AnimSchool is proud to present our Model / Rig Student Showcase for the past year. Great work, AnimSchool students!
Apply to be a student at: www.animschool.com
We caught up with AnimSchool Student Juan Diego Lugo to ask him a few questions.
Juan has just completed his final course at Animschool. Since enrolling at AnimSchool in January 2014, his modeling skills have grown considerably. But don’t take our word for it, why don’t you take a look for yourself?
1. How has AnimSchool helped you grow as a modeler?
AnimSchool simply provides an enormous amount of resources, knowledge and help for a modeler in the making. The impression that struck me from the very first introductory class was that modeling requires particularly keen attention to detail, as it is the convergence of design, technology, anatomy and craft. As I got to more advanced classes, this impression only solidified. As a result, our own judgement changes, we scrutinize things more, and we develop a deeper appreciation for good craft wherever we see it.
On top of all of this, and what makes AnimSchool uniquely powerful in this regard, is that we have incredibly talented individuals giving us critique. Luis Labrador, Brien Hindman, Juan Pablo Chen, Dylan Ekren, and Dave Gallager to name a few. Amazing artists with real world experience who not only teach us concrete truths about modeling, but more profoundly, who they are as artists and humans ultimately changes you, it motivates you and inspire you to push for better work – you only need to put in the time.
I guess it’s hard not to improve when you surround yourself and learn from these deeply influential artists, and really talented classmates who become your friends along the way. I guess every school or service or enterprise boils down to how good its community is, and I’ve found that this community is as kind and receiving as it is talented.
2. Tell us about yourself and how you got into 3d
I was born in Venezuela and lived there until I was 17. Getting a computer from a very young age exposed me to a whole new world of animated games and digital art, and it didn’t take long for me to start learning how to create things. Eventually I found happiness in doing that.
Venezuela, even then, was a dangerous country. But here I had an escape from it with technology and art!
Sometime growing up I also met someone who was very influential in my life, and whom I admire. He studied 3D and was able to do amazing drawings and animations, and I think he gave me the confidence and the necessary mentorship to start playing with different 3D programs like Blender, Maya, and Cinema4D.
3. Are you currently working in the industry?
I’ve been working for a little over a year remotely as a Rigging Artist for a studio based in California. Still, I would like to find something where I can be on site as well, perhaps something more involved. I’m hoping I can do that soon, after graduating and producing a new demo!
4. So you can rig and model! How has knowing both fields benefited your work?
I’ve been able to fill out gaps between modeling and rigging. I think knowing two areas deeply related to one another gives you a competitive edge, and the freedom to just do more or be more useful.
In my work environment I’m more critical of topology and how important good topology is for deformations, (specially in gaming where there are limitations from the engine) and that can potentially save you and others quite a lot of time.
5. Tell us about your tank girl model!
Well – the concept for her was made by Cory Loftis and when I first saw it, it really hit me. It has so much personality. Then it was just a matter of doing it, and Advanced Modeling in ZBrush was the key to learning how. Over the course of 11 weeks, we gathered references and started going for it. Our instructor was incredible, and we would get just on point critique and lessons on how to improve.. this process happened again and again, until she was finished, and even though I’m very happy with the result, I’m even happier of the things I learned, because it opens the door to a world of characters we can take on the challenge of doing in 3D.
6. Care to share one of the things you learned?
I gave this one some thought.
When working on a model or a project, the last 10% of the work takes as much as the last 90% of it.
It’s simple but profound – we often feel like something is finished when we could push it so much more.
The last 10% takes as much time and effort as the 90% that led to it.
7. So have you ever revisited one of your models you once called complete?
I haven’t, at least not yet. I feel more inclined to take on new projects with what I’ve learned from past mistakes – and this stills in me a sense of excitement as well. But it is in no way a bad idea, and it is ultimately necessary. For example, for my next demo reel, I’m sure I will have to revisit and mend a lot of things if I plan to present them next to newer, better projects, or else I run the risk of people thinking I have bad judgement or bad taste.
8. Do you have foundation skills in traditional forms of art?
Yes, I have a bachelor in fine arts, which sounds loftier than it is. I learned to draw using charcoal, but we also learned clay sculpting and baking. Even though I don’t use traditional mediums anymore, I wish I still did. Yet every bit helps and reinforces
3D skills, I think.
9. You’ve made some great progress since taking your first class at AnimSchool. Do you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Yes, absolutely. I would urge everyone to try to connect beyond the classes with the other students that are putting in their time and effort. In my case, a few of the people I met on my first class accompanied me until the later ones, and doing google hangouts with them allowed us to critique each other while working on our projects, and that was great! I’d also recommend trying to do every art class, even if you don’t draw; you will learn a lot. Lastly, I’d recommend taking advantage of the general reviews available during the week, because the feedback is very, very useful.
10. Thank you, Juan. Any last words for our readers?
I think I’d just like to add one last comment.
And it’s to echo a tweet from one of my instructors here. He said we are responsible for our own success. And I think it’s awfully true. It’s easy to fall on the trap of thinking there are magic buttons, techniques or plugins or software, but it comes down to discipline and determination and love for the craft.
———–
Thank you, Juan Diego Lugo for allowing us to share your progress and for taking the time to speak with us! If you’d like to see more examples of Juan Diego Lugo’s work, check out his ArtStation !
In AnimSchool’s General Reviews, Dave Gallagher demonstrates posing with Giacomo, Animschool’s latest character rig.
Giacomo is just one of the many flexible and appealing character rigs the students have access to. For a full list of all our character rigs provided to student, head on over to: http://animschool.com/Characters.aspx
This is clip from AnimSchool’s General Review session where students get extra critique and feedback at no extra charge.
To view more great class clips, visit the AnimSchool Blog: http://www.animschoolblog.com
Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com
United States – July 16, 2015 — AnimSchool is proud to
present our newest character, Giacomo, exclusively for AnimSchool
students.
AnimSchool is the leader in appealing, flexible characters. Our students
animate with the most refined, advanced characters, using the popular AnimSchool Picker.
Giacomo was designed by famous animation veteran Sergio Pablos of The SPA Studios, and modeled by AnimSchool students Marcus Ng and Pablo Bellozas. Facial pose designs by Borja Montoro.
AnimSchool rigs are built with each part and control being tested to extreme levels, making the strongest poses possible.
You can see the range of motion and poseability students can achieve with Giacomo.
Giacomo has clothing options: shirt, pants, hat, shoes, and poseable
toes.
To use Giacomo, apply to an AnimSchool program or individual class.
AnimSchool characters and the AnimSchool Picker are used by more
than 20,000 users worldwide, and have been used to win numerous
animation contests and for commercial needs. AnimSchool is known as the
most trusted name for appealing 3D characters.
With over 200 students, AnimSchool
was founded in 2010 to bring character-focused 3D animation instruction
to students all around the world, through live online sessions with the best film professionals.
AnimSchool
admissions@animschool.com
555 South State Street, Suite 315
Orem, UT 84058
801 765-7677
In this lecture our Instructor Rahul Dabholkar, Supervising Animator at Dreamworks India, talks about the importance of character in Animation.
He shares with us four important questions that you have to ask yourself about the character before starting to animate.
1. Who is your main character?
2. What’s the situation?
3. What does he/she wants?
4. What makes this story unique and memorable?
To learn more about it – watch this video. And if you want even more – come and join us at www.animschool.com
Start us off by telling us about yourself and what you’ve been up to since graduating from Animschool
I have been studying animation for 4 years now. Animschool was an inflection point, where I started to really learn animation in a professional way. I’m currently working hard to be able to have a good demo reel in order to start looking for an animation job. Meanwhile I work half time in a architecture studio modeling and rendering architecture stuff. It isn’t animation related, but it’s ok.
Some of Luis’s professional models and renders from his Architecture Studio.
So I didn’t do too much since I graduated from animschool. I’ve continued working hard, trying to do good shots, and continue learning. Doing English classes ( that’s important because I’m planning going out Spain).
You recently won the 11 second club contest in November. Can you tell us about your shot?
My shot is about a school principal who’s very angry with a student about something that had happened. He doesn’t want to look tough, so perhaps he’s annoyed. He is containing himself because he shouldn’t lose control because he is the school principal. So he gives the kid some kind of advice, “you should never make important decision while you are upset”, and we see the kid very ashamed about that. In the end we discovered what the kid did, the principal shows him a firecracker.
Did you model the set yourself?
I didn’t, I downloaded from a site which had some free 3d scenes, like restaurantes, offices,bars,streets. The site recently disappeared. Anyway, there are lots of good sites with free 3d models and scenes. I think animators shouldn’t waste time modeling things for a shot, only if it’s necessary I model some particular stuff that is difficult to find on the internet. But you can find almost everything for free or for a few bucks.
Can you describe your workflow and thought process for this shot?
When i first I listened to the audio I started to imagine what type of character would say that words. I usually do a very big researching job, thinking about the situation and planning my shots. I search the internet for images and ideas according to what I have in mind. Sometimes I get really good ideas for the shot with an image. Especially about the staging and the composition. I use www.gettyimages.com, because you can filter results in order to search exactly what you need.
So, finally I came to the idea of a school principal very angry with a student about something that had happened. The character sounds like a big guy with a strong voice so he should move slow and show weight in his movements for this reason I decided to use Animschool’s Marshall rig for this shot. He is a big guy perfect for this shot.
I started with a basic layout, with some poses and the camera changes in order to have a general idea about the shot. After that I started to shot myself for some video references, having in mind the attitude of character: Confident, Imperative, and the physical characteristics: Strong, Slow movements, Big guy,…
With the video reference I started my blocking pass with 4 or 5 basic poses being sure this poses are the best I can. Then I add some breakdowns and I start a basic lip sync. When I think everything looks as best as possible I go to splining and I clean all curves. Finally I’ll polish everything.
You are really thinking about what is going on in the characters heads. Do you have experience in acting?
No, I don’t. But I think that considering the characters thoughts is an important part of the shot. We, as animators, need to build a complete personality for the character, that include physical characteristics, visual aspects and personality.
Do you have any advice to new animators?
Learning animation is a long and difficult journey. There are lots of up and downs and frustration. My advice is to never give up. There isn’t a magic way to learn it quickly, just hard work.
Are you working on anything now? Can you tell us about it?
I’m thinking about participating to this month 11secondclub competition. But maybe it is a bit late for it. Anyway I’m working on some shots that I’ll able to finish by the next month I guess.
Do you have any animator heroes?
I follow lots of artist, not only animators.There are very inspirational work around there.
Some artists I like: Aaron Blaise, Goro Fujita,Ram Imaquinario,Marta Masana,Anna Cattish, they all have facebook page, so follow them!
What have you thought of Animschool?
Animschool is great, they have a very structured way of teaching and that’s really good for starting animators. Students learn directly from professional animators now working in the industry.
Every class is very structured, in this way you learn the whole process of a shot.
In addition to your animation classes each term there’s a new animation related class for students and graduated, like drawing or storytelling plus the animation general reviews, where you can attend for additional review of your work.
Animschool also have so expressive and appealing rigs, really easy and intuitive to use. All characters are joint based. In opposite to blend shapes, joints are more flexibles so you can find better poses without breaking the rig.
Thank you, Luis!
In AnimSchool’s Game Animation Pipeline, Lead Cinematics Animator at Vicarious Visions – John Paul Rhinemiller reviews student work and gives them feedback on their animations.
Every Animschool student has live critique session with his instructor. That way we prepare our animators to work in industry, where giving and receiving critiques is a daily routine.
Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com
In AnimSchool’s Character Performance, Dreamworks Animator Christopher Bancroft reviews the shot of Animschool Student Alvaro Granados.
View the finished result here:
Post by AnimSchool.
Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com
In AnimSchool’s Game Animation Pipeline, Lead Cinematics Animator at Vicarious Visions – John Paul Rhinemiller reviews student work and gives them feedback on their animations.
Every Animschool student has live critique session with his instructor. That way we prepare our animators to work in industry, where giving and receiving critiques is a daily routine.
Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com
Introducing Animator Cody Lyon! Cody is a gold mine of very insightful animation tips and techniques. His work is a direct reflection of one who makes careful decisions, and he was kind enough to share his intricate thought process when animating!
I hope you enjoy and learn as much from this interview as I have.
Start us off by telling us a little about yourself. Are you a student? Do you work in the industry?
Hello! I grew up on an alfalfa farm in a tiny town called Silt, Colorado. I drew a ton as a kid, mostly cowboys and gunfights, which kind of led into a natural respect for cinematography and storytelling. Just when I was starting high school, I stumbled on a documentary called The Pixar Story by Leslie Iwerks. I remember a specific moment from the documentary when Doug Sweetland was shown filming reference and polishing a shot from Woody in Toy Story 2, and my brain exploded. This normal looking human just took an electronic puppet and convinced millions of people that it had thoughts and feelings. You know when you see something, and it just empties your brain because it’s so perfect? That’s what happened. There was nothing else after that, only animation. As you’d expect, there wasn’t a huge computer animation community in a farm town named after dirt, so I left Colorado and moved to San Francisco to study animation at Academy of Art University.
Unexplainably, I managed to get into the Academy’s sacred “Pixar Classes” as a puny know-nothing freshman. I have been lucky enough to not only learn a lifetime of information from my Pixar instructors, but to also call many of them my friends. I’ve learned so much from them, as well as other amazing mentors like Dave Latour, who still thinks my name is Cory, and Jean-Denis Haas (who is an idiot – he’ll know what that means). I’ve also been fortunate enough to do some really fun contract work for companies like Google, Stanford University, and The Walt Disney Family Museum. So that’s where I am right now. I’m finishing up my last semester at AAU this Spring, and looking for jobs and internships come Summer. It’s a really intimidating time to transfer from student to professional life, but I couldn’t think of a challenge I’d enjoy more.
Can you elaborate more on the contract work you
did for Google, Stanford University, and The Walt Disney Family Museum?
Thank you! I’ve been really fortunate with the opportunities I’ve had, and I’ve had a ton of fun hopping around and meeting people in a bunch of different industries. I’m a board member of Tea Time Animation, which started at AAU when I was a freshman. We had a great event with The Walt Disney Animation Museum a couple years ago, and the staff there at the time agreed to have me come in for a couple months and do some demos for museum guests and kids, which was really fun. I basically got to sit down at an old animation desk and do 2D and 3D shots while guests walked by.
Stanford was a bit more official. They have a summer program in which middle schoolers and high schoolers can stay on campus and learn different disciplines in digital media. One of my good friends at Tea Time Animation had worked there and recommended me to the head of the program, so I was lucky enough to spend an entire summer teaching the basics of modeling, rigging, texturing and animation in Maya. I met a lot of inspiring artists, and it was great to see younger kids so excited about this industry.
My incredible girlfriend (who is also an incredible artist herself – www.xofinn.com) is an Administrative Assistant/Visual Designer for Google here in San Francisco. Some of the executives there purchased a 3D printer a couple of years ago and had no idea how it worked, so she mentioned that I worked with Maya and 3D space, and they called me in. After a quick interview, I was basically locked in an empty room with a laptop and a 3D printer for 3 months, and got to design some really intricate tools and architecture models for an event called the “Innovation Lab”. I made a lot of friends while I was there and managed to pay the bills these last couple of years on short contracts doing everything from painting murals, graphic design, video editing, and motion graphics for the San Francisco Office.
Can you tell us about your recent shot “I have a question”, which is making its rounds around the internet
I’ve learned so much from that sequence. I knew that I wanted to do a dialogue with a female voice, and I wanted the acting to be as realistic as possible. Not the actual animation, but the choices. I was in a lecture from John Kahrs a couple years ago, and he was annoyed by all these young animators who start out with performance and all they care about are gestures. Sure they come in handy and are the right choice sometimes, but every shot of a movie can’t be just a series of gestures, because it looks too presentational, too forced. He referenced his sequence in The Incredibles when Helen and Bob have an argument. He said he’s really proud of that sequence, because Helen does nothing. She stays very contained and very still, which is really accurate to how someone would argue in real life.
That lecture really stuck with me, and I wanted to make sure to reflect that in my own animation. You’ll notice that, in my, scene, she rarely does any gestures, and keeps her arms relatively still. The main motion is all with the head, the root, and the eyelids, and that’s all I used for blocking. I was also really discouraged with the scene at first. I wasn’t sure if the idea was right for the dialogue, or even if I had the right dialogue. I had a lot of trouble with staging and camera, and even with the performance of the thief in the background. I had always seen the school showreels and shot progressions online, and they always looked so seamless. They looked like the animator thought of the perfect idea, blocked it out perfectly, didn’t get any major notes, and then spent the rest of the week happily polishing away. Luckily, I’ve learned since that that is almost never the case. I think that’s important for all of us animators to remember: everybody struggles, and everybody has bad days animating. The important thing is to stick with your ideas and see them through to the end.
I’m really grateful for all the attention that it has gotten recently, and I can’t wait to show everyone my next piece.
Is there anything you can tells us about your next piece?
I recently got my reel reviewed by a few industry professionals, and they told me that the only thing my reel is missing is an “Oscar Moment”. A character with a personality completely different than the ones I’m used to, delivering a solid performance without any of the bells and whistles of lighting, rendering, etc. So I basically have a single 450 frame shot with one character acting within a single pose. It’s really tough, because you don’t have anything to hide behind. It’s like how drummers say that fast and complicated beats are much more preferable to slower simple beats, because if you mess up while playing fast, it gets buried right away. While playing slow, or animating with very few poses, any mistake gets held out there for a while, so you have to make sure it’s perfect.
I’m also lucky enough to be in the final Pixar class at AAU this Spring, where we have 15 weeks to animate a 30 second scene with two characters. My scene is about an overworked Igor complaining to an apathetic Dr. Frankenstein. I’m still in the layout phase, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to bring to life. (Insert “It’s Alive” pun here)
What are you career goals? Short term? Long term?
Like a lot of computer animators, my long term goal is to do feature character animation. As a student, you’re more or less on your own as far as your scenes and projects. The idea of building something awesome with a team of professionals is what gets most of us up in the morning. Ideally, in the next couple of years, I’d love to start as a fix animator and work my way up. I’ve learned so much just from my fellow students in the past four years, I can’t imagine how much I would improve working with some of the veterans in the industry.
Short term, an internship would be incredible. I’ve heard so many great stories from my friends who were Pixar or Disney interns that came back to school with such a passion for their craft, it’s hard not to want to be one of them. I’m sending my reel out to all my favorite studios, but my main focus this year is for the Disney or Pixar internship. I just feel that those studios really protect their stories, and they encourage employees to never stop learning and getting better. The truth is, though, I love animation so much I’d be happy doing it for anyone. I’ll always work on my own side projects and I feel like I’ll never get tired of what I consider to be the best job in the world.
Would you care to share your workflow with us?
It really depends on the shot and the type of performance I want to animate. Some characters and personalities are a lot more foreign to me than others, so those choices take a lot more research and planning.
Usually, I start off by modifying the rigs and putting them in a set. I’ve met some animators who don’t dress up the scene and characters until they’re done animating, but it helps me get into character much faster if I can see visually the context of the scene. Typically I don’t film reference right away, I just keep a mirror by my desk and block without anything else. I actually animate the lipsync first, or at least spend an hour on a quick blocking pass of the lip-sync. I do it mainly to buy myself time. I figure I’ll have to do it eventually, it’s not going to change much, and it gives me time to hear the dialogue over and over and think of acting phrases and ideas.
While I’m really grateful that I learned animation using stepped blocking, I found that my brain works a lot faster with layered blocking. A lot of AAU students use layered mainly because of Michal Makarewicz. He’s a Pixar animator who would come lecture at the school every once and a while, and he did these amazing demos where he’d animate an entire 100 frame dialogue right in front of us, and it would be polished by the end of the night. After seeing his first demo and trying layered for myself, my workflow has sped up tremendously, and my ideas are better because of how quick you can try something out and get feedback. So I always block using layered, and I start from the biggest motion outward. Usually that means starting with the root, but sometimes it’s much easier to start with the head or the arms, depending on the action.
Once I get good notes on my acting and get things where I want them, then I go back and film reference, mainly for physics’ sake. Looking at my reference in IP always helps me figure out what to do with tricky areas like the neck or the shoulders, and to change things that look a bit off. The best thing about layered is that it’s very easy to make those changes. I used to be terrified of the graph editor, when I would go in and wonder what the heck I was thinking. With layered, the graph editor always makes sense and is always kept really clean. As long as you practice good spline hygiene, blocking leads seamlessly into IP, which leads seamlessly into polish.
Are there any more cool techniques you’d like to share with our audience?
There’s one I always use that’s super fast, super easy, and always plusses a facial performance. Once I get the lip sync blocked in, I copy the curve from the up and down rotation of the jaw and paste it throughout the face. Putting it subtly into the nostrils, the cheek “puff” controls, and the lower eyelids make the face really fleshy, and help you move the face as one big mask rather than a hundred individual controls. I typically use it in tandem with Aaron Koressel’s “Push-Pull” script (http://aaronkoressel.com/index.php?nav=tools), which allows you to assign a hotkey that scales your curves up or down by small increments without damaging the integrity of the curve. So I copy the curve from the jaw, then paste it onto, say, the nostrils, and then I just use my “Push-Pull” hotkeys to adjust it accordingly. If you need to add any extra cheek or eyelid animation, you can simply add an animation layer on top of your jaw curve. It takes about ten minutes to adjust everything right, and it adds so much to the face.
Tell us what you like about using the Malcolm rig, and what you’re looking forward to in the 2.0 upgrade!
Malcolm is incredible. His facial controls are unparalleled by any other free rig, which is awesome practice for animators that need something more than just eyelids and mouth corners. I think the best thing about Malcolm his range of motion. With a lot of rigs, there are only a limited number of appealing poses and shapes you can make, which really limits your acting and makes it tough to be original. With Malcolm, that’s never been an issue. It’s so easy to get him to look appealing that there are endless possibilities. He looks appealing and has the rigging to back it up, which is what every animator needs.
I’m actually really excited for the different hairstyles. I think hair can say a lot about a character, and for someone like me who is so excited to get into animation that they don’t have time to make hair, it’s going to be great to have a library to choose from. Also, just the fact that now he has a body underneath is a big deal. I used to have to try to wrap different outfits around Malcolm’s existing clothes, but it’s going to be so much easier and more appealing having some skin underneath. Let’s have him already!
Any hobbies or activities outside of animation?
I love to travel. I think it’s not only good for you to get away from your normal routine and get some fresh air, but your animation is never going to get better if you don’t go out and see the world. An animator who works for 10 hours six days a week and takes one day off is always going to have better animation than someone who never stops working. It’s so important to take an occasional break to observe and be inspired by life. After all, you’re rarely animating a character who is sitting at a computer all day. You have to know what the rest of the world is like.
I also really love woodworking. My Dad is a carpenter, and I worked a lot with him growing up. Any chance I get, I love to go and build something tangible. It’s really satisfying after working so long with a computer to build something you can hold in your hands.
Thank you for your time, Cody. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
One of my friends and mentors, Jean-Denis Haas, always stresses this point, and I think it’s one of the most important things you can ever remind yourself about animation:
If you have to explain anything, then you failed.
We work in a visual medium, and we’re not going to have the luxury of sitting in the theaters and living rooms of people who are watching our content and explaining what the character is thinking or what a certain gesture was. Every single thing that you want to communicate in your shot should be clear from the animation only. Even in blocking, every idea should be present and clear, because blocking is not an excuse for bad animation. Whenever I work on something, I try to watch it from the perspective of someone who’s never seen it before. Ever since I learned that, I’ve never thought about my work the same.