SeithCG

Woah

Seith — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:01:20 +0000

“Despicable Me” has just been released over the week-end in the US, and apparently it did, shall we say, very well. It is the first movie on which I directed the animation. And after leaving Dreamworks (and having worked there for more than 10 years), let me tell you it’s a great feeling. But I mean, it’s also very surreal; our “small” movie did more on its opening week-end than the latest Dreamworks movie. The mind boggles. Now is it going to have legs? No one knows, of course…

So congratulation to the animators and everyone at MacGuff. And a big Thank You to everyone who sent in a kind word!

poseLib for Maya 2011

Seith — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:23:24 +0000

I just released a new version of poseLib for Maya 2011. It’s compatible with Windows and Linux (didn’t test it on a Mac, since I don’t have one). Between Highend3d and this site, poseLib’s been downloaded well over 20,000 times. And I know for a fact that it’s being used on production by movie and video-game studios worldwide. And do you know how many people expressed their support by donating? Two. Funny, no?

Walk Cycle Test

Seith — Sun, 16 May 2010 10:50:15 +0000

Here is a simple walk cycle made in Maya and exported to Sandbox2. I did it mostly to test the attachment concept with MayaCGF. So the only smooth skinned elements are the bones and the chainmail cowl. The other attachments (shield, sword, etc…) are rigid. Note that the secondary animation on the quiver is automatic; you just choose an axis and a damping value.

Rendering in real-time with the CryEngine 2

Seith — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:40:47 +0000

Today I discovered lightbox, which is a simple level for Sandbox 2 featuring a 3 point lights setup akin to one you would use to render your assets in a neutral “studio” environment. Except of course that there’s no need to render anything, because it’s all happening in real-time! Lightbox was created by George Piskas.

I just dropped in a model I’m working on, tweaked a bit the lights and added wind dynamics for the hair. With MayaCGF, I can model in Maya, click on a button to export the model, then switch seamlessly to Sandbox 2 and click “Reload” to instantly check the result. I’m loving it!

Assassin’s Creed 2 DRM rant

Seith — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:49:17 +0000

Recently I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed 2 for PC, and I have to say I enjoy it. The artistic direction is excellent, and sometimes (especially during some of the cut-scenes) the facial animation actually conveys some pretty good acting.

But the worst thing about the game is its protection against pirating. Ubisoft has effectively put itself in a position where they turned us (their customers) into little children and themselves into a parental authority figure. Think the analogy’s far-fetched?

1) They demand to know at any moment if we are playing or not. And they check on us every couple of minutes.

2) They make us ask for their consent before we are even allowed to play. Not just once, but each and every time.

3) They can turn off the game (and I mean that literally) at any instant, for whatever reason (out of our control), be it technical or temperamental.

I still can’t fathom how some people in charge at Ubisoft thought this could be a good idea. I’m sorry for stating the obvious, but blatantly invading your customers’ privacy is NOT a step in the right direction from treating them like thieves.

Fun with Sandbox2

Seith — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:25:20 +0000

Over the week-end I’ve been working on some textures and I also played a bit with Sandbox2′s particles and lights. This is just a wall from the WIP dungeon I use to test stuff. As you can see, polygon density is rather low… What you can’t see on the picture though is that the torch is spewing little cinders which fly in the air before dying off, as well as smoke and subtle heat distortion. Coupled with flickering lights, the effect is surprisingly immersive!

Speech Bubbles Everywhere!

Seith — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:25:55 +0000

One method to get a speech bubble in Photoshop is to draw an elliptic selection, add a tail to the bubble by using the polygonal lasso tool, then fill the selection with white. Finally, you add a black stroke effect around it all and hop, you’re done! Well, it actually becomes tedious after the third one… So I wrote this script for Photoshop; all you need to do is draw the ellipse and run the script (as an action). And voila! Instant speech bubble!