Heather's "Happily Ever After"

Heather has been able to once again work on a theme park show - this time its the brand new nighttime fireworks show at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.  Called Happily Ever After it premiers tonight!

Check out more of the behind the scenes clips below - it looks like it's going to be one hell of a show. They are bringing in just about every disney character ever and creating original 2D animations for the show.  Heather has been helping Mousetrappe create the background projections that will be displayed on the castle.  This is as close as you can come to traveling back in time and getting the chance to work on Aladdin, Lion King, or the other classics of the "Disney Renaissance"

I'm so damn proud of her!

End of the Semester and 2nd Year

Well, another semester (and year) at APSU has wrapped.  I'm still getting used to the idea of having months off of work in the summer!  It was quite the transition year - literally transitioning to our new building.  I think we all had a form of senior-itis trying to wrap up the semester in the old building knowing this awesome facility is empty and waiting just a few yards away. The last week of finals and the following week consisted of moving the equipment from the old Mac labs to the new ones.  My sons came with me one day and we played frisbee outside the new building - the quintessential college activity.

One last thing to share - something I ran across while cleaning out the old computer lab.  Drawn on the white board was this cartoon (yes, that character is me). As you can see, my students first semester diving into Maya was met with....a few technical hurdles and learning curve.

Golden Moose & Gaming

At the end of last year I had a wonderful time working with the new Golden Moose Studios on a game prototype.  It was going to be a stylized narrative-driven PC game.  While it was an amazing concept and looking great, for a variety of reasons it was put on hold.  Karin, the CEO, has posted a couple of insightful and fascinating blog posts about the development process and the subsequent shelving of the game. It's been interesting to be a part of this while also reading on the reflections and insights after the fact.

Read the posts HERE (Part 1: Prototype) and HERE (Part 2: Reboot)

I can't say enough wonderful things about working with them.  I'm excited to see where they go next and encourage everyone to follow their blog.  Speaking of which, Karin also posted another great blog post about applying for jobs and their thoughts after looking through over a hundred applications in just a few days.  I think it's essential reading for anyone in the video game, animation, or vfx business!

Check that one out HERE (Job Application Tips)

New Art & Design Building Move-In

The Main Entrance

Well, it was a long wait, but at last we have moved into the new Art & Design Building!  It's the last week of the semester, so we're only moving our offices right now.  But already we had our last faculty meeting of the academic year in the new conference room - everyone had a hard time not just staring out the window the whole time.

We just look more professional in this room

The second floor main hallway

A campus-side view of the building.  Grass coming soon.

The Animation Lab is starting to come together!

My first solo office

Heather's Moana Test

There's some great behind-the-scenes stories about how Disney did a "water test" early in preproduction on Moana.  This is when Heather was put on the show.  The test had been seen early at a D23 convention, but this is the first time we get to see it.

Apparently this scene was cut early in the process, but everyone loved it so much they found a way to get it back into the movie.  It's fun to see the differences between this version and the one that ended up in the film.  Either way, I have to share any video clip that starts with a matte painting done by my wife!

"Racing Legends" Theme Park Attraction

This is the main show building at PortAventura World's new Ferrari Land expansion that opens today.  I had the chance to work with Tau Films to animate multiple racing scenes for the attraction Racing Legends.  The ride, which is an omni dome simulator experience, is located in the main Ferrari Experience show building seen above.  From the press release:

Racing Legends allows visitors the opportunity to put their driving skills to the test. They can drive a Ferrari through the streets of Rome and along the most famous racing circuits in the world. They can even drive around imaginary futuristic scenes. The Omnimax simulator experience begins with a call for ‘drivers of the future’ who will experience the adventure on one of 10 mobile platforms.

Starting from a previs, I amped up the action with the animated the cars and camera animation.  I took on the initial track of Barcelona, Rome, and the futuristic Tron-like final course.  You can read more about how Mousetrappe and Tau Films approached the ride HERE

I have always been a big nerd and fan when it comes to theme parks, so I loved the opportunity to work on one!  I just need to get to Spain now to go see it in person....