The Undeclared Variable

There are two things that are simply amazing: The work of ILM and Digital Domain, and how the hell Michael Bay manages to stay employed. It seriously blows my mind to how one person can be so horrible at what they do and still be successful. I can sum up Transformers 2 by comparing it to a handful of women I have been on dates with; visually astounding with flawless visual perfection while at the same time I find myself desperately searching for a mute button.

Crack Paint is a new feature of Fracture that allows a user to define the way a mesh fractures via black-and-white imagery, either by painting with artisan or importing a pre-made file. The following demo is made from a non-uniformly scaled cube with the image below being applied to it. Fracture does the rest...

The plot will probably be deep and immersive as Transformers, and Channing Tatum hasn't always been a favorite of critics (see Step Up). Honestly, I will still go see it and so will any other guy out there who grew up during the 80's. The VFX will probably be pretty damn cool as well. A couple trailers I like:

Link 1

The day where we say "thanks" for showing us how to fix a flat on our bicycles up through changing the clutch in a transmission (and any else we managed to break).

So thank you for what you have taught us, and for what you still have yet to show us.

Here is a handful of videos used for our CG Overdrive masterclass on Fracture. Enjoy!

TD College has announced 3 more courses.

RealFlow Production Techniques
• Mentor: Christopher Soyer
• Start Date: July 5th 2009
• Cost: US $600
• Spots Open: 8

Python Programming
• Mentor: Ofer Koren
• Start Date: July 5th 2009
• Cost: US $1200
• Spots Open: 4

Though shorter then previous show reels it is still worth the watch. The focus seems to be more on commercial and advertisement works then film and television.

Best of the Best Show Reel 2009

According to Kevin it was mostly a success. I guess a majority of the people there were teenagers and had little interest in the science and methodology behind Fracture. However many professional contacts have been made and that was I was really hoping for.

Now to prepare for the online masterclass supposedly to be hosted by Autodesk....

This is the final weekend before CGO. All that is left is rendering teaser footage. This has not been as smooth as would like. Nothing like trying to make deadlines with pre-alpha software bugs showing themselves and the worst possible moment. Ahh the life of production...

Some previews of Fracture renders I am preparing for CG Overdrive.