| Papa: What was
your favorite part of working on the Backwater Bunch Project?
Duane: Rigging and the RD we did for rigging was a lot of
fun. I wrote a MEL script to create all of the controls for the
hand and rotations for each joint. This saved us a large amount
of time because of so many characters. The script didn’t care
what character it was connected to or the lengths of the fingers
because it would look for the first bone in each finger and work
backwards.
Papa: Can you tell me what some of your responsibilities were
on this project?
Duane: I spent a great deal of time with the modeling
team at the beginning of the production. My responsibilities
were to build the feel and hands. Even though the characters are
all really stylized I the Art Director wanted the anatomy of the
hands to be authentic and realistic. After the hands were
finished I joined the creature department and did some RD with
the Character TD, David, on the right rigs to build for our
characters. We needed FK/ IK as well as a system of smoothing at
the renderer. We rigged low resolution polygon characters and
animated these low res rigs. We then installed a script to
smooth the geometry at the time of rendering. This kept the
scene files small and fast to update.
Papa: What did you do prior to working at Digital-Tutors?
Duane: I worked on freelance jobs and created print work
for different clients.
Papa: So you come in with a print background?
Duane: Yes, I had a great deal of training in typography
and design. I like to transfer my skills as a traditional artist
and apply those skills as an animator and modeler.
Papa: Where did you learn 3d?
Duane: It stated in high school for me where I used
Illustrator and Amiga’s to create my first work. I then attend
and graduated the Philadelphia Art Institute. I studied
traditional animation and then 3D animation. I then found out
about Digital-Tutors and attend their 16 week boot camp for
animators called MMDC. The training I got at MMDC really helped
me get to the point where I could be creative in my development
of rigs and animating them.
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Papa: You are a
very talented artist and I now you want to move on to greener
pastures, what are your goals? Duane: At the present time,
I am thinking of getting into medical animations and
simulations. I find it really challenging with all of the
complexity of the human anatomy and the level of attention to
detail that goes into the project. I like work that is complex
and challenging.
Papa: What did you find hardest about this project?
Duane: Completing very complex and detailed work on such
short deadlines. This project really put my skills as an
animator to the test. Because there was little time to think
about procedures and workflow. We created a pipeline and spent
our time creating our part of the pipe and working on such a
large project with so many people things can easily break if
your pipeline and workflow are not solid. It wasn’t as hard as
it was challenging.
Papa: Which character did you like the best?
Duane: That is a tough one… I can’t pick just one because
I really liked Gingrich and Rusty equally.
Papa: Why did you pick those two?
Duane: Rusty’s textures are just amazing. His scales are
so beautiful. Gingrich is just different and his anatomy was
really interesting. His fingers and toes were really fun to work
on and rig because they were not your typical hands. I also
liked building the controls for him so his feet could clear the
ground in a walk cycle.
Papa: What do you like to do in your free time when you are
not slaving away at your computer?
Duane: My true passion is life drawing. I spend my
weekends and evenings studying and drawing the human figure.
Papa: Can you share some of your work with us?
Duane: Sure, I would love to.
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