Doug Hogan » The Daily Link

Nuit Blanche

Doug Hogan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:51:36 +0000

I’ve got a great award winning short film for you all today called “Nuit Blanche”. It comes to us by way of Spy Films, and was directed by Arev Manoukian. After seeing the video below, I doubt you’ll be surprised to find out that Spy Films is the directing troupe that Neill Blomkamp calls home as well.

It’s not easy to make 0′s and 1′s emotionally moving, but that’s exactly what the VFX artists have done here. Really impressive work.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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Making Of:

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

ProFORMA

Doug Hogan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:42:33 +0000

Check out this amazing piece of software coming out of Cambridge, that turns your little old web cam into a surprisingly accurate 3D scanner. It’s called ProFORMA for short, or Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition for long, and it works by generating a point cloud through a Delaunay tetrahedralization process. Which means it uses 2D XY vertices to generate 3D polygonal triangles, forming the mesh of the object you’re scanning. Man that sounded smart, but in truth I just Googled it and found this paper, ha.

LINK: The Delaunay tetrahedralization from Delaunay triangulated surfaces

Given a surface mesh F in R ³ with vertex set S and consisting of Delaunay triangles, we want to construct the Delaunay tetrahedralization of S.We present an algorithm which constructs the Delaunay tetrahedralization of S given a bounded degree spanning subgraph T of F. It accelerates the incremental Delaunay triangulation construction by exploiting the connectivity of the points on the surface. If the expected size of the Delaunay triangulation is linear, we prove that our algorithm runs in O(n log^* n) expected time, speeding up the standard randomized incremental Delaunay triangulation algorithm, which is O(nlog n) expected time in this case.We discuss how to find a bounded degree spanning subgraph T from surface mesh F and give a linear time algorithm which obtains a spanning subgraph from any triangulated surface with genus g with maximum degree at most 12g for g>0 or three for g=0.

But enough of this, “math” and “science”, check out the video below to see this program designed by Department of Engineering student Qui Pan in action!

Click here to view the embedded video.

LINK: Amazing Software Turns Cheap Webcam Into Instant 3D Scanner

It works by generating a 3D point cloud from the image coming through the camera and then uses some clever math to both ignore the occasional occlusion of the model by a hand and to work out where the surfaces are. Then things go over my head, involving a process called Delaunay tetrahedralisation to turn the 2D surfaces into a 3D model.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

Meet Steve Johnson

Doug Hogan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:02:05 +0000

You’ve probably never heard of Houston native Steve Johnson, but I know you’ve heard of his work. Predator, The Abyss, Ghostbusters, Spider-Man 2, Where the Wild Things Are, and so on and so on. The point is that he’s had a very long and successful career in practical make-up fx. Now he’s nearing retirement but instead of writing his memoirs or shopping for a comfy rocking chair, he’s decided to start up a new channel on YouTube to share with the world a ton of never before seen behind the scenes footage of the films he worked the last 30+ years on. The coolest thing though is that he’s also bringing back the artists responsible for the work his shop did on those films to talk about it themselves!

I’m so glad to see such a seasoned and talented artist pulling back the curtain, and I want all of you who read this blog to go to his channel and subscribe to his videos. Let’s keep this ball of transparency rolling and hopefully encourage more of the greats to follow in Steve’s footsteps!

LINK: Steve Johnson (IMDB)

LINK: Steve Johnson FX (YouTube)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Take a behind the scenes look at some of your favorite movies with the people who actually MADE them! Hosted by Hollywood special effects legend Steve Johnson, the effects artist behind Ghostbusters, Big Trouble in Little China, The Abyss, Blade II, Species, Spiderman II, Where the Wild Things Are, and hundreds more!

All the footage you see here was shot in Steve’s own studio, with his cameras, his crew and on his dime.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

An Impossible Short

Doug Hogan — 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

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He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

Ghostbusters II Bluescreened

Doug Hogan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:48:33 +0000

OMG…never before seen Ghostbusters II Behind the Scenes footage!

Click here to view the embedded video.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

i design your eyes

Doug Hogan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:26:32 +0000

Zoic Studios, one of my favorite VFX studios in the bizzzzzz, has recently launched a new blog called “I Design Your Eyes“! Where a couple days ago they profiled their work on ABC’s newest series “V”. And as always, the work Andrew Kramer and Co., have done on the show is absolutely amazing. Read more about it below! And support the show and the good people who work on it by tuning in when it airs Tuesday night on ABC! Check your local listings…I’ve always wanted to say that

LINK: Zoic Brings Visitors to Earth

Zoic is handling all of the visual effects for V, under the oversight of creative director and VFX supervisor Andrew Orloff (FlashForward, Fringe, CSI) and visual effects producer Karen Czukerberg (Eleventh Hour). Work on the pilot was split between Zoic’s Vancouver studio, which handled greenscreen and virtual sets, and the Los Angeles studio, where the motherships and other effects were created.

LINK: I Design Your Eyes

I Design Your Eyes is a web log and Internet community that provides a place for professional digital storytellers to interact with the fan community and with each other, and to share their mutual love of the art and science of visual effects and digital filmmaking.

IDYE is produced out of Zoic Studios, an award-winning digital studio producing innovative content for episodic television, feature films, commercial media and the video gaming industry. But this is not a Zoic marketing site – we already have one of those, and it works fine. Instead, IDYE is a centralized news, education and inspirational Internet community, both for the entertainment industry and for fans of film, television and video games. Our goal is not to promote Zoic itself, but the industry as a whole.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

Behind the Wild Things

Doug Hogan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:57:14 +0000

Motherboard.tv went to London to sit down with director, Spike Jonze, and talk about how they brought the monster-beings of “Where the Wild Things Are” to life. There’s also some great studio footage they took at MPC where they spoke to some of their artists. My favorite part though is when the host asks, in a very dead pan voice, “What’s Compositing?”. I guess that’s a good sign he didn’t know what compositing was though, because we’re supposed to stay hidden. Kinda like a Milford Man.

LINK: Behind the Wild Things

“No matter what era you are in, technology will only be as good as the idea supporting it.” – Spike Jonze

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

foundry buys spi’s katana

Doug Hogan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:57:15 +0000

This is wonderful news for fellow Compositors out there.

The Foundry has officially acquired Sony Pictures Imageworks’ in-house lighting/compositing system, Katana! Why is this so big? Well not only will Nuke in the very near future feature a complete 3D lighting package, completely bypassing traditional pipelines of 3D software lighting and giving control straight over to comp. But it’s also yet another sign that the VFX industry is moving towards…wait for it…STANDARDS!

Crazy I know, but this means more job opportunities for freelancers out there. And it also means that there might actually be a day when VFX Compositors doesn’t have to be in an expert in at least 3 seperate software packages all at once to survive. Which I for one, am GREATLY looking forward to.

LINK: Foundry Acquires Katana from SPI for Nuke

Sony Pictures Imageworks, (SPI) developed Katana as their primary internal 3d lighting and compositing package. SPI has been using it constantly since Spiderman 3 and on almost every picture since then. It is a very solid and comprehensive package “it is a pretty fully featured suite of tools that handles almost all the backend of our pipeline – everything after the animation is done and any processes are simulated- really Katana takes over from there” explained Rob Bredow CTO of SPI. “It gets everything ready for the renderer and then does all the compositing”.

On the lighting side the package, while not writing shaders, does allow nodal based manipulation of the shaders and speaks to third party renderers such as Pixar’s Renderman and Arnold. It started life as a 3D lighting package some five to six years ago, it takes assets (geometry) “assigns materials, textures, – gets the lighting rigs set up – it is the primary 3D lighting interface that all of our lighting people use” Bredow explains. The system is node based, like Nuke but covering lighting in addition to compositing.

Nuke’s taking over the world, and I can’t wait!

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

Happy Halloween!

Doug Hogan — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:07:04 +0000

A brief post for today, because tonight Jess and I are going to Universal Studio’s “Halloween Horror Nights”! We got into Orlando late last night and have spent most of today running around Universal, conditioning ourselves for the awesomeness that is going to be come once the sun goes down.

LINK: Halloween Horror Nights

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So needles to say, we’re pumped and ready to go. But to get you into the Halloween mood as well, what’s better than to start of with the old school Silly Symphony cartoon “The Skeleton Dance”?!

“The Skeleton Dance”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now that you’re all warmed up, head on over to Andrew’s site for a very special Halloween edition of Lingo: A Geekly Podcast! We cranked up the spooky tunes and got all hoped up on sugar while we talked about our favorite Halloween memories, the movie “Paranormal Activity”, and the time Andrew went in black face as Steve Urkel! We had a great time recording it, so I hope you have a great time listening to it!

LINK: Lingo #26 - Halloween

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I’m going to be posting some pictures from the park once we get back tomorrow, so check back on Monday to see all the drunken highlights!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

“avatar” take 2

Doug Hogan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:24:41 +0000

So is the new “Avatar” trailer less “Ferngully” and more “Terminator 2″? Is all the hype surrounding this film actually based on something real and exciting? I’m starting to get the feeling that it actually is. But decide for yourself and watch the official full trailer below for James (Don’t Call Me Jimmy) Cameron’s newest blockbuster.

And remember, everything you’re seeing that’s out in the jungles of Pandora is completely 100% CG. The only reason I’m reminding you is because you’ll quickly forget. I know I did.

UPDATE: Switched video sources to a higher quality Yahoo trailer…this ones in English! Added a link to the official Flickr gallery that has a ton of new stills from the film. And also a link to the official website that’s now up and running. Be sure to have some headphones, because it has some pretty sweet background music from the film!

LINK: ‘Avatar’ Flickr Gallery

LINK: ‘Avatar’ Official Website

Avatar Trailer

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.