Studio UPDATE

Whew! I have consolidated almost 90% of the 17 years of 3D work I have onto my new server for use.

Now I just need to figure out how to connect an old ZIP drive and Syquest Disc's as all my DI and WDI work is on these discs. I might still have the Parallel Port external, looking............

Cheers, THOM

Project Review:Revised Tomorrowland Anaheim 1998 PART I

 A Foosball table styled to the Jules Verne Look, now called Steampunk.

 A Sandbar with SCSI cables for seaweed and CD's for goin coins etc.

 A PC based stand up arcade game I designed for the Tomorrowland re-dux back in the 90's.

 The entry to the Treehouse at Innoventions at Disneyland

 My original sketch.

 A shot take of the main "POD" with conduit "thatch" roofing going with the recycled theme.

 A Branch detail shot ready to go.

 A detail of the tree trunk

Project Review

Revised Tomorrowland Anaheim 1998

PART I

Client: Walt Disney Imagineering [ WDI]
Art Director: Terry Dobson
Project Date: Summer 1998

After having a great working relationship with the incredible producer Terry Dobson over at Disney Interactive for a few years, I moved over to WDI and helped out with the re-design of the Innoventions building at the Anaheim Park after leaving Landmark Entertainment Group on the M&M's Vegas show. For those familiar that is the slowly rotating interior in the building between the submarines and Space Mountain.

I was tasked with a few items to design, and I ended up designing a "Swiss Family Tree House" made out of recycled tech waste like circuit boards for leaves, and conduit for roof thatch. A fun design problem. I also helped in the arcade area, with a "Jules Verne" themed PC game arcade with PC parts used to portray crabs, treasure, kelp etc. I was also able to make an underwater Foosball game complete with sand, water, and mines the "divers" kicked around. I also designed a giant storybook and mushroom toadstools for the interactive portion of the show.

Cheers, THOM

P.S. The link in the title shows the Storybook, and Toadstools I designed for Innoventions as well.

Studio UPDATE!

The network is set up! Max 2009, max 2010 and Final Render are working on all PC's now via the Backburner software, so the mini Render-farm is tested, and a GO!

The Drobo mini server is done too! 2.75TB with redundant Back-Up.
http://www.drobo.com/

Special thanks go out to the Pit crew, with agent "White Hawk" taking command on this.


Cheers, THOM

3D Model Sales: New Model Posted!- Egyptian Revival Old TIme Movie Theater

I have another 3D model for sale online I just finished today, a 1920's Egyptian Revival small town Movie Theater. Very fun to design and build, take a look.


Cheers, THOM



Linked in Post Title above, or paste text into your browser:
http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-movie-theater-main/499153

Project Review: Herbie-Fully Loaded MGFX

Client: Walt Disney: via The Cimarron Group
Art Director: Eric Counter
Project Date: Fall 2004

I had down time at my prior employer and decided after hearing that a new Herbie movie was coming out to practice my quad modeling technique after I modeled my first car the Lotus Elise. Now the VW bug is one of my favorite cars, and having owned over a dozen vintage VW's myself, I was excited to build out the car.

I started with the body and built out almost every part, including the floorpan, front and rear suspension, interior, engine, and most every little piece. A typical car takes about two weeks to build, or 80 Hrs from scratch. This one was right around that time to complete.

For the Trailer, I sent out the car to be rigged and animated by Dean Fowler at Machine Films. Once the animation was done, I rendered it out using a "Cartoon" shader to look like a posterized 70's feel that the Film Producers were wanting. I used Cebas' Top line GI Renderer, Final-Render and Final-Toon.[ Permanent Linked to the Right>]

A few years went by and I met with a fellow A.C.C.D. alumni Jerry Garns and we talked about automotive lighting as we worked on a few Honda Accord spots with the virtual Photography. I implemented what I had learned and I did "Herbie Black Tie". Funny now Volkswagen has incorporated the "Max" character a 1964 VW into the current advertising campaign.

Cheers, THOM

Link to Trailer is in Post Title above or Paste in text below into your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdNW3_Sh6E

3D Model Sales: New Model Posted- Vintage Five and Dime Store

I have posted another model for sale of a vintage Dime Store found on almost every Main Street in the USA. I will also be separating out some key accessories to sell stand alone as well.

Cheers, THOM


Link to Dime Store for sale at TurboSquid is in Post Title, or paste in text:

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/498681

Project Review: M & M's World Vegas

Client: Ethel M Chocolates via Landmark Entertainment Group
Art Director: Michael Marquez
Project Date: Fall 1997

After leaving Disney Interactive I bounced around the Theme Park Design world and worked for Universal Creative, Landmark Entertainment, and eneded up at Walt Disney Imagineering. Of all the specialties I have done in my career, I would prefer the theme park world over all of them. You get to sketch, build in 3D , then actually build it in the real world. A great job for a 3D Designer.

One major project I had while at Landmark Entertainment was the M & M's attraction on the Las Vegas Strip. I worked with a great Art Director the talented Mr. Michael Marquez. The attraction was basically you are an M&M going through being made. Cooked, polished, candy coated, dried, tumbled, and finally at "The University" you receive your "M" at graduation. I helped Conceptual Design all major props, and did some of the paintings for the walls as well.

As a side note that was the year I got to see the Neverland Ranch, as Mr. Michal Jackson owned a portion of Landmark Entertainment, and our company Christmas party was there. I also was able to present all my sketches to Mr. Jackson as well, and he approved of the designs.

Cheers, THOM

I found a few pictures online linked in the post title above or paste either one below:

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1517119568082264047qoACBP
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/4305bc/

Model sales started today!

I posted my first 3D Model for sale online today. I great step moving the business forward with both product and service offered up.
I finished the Pawn Shop out today with lots of added details including, Electric Meters, Gas Meters, fire escape, and roof details. I also adjusted the main building a bit as well.


Cheers, THOM

Link to sales in the Post title, or paste in this:

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/498245


UPDATE: 6:36pm

I also uploaded the AC units separately for individual sale, so 3 uploads today!

WIP: TurboSquid Model-PawnShop

3D Model sales gearing up to begin sales.

Having had great success selling 3D geometry[Models] online at the main retailer, "TurboSquid" at my last company The Cimarron Group, I am moving forward with all I learned from that experience and starting up my own line of Professional level models for sale.

I am starting out with a series called "Main Street USA" and the first building I am making from scratch is a Pawn Shop with apartments above. The screen grabs are Work In Progress[ WIP], and I will finish it and post it for sale soon.

If you have not seen the models I have built already for sale on Turbosquid, take a look online. It is linked in the title of this post above or you can paste in the text below.


Cheers, THOM


Link:
http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Index.cfm?keyword=the+cimarron+group

Talent Comes Last!

TALENT IS LAST

As a graduate of Art Center in Pasadena California, I was privileged to be in the presence of the the most talented artists from around the world, working side by side for many years, yet as I look back at my education and the various Art Director positions I have held, I came up with a list in my head that I used to pick what is referred to as "talent".

I have had discussions with fellow Designers and Directors and all seem to match up to what I have concluded, namely that in a production environment, "Talent is Last".
__________________________________________________________________
The list is short and goes like this:

First- Work Ethic: Are you a hard worker or just doing the minimum?

Second-Do you take direction well, namely are you able to take a critique and are you teachable.

Third- How well do you work with others, specifically with a team.

Fourth- Talent.
__________________________________________________________________

If you work hard, but don't work well with others, it is of no consequence how talented you are if I have to fix your work, or wait forever to finally get it from you.

If I can't Art direct your work, you are useless to a team, especially the Art Director.

If you suffer from "Freelanceitis" where you have worked alone so long that you are difficult to fit into existing production models[ read: flawed], you become a liability to the production budget and schedule and all the talent in the world will not fix that.

If you do great work and take my direction, but every time I turn around you are on eBay, you become a deficit to the production and myself and others end up picking up after you.

This isn't professional sports where you see the "Talent" run rampant with lack of work ethic, unwilling to work with others , and a lack of teach ability.

If you lack the talent or skills that others around you have, keep working hard and remain teachable, and soon you will find that your ability is growing, and in many cases you will pass the naturally talented obnoxious slackers that we all know.

If you currently employ a "prima donna", and your budgets are destroyed , look no further as to the fixing and work arounds that everybody is forced to do around that person, and in this economy that is just Bad Business.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Playstation-Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights

Client: THQ-Heavy Iron Studios
Art Director: Jeff Berting
Project Date: Fall 2000

I was hired by a fellow ex-Disney Interactive Alumni Jeff Berting, whom I had worked with prior to this at DI in Glendale CA in 1996-98 to conceptualize a bunch of locations for the game.

These concept sketches were used by Jeff as the layouts for his color keys for the game artists and modelers to build from. I did various locations, yet the budget was small so each sketch was broken up into two distinct stages.

First stage was to block them out in a rough sketch that I used as an underlay for the final. As a 3D Designer knowing the end product would be real-time 3D environments the sketches were done proportionally accurate for construction.

Second stage, was to flesh out the sketches, scan them into the PC, and colorize and stage them a bit in Photoshop. I had lots of fun doing this project, and the added challenge was I had no more than 4 Hrs per environment to do these, so I locked in at 1.5 Hrs for design and comp stage, and 2.5 Hrs for the finished pieces.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Monsters vs. Aliens Trailer

 Project Review

Monsters vs. Aliens Trailer

PART I

Client: Dreamworks
Creative Director: Steven Viola
Project Date: February, 2009

I worked on the Theatrical Trailer #2 for Dreamworks Monsters vs. Aliens 3D film. I was tasked with a few pieces but the main two were the big title slam at the finish and a big industrial doorway that is used as a scene wipe by the editor.

What made this project a challenge is that they came to me at Noon on a Friday, needing both pieces for a Monday showing to the client. We were competing against a team of 12 guys at another vendor, yet we pulled it off and won the job and finished it.

I built six blocks of architecture starting with the designing, modeling, texturing, and lighting before I animated the scene. I basically built this in about 12-15 Hrs from scratch, SANS the three bigger buildings I put in the background as filler. As a side note Dreamworks Animation had called me months prior to buy my city models for use in the feature itself, so it worked out well that the trailer buildings I used were the exact ones that they used in the film as I was the same source.

With building a big door, I was tasked with adding in the Dreamworks logo on it, and it was to match the look of the film as well. Shot some red light into the scene from the cut to match it up, and it was done.

All in all this was a very challenging project in that we finished this spot in SD, HD, Real 3D and two other 3D Stereoscopic formats as it was used in the Superbowl 3D commercial set, along with the Jonas Brother film which used an additional Steroscopic format. A $50K job done for around $12K in 3D.

Cheers, THOM

Trailer Link in Post Title above, or paste in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxWOpFNoRM

Project Review: GameShow KeyArt and Web

Client: Nomadic: via The Cimarron Group
Art Director: Greg Orlowski
Project Date: Spring 2009

I had worked with Greg the prior year on the Key Art packaging for the new Price is Right Video Game, and he returned with a lot more work.[ Thank You!]

This year I not only updated the Key Art for "The Price is Right", I was also given two additional game show Key Art Assignments with the addition of, Press Your Luck, and Family Feud. With the Logos and Key Art finished, I had more to come.

Eventually the job grew to the online portion with a stage and video game set up for promotions as well for each of the three games I had worked on. I did "on" and "off" for a lighting components so they could animate them in Flash. A very enjoyable job, with a fun subject matter.

Cheers, THOM

LINK TO SITE
Hot Linked in Post Title, or paste in: http://www.gameshowvideogames.com/

Who is your Advocate at Work?

A great Line Producer once told me "The Fish Stinks from the Head Down", which has shown itself to be a great truth in the business world, especially the way we as artists get treated or should I say, mistreated. This reminds me of how important it is to have an advocate as close to the head of a company as possible.

Having reconnected to a few of my prior employers these last few months, I realize who really "got" what I do as a 3D Conceptual Designer, and who was my advocate helping me do what I do best. Those that have been great advocates of what I do are the best thing to being successful for both parties, and those who both do not understand 3D, and don't back you up are the worst for all involved.

Having friends in high places is something everyone wants in business, yet as artists who tend for the most part to be worker bees, they need this advocate more then some know. Someone with a say in the way things are run[ empowered]and having power is the class of person that must be your advocate. You want to go as high as you can in the structure to get as close to the true "head" of a company. Sometimes it is the owner, and sometimes it is a Producer or Creative Director, but no matter who it is they must be someone who can argue on your behalf.

And a word of caution: If your advocate is a devil, their bad reputation will get passed along with you, so pick carefully. Whomever you do pick, make sure to thank them for backing you up, and let them know what they really are doing for you.

Cheers, THOM

P.S. A great film if you have not seen it yet.

WIP: 1955 Porsche Speedster PART II

Quads Sub-Divided and Mesh Smoothed

Personal Project: Work In Progress 
1955 Porsche Speedster PART II

I am putting up a second image of the Speedster that I have as a side project. It is back burnered for now, as I am building back up my client base. but will return soon.

This image has the mesh smoothing applied so the base geometry is being smoothed to the finished look at a level of 2[ each quad is now divided into 16 quads]. If you look at the first post below, you can see the base model built in quads and see what an advantage having both the lower resolution vbersion for setting up your animation or scene, and a mesh as high of a resolution as your PC has limits to show ultimate details.


Cheers, THOM

You need a PIT CREW!

FLYING SOLO

Too many 3D artists take for granted the need for good "tech" support. In fact many companies do not see how essential they are to us as 3D designers, and Animators. 3D software will bend and break your hardware like no 2D program even comes close to stretching the limits on. 3D is on the cutting edge and the software that you use must run good to get the most out of it.

I have long used the Race Car Driver analogy, as we 3D Artists are the drivers, and without good support from a team, we cannot win our races. A good PIT CREW is essential. Funny how many companies lower the importance of I.T. Services, since there is no glamor to the job, as most of it is not seen when things are good, but ALWAYS visible when something does not work. It is a tough job to do with little or no glory as we artists get "bathed in" on a daily basis showing off what we do to others on a regular basis.

If you have a good Pit crew with IT support, make sure you THANK THEM! They make you drive faster and win your races. It is one thing when the owner does not see this, but very different if you the 3D artist takes them for granted. Once you loose a good crew, you definately feel the pain, and you need to be their biggest advocate!


Cheers, THOM