emilio G thanks man.im happy you replied me:bounce:. working at PDI sounds like fun id love to be in your shoes. a litle bit about myself now im working on a korean TV series as a supervising animator and i have a quota of 2 episode per month aaaargh!!!..the deadlines sucks!!..we are only 14 animators of us and 1 compositor and the worst things that the animators were know nothing of animation until i taught them ,we did just ‘straight pose to pose’ and sometimes just let the animation floooaty lol,we’ve been working on this project for about 5 month now but somtimes i amazed with our animation that its improving at short notice even its not going to be something like PDI or pixar.
one more question do you have a routine exercise for animation, what kind of exercise did you do to achieve your amazing and soulfull animation
thanks for sharing… im a big fan of your work especially on madagascar:thumbsup:
Meet the Artist: Emile Ghorayeb
emilio G, Hello!
I’m a modeling student and just have some questions. I know that at glendale they use a lot of nurbs for modeling. what about PDI? I know you have mentioned polys… do the modelers mostly use polys and sub-d’s?(no nurbs at all?)
Secondly,does PDI and dreamworks(la) has a different workflow in modeling? I’m a big fan of nurbs(a heavy nurbs user) so I’m just curious.
thanks for replying to us and congratulations on your way to success.
jinwoo lee
Hey Emilio,
Just checked this out as you mentioned.
you weren’t kidding when you said you were busy! LOL
I still gotta read thru all your replies in thread. Good questions and answers though so far.
Been helpful.
Hopefully I haven’t asked a dupe question. But I will go ahead and add to your huge list =):
1)How easily did you transition into animating for film coming from a video game background?
Did you have to think in a new way of acting or act in a new way of thinking or neither? (That confused me too.) LOL. What made you decide to transition into film animation?
Did you feel you were limited with your talents at a game company and had to move on?
Would you ever go back to work for a company to animate for games again? Or have you finally found your love in film animation.
I will definitely pursue film animation in the near future and I feel that there is more creative freedom in animating. Sometimes I feel limited in animating for games but sometimes there’s those times where I can’t wait to play with a character that I spent precious time designing/modeling/texturemapping/rigging/animating. Maybe that’s what keeps me addicted to it. Must resist …must not convert…but…must explore…must broaden myself…LOL.
The Ebay Loser
Dren:
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food: mum’s cookin’. Drink: double espresso.
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Shrek and Donkey say hi back! (Fiona thinks your name rocks)
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Yes, I am working on a DVD tutorial with my mate Jonathan Abenheim.
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None. All my stuff is total garbage. Um… I don’t know, I really enjoyed doing the shot where Alex says: “Yo Rico! I’ll take 300 orders to go!” and Julian pops up and says: “yes yes, but before you leave, I have an announcement to make!”. That was real fun. I really paid attention to squashing and stretching the characters where I felt I needed to.
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My favorite animated movie is Bambi. But if we’re talking in terms of CG, I’ll have to say my order goes like this:
Shrek2 (which is the reason I came down here in the 1st place)
Toy Story
Shrek
The Incredibles
Toy Story 2
Monsters Inc
Ice Age
Antz
A Bug’s Life
Finding Nemo
Robots
But if you ask me of all time, it would most definitely be (by a long shot):
Bambi
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Lion King
Beauty And The Beast
The Fox And The Hound
The kind of honesty and heart warming films that Disney once put out time and time again is gone, and I feel that our times wouldn’t allow such a film to become big. Imagine bambi coming out today, it wouldn’t gain the popularity it has done. It’s a shame, but that’s how it is.
As for Neon Genesis, that’s a whole other ball game. There’s MUCH more behind the image that one can see. There are so many religious and sexual aspects to this film, I couldn’t even begin to tell you. As a whole, well, for those who know it, the last few episodes which are considered a film, is the most complex yet complete animated film I’ve ever seen.
If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go get it NOW. Watch the series from beginning to end. Un. Real.
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I share a cube with Lou Dellarosa and Kevan Shorey, my mates. Jason Spencer-Galsworthy used to be with us too.
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I do still have my 1st 3d work, just don’t know where. lol
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Never. I have to be involved with animation somehow. I Love it too much. :drool:
terminus_ad_quem:
I know where you’re coming from. When I worked on “Sitting Ducks” for the Cartoon Network during my time at Elliott Digital, we had to pump out one episode every 2 weeks. I remember dishingout 55 seconds of animation in one week! lol
I was once given an amazing routine exercise to do, and I’ll never forget it. It’s not complicated really, but really makes you dig your head and get creative. The test was this:
Stand a character in front of the camera, and make them react to soemthing off camera.
That’s ALL I was told. The cool thing is that it gives you millions of possibilities. I wasn’t given any amount of frames to work with, no dialogue, nothing. Just that sentence. That exercise forces you to not only be crative, but be good with time, and also be smart about what you do. You know you don’t have forever, but you want to make a good piece. Try that. It’s alot of fun. 
And thanks for the very kind words.
jjcoolio:
Dude, what are you doing still studying? your work is astounding! Seriously, finish up quick!
You’ll be happy to hear that the modelers do use nurbs. 
In terms of workflow, I have no idea but I can tell you that I have seen some tools here that you explode your head. Maybe even implode. lol
WOW, I am soooo happy that PDI use nurbs! PDI is one of my dream companies!! I will definitly give it a try and apply at my graduation which is the end of May(or maybe sooner)!
Thank you so much for the information. I actually been to PDI for a tour and I really loved it. the HP renderfarm, the gallery hallway, the scene from the glass window view, and the lovely work which was displayed in the hall were all remarkable.
It was friday so I saw some workers with their children which made me feel more like a family environment! I remember I taking a pic a the conference room with my friends with the huge shrek picture for the background!
I really envy you for contributing at PDI’s animations master pieces and I hope you’ll continue to enjoy your work at PDI!
Thanks again and take care!
Jinwoo Lee
Hi Emile!
Cool to see a ‘incredibly famous’ animator on the ‘Meet the Artists’ (as in fact everyone will know your work). Really nice that you can have some time to answer all the questions! On the next feature film that will be released with you working on it, I’ll be waiting for your name on the end-credits and shout around the theater: ‘hey, that Emile, that’s a cool guy who takes the time to answer fanposts!’ 
I have just one question. You were trained to be a 3D-animator, so do you have any feeling of movement when doing ‘instant 2D animation’? To speak about myself: I can animate a bit in 3D and then give it a bit ‘cartoon-animation-look’, but when trying the same on 2D-animation (just frame-per-frame) I never get a nice movement (with the right ease and so). Can you animate without keyframes, if you understand what I mean? And do you think 2D (frame-per-frame animation) can be compared to 3D (keyframe) animation, or if an animator should have skills for both?
Thanks for the time, and I wish you all the best luck on your projects! :bowdown: :wavey:
-Gijs
hey Emilio! I am relativley new to animation (still in school, one more year left).
couple of questions…
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Is the framing of each shot finalized before you get assigned a scene? Or does it change much after you begin animating?
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If so, how much animation do you do beyond the frame? ex. If 2 characters are walking in a mid shot do you animate the feet or just the motion of the hips going up and down?
Thats it… thanks for your time…
Aaron
Thanks for talking with us Emile! I realized something today when I was animating a little animation test of a character seeing something and laughing. And looking at the playback something seems missing. Like it really isn’t ALIVE. I guess my question is what are some things you do (tips/tricks) when your struggling to make a character feel alive and less blah?
Thanks again.
-Robert
lay-z-arse:
What’s up man!
It’s hard(er) coming from games. The reason is that you don’t animate much acting in games, therefor you don’t get much of a chance to develop those skills. What I suggest to any game animator is to work on some animation on the side if they plan to get into the film business. I always wanted to do film, but it wasn’t a possibility in Montreal when I started. So i looked at my own work and realized, at the time, that I just didn’t have the skills yet, so I got working on it. Being honest with yourself about such things isn’t easy, but if you want it, get on it.That was my way of thinking.
I did feel like I had platformed at one point, but I was also curious to see what’s out there. Funny you should ask, because I might be taking a job in games again, but more along the lines of supervising. I don’t know if I’ll be animating much (Dreamworks IS aware, don’t worry), as I am moving back to Montreal because my girlfriend and I are having a baby girl (woohoo!), so i plan to chill back for a year or two and get onto other responsibilities like my family and such, but my love for film definitely is here to stay. :buttrock:
jjcoolio:
Yes, PDI is very family oriented :rolleyes:
Dutchman:
I wish I could animate in 2D. I’m planning to eventually take courses either in 2D or hopefully, if I can find a class, I want to leartn stop motion. I never really tried to “animte in 2d”, as I don’t know that much about the medium. In my eyes, it is comparable, but to a certain extent. 3D vs. 2D is like comparing a painting to a picture created in painter. Both are beautiful, but 2D is definitely the holy grail of animation. There’s definitely a certain charm to 2d that we lack in 3D. But hey, that’s just my opinion
airg:
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It usually is. Cameras and general character direction is set mostly at the storyboard stage, followed by layout which then sets in general character direction, camera and staging in the 3d scenes and adds changes if needed. The camera sometimes gets changed after or during the animation process, but it’s not very frequent.
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Shot lengths are usually already set before we get in there, again at the storyboard stage when edited together. One of the many reasons being that you need to set shot length prior to animation so time isn’t wasted, but most importantly so that directors get a good feel for the story and how it flows. Animating a shot is a long process as I’m sure you know now, so it’s a good idea to set all of this first, and then we can get in there
heh, I don’t even know how to start this…mabye with a regular “Hi”…
Aniway, I’m just a little brat who’s a lot into arts, of all dimentions and methods (even music). I’m at an art highschool (but it’s a great pile of bull fecal matter, learned more from extra “training” and personal experience, but that’s how stuff works in my country), architecture class, but I love all that’s drawing, painting or 3d (traditional & cg).
I’ve been into 3D modelling for…2 years now, and attempted some animation (wich totaly sucked), and now I’m mostly animating warcraft 3 models, because I’m too unskilled to animate models for other games. And the fact is that I like very much modelling, but especialy animation, but…I totaly suck (at 2D too). I would show you some samples, but I don’t want to waste your time even more and to make a fool out of myself. So, I would like to ask: is it possible to get good at animating (3D) only through personal experience and from reviewing some free tutorials from time to time? Or is a school realy necessary? Also, is there a chance to work in the industry if you don’t have higher studies of animating, modelling, concept art, etc? I’ve heard that no one even looks at one if he dosen’t have studies, although he might be realy tallented.
The fact is that in my country, the cg industry is almoust inexistend…actualy it is inexistent, no one even knows what’s cg allthough they watch it all the time. There are no schools dedicated to cg here, and I don’t have the money or motivation to go to a school from outside. I’ll attempt the architecture faculty in autumn, 'cause I like architecture very much (I won’t enter though…). This brings in another issue: I like too many things. I love all art domains, as I said, but is it possible for someone to get good at all of them? Or sacrifices must be made…
And finaly, do you have any advice for people stupid like me who like this domain and want to be good at it, are dedicated, don’t have the opportunities for specialized studies and they suck? Or it’s hopeless…
Hell, I’m going too epic and dramatic here…aniway, I’m terribly sorry for wasting so much of your time (I bet you won’t even read this when you look at the size of the text :P). Cheers.
P.S.: I think I sounded like an obsessed freak in the above statements…I do have a life though, I don’t draw & stuff all day 
Robert Diaz:
Making your character feel more alive comes with many things. When I animate, I’d say my characters start feeling alive at about 70-75% of the time that I’ve been working on a shot. Before then, they tend to feel a little stiff because I’m still working out overlaps, antics and such. So:
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have a great idea. Take the time to really think about different ideas. You usually know when you have a good one because your eyes light up, your palms get all sweaty, and your head ACTUALLY shrinks a little. THAT’s when you have a good idea.
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Pose your major beats. REALLY pose them, don’t do a half job. This could be a reason some animations don’t look alive. Pose them from head to toe, facials, everything, ON EVERY POSE.
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Passing poses. repeat #2 for passing poses. Pose EVERYTHING.
Once all this is done, and all your keys are on the same frames, you can easily move poses around and make sure your timing’s good. After that, if you feel a pose is inadequate, you can still delete it and not have to worry about keys being all over the place. Your animation should start looking better this way. I never break out of this. Never.
Try that and see where it takes you.
Dimmur:
First off, there is a modeler that used to be here that is now in the Glendale campus from Romania. WhatI suggest for you is that first, choose something that you really like. From what you’re telling me, it’s a toss up between animation or modeling. I strongly suggest you study. For people outside USA, like me, you have to have a certain amount of studies or you’re not even aloud to get in. Dreamworks is very cool about taking care of such things, but they don’t make miracles. For me, I had to have (if I remember correctly) 3 years of schooling such as a bachelors or something equal to that and a certain amount of work experience. Only then are you even aloud to walk into the country on a working Visa.
It is possible to get good animating by yourself, but I’m almost positive it’ll take you much more time than if you were to study it because you don’t have access to others, not to mention someone like a teacher which will be straight with you and tell you exactly what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.
Many people leave their home to study animation. There are many schools available for this such as Academy Of Arts (San Francisco), CalArts (LA i think), Sheridan College (Toronto, Canada), Vancouver Film School (Vancouver, Canada). But I gotta say, not only because i have some very good friends working there, but www.animationmentor.com is the way to go. Some of the best animators in the world are teaching there, and from what I’ve read and talking to them about it, it’s a fantastic program. And biggest bonus of all, you can do it from your home and you don’t have to leave. That’s right, all you need is a webcam! :applause:
Dude, if you want it enough, get on it and you’ll get it. Before I studied, I had no idea where to start or what to do. And today, I got my dream job. So can you.
Good luck kiddo!
HI Emile’ Congrats on the fabulous CG’s that u’ve done in Dreamworks Animation specially that madagascar characters that really make me laugh "Id Like to move it move it! MOVE IT!! hehe funny eh’? those weirdo cute litlle squirrels or lemur? are really enjoyable hek hek,
the banzo giants! alex martin etc.love it
heres just my Q.
- Are you enjoying your Job now as an Animator Character Modeller?
- Favourite Character in Madagascar or Shriek
- whats ur favourite 3-d program sofwares etc.whats the coolest and explain why?
i will remember u as one of the inspiring 3-d animators artist in the planet keep up the goodwork man! more power
Thanks for answering my previous question, it had great information.
My second question is how do you keep yourself from creating poses that are generic and unsurprising? Many times when I’m blocking out my animations I find myself creating poses that aren’t exciting. The key, as many people have said, is to push your animation, push your poses. I guess my question can be better said by asking you how you know your poses are good? When trying to push poses don’t you run the risk of confusing/turning off the viewer? Thanks again.
-Robert
Hi emile.
just a couple of questions
- I was just wondering, was Shrek done in 3dsmax?
- Do you use Pose-to-Pose technique in your shots or still do it the old fashion way. or do you use both?
- what’s the hardest shot you’ve ever had in those movies you’ve been involved lately?
Have you seen animators that had no 3D job experience but animation experience get hired at places like dreamworks based off of 3D they produced in their spare time. I am currently in this situation but I am working on a short film with a group of dedicated artists hoping to use it to make that break into features and wondered how often the type of job experience is a factor over quality of work in getting into 3D features.
Emilio congrats on the amazing worked you’ve provided so far,awsome really…totally love shrek movies, also.
My question is,you made it clear that your a strong beleiver in posing …totally agree with that, same for me.But do you always reffer to the 12 principles of animation,when animating or are you more layed back and it kinda became a second nature, more of a feeling.
I say that becasue while working with Sylvain Chomet on “the tripplettes” he was really pesting sometime against those principle saying that you really have to go further than that.I guess it has proven right as the animation on the movie is too me some of the best to date.But what do you think of all those rule we have when animating?
anyway, keep it up, waiting impatiently for Shrek3 …
cheers
wow thanks man!..its emillio secret exercise!!..:bounce: i will definitly try this and i hope i will be as good as you someday.you did one eps every 2 weeks on sitting ducks?..dishingout 55 sec animation in one week?..i thought im the only one, btw i like sitting ducks i even have the vcd.Can i ask you one last question?..(probably two) is it important to take acting class for animator?..btw have you ever been to jakarta? thanks again
nards26:
- I’m only doing animation at work. And yes, i LOVE my job.
- Madagascar: Julian Shrek: Fiona
- 3DsMax is my choice package. I find I work well with it, and it’s very intuitive comapred to other packages where it feels more like a bunch of calculations… my opinion, that’s all.
lol, you have alot of energy, that’s a good thing in this industry 
Robert Diaz:
I still create lame poses Rob. It’s hard to keep inspiration at 100% all day, 5 days a week, so don’t feel like you’re not doing it right. Instead, take the time to really look at your animation. If your brain’s fried, ask your mates. I do it all the time. So:
First, try to stay away from movements you have already seen before in other cartoons, and definitely push your poses. After watching your poses, it’s easier to dial them back then to go back in there and push them more. Keep in mind that there are times you don’t want to push the poses like when things are calm for example. Find the peak of the shot, and that’s where you want your animation to shine most. The rest is just practice. None of us sat down one day and automatically created amazing poses. it takes time and attention to detail. Clear your mind of everything else and analyze them. Look at your pose [in context] and see if there’s something you could do to it to make it feel better. DOn’t be scared to sit there for 10 minutes on the same pose. Also, pay attention to your silhouette, is it reading right to the camera?
Hope it helps!
mayj_kickass:
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Shrek is done with maya and PDI proprietary software
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I mainly use pose to pose, I figure the other way you’re talking about is “straight forward”? If so, that would be really complaicated to do in 3D, and I’m positive my results wouldn’t be as good as the ones I get now. Animating straight forward is mainly used by syop motion animators if I’m not mistaken.
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I think I answered this already, so I hope I answer the same thing… lol. I’d have to say the second to last shot dancing on Shrek2 because of not only were there alot of characters, but getting the choreography right between Shrek and Donkey (when Donkey flips and disconnects from Puss), then connecting him with Fiona (after she looks ta him) so they can dance back to back together, all while being on a beat and making sure they dance properly. I was told that I made Fiona actually look sexy back then. lol. I’m proud of that one.
All that partying, dancing and Djing during the past 15 years turned out to finally be very useful there.
thimsj:
Dude, it’s hard for me to answer that kind of question. I don’t want to throw you in the wrong direction. There are a few things I can tell you. It definitely helps for you to have past experience. I’m sure there are 2D animators that have gotten hired in the past based on their 2D experience. One of my best friends Jason was hired here after being a stop motion animator at Aardman with no computer animation skills. Now he’s unbelievably amazing. Another friend, Trey Thomas (Corpse Bride) is another guy who has done stop motion and 3D.
But I’ll be honest, your stuff would have to be pretty darn good to pass off like that.
That’s just my opinion though.
thematt:
Dude, I’ve forgotten what the 12 principles are… lol. At this point, I rely on my feeling too. The problem I believe Sylvain was trying to stay away from is poses that are too harsh maybe? I dunno. It could’ve and probably was a multitude of things. I guess it depends of the film. In Shrek, you don’t feel us hit the poses as much as in Madagascar. Each has it’s own feel. I don’t see why Triplettes would be any different, know what I mean? :rolleyes::shrug:
Hi
Whats your Favorite rendering and modeling Software
Rendering? [MentalRay,Renderman or other software] ?
Modeling? [Only Max, (other from PDI Dreamworks )or maya and XSI too] ?
[sry for my bad English]
terminus_ad_quem:
Just a not that I worked on season 2 of Sitting Ducks. Acting calsses definitely help. I haven’t taken many, but from the little that I did, I could see how much it would help.
And no, I’ve never been to Jakarta, but it is in my top 10 places to see
IceFlame:
modeling: 3dsMax. But this is only because i just don’t know how to model in any other software.
Rendering: PDI’s rendering is the BOMB!:buttrock: As for personal use, I will be looking into Vray or Brazil once my short is ready to render.