Doug Hogan » Animation

What Up Doc?

Doug — Thu, 20 May 2010 05:49:38 +0000

Wanna see what my wife Jess and I have been working on for the past 4 months? And also the reason I haven’t posted diddly on this blog either? Well then check out this shot of Wile E. that Jess lit / comp’d that was featured in the New York freakin’ Times!

LINK: New York Times – What’s Up, Doc? New Looneys

Meanwhile, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote are going back to work in movie theaters in a series of 3-D shorts. The first of these shorts — Warner has approved three, and three more are in development — will play ahead of the movie “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” which arrives in theaters July 30.

And the fan response over at Cartoon Brew is pretty awesome too. Fans really seem to be getting excited for the CG shorts! Here are some of my favorite comments…

Rafa says:

The road runner shot looks amazing!
the bugs & daffy, not so much…

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lampshade says:

auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

hey, the CGI shot doesn’t look so bad though

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Fooksie says:

I agree, Rafa. Wile E Coyote looks fantastic.

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erlab says:

I was seriously SCARED of Daffy’s welcoming expression! Now that I know Bugs WILL look like that, I will just have to live with it or ignore the show.

CN is still running the original cartoons in the morning right?

That CG Road Runner series has potential to be really good.

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A.J. says:

The cgi coyote looks pretty nifty!
But Bugs is having a serious tude problem…and his feet and face..wtf?

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Taber Dunipace says:

Why is Daffey made of thistles? I hope that Coyote shot is going to be as good as it looks now!

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coyote says:

“The short will be in theatres? That’s great! The shorts were made in India? That’s really unfortunate.”

Don’t worry, the shorts aren’t being made in India. They’re being done by Reel FX in Dallas.

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tgentry says:

I guess I’m just restating what many others have already said, but the genericized, Flash-happy Bugs and Daffy make me incredibly sad. It’s odd that the 3D coyote looks much more organic and cartoon-like than the more trendy and souless look of Bugs and Daffy. Looking forward to the updated Roadrunners.

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mrscriblam says:

i like the coyote cgi shot

looks almost like stop-motion, which is a style i think would work very well for that sketch

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vfx says:

The real fun will be when everyone gets to frame-by-frame through the CG animation to see just how spot on it is to the classic stuff.

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The comments just go on and on. So I’ll let you thumb through them at your own pace.

But I will end with this. To all the fans who love the original Wile E Coyote and Road Runner shorts, the CG shorts will not disappoint. I dare say, you’re going to love them! I’m so proud to be a part of this project, as is every other single person on the team. And we’re putting in the hard work and long hours to do justice to what Chuck Jones brought to life all those years ago.

This is most certainly not all folks Just you wait.

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An Impossible Short

Doug — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:12:08 +0000

For those of you who couldn’t make it to this years Siggraph Computer Animation Festival, I’ve got some good news for you. Lucas Martell’s animated film, “Pigeon: Impossible”, has finally been released for all to see on YouTube!

It’s a really charming short, expertly done, and is honestly just as good as anything Pixar has to offer. Big words I know, but watch the video below and I think you’ll agree. Especially when you get to the credits and realize only a handful of artists we responsible for creating it! Also, if you haven’t already, check out his video podcast series he did awhile back too. He takes you step by step from story development, to animation, to rendering, to final edit. I’ve featured it on this blog before, but I’ve relinked it below the featured video just in case you all want to check it out again! Just like “Pigeon: Impossible”, it’s a really high quality series and I think we can all learn a lot from it.

Great work Lucas! I really loved it.

LINK: Pigeon: Impossible

The Short

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Vlog

Click here to view the embedded video.

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pigeon impossible

Doug — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:00:33 +0000

This week I’ve been watching a great podcast from a very talented 3D artist/Compositor named Lucas Martell. In it he takes you through the entire 5 year process, from concept to final dvd, of creating his animated CG short film, ‘Pigeon: Impossible’.

Now that alone would be really cool, but the short he did also looks really freaking good! I really wanted to share this with you guys, so I compiled all of his episodes to date in a nice little YouTube playlist for everyone to watch and learn from. Myself included!

What I love the most is that Lucas didn’t start off the film as an animator. This film was a total learning process for him! Which is also why the film took almost 5 years to complete, ha. But we get to reap the benefits because this lack of experience really gives him a special raw insight into the whole process. And he then shares it with all of us. Really cool.

Anyways, if you want to know more about the film itself check out the link below as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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LINK: Lucas Martell

LINK: ‘Pigeon – Impossible’

‘Pigeon: Impossible’ is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.

The film took nearly 5 years to complete and is the first attempt at animation by writer/director Lucas Martell: “When the project started, it was mostly an excuse to learn 3D animation, but by the end of the project I had spent so much time reworking and polishing the story that I just wanted people to laugh.”

The end-result is a hilarious 6-minute romp through the streets of Washington D.C. as our hero fights to save himself, and the world from the chaos reigned down by a hungry pigeon. Breathtaking visuals and a sweeping soundtrack showcase the work of nearly one-hundred talented artists and musicians, and the film stands as a testament to what can be accomplished by a team of dedicated volunteers working for the love of their craft.

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scad’s deadline

Doug — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:31:57 +0000

This is why I’m proud when someone asks me where I went to school for Visual Effects. Some really great student work and filmed in my old home away from home, Montgomery Hall! Check it out…

Click here to view the embedded video.

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awn covers ‘up’

Doug — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:10:13 +0000

I’m all about recycling on this VFX blog, so check out the ‘UP’ coverage over at Animation World Magazine! You’ll be doing me a favor, because I’m just too damn lazy to write much more.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to write more after I actually see the movie! Maybe this weekend? Who knows, but I think ‘The Hangover’ might win out in the end.

LINK: Pixar Goes 3-D

We wanted to really understand this new tool before we integrated it. We did a lot of tests with WALL•E material, Ratatouille material; working on the Toy Story re-releases. We started with Up as soon as images were available. With that variety of imagery, we started pushing the limits of what’s comfortable and what’s not in all aspects, including cutting from shot to shot, continuity, far away in z-space forcing your eyes to go more wall eyed, vs. objects coming out into the audience in z- space, forcing you to become more cross-eyed. We had a core group of people on this: John Lasseter, Pete Docter, [Up Producer] Jonas Rivera and [Up Layout Supervisor] Patrick Lin. We looked at all this material and viewed the latest films in 3-D and put it all into the overall Pixar aesthetic.

LINK: Going Up with ‘Simplexity’

“What it means is: we wanted everything on first read to have very simple shapes: squares, circles, etc.,” Docter explains. In other words, Carl is shaped like a box, which represents the past, while Ellie and Russell, the young, enthusiastic Wilderness Explorer and sidekick, are very round, denoting the future.

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look up

Doug — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:31:20 +0000

Tomorrow Pixar’s newest film, ‘UP’ debuts across the country and the frenzy is starting to peak. Even in little old Birmingham, MI at the theater next to Speedshape, theater owners are doing their part to add another check mark in the hit column for Pixar.

Honestly, I wasn’t too excited for this new film and felt kind of concerned. The trailer seemed a little disjointed and the marketing for the film was pretty lack luster. But as the release date got closer and I learned more about the story, my opinion started to change. Now I’m very optimistic about this new film and really looking forward to it. At the very least to see if Pixar really can continue this amazing streak of both critically and publicly successful films.

Even this cartoon seems to agree. (Thanks Matt!)

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I’m sure many more articles will be coming out over the coming days, but until then head on over to CNet to learn how Pixar animated 10,000 balloons…among other things.

LINK: How technology lifts Pixar’s ‘Up’

There was absolutely no way the team was going to hand-animate the balloons. Not with their numbers in five-figures, and especially not when you consider that within the cluster, every interaction between two balloons has a ripple effect: If one bumped another, the second would move, likely bumping a third, and so on. And every bit of this would need to be seen on screen.

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So what about you readers out there? Are you excited for this new film? Are you going to go see it this weekend? Let me know your opinion in the comments below!

Personally I’m really torn between this and Raimi’s ‘Drag Me to Hell’. But we’ll see.

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shane acker’s 9

Doug — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:23:42 +0000

When I say the name Shane Acker, it’s a good bet that you don’t know who I’m talking about. Truth be told I had never heard of him either. Till today when I came across an article about a film whose producer has a very familiar name, Tim Burton.

The film the article talked about was Shane Acker’s film, “9″, that he completed during his attendance at UCLA’s School of Art and Architecture. Pretty typical beginnings at any art college really. But Shane’s film stood atmospheres above the rest and went on to win ‘Best in Show’ at the 2005 SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, the gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, and premiere at Sundance. Needless to say…not so typical anymore.

The 11 minute student short was then picked up by Focus Features, caught the eye of the aforementioned Tim Burton, and is now sporting a voice cast of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, and Jennifer Connelly to name a few.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I for one am very excited for this film to be released on September 9th. If only to root for an underdog and fellow art school alum. So I hope you’ll join me in flocking to the theaters to see, what just might be, the new voice a visionary 3D artist.

Now what better way to end than with the full 11 minute short-film…

Click here to view the embedded video.

LINK: Shane Acker IMDB

LINK: Shane Acker.com

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great gig in the sky

Doug — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:03:44 +0000

When the world does collide with an asteroid, whether it’s tomorrow or 3 million years from now. I hope someone will be holding a boom box above their head ‘Say Anything’ style, and rocking out to Pink Floyd’s ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’. Because this spot from Discovery Channel HD just proves that there is no better soundtrack for the end of the world.

Pretty damn good visual effects as well!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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monsters vs aliens

Doug — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:49:07 +0000

I haven’t heard that much about Dreamworks Animation’s new film, ‘Monsters vs. Aliens‘. But the trailer is really great. So check it out before it invades theaters March 27th, 2009!

Did you vote today?

LINK: MONSTERS VS ALIENS

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loneclone vfx

Doug — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:04:57 +0000

This is the best student reel that I’ve EVER seen. And it belongs to an artist named Hannes Appell of Germany.

LINK: LONECLONE VFX – 2008 Reel

Hannes Appell was born in Erlangen, Bavaria on July 11th 1979. After his abitur & alternative
civilian service he worked for NBC Europe in Düsseldorf. During his 3 years at the company,
he worked as a games journalist, editor and as post-production/graphics artist for the On Air
Promotion of the company. Since 2003 he studies animation & visual effects at the Institute
for Animation of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. He currently is working on his
diploma short, freelancing as a 3d artist and compositing guy and brooding over next-gen
video game designs.

Here are some of my favorite stills from his site…

The stuff that really blows me away is the work he’s doing using the CryENGINE2 gaming engine. He’s modeling his sets in Maya and then importing them into the CryENGINE software for real-time color, texture, and light. Streamlining a big part of the post work, and giving him the ability to experiment with the composition of each shot in real-time.

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LINK: LONECLONE – Mutter Land in Crysis

LINK: LONECLONE – Compositing Test

These demo videos were made for a Tech Talk hosted by lNTEL Corp. at Siggraph 2008. Topics included convergence of game and film technology and how games drive the graphics industry.
It is a proof of concept demo for previz, mattepaintings and set extensions rendered in CRYTEK’s CRYENGINE2. Everything in this video was captured in real-time with no additional compositing done to the image. All art and models were done in Maya and then imported into the engine’s Sandbox2 editor for shading and lighting.
The goal is to generate a bulk of the film’s backgrounds using CRYENGINE2 to achieve a faster production output, easier lighting workflow and more dynamic art & camera interaction.

LINK: Crytek – CryENGINE2

Real time editing, bump mapping, dynamic lights, network system, integrated physics system, shaders, shadows and a dynamic music system are just some of the state of-the-art features the CryENGINE® 2 offers. The CryENGINE® 2 comes complete with all of its internal tools and also includes the CryENGINE® 2 Sandbox world editing system. Licensees receive full source code and documentation for the engine and tools. Support is provided directly from the R & D Team that continuously develops the engine and can arrange teaching workshops for your team to increase the learning process.

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This really is where the VFX industry is heading. There is so much we can learn from the gaming industry, and pretty soon I believe there is going to be an almost seemless connection between these two cousins.

But not in a creepy way.

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