Not So Wonderful Days

So I found myself on the side of the road in the middle of the night; no spare, no jack, no tools. I was near a call box, but it appeared to have been ripped out by something. Was I in a bad horror movie?! I wasn't waiting around to find out.

I proceeded at anywhere from 2 to 5 miles per hour, hazard lights flashing, until I came to an exit. It descended into blackness. I got back onto the freeway, still at such a slow speed, and continued to the next exit. I saw nothing but blackness as well. Keep in mind that at my speed, we're talking an hour just from exit to exit, as huge trucks go speeding by at 90 miles per hour shaking my little car nearly off the road. I finally come to an exit where there is light. On top of that a police car finally shows up behind me. They stay with me until I get to a 76 station.

The police call a cab for me and leave. As I wait for over an hour for the cab, I notice that the 76 station is a tire service center! I don't have to have my vehicle towed anywhere the next day. Finally a cab arrives and I get a ride home, though listening to the most annoying rap music. I get home about 4:00 AM or so.

The next day, which is today, I have to call another cab to get back to the 76 station. The first company I call says it's an hour wait, so I call others. ALL other cab companies tell me they have nothing and to call the place I called first. So I accept the hour wait of the first company and sit to read. The cab, however, comes early, and I am not dressed. I suit up and head out to where the car is waiting and the lady driving is not very happy and exclaims that she was just about to leave me. Anyway, I get back to the 76 station.

So I want to replace at least one tire, the one that is next to my car and not on it, but thought it good to check out the others. The guy told me that one rear tire was perfect, one so-so and the other front tire was ok, so we decide to take one front tire and put it on the back and get two new tires on the front. The bill is made up and I pay. Later, though, the man comes to me and shows me that the tire thought to be good, was totally cracked and damaged on the other side. (this all started because I ran over some huge truck's tread laying in the middle of the freeway at 80mph just days before, then days later ran into someone's pile of sharp sticks)So another bill is made up and now I have three tires to get. Anyway, it all gets done and the car is back on the road and handling great.

Of course my day is not done. I have to return home and grab my suit. You see, right before all this fun started, I got caught on the door of a store and my suit was ripped. So I took it to the cleaners and you can't imagine the faces of the girls there when they saw what I was asking them to fix. We'll see how that on turns out. Now I WAS supposed to get new taillights for my car today. You see, a cop stopped me earlier, the day before, and told me I had a taillight out. He let me go with a warning. Anyway, it wasn't until about 4:00 PM today that I was finally back home relaxing. Needless to say, I didn't feel much like working.

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Mo modo Mo modo!

Continuing the modo line, I have been posting some images and information about my experiences with modo on the Daniel project. Some of the tools found in modo have really allowed me to quickly do things I would have completely avoided in the past. It will be getting major use as the Daniel project continues.

In other news, my research continues, but starting tomorrow I am going to begin putting together a promotional scene for Daniel to show and explain the flow of the project to some degree. This will be a small piece of a larger promotional video which I will start circulating in a month or so to build awareness of the project. More on that as it develops.

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IT'S OFFICIAL!

Well, I guess it's been official since September 17th according to the Luxology webpage, but I wasn't sure if I could talk about it. Now I see that I can finally rave about a tool that made the Daniel project what it is today!

From their news:

Luxology is proud to announce the availability of modo, our advanced subdivision surface and polygonal modeling platform. The Luxology store is now online with instant access to modo via download at the time of purchase.

In past anime projects there were some things I just didn't want to deal with on the 3D end of things. This was in large part due to the fact that I didn't want to even get into modeling some things. Cloth was one of them. It was hard to do and usually took forever to calculate to get good results. With modo, I was able to give Daniel cloth at a level of detail that calculated near realtime, yet, because of the advanced modeling tools, I could put detail just where needed for best collision. modo opened many new doors for this project.

Even something seemingly simple, like this dome behind Daniel in the above image, actually becomes simple using modo. Not being sure exactly how I would model it, even as I considered ideas, I just started experimenting, wondering "could I...?" With ingenuitive tools like edge extrude, as I thought, so I worked and the dome was done. This is why they say "Modeling at the speed of thought!"

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The Pro Way!

I was reading in an email where someone wrote that there are many newcomers to the industry who are getting their projects done and they all say that it is because of the technology. This got me thinking. I've worked at some major studios and delved into a number of different production pipelines. I have worked on projects both small and large with complex tools to get work done and with whatever people could throw together to get work done. I now wonder if those of us who work or have worked professionally, but also do our indie thing, have forgotten the simple means by which we can get projects done in this day.

If I made a show five years ago, how much has the technology improved since then? Should it not be easier or faster to do a show today? Could it not be much higher quality? Is it possible that as we walk into studios or read magazines about the latest and greatest tools that the big guys are using, that we forget what it was like to grab what we could and still make projects that looked just as good?

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Back in Black!

Alright. With a new schedule written and my plans in order, it's time to get back to business. I have a better outline of my Truth Explorers teaser and am ready to go!

Remember this images that I posted about. This guy went out with his friends on weekends for over a year to get his movie made. He got it done. He went on to do the popular film Memento. It goes to show where a little perseverance will get you. Even if just an hour per day...

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Schedule

OK, I know I have written about this before, but this time it's not about waking up at 5:00 AM and trying to fit in questionable amounts of work each day. As you may remember, I once wrote that even if you work on your project for an hour each day, that adds up. That's what this about. More so, about working around things.

I never really put into consideration how my schedule affects the simpler things of life, grocery shopping, different meetings, classes, even going out. For example, if you have a regular meeting or class on certain days, it would be wise to schedule grocery shopping to be on different days. Seems simple and logical enough, but I found myself running errands in the morning and then finally sitting down to relax and ponder doing a bit of work, and lo and behold! I have to go to a class or a meeting.

The time has come to write yet another schedule, but this time a schedule that considers all things, organizes all things, and properly places all things. Most importantly, working those things which you can control, logically around those things which you can't control so you have optimum time for the indie project!

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You know, as I study this thing out, I realize how it is so much bigger than me that it becomes hard to fathom. It doesn't matter whether it's the mysteries of the pyramids, ancient forms of cult worship or even Atlantis, the effects that many of these issues have on our society today are astounding and difficult to account for. I guess this is why a series such as I am doing will have to look at just a piece of the issue in each episode and over the course of a series put the puzzle together. More on that later.

In other news, I can't say how long the link will be active, but someone posted an actual sample of video from the new Sony 3 CDD HDV camera on a website right here. Check it out while you can. I personally am somewhat amazed, but question the value of it versus the 24P equipped DV cameras from Canon and Panasonic. Depending on your project, it will be up to you whether 24P is more important than the high resolution of this camera. Either way, coming in at less than $3000.00 supposedly, it is a great day for the indie world at large.

I recently received an email from a man who had great stories he wanted to tell in the anime medium. He even had characters designed and drawn and he was looking for studios to invest in getting his dream projects off the ground. As many of you know, I have never believed that such a process can work in this day and age. Even having worked with a large publisher my stance has not changed. I just thougth I would share some thoughts on this issue.

If someone felt they absolutely had to go the major publishing route, my suggestion would be consider doing a manga. American manga is generally being more accepted by the fans and publishers seem to be on the look out for it. If it is popular, then it can grow into eventual TV series and movies etc. This is basicaly what the creators of Teenage Mutant NInja Turtles did.

Of course you know the chances of success on this path are slim. The chances that the large studios will invest the kind of money and rescources needed to get a major anime project off the ground into a total unknown is next to nothing. This biz just like any other aspect of showbiz, even Hollywood is all about who you know. Even then nothing is sure. That last thing you want to do is spend years of your life shopping scripts around and pitching ideas to exectuives who wouldn't know a good anime if it ran over them in Jaguar! I know people who have done this.

This is why I have always advocated, and continue to advocate "Do it yourself!" You don't need millions of dollars or big studio backing. Ever heard of Makoto Shinkai? Voices of a Distant Star? He didn't have millions or a large crew. He did that himself! He has a full scale feature coming out any day now. Ever see Understansding Chaos, my first film? I did that by myself, voices, music and all! I still believe wholeheartedly that that is the only way you will see your project become reality.

This doesn't mean you have to work absolutely alone. You can join up with friends or probably find art and music guys on the net who will be sign on just on the merits of your project. Someone recently sent me a link to an animated property called Ninjai. A group of martial artists and stuntment got together to create their own cartoon and they are now very successful on Atom Films.

Get friends to do voices. Do whatever it takes, but get it done and do it yourself. I know too many people who have wasted their lives waiting around for studios to notice their talent and give them millions. They now complain of being married with children and having no time. There are others, however, who have gone out just every saturday and worked on their movie with friends and it may have taken a year or two to get it done, but it got done and they are now successful in the business.

I am currently working solely on the projects you see on this site. I am not doing any contracts nor am I engaging in side work of any kind. I spent te last year or more doing that and it amounted to nothing getting done. Now is the accepted time. Don't wait!

If you really want your project to happen, you have to make it happen.

Time will truly run away from you if you let it. Not to imply that I didn't get anything done. I got a lot of good studying in, but I just couldn't sit down to draw a single frame or board!

There are so many hours in a day. Yet it seems there's always something to fill them. Whether it's grocery shopping, running errands, buying clothes to replace those that ripped or cutting hair, life shouldn't get in the way of art! It should imitate or something, right?!

So it's a new week and there is new work to be done. The boards for the Truth Explorers pilot teaser will continue this day, though I also have a few other things to put to the pen. Chiefly, I want to see this pilot film done by early next month at the latest.

As I continue to study, the story side of the projects I am doing continues to grow. Both Occult Salvation and the current project present some great opportunities as to what can be explored. As I refine the outlines I am becoming more excited about seeing these things come to life.

I spoke with someone last night who reminded me that even one hour at a time will lead to the eventual completion of the project. I can't wait to get to the point of modeling the new characters. With that, I get back to work!

Board's Be 2004

Continuing on, not slack concerning my commitment to do some real production before this year is out, I have dived into the boards for the small promotional video for Truth Explorers. There is one chief difference from past boards though. I am doing it all digital and paperless. Or am I?

In the past I created blank board sheets with the boxes and labels and then took a pencil to them. Since that time, I have tried doing boards on screen, in the video project, even tried mind animation, but in the end, I find I am most comfortable right where I began. It's back to the page.

This time though, the entire page, the boxes, the labels and then finally the drawings all exist in Mirage. After I finish a page, I just print it to have next to me as I work on the actual show. It's like doing it the old way... but new!

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To The Drawing Board

Not to appear as though I am not working, I have some new designs for the Truth Explorers gang. With the main four characters complete, (the fourth being the kid in the center of the title bar above) I can begin designing a promotional teaser for the project.

One thing I intend to do very differently from Makoto Shinkai and his current project, is that I will make sure that every scene done for the promotional piece is used in the final. I can't afford, after all, to have that kind of time lost in production on assets that go to the trash bin. The goal is that Truth Explorers shall be done this year.

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Tablet of Choice

I just noticed on the Japanese Wacom site, Production I.G., noted for the Ghost in the Shell movie and TV series, uses the very Wacom Intuos 2 drawing tablet that I use.

The images are from what I gather is a current 2D production called Otogizoushi. It appears somewhat similar to Kaidohmaru, which I believe is becoming a TV series, but nothing I read seems to denote a relation. What's interesting is that it is being done in 4:3 screen aspect, something I thought rare in Japan these days.

In other news, it's time for some graphic updates to my page. I want to create a new title bar that better reflects where I am going rather than where I have been. I also want to put newer and better images in my gallery. That will happen in minutes.

Finally, I have a new design for the character which was under consideration last week. Look for new images of him soon.

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The Dream Is Not Over

Remember a long time ago when I wrote of my facsicnation with the tablet PC and how I wished I had one while in China? Since that time I got to play with the Toshiba model (I don't remember if I wrote of it) and found it sluggish and Mirage didn't work well on it at all. I was somewhat disappointed.

At various times I played with other models at stores and was always impressed with the concept but never quite sure if it would really do what I want. Now that seems to have changed.

I just read on the Mirage forums of how an artist worked on a 2D animated, theatrically released commercial using Mirage and a tablet PC. That is amazing news. My dreams of sitting in a five star hotel in China, drawing manga or anime on my tablet while hooked wirelessly to the supplied DSL in the room are not just a vain fantasy. It could actually happen! What a world we live in!

The image shown is the new Nec tablet PC which I actually know nothing about.

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No End in Sight

Madhouse, the studio responsible for some of the biggest anime hits, including Technolyze, Gungrave and Gunslinger Girls, will apparently be getting into the Highlander business, as that franchise seems to be a world without end. There appears to be an actual Highlander anime feature in the works. According to Animation Magazine:

The Highlander toon feature is being developed by Davis-Panzer Prods., the company behind the live-action features and series, and Imagi Intl., which provided primary animation for DreamWorks' NBC series, Father of the Pride. Animation will be handled by Japan’s Madhouse, which animated Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, among others. Kevin Eastman (Heavy Metal 2000) and Joe Pearson will supervise production.

The Highlander franchise has been going strong for nearly twenty years now. Seeing the convention footage from the 5th season DVD extras amazed me as to how many people really get deep into this show and its themes and ideas. The anime feature is not the only thing they have planned either. The article ends saying, "Dimension Films will release a fifth live-action film titled Highlander: The Source in 2005."

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Changes

I want to thank everyone who wrote in with various comments about this character. Needless to say, before I move forward, this guy will come under the knife, so to speak, for a little cosmetic surgery. In going back to the drawing board with him, I realize it was the basic design of the kid, but the implementation that was flawed. This is good, as it is a quick fix, and then the show can go on!

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