Ed Jones :: Artist Profile

[JakeJK]

Great read. Awesome career this guy is having :)

[AkinYaman]

this scene on the picture was brillant, the little guy comes up and say "lllllllllllll looooveeee youuuu " hahahhahah

[immortal1ty]

Greate article, well done

[mim-Armand]

Great article!
I'll use it on my blog, ofcourse translated!
tnx to CGtalk for this

, mim

[Mattoo]

Is this man an artist or accountant?

"...a lot of people seem to want to manipulate pixel by pixel, frame by frame, because you can.
....but think about it as you would if you were a documentary filmmaker. You have to be able to shoot and use what you get.”

Imagine if Disney had thought like that in 1937? I mean, who needs all that detail and smooth tweening anyway.


Jones hopes to streamline production by merging a paradigm of DVD and film, by designing characters that can use generic rigs that are modified by character, and by paying attention to the position of the characters to the lens to reduce background detail.

I had to read that last line about 3 times to really take that in. An incredible worflow enhancement! Why didn't someone think of that before? We could just do all these movies in XCU and we'd be done in a few weeks!


Facial libraries and motion cycles of performance should allow more focused time on engaging performances.

He's quite right, getting all those pointless animators doing bespoke animation for a whole movie is a shocking waste of resources and makes for dull performances. Much better to string together a few facial morph targets and motion cycles - everyone knows that's much more interesting to watch.

(sarcasm mode OFF).


Interesting article though, interesting to read how the other side thinks. A bit scary really.

[erilaz]

Mattoo, I think you're taking what he's saying out of context. He's not looking to replace methods of animation, he's looking to augment them to make production easier. I seriously doubt he meant grab a bunch of pre-determined animations and string them together; he was referring more to getting a base point quicker so that animators can then focus on the performance of the character.

And Disney did think like that in 1937. A portion of Snow White was rotoscoped from live actors.

Generic rigs have been in use for some time. The Incredibles used a rig that was easily augmented into hundreds of extras, saving huge amounts of time. Much consideration was taken to the camera position to reduce detail as well. In Monsters Inc, Sully's character had fur only on the camera facing side.

This guy has been in the industry for years. I think he knows what he's talking about where it comes to quality and efficiency. :)

[salmonmoose]

And Disney did think like that in 1937. A portion of Snow White was rotoscoped from live actors.

Obviously a link to http://www.hemmy.net/2006/04/26/disney-animation-reuse/ is called for :)

[Swordsman]

I really enjoyed that article. Nice job!

[Spc]

Obviously a link to http://www.hemmy.net/2006/04/26/disney-animation-reuse/ is called for :)
Interesting .. i haven't noticed that.

[Wiro]

Is this man an artist or accountant?

"...a lot of people seem to want to manipulate pixel by pixel, frame by frame, because you can.
....but think about it as you would if you were a documentary filmmaker. You have to be able to shoot and use what you get.”

Imagine if Disney had thought like that in 1937? I mean, who needs all that detail and smooth tweening anyway.


I can halfway understand your other points but I really have to disaggree with your stance on this one. I think it's excellent that he realises how much time and money is lost in pixelf***ing stuff nobody will notice. "Can you move that cloud in the corner just a little to the left?"...you'd never ask for that back when stuff just got filmed and you had to simply use the result. I think a lot of movies today look far TOO slick because of this constant care every frame and every shot is given.

I don't exactly yearn for the black mattelines of pre-90s model shots but I'd like to see more grit, minor mistakes, imperfections that make stuff look less sterile.

Sort of related to the above and another personal annoyance are all those establishing shots that look like perfect paintings nowadays (because they are!)...beautiful sunrises, backlit clouds, the perfect reflection on the ocean surface, that perfect rock formation in the background, the godrays hitting exactly there...
Great pieces of art but it doesn't make me feel like I'm looking at a real place.
Akh, rant rant...it's Christmas, I'll shut up :)

Wiro

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