Tag Archives: After Effects

Monday morning coming UP

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Monday, Monday…so good for me.  This week anyway.  Official start to new project and a couple of projects of my own to work on as well.  Wednesday and Thursday I will be up in Petaluma talking to Nicholas’ high school computer graphics class.  I know what you are thinking but no, I will NOT be crushing their spirit.  I have begun to feel somewhat protective of these kids, the ones who have grown up with high resolution video games to a level that makes CG animation as integral a part of their lives as reading Doc Savage was to mine.

(Side Note: Before you ask, NO I am NOT so old as to remember DS when it was new!  When I was a kid though my Dad used to look for reprints of the old pulps that he read as a kid and pass them off to me.)

I don’t want to see American CGI go the way of the American made VCR, relegated to the stuff of myths and the time of dragons by an onslaught of cheaper studios in other countries. When I was working full time in games I saw it begin to happen with invaders not from South of the Border but NORTH as the NFB educated animators from Canada moved south into studios like a swarm of locusts in touques. Granted a lot of those guys are still friends of mine but at the same time they were just the vanguard, the moose in the coal mine so to speak, leading up to things like George Lucas sending his animation and games dev groups to Singapore.

{Hang on, I need another shot of joe and a butt to calm my nerves, since I don’t smoke I guess I have to slap the waitress on the ass.

OK…Back. At least she was nice enough to give me a bag of ice.  I didn’t know the waitresses here also skated in the roller derby.}

I am going to start working on a Denton Philbert a week, following Jonathan Coulton’s lead, as well as soldiering on with my Lady Gaga parody.  Lots ta do so I best get to it, more later when my cheek doesn’t sting so damn much…

Morning Coffee

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Well first day posting to the new site and I have to admit that the theme is less than pleasing to me…WE are not amused.  You will have to be patient with me, I am a “fiddler” (not in the UNCLE ERNIE mode mind you) and WORDPRESS makes it too easy to fiddle.  For the next couple of days just think of yourself as a fifties husband on his way home from work, wondering what color/style/length his wife’s hair will be TONIGHT.  You get used to it though, I did with my last girl friend (only with her it was piercing and tattoos). Maybe it is a good thing she decided never to come to California, the metal detector at Newberg would have been problematical.

Had a great evening last night. Went out with a bunch of Monday Night Dinner chums to watch my friend Keith Stattenfeld explain it all.  Woz was there, sporting two iPhone with an AWESOME echo effect that took me back to CLASH OF THE TITANS (the original, the new one strikes me as a $1 rental if I have a case of beer to go with it). After that it was off to Coffee Society where I was well and truly annoying with my FLIP cam, which is what they are for, right?  Keith had his new iPad with him so there was the usual clustering effect as everyone craned their necks to look at the screen and be amazed…by pictures of cute kitties.  Geeks, gotta love ‘em.

Busy day for me today, after coffee I have to update to SNOW LEOPARD and then install the new iPhone SDK so work can well and truly begin on the new game project. Additionally I want to convert some of my old DENTON PHILBERT animations to H.624 so I can carry them around on my iPhone and show people how clever I am demonstrate my retouching and After Effects skills. On top of that there are the usual chores required to clean up my little single ship before heading off this weekend to North bay for a film festival, a Bar-B-Q (or three) and time with Nicholas.

Oh…and maybe PIE.