Meet the Artist :: Markus Manninen

#34

Thank you Julian, I am glad the hollistic “experience” was to your liking. It’s particularly rewarding for me to hear as I am responsible for the hollistic execution of the film.

The work of finding the artistic version of “pre-historic” Chinese culture came out of research done by the art department. The directors were particularly passionate about the pursuit of this. We did discuss at length how much the characters and their behavior would be “westernized” so to speak. It was important to make Po, the panda, stand out in the environment, making him funny and different. This “contrast” actually helped make the world more Chinese in many ways.

The work the art department did was a great bridge between finding a new fresh take on a world, yet having it inspired by Chinese art and culture. The feel of this world allowed the story work to find it’s “tone” in many ways. We had the look of our world much earlier than the story. A lot of the art work actually inspired the story telling.

Lighting and Matte Painting were both supervised by the Production Designer and myself. The Art Director worked closely with the matte painting department for the design process to work as smoothly as possible. The Production Designer and myself were responsible in making sure that the two departments would “align”. The CG Supervisors for each sequence communicated with the matte painting lead to make sure that the creative vision would translate.

The animators worried very little about the lighting of our scenes. Nor did layout. We did plan for the original staging to work with the lighting scheme that the Production Designer and I had been planning. After that we really had to make the lighting work shot-by-shot more or less. Most of the time this was not a problem.

Yes. I was fortunate enough to start only a few weeks into the design process. Early on it was really about thinking about the scope of the film. When we started in 2003 we had a different schedule. It was important for me to work closely with the producers and directors to figure out what was important for them and try to work out a scheme for the production. Once we had that concept worked out, the Production Designer and I discussed it and we would then start applying the theories to the design of the film. Some of these decision included using only short non-dynamic fur in the film, only doing simulated clothing on our characters (we didn’t do any procedural wrinkling on the rigged clothing), developing a feather system, building “localized” environments.

As the designs came together we got Head of Character Animation, Character TD Supervisor and Character Effects Supervisor to look at the design to make sure we were able to achieve the design purpose in 3D. There was a lot of discussion about facial design, motion capability, neck design.

I don’t think we had any vocal talent established at the point when we started. I know Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman signed on while we were in the process of creating the characters in 3D.

Hm. Difficult question. The Escape was actually our first action sequence into production. We had some “growing pains” while we were doing it. We were establishing the action in the film doing this one. One of the key concerns for me was POV (point of view) and the level of “cool” we could achieve. We did some previz work that was really inspirational, but completely lacked POV. It set off a process of finding the character in the action (a story based process), which was really helpful. Once we came out that process and we had the idea for the “why” and “how”, we got into production. At this point the sequence was coming together, but to me it just wasn’t elevating the film. So that’s what I pushed. I thought the team really stepped up and delivered.

What would I change?
Hm. We actually made the sequence on a fairly tight budget because we wanted to leave more “gun powder” to the later sequences. If we could have spent a little more time on finessing what we started I would have been an even happier camper.

I probably see myself mostly like Crane. I am somewhat confused by situations at times but try to make the best of them.

To my crew I probably come across like Po’s dad, constantly optimisitically running towards the next disaster, telling them to hurry along, telling them stories from the past they’ve already heard a million times.

Thank you. I hope my answers did satisfy your curiousity, and I hope you get the opportunity to work on something as magical as the show we all worked on. My philosophy is that a great process can/will lead to a great product. Or maybe that’s just Po’s dad talking within me.

#35

Hi Markus,

Watched the movie with my son, and we both love it! Great piece!!

My quoestion is, how did you (and your animator teams) maintain the “feel” of the aniamtion during the production time? I mean, if I’ve been doing animation over and over for a some time, it sometime looses some of the right thing, because after that repeating process, the animation tends to look the same.

Thnx

#36

Hello Markus,
great to have you here. I enjoy it every time when a new Meet the artist thread opens!

I´m 26 and from Germany ,and the movie will Hit theatres on 07.03., which means i had no opportunity to see it yet (except downloading, but that´s unacceptable for me, i want to see this piece of art on the big screen!). I can´t hardly wait to see it!

I did al little 3D about 5 years ago, i was really interested in getting a job in the industry, but i didn´t know how to do it bvack then. I had to take a job directly after school and that left me only a few time left for my hobby. However, i tried to learn by myself with Lightwave and i was starting to get better. But somehow, while i was checking cgsociety or renderosity, i became the feeling that most people were evolving much quicker than me.
Do you think somepeople are like, born to do this stuff, and other´s aren´t? I usually thing there´s nothing i can´t learn or accomplish, but thinking about back then, it makes me wonder if i lack a specific understanding. I´m curious about your opinion on that!

3 Years ago i started Photography as a hobby, and thus i had much experience in Photoshop from my past, it soon became my first love. I actually quit my day to day (too boring and stressfull) job 4 weeks ago and startetd as a professional Photographer Fulltime. Taking me back to the “specific understanding”. It seems i would have that rather in Photography than in 3D.

I intend to mix up,i want to learn Maya and use it for my Photographs, i know there are a few Photographers out there that do this, but most of the time,these are split in teams, One for Photography, one for maya,and sometimes even one person for Photoshop. I think having all the work done by one person would be a little diffrent !

Can you give me some advice how to learn more effective than i did before? I´m really busy starting my business so i don´t want waste to much time. Right now i have Maya 7 and bought the book Maya from Keywan Mahintorabi and the Maya Reference Book.

I don´t have the money right now to invest in workshops or something like that, so i would be thankfull if you have any advice for me.

If you interested to see some of my Photographs you can see a Portfolio on my website www.designforst.de

Iwill have a new website in a few months. But for now it´s stil lthe old version.

I hope my Questions are not too much off topic! And thanks for your time!!!

#37

Thanx Markus, now i really cant wait to watch the movie. I really appreciate u for taking some time off to reply to all our questions. I am sure all the other members also appreciate it as much as i do… I have been hearing so much about the bridge fight scene thats its killing me with excitement…

And i hope you are enjoying ur holiday coz you and the rest of the dreamworks team deserve it…

#38

Hello my name is Mark Gilbert I have a project for my animation class. I need to interview an industry expert. I am a big fan of your work and it would be an honor if you could answer these questions for me. 1) what do employers look for in hiring a new employee in animation

2)Do you have other experience in graphic design?
3)Is it better to be well versed in all types of graphic design or pick your area and work harder on that field?
4)What knowledge should a new animator have before starting work.
5)What challenges did you face while starting out as an animator ? If so are they common challenges that every beginner will face? Are they easy to over come?

6)What made you decide to start a career in the animation field?

Thank you.

#39

There are a lot of variables. I assume that you are interested in learning character animation position, and entry level. This is not really my area to speak to. I don’t think we often hire talent straight out of school for character animation positions. Someone who comes out of school with tremendous ability for acting and timing, and a reel that can show it may be able to land a junior position. On our show we did something unique and hired two junior animators to work as “crowd character animators”. This meant that they animated the cycles for our crowds as well as what we call “hero background animation”, where we want to keyframe animate one of the crowd characters to make the crowd as a whole feel less, well, “crowd like”.

For other positions we actually do try to find talent out of schools. On the technical side we pursue finding technical directors. We actually collaborate with certain schools to make the schools aware of what we are looking for in their students.

In “asset creation” positions like modeling and surfacing, it’s about what they can show us they know creatively. For Character TD’s we look for very technically skilled people as our propriatery process demands that.

For students straight out of school it’s also important to see their ability to function in a team environment. That they are positive about continued learning. Great personality. We often assume that they start almost from scratch with us, but that they’ve learn the process of learning so they will adapt quickly to a production environment which is very different from the educational environment.

When I came into the industry the path of how people arrived was much more arbitrary than it perhaps is now. I had a dance background before getting my M.Sc. degree. I did some work in graphic design in Boston, yes, but that was temporary more than a career choice. What I wanted to pursue was animation. To be able to do character animation in those days I pretty much had to learn how to do it all. That’s probably a big part of how I ended up doing what I do today.

Do you mean graphic design as in design, or are you generalising it to computer graphics?
On the question whether it’s better to specialize or not in our industry I would say it depends on what you are talented at. I think a lot of companies look for people who they can see can arrive at their company and be useful fairly quickly. For that reason I think specializing is helpful early on. Knowing a little of everything may not help you.

If you are in an area where there are mainly small companies and everyone at the company pretty much has to do everything, well, then I think it’s worth not only having one specialized area since it will be difficult casting you as an artist.

Also, depending on what area of computer graphics you will focus on - feature animation, commercials animation, feature visual effects, commercials visual effects, commercial still art work, product development/design, architectural visualisation, … - they all have a slightly different focus and skill need.

My general advise is understand the whole, but get good at one part where a potential employer can see that you can be of benefit to them almost immediately.

Listening skills. You will learn how to take direction as part of being in a production environment, but you need to come to it with listening skills. That way you will be able to learn quickly.

If we are talking about a character animator I used to look for people who had the fundamental understanding of acting. They were able to have a conversation about what a shot delivered emotionally and why. I looked for the more traditional aspects, do they understand weight, do they use timing to their advantage. My personal preference for animation has always been a little off the beaten path, so I always looked for animators that didn’t do the “traditional” poses or expressions. Who clearly were able to experiment themselves, using their own expressions and behavior as a guide. But that’s just me personally.

Hm. When I started out I had real issues with the technology. There wasn’t an easy way to generate character animation technically with the tools I was using at the time. So building a work flow/process was part of my challange. I don’t recommend people to try to learn all that these days.

On the creative side I went through a process of learning character animation from the references I could find. I was a students many years after I left school (still am I would have to say). I gulped up any animation book, watch and re-watched, frame by frame every animated film I could get my hands on. Learned about the masters and the choices they made through reading and watching. I found myself particularly drawn to stop motion animation early on. Being on my own was probably the most difficult aspect of learning at that time. These days with AnimationMentor and the rich access to books and DVDs on the topics I had to learn by trying, well… I don’t think it’s quite the same. In a good way.

The best part of having to learn it myself is that I became very aware of every choice I was making. I didn’t do anything arbitrarily or because someone else did it that way or told me to do it a certain way. I like that aspect of the challange.

One of the most difficult things to master is proper self-evaluation. The tendecy is that because you start with something so rough and it improves from there on, there’s a potential risk that you stop at a point when you’ve seen the relative improvements and think it’s great, when it really isn’t good enough. Learning how to push your self is an invaluable skill.

Having had my artistic aspirations more or less fail in my teens (I was an aspiring dancer/choreographer) I went to school to get a “proper” degree. My education was very challanging but I was tremendously bored. When I discovered animation at UMass Amherst it was if the two sides, the artistic and the technical, found a perfect mix. It inspired me to seek the opportunity to learn more, and I got lucky that a few people around me at that time thought it was interesting and, I assume, saw that I had some talent for it.

From then on it was a constant choice to keep focusing on animation, avoid the trap of “getting a real job” (at the time it was difficult at best to make a living as an animator in Stockholm, Sweden). Persistence and passion was what enabled me to keep doing what I loved. I am very ambitious.

Did I dream that I one day would be on the other side of the world, working in Los Angeles for a feature animation studio, having significant contribution in a feature animated film. It actually seemed almost impossible at the time, but yes, I did dream.

#40

Thank you for you time I realy appreciate you taking your time to help me in my project. Good luck on your further success.

#41

How does someone get an advantage in the animation industry? As if I were just starting out, or anyone for the matter.

#42

Hello, Total congrats on the film i loved it!

i’ve been putting my work on the internet for a while now. And my question is, do you think having a web site or profile on a website a good way to get into the industry faster? like if your work is well known over a period of time until your ready to find a job?

i also have one more question, my teachers always suggest going to an actual collage, rather than a technical collage like Full Sail. personally from what i’ve heard you only need a collage degree if its required or you want to teach. but in your opinion, does going to a technical collage hinder your progress to move forward in the industry?

and lastly, what where some of your first job interviews like? or what was the progress of getting your first job?

thanks ahead of time…

#43

Hi Markus,
congrats on your succuss with the movie,…i am surprised the way you guys have handeld the fur for panda itz so simple and looks cool…i have a problem with fur which i would like to ask you we are using 3dmax for our project and while rendering hair of the charecter we are geting flickering frames in between and as for the fur on animal it dosent have any depth ,…so i would like to know your expert advice on it,…once again kungfu panda rocks…

#44

If I only knew… that simple yet fool proof solution to a career.

I think it’s a combination of talent, work ethic, networking skills, and ambition. If you lack in one area, you have to work harder in the other areas.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in the people that “make it” is that they do understand their own talent very well, how to utilize themselves in a project, and how to get others around them to “complete the picture” for the best possible result. It’s a rare talent.

Maybe you can be more specific if this is not the answer you are looking for.

#45

Actually, that’s quite helpful to me. Thanks a lot.

#46

Thanks!!
I think having a website that makes you appealing will help once someone is looking for you on the web, yes.

If you aren’t connecting in another way to people to make them look at your website, well, then you actually have to treat your website as a broadcast channel, and somehow try to get people in the industry to view it. Or even harder, get an audience to “tune in” once in a while. That takes a lot of hard work.

If you are able to it may be a great way to start. The true potential of the “net” as a broadcast entity is still in it’s infancy.

Hm. Sorry, I am not sure I am completely aware of the differences, being from Europe.
I suppose I can say that except for maybe 20-25 universities or higher education institutions that we have some type of relationship with, most people actually come from educations we know very little about, and their true capacity is shown through the work they put in reels and portfolios, whether it’s artistic or technical.

Oh. I am not sure I have good answers for this. My first real interview in the business was after having worked for several years as a freelance artist and even had my own micro-studio. At that point I was asked to come visit some of my friends at a traditional animation studio to help them advance their computer graphics capability for a series of commercials.

So they already knew what I did, and I showed them some of the work in progress I was doing, and then I sat down and started doing work. Very casual.

Since then I’ve had more formal interviews with Framestore and Dreamworks, but at that point the companies knew what I did and it wasn’t as much of an unknown. It creates a different dynamic. Sorry. Can’t be more helpful.

#47

If we spoke to Wes Burian, Surfacing Supervisor, he would say that this is some of the hardest stuff he’s done creatively in his career. And he’s done both photoreal at Tippett and some pretty wacky stylized stuff with us in his past.

I know Wes will put together a presentation at SIGGRAPH, but basically creating that plushed toy, with a hint of naturalism - using the break up of length and direction, with stylistic details - well the look is anything but simple.

I suppose that is the brilliance of the look of the film. Rich but not distracting.

I am not sure how to answer the question without seeing something. I am also not a 3DS Max expert.

The flickering could be that the fur assignment isn’t “locked”, i.e. the fur placement on the surface of the character is basically being re-evaluated every frame. This is very problematic. You need to look into those settings in your fur shader.

Back in the day, there used to be a bug that re-evaluated the placement when you started a render, but if you rendered your images on a single machines straight through the UI the render would work. But that was mid 90’s type of stuff.

The depth aspect… is it that the hair looks thin, or simply doesn’t detail?
The thin problem can be taken care by using a dense shorter fur layer and then adding longer less dense and more break up. Remember to design the length to create areas of visual interest that “describe” the design you are trying to present.

The detail problem can be how you are shadowing your fur. You need to get inter-shadowing of the fur to bring out the detail. That together with fur color changes, between fur strands and over the length of the fur, makes all the difference. Of course the real expert we should ask is Wes.

You may need different density settings for different “resolutions”, close up or far away.

#48

hi markus,
thanks for sharing your experience n knowledge u r definately doing a great help to we artists to improve in our work, u r a great inspiration to us(u all guys at pixar n dreamworks) i have around 8 years of exp in only 2d animation and rightnow i am leading a team of 5 3d artists we are working on a 3d shortfilm project i dont have any 3d experince as such these artists know the tools n they extreamly passionate dedicated for their work, i look after the look of the project design,animation and everything we are facing some technical problems in terma of rigging n dinamics…dont mind but if you can give us your email id so that we can get back to you with our detailed questions, me personaly i am not aware of the 3d terms so i cant ask you anything rightnow i will have to sit with my team n send you the questions. presently we are able to achive a basic quality but we are amining at out put like pixar or dreamworks (u must b thinking with so small team how can we achive that quality but we have infra and the passion to do the quality work) since u r working with them you can help us out…in india here work quality is not that great or satisfaying and the expert guidence is also not there…i hope you can understand me…so if possible, think how can u guide us.
thanks mahesh

#49

Hi, First off! Your name sounds SO finnish, do you have finnish parents? = D I know one finnish director named Vesa Manninen. : )
So my queston, did you actually try to get that high position or did the job just naturally fall to you. Im still quite young 19, actually and done 3d as an professional now soon 2 years. I would offcourse be interested in same level of career as you have, but I dont know how to approach it. : /
You know, I have just done my stuff and always job just falls for me, but now Im stuck. Im in really good position here, but still I think I have so much to learn abroad. So the question is -> How should I approach such jobs? Is it just all about the reel and previous jobs?
I`m glad that you have started your career from sweden, its close to finland so maybe I still have some hope : ) Thanks!

#50

Hi, and your family name is very Swedish. My parents are both from Finland, and I grew up in Stockholm.

It’s almost impossible to tell you how to get ahead. It’s very subjective, it’s very much dependent on your situtation, the company you are or can work for, and you, your talent, your leadership ability. All I can really do is generalize and clue you in on some of the things I did I suppose.

First of all, treat your current job like it’s already your next job. Work hard. Bring excitement to it. Basically do such a good job that it seems silly to only have you do that job alone. Make yourself such a key element where you are that they don’t want to lose you. If you get there, then the company, or another company will want to give you the opportunity to excel.

If you do “get stuck” in a position where there isn’t an avenue “forward” to where you want to develop long term, then you do need to “make some luck happen”. Work on side projects to show what you can do. Send a reel, or go visit, a company that you would really want to work for. If you do send a reel, don’t just send a reel. Make sure the reel has something that will excite the company, make them feel that you can be an asset.

I’ve seen too many artist who believe that a company is lucky to have them. It’s really the opposite many times. It’s the artist job to make the company excited to have them. To then also want to fully utilize the talent.

THis is all part of being ambitious. There’s a quote in acting “there are no small roles, just small actors”. I think it’s a little similar. You have to be ambitious at all times. Always wanting, needing, to do your best work. Elevating what you do and what you deliver. It will make you look good, but sometimes more importantly, it will inspire people around you to step up as well. Making the whole even greater.

I do think that working in one of the “larger markets” where some of the best work takes place does elevate people (if they are willing to learn). I brought with me some of the most talented people I knew from Sweden to London, and they were great to begin with, but they were awesome after a few years having gotten to exercise the muscle to learn, be pushed to do new things, to solve new problems, and to deliver the highest quality work. That lead to all of them having new opportunities else where. I am very proud of all of them and their work.

One of the key aspects that our business forgets is creative leadership. Learning how to recognize talent, use the talent in a group situation, and create an evironment where the sum is greater than the pieces is not trivial. One reason for staying at companies for a while (except for the fact that companies get nervous if you don’t seem to be able to stay anywhere) is that you want to get the opportunity to exercise, learn and follow through on leadership opportunities. Starting small and building. It’s invaluable later on.

You are young. I didn’t go abroad until I was… well… 29 I think. I’ve been working in the industry for, erhm, 16 years or so. But, and this is a big but, I benefitted from the last aspect greatly - great timing. I was at the right place at the right time, with the right skills, and a company that needed to grow. Twice. But your ambition will need to take you to that place. To create your own luck.

I am not sure this was helpful at all.

#51

i am fadi i called my self animator boi i though the animation field is not that good for me i am tryin my best to be the best so i so impressed with u panda u made is just beauitful work
as in u have studio well i need a project i can be known as u sir just see my work as i m freelance now i got no job …also see my CV in my profile
thanking you sir
i remember me frnd of mine told me i fi i wanna be the best i got work with best …
looking forward to heart form u sir

#52

Hello Markus,

I am a big fan of the film. The colors, the world it takes place in. The mix of matte paintings and characters, the ducks and rabbits. My two year old daughter found the trailers one day and became instantly addicted, waking up every morning saying Panda, Panda and pointing at the computer… I have seen parts of the movie atleast fifty times over… “you are free to eat, AM I, Are you!!!” I have been reading this forum about all your advice. Abviously you have a lot ot offer. it’s great…

The last post, about why and how to work for companies is really relevant for me. I was just able to be the 3D Supervisor on a Nickelodeon cartoon series, mostly environment art, and it was a mix of great fun, and really taxing emotional/interpersonal strain… But it definitelly lets you know what your strengths and weaknesses are. All of what you say above applies to it, so I apprecaite reading your advice and I will read it some more. If you are inspired and feel generous, my portfolio on this forum has Environment images from the show. The show is Speed Racer. Next Generation. I dont know if it will exactelly make some luck. But it is worth a try.

Thanks, and thanks for the Awesome movie, I will be watching it for years, and I hope you stay heavilly involved with the sequils and make those un-imaginally good as well!!

Thanks,

Chris

PS - Your levis spot is really great to.

#53

Hi Markus
I have just watched the Po’s story with my wife and we had a so great and Funny time with the movie . Just wanna say thank you for Great movie