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Rekka posted:Guys, im having problems. Fixed it by using a layered texture in the incandescence slot and putting an alpha texture with the multiply blend mode over the color texture.
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Sep 8, 2012 14:06
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dotalchemy posted:Same here, my old boss moved out there with his wife and 6mo old kid from San Francisco to work at DD in Florida. Talked to him this morning and he's a bit gutted to say the least. He's actually considering a journey back out West. He's in the tech industry though, not the artistic side. I was actually hired to work pipeline at the new studio too. I was going to start in a few months from now, but that's all out the window now. Honestly I feel like a dodged a bullet, a friend of mine started last week, worked four days and then found out Friday that he didn't have a job. Now he has to move and break the lease he just signed. 
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Sep 9, 2012 07:57
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Here's my WIP first character model. Still need to figure out the hands and I'm not sure how good the shoulders will look in motion, but I'm working out the Blender shortcuts and mostly want something to skin and bone. Collar seemed like too much effort, think there must have been an easier way, and I feel like I left things a bit too 'busy' in that whole area.
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Sep 9, 2012 23:28
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BonoMan posted:Sucks because I have a friend who was JUST hired on as a Pipeline TD two months ago. Moved his entire family down there and just got settled in. Ugh. You mean Florida? That sucks. At least in LA you could find work elsewhere. Still, pipeline guys can move around a bit easier if hes any good. Still sucks.
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Sep 10, 2012 04:30
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Shaocaholica posted:You mean Florida? That sucks. At least in LA you could find work elsewhere. Still, pipeline guys can move around a bit easier if hes any good. Still sucks. Yeah Florida. And he won't have too hard a job getting a job elsewhere, but I mean he's got a big family. Sold his house in Georgia, bought a house in Florida. It's a big deal unlike a single guy just breaking a lease on an apartment.
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Sep 10, 2012 04:34
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Shaocaholica posted:I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this question but I wanted to know what the 'right' way is to composite a premultiplied image in photoshop(CS5/CS6) is. Found the slightly easier way. You have to load the flat image with alpha channel first. Select the alpha channel by value (ctrl-click in channels), then copy the beauty pixels. Now paste into a new layer which should have usual dark matte lines. Now perform a [layer > matte > remove black matte]. That should take care of it. I'm still not sure if the other method in the above quote is better but they both work and aren't ghetto cheating like eroding.
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Sep 10, 2012 04:34
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BonoMan posted:Yeah Florida. And he won't have too hard a job getting a job elsewhere, but I mean he's got a big family. Sold his house in Georgia, bought a house in Florida. It's a big deal unlike a single guy just breaking a lease on an apartment. VFX is like the movie Heat. "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." If you want to work in CG/VFX -AND- keep a big family you should look into animation where its a bit more stable.
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Sep 10, 2012 04:37
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Shaocaholica posted:If you want to work in CG/VFX -AND- keep a big family you should look into animation where its a bit more stable. Ahahahahahahahah. 
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Sep 10, 2012 06:14
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Apparently it was DD's CEO John Textor that was the main cause of the Florida branch's failure, at least according to Cartoon Brew, who has been keeping updates on his mismanagement for a while now. Sucks that VFX is such a volatile industry. It's needed everywhere in the film business, but I guess it's unstable because they're not unionized and need to keep very competitive? Is animation really more stable? That's the field I want to get into, and I know it involves long hours, but it'd be heartening to hear that it's a bit more predictable.
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Sep 10, 2012 06:23
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Yeah if you want to CG in a stable environment you should probably do medical and dental work
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Sep 10, 2012 07:23
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What Shaocaholica said about Heat is dead on. In a big media city where you have a bunch of studios, after a while you tend to have 2 or 3 safety nets build up with your friends at other studios in case things go south. I'm paranoid as poo poo about working in a "one studio town" or something that's booming because of tax incentives. Once the incentives goes so does the studios, because sooner or later, local governments will figure out it's not worth writing out 7-8 figure checks out to Hollywood studios for a hundred or so jobs. I think the only one studio place I'd head off to would be Weta, with the understanding that once the jobs done I'm back to the US most likely. Ccs posted:Sucks that VFX is such a volatile industry. It's needed everywhere in the film business, but I guess it's unstable because they're not unionized and need to keep very competitive? It's funny that a long time ago early CG places were unionized because they fall under the overall studio unions [Iatse]. I thought it was insane when ILM manged to get employees to dump the Union.. bye bye transferable pension and health care bank [I've had friends who would have been fully vested for both pensions if they were able to carry their banked hours from ILM to Disney/SPA or Dreamworks]. But nope, ILM moved to a more project hire model with less staffers, and more contract hires and a lot of the new blood didn't see the value in salary minimums, pensions or bankable health care.  It's also crazy that you have SPA [Sony Pictures Animation] which is Union [IATSE] but SPI [Imageworks VFX] is not. All the Union does is guarantee wage minimums, guarantee paid overtime, take producer residuals and push that towards 2 pension funds and have bankable health care. That last bit is a big one, it makes it easier on downtime since you know you got banked health care for your family between gigs. Animation work [from my experience] pays about the same if not higher in some cases, and you work less hours than a VFX studio in the same position. I wished all my work was under union throughout my career, I'd be fully vested in health care coverage until I turn 65 [12 years work]  I mean.. holy poo poo balls thats awesome.. too bad the Union only exists in like 12 studios in Southern California... Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Sep 10, 2012 |
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Sep 10, 2012 07:45
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DD came to our program at uni and gave us their dog and pony recruitment shpiel and afterwards me an some friends got together and talked about how awful it sounded. If that was their self-congratulatory recruitment pep rally, I'd hate to experience the real deal. Instead, I went into game art where you at least have the potential for *some* stability if you happen to find a good place...
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Sep 10, 2012 10:15
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Alan Smithee posted:Yeah if you want to CG in a stable environment you should probably do medical and dental work ^holla However it usually requires a graduate degree and learning a whole new 3D software. As well as being your own modeller, rigger, storyboarder, and sometimes script writer. I personally love it, but it is very very unlike commercial CG studios.
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Sep 10, 2012 13:24
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How do you even get in to that stuff? What's the pay and benefits like compared to games? What are the working hours like? Is it more similar to advertising and media where you need to be knowledgeable all-round with lighting, rendering etc? Is there always a big flow of work coming in? It sounds like a really interesting industry.
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Sep 10, 2012 14:21
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concerned mom posted:How do you even get in to that stuff? What's the pay and benefits like compared to games? What are the working hours like? Is it more similar to advertising and media where you need to be knowledgeable all-round with lighting, rendering etc? Is there always a big flow of work coming in? Compared to games, you make more at the bottom and middle. Higher up anything goes but this is coming from a guy who knows how IW pays which isn't the game industry norm. If you want to talk about worldwide averages then its more. The downside? Its not games. Something about games is different and nice but also depends on the studio. I was really close to a lot of people working on a 80 person game team in a 200 person studio. I'm less social now at a 2000 headcount animation studio but I'm also better off financially, medically and people in VFX/Animation tend to have much more technical experience and know how generally speaking.
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Sep 10, 2012 18:27
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concerned mom posted:How do you even get in to that stuff? What's the pay and benefits like compared to games? What are the working hours like? Is it more similar to advertising and media where you need to be knowledgeable all-round with lighting, rendering etc? Is there always a big flow of work coming in? I don't know if you were asking me or Shaocaholica but I'll answer anyway since from what I've seen it's very different from people's experiences in this thread. First, the medical comes before the animator. I have a Master's in Medical Illustration and learned drawing, painting, and fine arts as well as anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry before I ever touched animation. Second, the studios are very very small. I work in an admittedly small one, but it's probably the median size for most medical animators. 3 animators, 2 art directors, and various subcontractors for stuff like programming. I think the larger ones employ anywhere from 20-50 animators, but they are rare. There are a lot of medical people who are the single animator for their department or company - they manage their own projects start to finish. Third, the workflow is super different. Generally, we won't split up projects at all, unless it's to do some basic modelling or rigging. My most recent project I: -wrote the script (later edited by the client) -made the storyboards -adapted the CAD manufacturing models from the client into working models -uv-mapped and textured everything -animated everything (keyframing and all simulations) -rendered all the footage -composited all the footage -edited, compressed, and delivered all the footage in the formats specified by the client So obviously you get the problem of "jack of all trades, master of none". If there are difficult rigging or simulation problems, we know some guys who can take care of it for us, but for the most part there's a lot of manual-reading and tutorial-watching. Anyway, if anyone is interested, the Association of Medical Illustrators is the main US professional organization, and I can take any questions as well.
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Sep 10, 2012 19:18
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vonnegutt posted:So obviously you get the problem of "jack of all trades, master of none". This is the best/worst thing you can be. No one wants to touch you if you put this on paper but if you demo it in practice they won't let go of you.
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Sep 10, 2012 19:55
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Does anyone know this guy? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/10/erin-aaron-alberts-new-hampshire-florida_n_1870945.html?utm_hp_ref=small-business e: Wow, the guy packed up his whole life for a $46k/yr gig 1400 miles away in FLORIDA. I cannot make a sad face big enough
Shaocaholica fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Sep 11, 2012 |
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Sep 11, 2012 18:57
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Shaocaholica posted:Does anyone know this guy? That's a dumb move, but it highlights what makes me so angry about that whole ordeal and others like it. These companies KNOW they're going under. It appears very sudden from the outside, but they are well aware far in advance of what they're going to have to do and they always seem to try to tell their employees at the last possible second. It's so scummy.
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Sep 11, 2012 19:06
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Why does nobody ever consider arch viz in these conversations? It's pretty similar to medical, except not medical.
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Sep 11, 2012 19:07
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Further evidence that if you want to work in effects, live in LA and never leave.
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Sep 11, 2012 19:16
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cubicle gangster posted:Why does nobody ever consider arch viz in these conversations? Recreational product viz is pretty similar to arch, except not pretty.
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Sep 11, 2012 20:21
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cubicle gangster posted:Why does nobody ever consider arch viz in these conversations? Which pays better? Seems like the arch stuff might be more fun but less pay. I've also seen medical tissue sims of needles going into testicles and then moving the needle around so the tissue around it deforms realistically. 
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Sep 11, 2012 23:50
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Looks like DD is completely dead, the whole thing, as opposed to just the Florida studio. http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/technology/digital-domain-bankrupt/index.html?source=cnn_bin Really sucks for all their employees.
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Sep 12, 2012 01:50
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Get into Gaming art. I got into this job making artwork for video poker machines. Fantastic hours and pay and I've not seen a single person in all these ex-game and VFX studio artists and programmers here regretting their move. (YMMV depending on which company you end up at though )
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Sep 12, 2012 01:59
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Ccs posted:Looks like DD is completely dead, the whole thing, as opposed to just the Florida studio. http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/technology/digital-domain-bankrupt/index.html?source=cnn_bin Isn't DDMG just a spin off of DD?
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Sep 12, 2012 02:52
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Ccs posted:Looks like DD is completely dead, the whole thing, as opposed to just the Florida studio. http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/technology/digital-domain-bankrupt/index.html?source=cnn_bin http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118059067?refcatid=13&printerfriendly=true quote:After several weeks of high drama, troubled Digital Domain Media filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. and Canada and agreed to sell its production business to Searchlight Partners Capital for $15 million. Maybe not completely dead, however DD have seemingly lost a horrifying large amount of money over the past five years. 2007: $20 million loss on $73.7 million in revenue 2008: $15.3 million loss on $85.1 million in revenue 2009: $19.3 million loss on $70.8 million in revenue 2010: $42 million loss on $105 million in revenue 2011: $141 million loss on $99 million in revenue trailing twelve months: $80 million loss on $102 million in revenue Those numbers were taken from an internal (not DD) message board though, so I'm not sure what the original source was. Take with a pinch of salt, but if they're correct...
dotalchemy fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 03:01
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dotalchemy posted:http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118059067?refcatid=13&printerfriendly=true Not too far off CNN posted:As of June 30, the company had assets of $205 million and debts of $214 million.  How the hell does this keep happening to the biggest VFX houses? I swear it's like VFX studios all decided that Hollywood Accounting was an actual thing that should be used to run a real business
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Sep 12, 2012 03:06
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Alan Smithee posted:Not too far off A few of us at work were talking about this on Friday evening and we figured it essentially came down to undercutting other studios to secure clients then not being able to deliver on workload, resulting in either expensive 911's to other houses or upping staff, which equates to upping infrastructure and office space. Problem being, those last two are difficult to downsize on after the usual short show time of 9mo or so, so they're left undercutting more and more to secure new work to fill the space they previously had. At least, that was our figuring of it. e: I should suffix this with while we all work for a large VFX firm, none of us are involved with either the financial side or the bidding side, so ultimately the entire conversation we had was based around things we'd heard. dotalchemy fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Sep 12, 2012 |
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Sep 12, 2012 03:15
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dotalchemy posted:e: I should suffix this with while we all work for a large VFX firm, none of us are involved with either the financial side or the bidding side, so ultimately the entire conversation we had was based around things we'd heard. It's you artists who are killing the industry! Did you really think those Aeron chairs and foosball tables materialized out of nothing? Did you think those fridges stocked themselves with brand name sodas? What price your Aeron chair? 
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Sep 12, 2012 03:29
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Of course DD was the company trying to get animation students to pay to work on their films, so I can't say I'm heartbroken to hear of their demise.
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Sep 12, 2012 03:51
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Ccs posted:Of course DD was the company trying to get animation students to pay to work on their films, so I can't say I'm heartbroken to hear of their demise. The sad and depressing part, though, is the assholes responsible for policies like that walk with a golden parachute or get folded into whatever company comes out the other end. The only losers here are the employees and talent who had nothing to do with their company's bullshit and are.only guilty of maybe refusing to see the writing on the wall. I'm starting to learn that as an artist, I don't owe my company any kind of above and beyond loyalty because when poo poo hits, I most likely wont be shown any. I guess that's one of the ways people do well for themselves. I wonder if there are some DD guys who jumped ship a year ago who are breathing relieved tonight...
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Sep 12, 2012 08:01
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mutata posted:The sad and depressing part, though, is the assholes responsible for policies like that walk with a golden parachute or get folded into whatever company comes out the other end. The only losers here are the employees and talent who had nothing to do with their company's bullshit and are.only guilty of maybe refusing to see the writing on the wall. Its a catch22. You don't want to be a dick artist either. If you're being treated badly you should try to leave but don't be a dick back. Sad thing is. I know a really talented guy who left Dreamworks for DD because Dreamworks kept on giving him poo poo work but it was only 6 months in. I think he might have transferred to Florida branch too.
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Sep 12, 2012 22:13
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Yeah I came off too strong. I only mean to remember that you aren't married to your company, because the nature of any organization is to pursue self-preservation above all other goals. If you see signs of trouble, be alert and don't avoid making decisions that may be best for you because you feel loyal to the company. If you get wind of a negative situation, do what you think is right, not what you think the company would have you do.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:18
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I'm trying to bone my model and following the Blender tutorial, but I've hit a problem: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Your_First_Animation/2.Animating_the_Gingerbread_Man I'm at- Blender Wiki posted:By scrolling in the Vertex Group panel, you can see all available vertex groups – six in our case. But a truly complex character, with hands and feet completely rigged, will have tens of them! See (The vertex groups controls in the Object Data context). The buttons Select and Deselect (de)select all vertices of the current selected group, which allows you to see which vertices belong to which group. I can't find the Select and Deselect buttons, nor can I make them appear by yelling at the screen, it seems. I don't see them in the screenshot so I'm wondering if something changed from the previous version or something. I'm not using the Gingerbread Man of the tutorial and it doesn't see to have automatically skinned anything, I don't think there is anything in any of my vertex groups. Edit: Nevermind, found a more helpful page on the wiki. There is also a dotted line from the first bone I placed to the centre of the grid, anyone know what that could be about? BizarroAzrael fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Sep 13, 2012 |
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Sep 13, 2012 00:19
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BizarroAzrael posted:I'm trying to bone my model and following the Blender tutorial, but I've hit a problem: If you're not in edit mode and/or you dont have any vertex groups, the select/deselect/assign/remove buttons are hidden. The dotted line indicates that the first bone is parented to something at the centre of the grid.
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Sep 13, 2012 00:23
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BizarroAzrael posted:I'm trying to bone my model and following the Blender tutorial, but I've hit a problem: The other way to see what is assigned to vertex groups is to do the following: make sure the armature is in pose mode select the object that is skinned to it, and go to weight paint mode select the bone corresponding to that vertex group, and you will see the appropriate heatmap etc for the weighting. If you are using autoweighting, it can sometimes fail to assign any weights for no apparent reason. If this is happening, check that the mesh object has a scale of 1, and failing that, try doing one iteration of smoothing on the mesh (don't ask me why this works..).
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Sep 13, 2012 02:29
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BizarroAzrael posted:I'm trying to bone my model I don't think I read this as you originally intended.
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Sep 13, 2012 03:39
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So the guys at DD didn't even get severance? Jesus.
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Sep 13, 2012 15:56
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Alan Smithee posted:It's you artists who are killing the industry! Did you really think those Aeron chairs and foosball tables materialized out of nothing? Did you think those fridges stocked themselves with brand name sodas? Heh, I actually work in IT Ops, so my chair is a hand-me-down from those artists who are killing the industry and brand name soda requires leaving the basement, which us neckbeard root's are not allowed to do. Don't even get me started on the state of our departments pinball machine
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Sep 13, 2012 19:05
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