were pressured out of the studio in one way or another. Bill Tytla was no different.

Tytla's perception was that he was unwelcome at the Disney studio. Less challenging work, his wife's three-year long illness with tuberculosis, fear of Japanese attack, and a desire to live on his Connecticut farm eventually led him to the decision to leave the studio. He resigned from the Disney studio on February 24, 1943, an action he regretted for the remaining twenty-five years of his life. (source: The Vladimir Tytla Page)

You can bet dollars to doughnuts that this is why Bill Tytla is not on the list of Walt's Nine Old Men, even though he obviously had the talents to be included on such a list.

RIP Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

I heard on the news this morning that Steve Irwin was killed by a Stingray. Who would have guessed, after all the crocodiles, snakes, sharks, and more that a stingray would be the animal to kill Steve Irwin?

My kids loved watching all his various shows and specials. We enjoyed watching each week as Steve showed us things about animals that we had never seen or known before. Hopefully his family is well taken care of, and continues to bring attention to animal conservation and education.

Les Clark

2006-08-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

Les Clark is one of the lesser known of the Nine Old Men. Les was once an ice cream server, which was where he met Walt. Shortly after that meeting, when Les was graduating from high school, he asked Walt for a job. Walt had him bring in some drawings, and then hired him for a short stint at the studio. The temp job turned into a career.

The cartoon shown above is from 1927, the year Les started at the studio. He went on to create many memorable performances, including Mickey Mouse in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from "Fantasia", and the show opening featuring Tinkerbell from the classic Disneyland TV series.

I plan on doing a post on each of the Nine Old Men over the next few weeks. Keep watching this space.

Ren & Stimpy premiered this day in 1991

2006-08-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to one of the best (if not the best) animated, animated television series in modern history.

Mechanical modeling and cartoony action

2006-08-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneek peek at our work on the animated opening for Nickelodeon/Frederator's "Random Cartoons" cartoon show. The logo itself is made up of ping pong balls aranged in a random pattern. The device pictured above is how the ping pong balls get hurled around the room.

You can see a WIP animation of the contraption here:

http://www.bishopanimation.com/movies/random/random_anim_test.avi

The contraption was designed by J Chad Erekson
Modeled by Veronica Harper and Mike Kopa
Rigged by Chris Boylan
Animated by Kevin Wisdom

Let us know what you think!

Happy Birthday, Saturday morning kids shows!

2006-08-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

56 years young!

The American Broadcasting Company first aired Saturday morning television shows for children on August 19, 1950. The network introduced two shows: Animal Clinic featured live animals, while the variety show Acrobat Ranch had a circus theme. Placed against a Western backdrop, acrobats Tumbling Tim and Flying Flo lent an air of spectacle to Acrobat Ranch. In one segment, Host Uncle Jim presided over a game in which children from the studio audience competed for merchandise prizes.

Back from Siggraph

2006-08-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

Whew! We're back from Siggraph, and what a week it was! There was so much to see, and so many new pieces of software to check out. While Maya 8 was impressive, and the Davey Jones presentation was very cool, I think the best bit of animation I saw at the show was from the upcoming Sony movie "Open Season".

I saw a presentation at the Houdini booth, showing how Houdini was used for a water sequence. Although it was high technology, it looked like a bear and a deer going down a river on a log. The technology served the story, and not the other way around. Very nice. I'm looking forward to this film now more than any other upcoming film.

Speaking of CG, check out the new Disney logo:

I like it alot. It reminds me of the old Disney shows hosted by Walt Disney. If the presentations on "Meet the Robinsons" are any indication, the future of Disney Animation is very bright.

Siggraph in Boston

2006-07-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

We're headed up to Boston for Siggraph. It should be a good time. If you're up there, stop by the http://www.colonnadehotel.com/ and say hello. If you're looking for work, drop off your reel at the front desk.

If you aren't going to Siggraph, or would rather not carry around reels, go ahead and mail us your work:

Bishop Animation
ATTN: desired position (ex: "attn: rigging")
214 Ninth Street
Honesdale, PA 18431

Cats playing ping pong... for no particular reason.

2006-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Siggraph 2006: Boston

2006-07-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

So the biggest computer graphics get together of the year is in Boston this time. Bishop Animation will be heading north. If you plan on being there, let us know so we can meet up!

Floyd the Fruit Fly

2006-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

A character with great character

2006-07-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

There aren't too many cartoons today with characters that are as well animated as Tom & Jerry. Take a look at the model sheet for Jerry. Every drawing on there gives a great sense of what the character is thinking or feeling.

We've got a few projects right now where we are trying to capture that same sense of character through posing, but using the tools of today to try and do it in 3D.

It's really tough.

How tough? It's so tough that our main rigger (Chris Boylan) has pulled out so much hair, he now has a mohawk.

It's much easier to put in a little bit of fat here or there using your pencil rather than with polygons, but I think we're getting very close though to the poseability that was impossible in CG only a few years ago. Keep watching this space for updates.

Hot enough for you?

2006-07-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

I think it was a billion degrees today. It was really only about 93 degrees, but it felt very hot. hopefully tomorrow is cooler. Hooray for Air Conditioning!

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - some of the best CG I've ever seen

2006-07-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

When you do CG as a career, you look at movies in a different way. You can sometimes see some subtle hints as to how things are done, whether it's make-up, compositing, digital doubles, etc. I had no idea while I was watching the film how they were making this character happen. ILM did a fantastic job with this character. If they don't win an Oscar for this phenominal work, there is no justice.

When I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", I was blown away by the character of Davey Jones. If you like adventure movies, pirates, or special effects, you'll really enjoy this film. Go see it if you get a chance.

The film is the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl". Both films are based on the Disneyland ride "Pirates of the Caribbean". Go to http://www.tellnotales.com to learn more about the ride that inspired the films, and see some of the incredible talent that helped create the attraction.

Evening news getting worse and worse

2006-07-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

It looks as though things are bad in a lot of different places right now. It reminded me of this song. If you're in any of the rough spots in the world right now, take care.

-Floyd

On the road again...

2006-07-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

There was lots of driving on Monday. We had a meeting in Connecticut, and then I had to go to a wake that evening. I drove a total of 365 miles. Fun fun fun.

-Floyd

More images of Amber

2006-07-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Give me a hand

2006-07-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Meet Veronica's friend Amber. Veronica is modeling Amber using a variety of anatomy sources, including anatomy books, photos, and Victoria Secret catalogs. As we finish Amber, she'll be decked out in a variety of ways. We plan on putting realistic hair and clothes on her. Her first task will probably be one of a Greek or Roman goddess.

We do a lot of cartoon stuff, which we enjoy greatly, but Amber is our way of showing that we are capable of realism as well. Let us know what you think!

A face only a mother could love

2006-07-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Recently, we had a challenge to create an appealing character based on a fly. This is the microscopic photo of a fruit fly... not exactly a golden retriever puppy.

I saw a bit about Ward Kimball designing Jiminy Cricket and how he had struggled to get a nice looking character from an animal so repulsive. At first, I thought it wouldn't be too tough, but it's harder than it sounds.

If you strip out too much "flyness", you end up with something that doesn't read as a fly. If you keep too much "flyness", you get something that is not too appealing. Hopefully I can post some of the stuff that J. Chad came up with here soon.

Great music for the 4th of July

2006-07-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July. Have a listen to some music from a somewhat happier time: The Firehouse Five Plus Two.

The Best Chicken Possible

2006-07-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

We've pushed back our self-imposed deadline for "Poor Professions for Poultry" in order to create the best chicken we possibly can. Factor in the backyard BBQ's and parties for the 4th of July, and it's going to be a little while before we finish off the project.

In the meantime, here is a link to some delicious grill recipes for grilled chicken:

Grilled Chicken Recipies

My own personal preference when grilling chicken is to use a rub, consisting mostly of Jerk Spice. You can't go wrong.

"One Cab's Family" - a great example of animated cars.

2006-07-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

Long before Lightning McQueen and Benny the Cab, there was "One Cab's Family"

Although this film came out the same year as Disney's "Susie The Little Blue Coupe" (1952), I think "One Cab's Family" is more successful. It's got a lot of great gags, but a lot of emotional impact as well.

Cars were much more expressive fifty four years ago for some reason.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend...

2006-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

...and if you're not an American, have a great weekend anyway!

Animation greatness on You Tube

2006-06-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ward Kimball was one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men. I never met Mr Kimball, but based on all I have read about him, I think he would have been a fun guy to be around. I found this segment on Ward Kimball via Cartoon Brew.

Animating in high water

2006-06-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's been raining here in Honesdale and the surrounding area since Friday of last week (when we left for Los Angeles). It finally stopped today, but there is major flooding all over north eastern and central Pennsylvania. In this image, you can see a washed out bridge in Waymart. There is usually just a trickle of water under this bridge, but not today.

To keep tabs on what's going on around here, visit the local news station, WNEP.

Hooray for Hollywood

2006-06-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Six of us are headed out to Hollywood for an event at Gnomon. It should be a good time. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

There's nothing funny about a broken humerous

2006-06-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an unexpected two day trip to the hospitol. My six year old son fell off his bunk beds and broke his left humerous so badly that he needed surgery. Two metal pins and a bunch of pain medication later, he's doing fine. He's expected to make a 100% recovery.

Project Overlord

2006-06-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Justin Neri stopped by the studio the other day and showed us Project Overlord. It's an asset management program that is in the early stages of development. You can read about it here:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=365870&page=1&pp=15

We'll be helping Justin fine tune things by testing out features and suggesting new ones. Hopefully, it turns into something great. It's got a lot of promise!

The next Pixar film - "Ratatouille"

2006-06-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

image from the "Ratatouille" trailer

More than a few people disagreed with me about my opinion of "Cars". While I'm sure there weren't any Pixar crew that read our blog and cried themselves to sleep, I thought I'd follow up with some thoughts on Pixar's upcoming film "Ratatouille". First off, here's the teaser trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/ratatouille/

Of all the CG films headed to theaters in the coming months (and years), this is the film I am most excited about. Judging from the trailer, there's a lot of traditional animation techniques combined with cutting edge technology to create something that is brand new. If the classic MGM "Tom & Jerry" cartoons were done in CG, I have a feeling they would look like this. I only hope they have a mean cat in this film.

part of a model sheet of Jerry the mouse from "Tom & Jerry"

My only let down so far was to hear that Jan Pinkava is not directing the film anymore. For those that aren't familiar with Jan's work, he was the director of "Geri's Game" for Pixar. That film won an Academy Award in 1998. I had the good fortune of meeting Jan at the Ottawa International Animation Festival that year, volunteering on a stop motion piece he was creating during the festival. I was looking forward to seeing what he would do with a feature length piece. I'm sure Brad Bird will do a fine job, but it will be a different film than Jan would have made.

Happy Morning

2006-06-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

We've figured out the chicken feather painting workflow. It's a lot of work, but the results will be worth it. Anyways, now it's a Happy Morning.

http://www.thesweetshop.tv/images/home/AYSON_FOLGERS_H.mov

Feathers, a work in progress

2006-06-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a screen shot of our new feather solution. We've painted in the follicles that will drive the pin feathers. We'll keep going with the painting until we've got all three zones and 100% coverage on the surface where we want it. We've got several hours ahead of us on this... keep watching.

What do you do with more time? Re feather your chicken!

2006-06-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

After getting some feedback from people, and looking at the chicken in some of our renders, we decided that the chicken needs an overhaul. We've got a bit of extra time on this project now, so why not make more work for ourselves, right?

In this image, you can see we've split the chicken into three feather zones:

There is a zone for short feathers, one for medium feathers, and one for longer feathers.

The short feathers, or pin feathers, hug the body closely and are pretty tightly packed. They are mostly around the head and neck area. In our placement drawing, these feathers are red. On a real bird, they look like this:

The medium feathers, or downy feathers, are mostly on the underbelly of the chicken. It's possible that you rest your head on a bag of these at night. On a real chicken, the breast isn't too fluffy, but hey, this is animation! In our placement drawing, these feathers are orange. Here's what downy type feathers look like on a real bird (check out those legs!):

Finally, we get to the longer or larger feathers. These are what cover most of the body of the bird. They aren't really flight feathers, but they're pretty close in length to those. In our placement drawing, these feathers are green. On a real bird, they look like this:

So there you have it. A complete overhaul has begun. Look for the results soon.

No pressure...

2006-06-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

So one of our two big deadlines for this week got pushed back. We've now got an extra two weeks for spit and polish. WFHEW!!

Scram!

2006-06-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

We've got two big deadlines at the end of this week, and a ton of stuff to do between now and then.

Chicken renders... available in six or nine piece

2006-06-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

So we're fine tuning the fur render for the chicken. I say "fur" rather than "feather" because we're using Maya Fur for the feathers. Anyway, here are some work in progress renders:

In this first render, the fur isn't taking any attributes from the lights.

OK. This one is a little better, but the fur is still too hot. It's still not getting the right info from the lighting. Also, check out that ugly shadow under the chicken. Gross!

The fur is looking a bit better, but the shadow is still Yuck City.

OK. We're almost there. The fur is taking on the attributes we want from the light. There's only one light in this scene.

Using what we learned from this test, we'll know how to light the chicken correctly.
Here's a look at where we are at now with the chicken.

"Cars" - Possibly Pixar's weakest film to date

2006-06-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen "Cars" yet, then you may want to skip reading this post until after you've seen it.

I had high hopes for this film, after seeing a display of the concept art in California. I was pretty let down. I didn't really care for the film. Here's why:

Too many main characters, or maybe too many characters that eat up screen time. I never got why Lightning cared so much for racing (just being built for speed isn't enough). If he had more screen time to explain his story, maybe I would hav efelt something more for him.

The blue girl car. Why did Lightning care for her? I didn't get that. Is it just because she's female? That's a bit shallow. Maybe that was the point, and he was supposed to get more shallow as the movie progressed? If so, they didn't really sell that point.

Mater was the only character that held my interest. His "All I want to do is ride in a helicopter" goal seemed a bit tacked on. Again, maybe it wasn't supposed to be that way, and there were just too many characters to show during the course of the film.

What was with that hotel thing out in the canyon? They never went inside, they never really said much about it, other than it used to be great. Why would I care about that place?

Lightning didn't really seem to change at all from the start of the film to the end. The film closes with him right back in the racing circuit.

There was way too much exposition in this film through fast paced TV type clips, or characters just told you about something rather than showing you.

"What is the character feeling, and why does he feel that way?" - Frank Thomas

I had no idea for most of the film what anyone thought. Farting tractors and stereotyped characters (a VW van that's a hippie and an Army jeep who acts like a soldier... who couldn't have seen that coming?) didn't do it for me.

Story - C

Character development - C-

Models - A

Rigging - A+

Lighting - A+

Animation - A

FX - A

Editing - A

Sound and music - A+

This was Pixar's weakest film to date, in my opinion. Let's hope the next one is better.

Chicken Feathers

2006-06-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

I thought I'd make a post about chicken feathers. For our short, we're using Maya 7. We're using Maya's fur system to generate the feathers. Now for the most part, a chicken's feathers are pretty tight to it's body.

The only place that this is not the case is in the areas of the wings and tail feathers. Here's what we're doing with the wings:

We've also rigged up the feathers on the ends of the wings to flex. We're not using them as fingers exactly, but we are bending them around quite a bit (mostly to help out the arcs in the animation on the wings).

Anyways, I hope to post some finished renders of the chicken sometime soon, in all it's feathered glory.

President of the United States of America... a poor profession for poultry

2006-06-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

So here is some animation of the chicken hard at work as the President of the United States of America. It was animated by Kevin Wisdom. The desk and chair were modeled by Arielle Sekula.

Leave some comments and let us know what you think!

Poor Professions for Poultry

2006-06-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the chicken character from our upcoming short, "Poor Professions for Poultry".

The premise is that there are many jobs that would not be a good fit for a chicken. We show this realistic chicken on the job. It does what a real chicken would probably do, and funny stuff happens. Here are a few more views of the chicken (all drawn by our guy J Chad Erekson):

The skeletal structure underneath is not just there to look cool. It helps our rigger (Chris Boylan) figure out where to place the virtual joints to ensure our digital chicken can do all that it needs to do... and then some.

In this image, we're looking at how the wings of a chicken work, and how we plan to arrange the feathers. We've decided that the end feathers will work like fingers if need be, so they all have controls worked into them.

Brains and color

2006-06-08T07:38:00.001-07:00

I found this on the web today while reading Fark.com:

http://www.johnsadowski.com/big_spanish_castle.html

It reminded me of a discussion I had in college one time about color perception and what colors actually look like to other people. Maybe yellow to me is blue to someone else, but we call it the same color. It's the kind of thing you can never really know for sure.

It's about time...

2006-06-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, after several people asked about a Bishop Animation blog, we decided to create one.

Hopefully we'll be updating it every day, and hopefully some people will find it interesting.

Stay tuned.