I kept the rig somewhat simple, working just with rigging methods I already knew from working with Max and Maya. The rig is just a body rig at this point in time, although I plan on creating a facial rig for it in the future as well.

I have been finding Digital Tutors great in helping with my transition to Maya. I highly recommend their lessons. They work well as a rough guideline, but there are definitely better ways of doing some things. I found better solutions to some basic problems as my confidence with Maya grew throughout the course of creating the rig. I also found a few of the methods taught were actually flawed: the spine twist and eye rig. It gave a great opportunity to actually play around and find a working solution on my own though. Pleased to have gotten those issues fixed and working. Despite the problems, I am still very happy with their product.

Hope you like the rig. I look forward to doing more and continuing to grow in Maya.

I worked on this project with PEN Productions. PEN was hired to do character modeling, unwrapping, rigging, and skinning. I supervised production in these four areas. Others involved with the project on PEN’s end include Paul Neale, Eric Harvey, Felipe Nogueira, Wendy Rozycki, David Emirzian, and Corey Hayes. Below is the list of full credits.

Project Credits
Director: Richard Rosenman
Exec. Producer: Randi Yaffa
Producer: Holly Nichols
Environment / Prop modeling: Stephane Goulet, Raden Slipicevic, Rowan Simpson
Character modeling: Wendy Rozycki, David Emirzian, Corey Hayes
Animation: Scott Guppy, Kevin Vriesinga
TD: Paul Neale, Mathieson Facer, Eric Harvey, Felipe Nogueira
Texturing Assist: Chris Crozier
Texturing, lighting, rendering & compositing: Brad Husband

Produced at Hatch Studios Ltd.

You can view the commercial at Richard Rosenman’s website by clicking here.

I worked on this project through PEN Productions, who was called on to provide rigging and skinning for the three principle characters. I worked along side Paul Neale, Felipe Nogueira, and Eric Harvey on the project. Credits from Hatch’s website are below.

Project Credits
Producer: Holly Nichols
Modeling: Chris Crozier, Rowan Simpson, Stephane Goulet, Richard Bae
Animation: Keving Vriesinga, Scott Guppy
TD: Paul Neale, Mathieson Facer, Eric Harvey, Felipe Nogueira
Lighting, Rendering & Compositing: Brad Husband

You can view the commercial at Hatch’s website by clicking here.

I worked as lead technical director from September, 2007 to September, 2008 on the production.  The goal of the show was to achieve a 2D, Flash-cartoon inspired look, inside of a 3D world.  This seems simple in concept, but sure enough it was much more complex than initially anticipated.  The production presented many unique problems that required a lot of creative thinking to solve.

Here are some of my other responsibilities from the production.

• Creating character rigs and techniques used throughout the production.
• Creating pipeline tools to enhance productivity levels of animators, background artists, and myself.
• Creating and maintaining folder structures for the entire production.
• Implementing an email and inner-office chat system and a tracking system for shots and assets.
• Reading upcoming episode scripts to prepare the studio for future challenges.
• Nightly backups of the entire production drive.

Pinky Dinky Doo Season 2 airs on the N O G G I N network.

Paul Neale has put together a full technical write-up on the project.  Visit his site to find out more about this production.

For our final project in our final year of study at Humber College, a group of students decided to work on a collaborative project. The goal was a two and a half minute animation that would be achieved through operating as a full production, with our program coordinator being our producer.

The production followed schedules, deadlines, and pipelines. There were job descriptions, production meetings, rushes, and, of course, problems, delays, and dismissals. In the end, the project was completed by the final deadline, which was SIGGRAPH 2007.

The short is based on a classic story and is about an overly curious wide mouthed frog who likes to explore and ends up getting himself into a little trouble.

Hope you enjoy!

I modeled and textured many elements used in the game’s menu system.  You can view my work below, as well as see some in-game screen shots of the menu screens.

The building used to be the Mount Albert Bakery.

View the before and after comparisons below.