MODEL FAILED...

Hey all.

So things are still going great here in week 2. Getting more adjusted to everything but just thought I'de throw out an update. This place still rocks as much as it did day one but now that I have my first model under my belt, I'de like to take a quick moment to mention the process of sending a model threw a pipeline. By the way...Beef Stroganof yesterday was amazing. So now I know that only have experience with one studio but I assume that they are mostly the same. Its a science to get everything just right with your model for it to be allowed to pass threw the pipeline. Things like normals, history, and transformations are a given. But what I have noticed is the naming conventions and commands that have to be typed, an exact way, in an exact order can get a bit confusing. It honesly took me almost as much time to get my model to be "Passed" as it did to build it. (It does get easier, as I noticed today with the second model). Its funny though. You get everything named and orgainzed the way you think it should be, checking your UVs one last time to make sure their aren't any inverted spots. And then its sent threw kinda Willie-Wonka style system where it either comes back as a "good-egg" "bad-egg,". My first model came back with a big ole "MODEL FAILED" for the first oh...5 or 6 tries. We finally got it to work, we being me and 2 other modelers, and now its off to be approved by the VFX Supervisor who is actually in Vancouver, pretty cool.

So one down and tons more to build. It sill hasn't hit me that we get paid to have this much fun. Maybe when I get that first paycheck next week it will. :)

-Cheers

My first production model...

Today we were given our first modeling assignments. Even though I thought that we wouldn't get anything until early next week, I was happy to choose which model I would like to start with. Our trainer was so happy for us to be getting production models on day 3. Other then that, today we learned more about the pipeline, naming conventions, and their UVing techniques. Thus far, the hardest thing thus far would have to been adjusting to their naming conventions but it is getting easier with each trial run. And I can't say enough about how nice the people at R & H are. My trainer actually likes when we get mistakes with our UNIX commands and screw things up just so that we can figure out how to make it work.

I hope everyone is doing well back home and at school. L.A. is OK, still getting adjusted. I don't really have much free time anyways other then to sleep, its a long day but I love going to work and that is what it is all about. I can't describe exactly how that feels...finally I want to go to work, maybe there is something wrong with me but this is just too much fun.

Take care everyone and more later.

My first day...

To sum it up in one word...Awesome!!! This place is just so amazing that I don't know where to start. Today is actually my second day, I've been too busy to talk to barely anyone about it yet.

So I drove down on Sunday night witha buddy of mine from the Academy who also just started here, Mike Crane. He's been nice enought to let me crash at his place until I find a place. Day 1 started with the usual new job format of signing new employee papers and sexual herassment stuff and then a ton more forms on non-disclosure and such. We got a tour of the studio which is a lot bigger on the inside then the outside. The tour was really cool for me because I ran into so many people from the Academy that it felt like I was back in the labs. The difference was that no longer were people showing me their personal work on some unknown project...I was watching clips from Garfield 2 and Superman. We are now being trained up on their production pipeline and UNIX. Their training program is exceptional and all initial worries regarding UNIX were immediately gone. It is really quite impressive and not too hard to grasp. We haven't yet learned much about the show we will be on ("Museum"), or what exactly we will be modeling, though that should come later this week. We just started training on their proprietary Modeling/UV software but for the most part we will be using Maya. I can't wait till I get my first modeling assignment.

I am just so happy to be apart of this company. It is definately even better then I had expected. Some of the cool perks that they didn't tell us about until we got here.


Free food and drinks:
-not just run of the mill stuff either, they have a kitchen staff that prepares 3 meals a day. Plus free coffee, cereal, tea and just about anyting else. And at 3PM, its afternoon snack time with cookies and other snacks.

You can bring your Dog to work, everyday:
-I don't have one but I'm pushing for a bring your cat day if I get one. Car washes on Tues and Fri.

Message Thursdays:
- Just can't beat a relaxing message.

Company meetings every Friday with the owner of Rhythm & Hues:
-anyone can ask questions about current projects or bids

There is so much more to talk about but for now I have to get back to training. Thanks again for everyone's support. I'll keep posting as more develops.

Shannon

Yesterday I was offered a Modeling TD position at Rhythm & Hues Studios in L.A. I'm so excited! It is a 4 month freelance job working on the film “Night at the Museum.” I’ll be starting the week of March 13th so there is a lot that I need to do in order to wrap things up here before I move down to L.A. I plan on finishing school up my remaining 3 classes online so that I can still graduate. If they don’t allow me to, though my instructors said that they would help, I will most likely just finish up in the fall.

So, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the 3D industry, Rhythm & Hues is one of the top studios in the country. They have worked on such films as Serenity, X-Men 2 and recently have been nominated for an Academy Award for their work on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Currently they are working on the new Superman film, Garfield 2, Charlotte’s Web, Fast and the Furious 3, and Night at the Museum.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has assisted in the long journey of mine that started nearly 3 years ago in quite little Tampa, FL. Everyone who has believed in me from the start, pushed me to reaching my goals, and supported my every decision, I say thank you. Whether it was offering me your two cents, simply pointing me in the right direction, or introducing me to someone in the industry that I could learn something from, there have been so many generous people who have opened doors for me and I could not have done this on my own.

I am so thrilled be starting my new career filled with so many talented and wonderful people. I can’t wait to start learning and growing as an artist from the amazingly talented team at Rhythm & Hues. And I can’t wait to pass along what I have learned and help others do there best. I definitely wasn’t easy. I have been working my butt off these past few years, made many sacrifices, and at times I’ve been somewhat invisible outside of the labs at school. Though, the sweet isn’t so sweet without the sour… and how sweet this is.

I’ll keep everyone updated on my day to day experiences in L.A on my site:


Take care and stay in touch,

Shannon


Here's a link of the studio and one about the movie.

Studio: http://www.rhythm.com/home.shtml

Film: http://imdb.com/title/tt0477347/