Creating interesting imagery for complex medical applications is no easy task. There are strict FDA guidelines to adhere to, seemingly insurmountable regulations and a plethora of almost incomprehensible technical language to distill into copy that can be easily understood by your fellow human being – or as our copy writer would say: Exceedingly hard!  But it can be done if you’re lucky enough to find a client that believes in their product enough to allow it to stand out from the crowd.

Engaging and entertaining whilst getting the message across was the brief. So, in, Retin-A-Microsphere, we take the viewer on a journey through a stylized creation of the product and illustrate, in a technical way, just how and why the product works. And it really does. Some things are magic and some things are just pure science at work.

Created as a video wall installation and now an award winning addition to the Little Fluffy Clouds lexicon of winners. Exceedingly good!

Imagine the incredible surprise of being awarded not just one, but two, platinum Pixel Academy Pixies. Well, that was the news around here this morning. Making the win super sweet is the knowledge that these awards are judged by our fellow animators and VFX artists. High praise indeed.

First up, with a 9.7 score, was Power of Sound, itself an interesting take on the character of sound. This traditional 2D animation uses origami to illustrate the narrative whilst skillfully synthesizing that imagery with CG models to underscore the use of technology in sound applications today. The sampans, water, moon, ocean and skies are created using only particles and projected lights and are not models. The “waveform” is also particle based but here movement is initiated by the music. VFX, using plug-ins, comprise the transitions. The origami horses, boats, kites and cranes are all 2D as is the floating text and the Golden Ratio shell animations. The larger shell in that scene is it’s 3D counterpart. Here’s what the judges had to say:

“A very powerful creative work. Imagery is very strong, created by excellent animation.”

Next up, with a 9.2 score, was CALU Built, which like it’s companion piece, Journey, is a veritable kaleidoscope of images, beautifully layered together in 2D and 3D. These stunning Super Bowl spots combine hand-drawn imagery with CGI to recreate the textured and layered look of a traditional watercolor painting – one that breathes life into the canvas. Built scored 9.2 and here the judges said:

“A very well done animation with very realistic body movements. Good job!”

Winning the Pixies does feel like a good job indeed. So, well done us!

Reviewing Lee Lanier’s latest book, Professional Digital Compositing – Essential Tools and Techniques, Kirk Buckendorf eloquently states – and  I couldn’t have put it better myself -

“While not as glorious as 3D animation or as artsy as digital design, digital compositing is the unsung hero of multiple industries. Without it the 3D animation would never make it to the screen and beautiful artwork would never come alive.”

While not a book for the neophite – because it does contain a lot of technical material – Lanier’s book is definitely readable and extremely informative covering all aspects of the oft neglected “soldier” of animation and film production. As you thumb through it reads like an all star cast of  the best companies in our industry and the interviews, with some of the best compositors in the game, give us an on the ground view of those companies and a little taste for their working philosophy. Best of all there’s real intelligence to be had in the advice given and actual instruction as opposed to PR fluff. Each chapter has a “Tips and Tricks” section which is invaluable and the accompanying DVD allows you to drill down further and pick up even more usable info.

In an inspired flash of brilliance, Lanier posed most of the people he interviewed at their station (only a few stodgy companies submitted standard PR stills). I got a kick out of seeing everyone at their desk because you get an instant hit for the personality behind the work.

Above, seated at his desk, is Little Fluffy Clouds own Jerry van de Beek. Methinks this image speaks volumes : )

Emru Townsend 1969-2008

Emru Townsend came into our lives back in 2003. We made a little animated short by the name of Au Petite Mort. Emru saw it at Siggraph that year and reviewed it on his site. I did not see that great review until months later but as soon as I did I wrote to thank him. I felt he truly understood the intent of the piece and was so happy he appreciated all the work that went into it. That moment of contact started a long, interesting and incredibly diverse friendship. Our conversations via email and Skype covered all sorts of topics from animation, the arts and the state of industry on any given day, we discoursed on culture and simulculture, we nattered on about friends, relationships, family ties and touched very lightly on our backgrounds. It was easy and casual. I sent him everything Jerry and I worked on and solicited his honest opinion with which he was generous.

Many moons passed and we arranged to do a podcast for Frames Per Second. Through a series of technological mishaps it turned into a weekly event of chitchat on the phone while being recorded. Many of those sessions failed to record or transcribe or simply vanished like a poof of smoke in a cosmic disappearing act. It was as strange and baffling as it was amazingly funny. But it kept us talking for weeks on end always starting with, “Now, where were we?”  Somewhere along the line Emru got a cold that he couldn’t shake. We commiserated because I had one too that seemed to drag on for weeks. He said it was making him feel strange and was going to see the doctor if it didn’t shape up. The rest is history.

We followed everything Emru posted by the day and sent encouraging notes. And even when things seemed bad I refused to accept that he would not somehow just get better. There were so many highs and lows and even at the worst moments I found myself rocking with laughter at some of the things Emru wrote, said or described. When Emru’s sister Tamu wrote, “Game Over”, I couldn’t believe it. I almost still can’t…  So, it’s taken me months to write this piece and also start writing the blog again.

Sometimes people come into your life for a short time only. They make a profound impact and when they depart the planet they leave a gaping black hole where once there was an outstanding human being. Emru Townsend was one such person. We are all richer for having known him and all poorer for our loss. Now become a donor and help save a life.

UK – Anthony Nolan Trust, African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust

USA – National Marrow Donor Program, DKMS Americas

Canada – Hema Quebec Stem Cell Registry, OneMatch Stem Cell Network

From: “Emru Townsend” emru@pobox.com

Date: October 29, 2008 5:47:08 PM PDT

The good:
I’m back! Actually, I’ve been home since last Friday, trying to readjust.

The bad:
The reason for my discharge and transfer back to my old hospital is because although the transplant itself was an awesome success by any measure, I haven’t gone into remission.

So what does this mean? Well, there’s a chance that I’ll develop Graft vs. Host Disease (GvHD) which might attack the leukemic cells. But frankly there are too many ifs in that statement, and there’s no guarantee it would wipe it all out, as far as I know.

The ugly:
I asked one of my hematologists in Ottawa how much time he figured I had. He said less than a year. I asked the same question of my hematologist today, and she said weeks, maybe months.

Those are the facts about the leukemia. I have a lot more to write but I started today about twelve hours ago by collapsing and needing to be be brought in to the hospital by ambulance. I’m quite tired. I have just enough energy to ask a favour. Could those of you who are on mailing lists I’m on (or used to be on) please post this? I don’t have the energy to go to PWAC-L, the various SIGGRAPH lists, CE-L, and so on. You’d really be helping me out a lot. Thanks.
–
Emru Townsend | emru@pobox.com
Frames Per Second magazine: http://www.fpsmagazine.com
Black History Pages: http://www.blackhistorypages.net
The Accidental Blog: http://5x5media.com/accidental
Are you a match? Find out how you can help save my life:  http://www.healemru.com

Okay, I confess, when I blog it’s usually in the service of Little Fluffy Clouds animation. We’re not as big a studio as Pixar so we have to maximize every opportunity to blow our own horn. It’s kinda like that when you’re an independent film maker or a first time author. If you’re flogging the new iPhone 35 everyone wants to print your press release verbatum but if you’re Don Gallinger and you’re only on the cusp of fame and fortune and not yet on the Oprah book club list, then you’ve got a hard row to hoe.  So, to this end every friend with a blog or horn must be enlisted towards the effort.

The Master Planets by Donald Gallinger. Here’s a brief synopsis:

In the summer of 1973, Peter Jameson, a buoyant, handsome, already-idolized rock wunderkind stands poised to take his band, The Master Planets, to the top. Then his mother, a suburban housewife with a flower shop, is found dead after murdering an elderly German man living in Ohio. Suddenly, past collides with present in a sequence of loss and betrayal that ends his dreams and forever changes his life. When everything you wanted is taken away, what is left behind?

Intrigued? Away you go then to Don’s blog to read a longer excerpt and order a real copy via Amazon at:http://www.donaldgallinger.com/

Help save a life. Who could say no? Anyone who knows me will have heard me rave about my animation super hero, Emru Townsend, editor extraordinaire of Frames Per Second Magazine. which IMHO is one of the net’s best animation zine/blogs. You’ve heard me extol his virtues in running FPS, be entertained by his diverse pod casts, swoon at his dulcet tones and revere his skills at holding down a heavy hitting job, keep a young family happy, and in his spare time chair the SIGGRAPH 2008 Computer Animation Festival. I am unashamedly one of his greatest fans. So, it won’t come as any surprise to you if I make this a very personal appeal to your higher selves.

Emru has Leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant – not sometime in the future – but now. His nearest and dearest are sadly not a match so he is relying on outside donors. We are asking you to help us encourage members of the animation community and others to join a bone marrow registry. You – or someone you know – may be the match Emru is hoping for.
Because tissue types are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. As an Afro-Caribbean, Emru Townsend will be most likely to match other donors of African or Caribbean decent. So please urge anyone in your circle with this racial background to participate – send them this info in an email.You will be added to the registry and hopefully you will be a match for someone who needs your donation. On any given day, more than 6,000 men, women and children are searching the National Marrow Donor Program Registry for a life-saving donor like you. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. For many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only hope of a cure.

It’s easy. It’s just a swab. In the US, registering is as easy as filling out a form, signing your name to make a commitment, and swabbing your mouth 4 times. Go to this URL, sign up on-line and receive a swab kit in the mail, or check the dates and addresses of the swab collections in your area: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/index.html. Follow along in the adventures of Emru at: http://www.healemru.com/

On Thursday evening at the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the 2007 Adobe Design Achievement Awards were held. I was most honored to be asked to present the award for best animation. When you are face to face with all those young, hopeful things, sitting together in little groups – daring not to dream but not being able to help it – you’re honestly amazed at the raw talent of it all. Every category chock full of imaginative, interesting, smart thinking projects, by students from all over the world. One of the things I stressed to the students was the need to make, and keep, as many contacts in the industry as they possible could. Also to make the most of this unique moment provided by Adobe. You look at their work and can’t help but feel good about the future of our industry as well as being cheered by the prospect of following them through the course of their careers, which I’m sure will be illustrative.

The three finalists in the animation category, Axel Brotje, representing the Braunschweig University of Art, Johnny Kelly, from The Royal College of Art in London, and Sean Monahan, of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, each produced excellent short films. All were diverse in look and theme, yet each one was arresting, unique, stimulating to the senses and of the highest professional quality. All of these young men have bright futures ahead of them.

Axel Brotje’s, Fische und Schiffe, was the winner. Axel is a charming, unassuming young man from a small town in Germany. He was, I think, fairly blindsided by his win which made it all the more poignant for me. Making the most of this opportunity to be here in California, he got up early the next morning, and made his way to SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego.

As a side note, I was impressed by the fact that, for services rendered in judging this competition, Adobe donated 10 licenses to each judge for them to choose a worthy recipient organization. The judges worked extremely hard sifting through thousands of entries from more than 30 countries and made the awards the great success they undoubtedly were.

Take some time to look not only at the animations, now on the Adobe site, but also at the other categories of this exceptionally interesting competition.

See: http://www.adobe.com/education/adaa/winners//