From Paper to Polygons

I just stumbled across an article referring to an animation I finished in March 09. It explains how inflatable armor responds to an IED explosion.  I did not post about it since I’m under a NDA. However,  since the animation is now out in the public, I felt I should express my delight in seeing it “in the wild.” The project was one I learned a lot from.

I used a combination of Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, and Avid to create the animation.

Toyo Pumps was looking to create some animations showing how their products work. We worked closely for about a month giving each other daily updates on progress.
My client’s response:

TheslaminJ is an animation genius. He really helped guide me through the animation process to an amazing result. TheslaminJ is a true professional who is easy to work with and is a truly wonderful talent. It is professionals like him that will keep me coming back to Elance again and again!

I created these animations using Maya, After Effects, and Photoshop.

For this animation I reworked all the movement and expressions from my previous animation using this audio. It’s pretty interesting to go back and see how you approach things differently. All animation was created using Maya and the Generi Rig. The audio is from Office Space.

The Glass Horse is an interactive program that utilizes animation to illustrate anatomy and Colic in the horse. “Colic” is categorized by abdominal pain and usually corresponds with the gastrointestinal tract. The diseases of Colic can be presented in many different ways including impactions, strangulations, and infarctions, etc. The aim of The Equine Colic CD is to illustrate 28 of these conditions while also providing a comprehensive overview of related anatomy and diagnostic practices. I had the pleasure of working alongside 2 other Animators, an Equine Surgeon and Professor at The University of Georgia, and a Programmer who put it all together.

My main responsibility was to animate diseases to the satisfaction of Dr. Moore, the content expert. I worked very closely with him as I animated through the different diseases. I learned a tremendous amount from the other animators, Mr. Melton and Mr. Buchanan who’s experience and techniques sharpened my skills and abilities. I also set up and rendered Flash VR’s which allow you to rotate the different diseases in their final state so the user can become more oriented to the condition. The most fulfilling part of the project was having students and veterinarians comment that the ability to manipulate the model helped them to have a better understanding of Colic.

Yes, it is finally complete. I want to first thank Tyler, Stephen, and Cole for giving me great criticisms. This is my submission for the Mytoons Bumper Blastoff contest. I worked on this “off and on” for a little over a month before completing it. It all started as a simple idea that occurred to me as I fell asleep one night. My original vision had a much longer fight sequence with more weapons and would end in a fiery explosion as one of the ball groups turned into dynamite. I quickly learned that this was unfeasible given the amount of time I was going to be able to work on it. After watching many of the other submissions, I’m glad my idea actually used the Mytoons logo. I could tell that some of the other animations just tacked on the Mytoons logo at the end. Hopefully, the judges will take this into account and make their decision accordingly.

I love how I was able to take a simple idea in my head and turn it into a finished product. The hardest part was the sound. It took a few hours just to find some sounds that would work. Then I had to figure out how to get those sounds to work in Avid. It’s the sound that I think is the weakest part of my submission and, given more time, it’s the area I’d work on more. I’m happy with how it turned out and hope to win the $2000 grand prize.