Meet the Artist: Victor Navone

[caulfield]

Hi Victor -

well done for working at Pixar. Pinacle of human achievement.

question-

making character move realistically is one ting. I worked at disney in sydney on jungle book II and lion king 1.5

now I have my own short film - who do I turn to to for real help with the story?

[t_mmi]

Check out this Q&A with Ed Catmull, Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird as they discuss the history of Pixar and the state of filmmaking and animation. Some interesting facts, perspectives and rants:

2 hour wmv movie

Hopefully this will answer some questions that I don’t get to in this thread!

hey victor,

thanks a lot for that gem! especially watching brad bird is always fun and entertaining, and of course very profound. i can imagine from what i’ve seen of him that you had a pretty intense time working with him

did you learn anything special from him, something you could’ve only learned from him?

thanks again for answering all those questions, it’s really appreciated…

cheers,
thomas

[jedijrmax]

Hey Victor, I have just one question.

On the Finding Nemo “Making Of” feature on the DVD, John Lassetter says something like, “Research is so important. I went to everybody and said ‘YOU MUST GO TO THE CORAL REEF’ and get certified in Scuba lessons. You can NOT make this film without first experiencing it.”

Now, maybe this is a silly question, but what if you had asthma, or some other physical condition that prohibited you from participating in this important form of research. Would you not be allowed to animate on the film? Or was John just kind of exaggerating when he said “you HAVE” to go?

Thanks!

~Jeff

[pearson]

Hey Victor, I have just one question.

On the Finding Nemo “Making Of” feature on the DVD, John Lassetter says something like, “Research is so important. I went to everybody and said ‘YOU MUST GO TO THE CORAL REEF’ and get certified in Scuba lessons. You can NOT make this film without first experiencing it.”

Now, maybe this is a silly question, but what if you had asthma, or some other physical condition that prohibited you from participating in this important form of research. Would you not be allowed to animate on the film? Or was John just kind of exaggerating when he said “you HAVE” to go?

Actually, Victor already covered this earlier. Lasseter was exagerating when he said “everyone”. By “everyone” he meant “only the supervisors; not the little people”, which is terribly normal for corporate management…

[jedijrmax]

Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize he had mentioned it; I didn’t have time to read through all of the pages, but thank you for pointing that out to me. I’m surprised that someone else asked that, seems like a very particular question, but that’s cool. I apologize about the double question, so you can just move on and answer everyone else’s. Thanks for the response.

~Jeff

[vnavone]

I only have one question for you and it relates to how you personally deal with those moments of despair. I’ve read all your previous posts on how you battle animators block and how you source other animators views/opinions or just step away from it if you can. But I’m wondering if you’ve ever had any moments of despair when it seemed that no matter what you tried, who you talked it out with, you still felt as though nothing was working the way you want it. How did you deal with such events? Does it make you feel nervous? Is it as simple as, ‘Well, I’ve exhausted all avenues for relief – I’ll just have to deal with it as it is.’

Hi Brendan, every artist encounters moments of frustration and creative block, and I’ve had my share in recent months. I’ve never run into a situation where I couldn’t find a solution and I have a shot taken away from me, though. Usually with enough revisions and the support of my fellow animators I’m able to soldier through it. I may not be thrilled with the end result, but at least the solution was “passing” and enough for me to move onto the next thing. Sometimes I will be able to return to the shot later and fix it with the benefit of hindsight. It’s rare that an animator will have his shot taken over by another animator, but once and a while we have shots that are quietly slated for “CBB” fixes (Could Be Better) and are redone on the sly.

[vnavone]

1. while animating what is your viewport layout like? please do specify the placements too in your viewport.

2. though its software specific - what shortcut keys do you use to toggle the playback controls? the keys you use to move around in your timeline?

3. how tech-savvy are you?

4. could you please tell us who did that shot in M Inc. of Mike when he says to Sully

Hi Andy, I’m not going to discuss software stuff here, but I think that I’m pretty tech-savvy. I understand the basic principles of modeling, rigging, surfacing, etc., though I don’t have a lot of experience with them. I tend to learn software very quickly. I don’t recall who did that shot in Monsters that you refer to.

[vnavone]

How much influence would have the seperation of Disney and Pixar arcorrding the next upcoming movies? I mean how big was Disney’s influence in Pixars work and how had it changed since the cooperation was splited (in your opinion).

How do you improve your animation skills? Is there any research time? Do you have to do it in sparetime? Do you develop your on techniques and riggs (in connection with the rigging department).

Hi Dines, Disney had very little influence on our films. Occasionally they would have story notes, but for the most part I think they just let us do our work and collected the money.
The best way to improve you animation skill is practice. I animate every day, so naturally I’ve gotten better! Good feedback is also important, and I’m lucky to be surrounded by some of the best animators in the world.

[vnavone]

1.Congrats on the daughter being 1. Our son Nate is 8 months now and yeah, things sure do change with kids. Its such a joy to see them take shape as they grow and create there own little personalities.

2.How have you managed to juggle work, family and everything else then find time for personal projects?
Or have you?
Of course you work with it everyday at work so worry of going rusty is not something I would think you deal with…

Hi Nolan,

1. Thanks!
2. See previous posts.

[vnavone]

Just the one question came to me as i was watching that ‘Pixar a human story’ (which is a really great wee movie , cheers for the link) Have you any aspirations of becoming a director at pixar? Working your way up the ladder like Andrew Stanton.
Sorry another question just came to mind…What do you think the benefits are of making the short films like Boudin etc…you seem to be one of the few companies that actually do this with presumably very little commercial payback at the end

Hi Alan, I discussed my feelings on directing in earlier posts. With regard to shorts: though we don’t see a lot of monetary gain from our short films they do have their function. First off they give Pixar a lot of prestige by earning us Academy Awards. Second, we own them completely, unlike the features which Disney co-owns. Third, they are a proving ground for new directors, new technologies, and new ideas. Fourth, they’re fun!

[vnavone]

What do you think if motion capture? Can you always spot mocap? Would you or do you ever use it? Will it ever become a threat to traditional animators? Personally I prefer hand animation to motion capture, which always has a weird quality I can’t quite define, a lack of exaggeration perhaps?

Hi William, I think that mocap has its place, and that place is digital stunt doubles and background characters in live action films. Mocap is too unappealing for use on “hero” characters in animated films and requires enough manual cleanup as to make the cost comparable with keyframe animation. Here is an interesting article editorial on the subject:

The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck (conclusion)

[vnavone]

thanks a lot for that gem! especially watching brad bird is always fun and entertaining, and of course very profound. i can imagine from what i’ve seen of him that you had a pretty intense time working with him

did you learn anything special from him, something you could’ve only learned from him?

Hi Thomas, we all learned a lot from working with Brad. The things that particularly affected me as an animator were learning to really design my poses and learning to see spacing. Brad can look at an animation loop once or twice and immediately tell you what’s wrong with it in very specific terms. He taught us to see every frame of 24 fps and really refine our arcs and spacing. He would draw on still frames of our animation to show us how to push poses to make them more graphic and clear. It was like animation boot camp and we all improved greatly as a result.

[Pherbis]

Just curious would you agree or disagree to the fact that basically the main way to get a job now and days in the industry is to know someone. I mean there’s always that saying, “it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.”

And continuing on that- are most jobs filled at pixar because of reccomendations by other employees, or would that at least get you to the interview stage. For instance has there be an open position at pixar and you knew someone for the job and recommended them, and they got the job, even though they might have been slighty less talented then someone who had an awesome demo reel but wasn’t known.

[vnavone]

Just curious would you agree or disagree to the fact that basically the main way to get a job now and days in the industry is to know someone. I mean there’s always that saying, “it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.”

I can’t think of any instance where an animator was hired because of who he or she knew. And I’ve tried to get one or two animators hired. The only potential exception would be when we hire interns, who we come to know as they work with us.

[DerPapa]

I was very impressed by the incredibles animatic, shown on the DVD. To me, it has almost the quality of a 2D movie itself. It even contains Motionblur (flash running gh the forest) or volume effects (under the water, after planecrash)

1. Is this really the result done in Preproduction, or has it been polished for the DVD afterwards?

2. How become the shots assigned to the animators? Is there a list you can choose a new one from, when a shot is done? Can you disclaim a shot, or pick a more favorite one?

3. What toys are standing beside YOUR monitor?

cheers
Michael

[todesco]

Hi Victor

you are a god of CG animation, don’t need to say more… :buttrock:

1- how you do the facial animations, lypsinc, etc, it’s between the body animation? or you do first more simple animations, and refine later?

2- in a walk, it’s better to animate the character walking by the scene or use loops?

3- who are your favorite animators in 3D (and 2D)?

thanks for the response

cheers

[JulianHo]

Hi Victor

I was wondering that given your already hectic schedules and family life, do you ever get the time to work on your own personal projects?

Just really amazed on how you managed to juggle everything.

• Julian

PS - Is the rumor about the Pixar Comic Book company true?

[Tughan]

Hello again. A few more “special” questions for you my friend;
[ol]
[li]Apart from working, what aspects of your daily life changed after you decided to become an Animator? I mean, it used to be boring to be waiting in a bus station for example, but after I got into animation everything suddenly become very interesting! Watching how people walks, how they move chairs, how that fat lady runs, how that bird flaps it’s wings. Now, everytime, everywhere feels like animation referance, and watching “world” is actually very fun! Do you feel the same way? Or do you try to forget about animation stuff when not working to clear your mind.[/li][li]Do you watch any of the series on TV? X-Files, 24, Alias, Buffy, Angel, Lost, Fastlane, etc. What is or was your favorite show?[/li][li]Do you have a dream to make your own movie in the future? Do write any scripts/stories in your free times?[/li][li]This is kind of a software specific question. We know that Pixar uses it’s own software for animation.(Marionette) I wonder, is there any “layer” feature? You know, unlike fixing main keyframes, create a new layer on top of it and animate over it. (just like Character Studio in 3D Studio Max) To tweak base animation. (like cycles)[/li][/ol]Thanks in advance.

[rafaelrubio]

Hi victor, regards again from spain. Some question more.

1. when you are planning a shot, drawing principal poses, you draw too the “face pose”, or planning only the body pose, this is, draw “face pose” too, or when you are animating the principal poses then develope the face expressions looking at yourself in a mirror o in a videocamera?

2. When one person is “starting” in animation ,when do you believe that is the moment to practise acting, i hear to many animators, that before start to animate scenes with acting, is better a solid base in all other parts of animation, bouncing balls, cycle walks, principles of animation…

3. i’m going to buy the book “The Illusion of Life”. Is so good as people says? Explains, or talk a lot about the Principles of Animation. The Animation survival kit is amazing!

4. Crush, the turtle in “Finding Nemo” rules! Is one of best animated character i’ve never seen. I love him. Dory, as you say, is a lovely character too.

5. Victor, thanks again foy dedicate your time in reply to our question, is very very interesting, i am amazed with posibility to talk to you. Congratulate for your work and you are invited when you want to spain and spanish food friend! Stay so Coooooooooooooool! :buttrock:

[ReaperXVIII]

Hi, it’s me again.

First of all I would like to thank you for pointing me towards The Animator’s Survival Kit. I feel my head is going to explode with all of the things I’m learning! I’m really looking forward to trying some of this stuff out.

Just one question for right now. I am currently reading about animating walks, and I was wondering if you “break” joints when animating. I know it works with 2D animation, but does it look weird with 3D animation?