If anyone’s curious to see poseLib being used in an animation workflow, here’s something for you: Here (via this site). We used poseLib on “Despicable Me” and “The Lorax” (it’s actually being used by several studios), but the animator using it in this case (Kevin Jackson) is from Rythm & Hues.

For those interested, you can find a short interview I gave for the release of the Lorax on FXGuide: Here. Thanks Ian!

The movie’s being released over the weekend in the US, so fingers crossed! And in any case, I’m proud of the work accomplished by the animation department (for which I’m ultimately responsible, for good or for bad!). So congrats to all the animators and the leads who gave their very best, and here’s to hoping the movie meets the success it deserves! 😀

Update: Damn, first week-end and “one of the best debut ever for an animated movie“…?! WTF!

… Aaaand a third tutorial about replacing the player model with your own custom character. Enjoy!

(Note: The model and animations are of course place-holders)

Benefits Of Defensive Driving

Defensive driving teaches safe driving techniques to drivers.
At defensive driving classes students learn to overcome mistakes in driving techniques, learn to improve their driving skills; learn to make informed decisions and to anticipate situations while driving. Defensive driving classeshave been set up by the government and police departments to make the world a safer place to live in. The need for speed can kill, it is important to teach driver discipline and safety rules. Defensive driving aims to reduce the risk of driving. Drivers must instinctively anticipate dangerous situations and avoid risks while driving vehicles in normal as well as adverse conditions. Defensive driving courses cover aspects like: emergency care, principles of safety, control of fear and emotions, on the spot decision making, quick reactions, fear, and so on.
The benefits of defensive driving classes are many and vary with each state.

1. Most states offer as incentive a reduction of points on your driver’s license following a driving violation ticket and offer the additional incentive of not increasing insurance rates. Take a look to the latest effuel reviews.
2. In some states a defensive driving course would get at least 10% reduction is insurance rates for a period of 3-5 years. This being a considerable saving.
3. A defensive driving course will teach safe and accident free driving techniques.
4. The course will teach protection techniques and how to handle road rage and speeding.
5. The defensive driving course will teach safe driving techniques in bad weather and adverse conditions. The course will hone skills in highway driving, night driving, and extreme weather driving.
6. The course will inculcate critical safety issues and teach emergency action too.
7. By taking a defensive driving course you will not have to appear in court.
8. The driving violation charges will be dismissed and a fine will not be assessed.
9. Defensive driving classes create responsible citizens which mean children and families will remain protected.
10. Most important the defensive driving classes will improve driving skills, reiterate driving laws and rules and make better drivers of people.

A defensive driving class can even be taken virtually. Defensive driving teaches people to be responsible drivers and take all necessary precautions when seated behind the wheel of a car. It protects not just the driver but pedestrians, animals, and fellow commuters. It makes the roads safer.
Defensive driving saves lives.

In case some of you wondered, a few days ago I have released a new version of poseLib which is now compatible with Macs. The core of the functions was recoded as a Python module. In consequence of witch applying huge poses to thousands of controls is now 3 to 4 times faster. Enjoy!

It’s been almost a couple of weeks now, but I just wanted to give a big shout-out to the entire animation crew on the Lorax. It’s been a wild ride over the last year-and-a-half, but we prevailed! I have to say I am immensely proud to have been able to help the animators do their best on the project. And I wish good luck to everyone at Illumination-MacGuff on their next project (hint: It starts with a “D” and ends with a “espicable Me 2”)…! 😀

Anyway, without further ado here’s a teaser-trailer for next year’s “The Lorax”: