2005 – Present “What if” Commercial Contract – IROC Systems Corp
A live action short commercial movie depicting the catastrophic failure of a critical H2S well site. “State of the Art” CG composited into live action content to make up this safety promotion for the purpose of industry and community education. The choice to go photo real CG with this project was to emphasize the real potential that these dangerous well sites pose to the workers and general public. CG assets include a rescue helicopter, Fully functional Drilling rig, safety implements, particle effects (explosions and gas release), Character creation and animation (Safety workers, pilots and victims of H2S).
Responsibilities:
Work with management and production staff to develop story boards, shot lists and conceptual material. Break down “cost vs. production content” to management heads to explain different cost variations in direct dependence on CG assets and their implementation in live action. Liaise with specialists in the industry to portray factual data in a manner consistent with the industry while maintaining the entertainment component of the overall production. Coordinating with professionals to gather both live action content and CG assets. Create CG assets both model based and particle special effects. Responsible for the creation of base models, mapping, texturing, shader development, rigging, animation (both character and non-character), lighting (HDRI development), scene development and rendering, compositing, and encoding for various media formats.
2004 - Present “OHVXtreme”
An extreme off-road simulation via a completely photo real CG Jeep CJ7. The Jeep will begin its existence with the buildup in which all CG components will be compositied within live action depicting the entire construction of the CG Jeep all the while maintaining a photo real persona.
Following components of this independent production will have sequences both in a city with various degrees of destruction and mayhem following with an extreme off-road sequence where the CG Jeep and occupant will meet the ultimate obstacle. The content will bring a new level of CG interaction with everything from particle/fluid effects, motion tracking, physics based animation which will leave the viewer asking” Was that real, or CG”.
Responsibilities:
Develop script, story boards, shot lists and conceptual material. Liaise with specialists in the field to portray factual content in a manner consistent with the sport of extreme off road vehicles. Coordinating with professionals to gather both live action content and CG assets. Setup live action sets and gather appropriate set/scene data to facilitate seamless integration of the CG assets into the live action content. Coach talent/actors to minimize complications with the introduction of CG assets and to coordinate talent/actor interaction with CG content to produce a flawless match. Create CG assets both model based and particle special effects. Responsible for the creation of base models, mapping, texturing, shader development, rigging, animation (both character and non-character), match moving, lighting (HDRI development), scene development and rendering, compositing, and encoding for various media formats.
2003 – 2004 N.R.C. (National Research Council of Canada ) – Diagnostic and Education technology. Rigging and animation of the 3D Human anatomy data set to a medical standard for use in a “Virtual Reality” environment in conjunction with “motion capture” technology.
Working under contract with the N.R.C. and the University of Calgary , it was my responsibility to take the 3D human anatomy data set to an animated state which would be acceptable to medical biomechanical standards. Complex controlled rigs were needed to control and simulate joint mechanics, cartilage and synovial/bursa interaction and muscular contraction. This rigging could not be accomplished with any plug-in outside of 3D studio max due to the need for future implementation into a Java3D environment. The end product of this simulation was to be introduced into a Java 3D environment coupled with real time motion capture devices to assist education and medical diagnostics. A Six month roadmap was also required by the N.R.C. for the further development of the anatomical structures as were monthly, weekly and daily worksheets on progress/productivity.
Responsibilities:
Develop complex animation rigs and protocols for the 3D human anatomy data set. Such animation rigs would need to be extremely precise due to strict medical biomechanical standards. All rigging was accomplished using standard max bones and a complex reactor controlled joint environments which were designed to guide the joint through a strict biomechanical trajectory. Soft body structure rigs were created via a standard FFD warp and complex reactor controlled helpers which when linked to the FFD would simulate a true energetic muscular contraction. No specialized 3 rd party plug-ins was used for soft body physics since the end product of this simulation was to be introduced into a Java 3D environment coupled with real time motion capture devices. Compilation of r eference material, research and extrapolated content from medical facilities cadaver labs. Liaise with medical specialists in the field to portray factual content to a medical standard in regards to human biomechanics. Coordinating with professionals to gather research data to further the understanding of the biomechanics within a CG controlled rig.
Creation of a comprehensive 6 month road map detailing time frames associated with the development of the biomechanical rigs, coordination of human resources (both professional and developmental) was also needed to attain N.R.C. funding. Develop and adhere to monthly, weekly and daily worksheets detailing progress, productivity, production summaries, production invoices, billing, challenges(monthly, weekly and daily), completed production, and projected action plans(monthly, weekly and daily) and production assessments(monthly, weekly and daily). Formulate a comprehensive legend of the complex elements involved with this project to assist layman understanding of the 3D development, solely to facilitate N.R.C. ability to make informed decisions on the progress and development of this projects components.
2002 – 2004 Develop 3D Human anatomy content for use in a medical “Virtual Reality” environment
This project with the University of Calgary 's Sun Center (Java 3D virtual reality lab), started when Dr. Christoph Sensen viewed the 3D human anatomy assets in which I created. Dr. Sensen indicated that they were an incredible human reference (to which he had other medical anatomy specialists confirm) and had a huge potential in virtual reality, due to the quality and resolution of the data set. It was then my job to create a working version within the Java C.A.V.E. I first started out with the conversion of the model and texture set into a format which could then be utilized by the java 3D API. Working closely with Paul Gordon ( Computer Science Research Associate PhD) we were able to adapt the 3D studio max content into a useable format within the Solaris/Java3D environment. I then proceeded to develop various versions of the 3D human anatomy data set so that an advanced L.O.D.(Level of Detail)protocol could be setup to facilitate various degrees of viewer dependent resolution, which when completed drastically increased the usability of the model with within the virtual reality environment.
Responsibilities:
Develop conversion protocols to facilitate the implementation of the 3D human anatomy data set into a Java 3D compliant asset. Reference material, research and extrapolate content from medical facilities cadaver labs. Liaise with medical specialists in the field to portray factual content to a medical standard in regards to known human anatomy. Create complex resolution (both poly and texture based) variations of the 3D human anatomy data sets for implementation into a L.O.D.(Level of Detail) simulation to improve Java Cave performance and functionality. Formulate an 18 month road map to N.R.C. standards for the further development of human anatomy, mechanics, and genomic extrapolation all for the purpose of medical diagnostics and education. Creation of a Gant chart system depicting the 18 month (week by week breakdown) development of human systems and sub-systems to a medical standard, in relation to genomic and imaging based data. Detailed breakdowns of personnel allocation of time management (both professional medical resource and developmental staff). Detailed calculations of start and end dates to various facets of the CG content development, using the strict guidelines set out by the NRC for the purpose of reporting and funding.
2000 – 2004 Co-Author to” Realism – A Study in Human Structural Anatomy.
A project 5 years in the making and over 8000 hours, my work creating the human model set will be one of the greatest advancements to date in the field of 3D human anatomy. Over 4000 complex polygon models and high resolution texture maps make up the 3D human anatomy data set.
Software used for development: 3D Studio Max 4.2
Mapped and Textured with: Deep 3D paint
(every model has its own texture map shader, with a total of 2 gigabytes of texture maps)
Render: Mental Ray (it had no problem with the 2 gigabyte texture load)
Poly count: 1.5 million with over 4000 independently modeled objects.
With approximately 20 GHz of computer power, the rendering alone for the textbook raw footage took over 5 months to compile and over 6000 rendered images at a resolution of no less than 1800 x 1350.
The layout footage contained within the anatomy textbook totaled over 15 gigabytes and 2,276 individual images of human anatomy.
Responsibilities:
Develop and compile reference material, research and extrapolate content from medical facilities cadaver labs. Liaise with medical specialists in the field to portray factual content to a medical standard in regards to known human anatomy. Responsible for the creation of base models, mapping, texturing, shader development, lighting (HDRI development), scene development and rendering, compositing, and encoding for various media formats. In the development of the textbook I coordinated with professionals to assess color correction from RGB to CMYK signature print plates and provided on going assistance in analyzing print color corrections while at pre-press and post-press processing. I was also the computer administrator and computer tech for all of the workstations, with tasks entailing, maintinence of operating systems, software and systematic diagnostics of complex IDE and SCSI raid systems, for both NLE and non-NLE systems.
• Professional Comments about the textbook
“Realism – A Study in Human Structural Anatomy”.
*From the textbook Preface
" Human Anatomy is an old science and one could probably argue that everything related to it has been said and done shortly after Leonardo da Vinci's time. While this may be true in general, every once in a while something truly outstanding happens, which advances a field where no major advances are to be expected anymore. One such event is “Realism”, which pushes the level of graphical detail available in human anatomy to unprecedented heights. Thousands of computer objects, representing the bones and muscles of the human body, were constructed in three dimensions. Image maps with very high resolution were painted onto the objects to give them very realistic color rendition and textures. The resulting anatomical objects are astounding in their appearance and will be extremely useful for teaching and research. Students and teachers alike will enjoy the book, which allows one to marvel at the beauty of the construction of the human body.
Prof. Dr. Christoph W. Sensen
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Calgary , AB
“The amount of detail in the models is unparalleled. Anyone who is a student of the human body should have this book in their collection. References are constantly needed during the character creation process in gaming and having a book with so much detail only helps to create a better product. In my field having such a good reference is invaluable.”
Jesse Brophy,
Character Artist/Technical Artist Sony
This book is nothing shy of phenomenal! It is absolutely packed with 3D rendered images of various parts of the human structural system. The graphics themselves look almost alive. It is, without a doubt, the most incredible example available of the use of 3D software to demonstrate the composition of a human being. This book is a must for anyone who is studying the muscular and skeletal anatomy of humans!
You have to see this book to believe it. The detail of the images will blow you away! All images were created with 3ds max, and rendered in Mental Ray.
Jason Busby
3D Buzz (owner and administrator)
Opening it up, I was quite shocked and surprised. I was given the opportunity to hold a book which is filled with detail computer generated renderings of clearly defined skeletal system, muscular system ligaments, muscle group movements and even nerves. The first time I laid my eyes on the pages of this book, I was in awe at the amazing realism achieved.
Dominik Dryja
Inside CG |
