HELLO ALL!!!

How the hell are you all doing? Long time no type, all that jazz, lol.

Since I had a small moment to breath...I wanted to stop by and say hi to my old home away from home, and see what all you fellow Brycers were up to!

I'm not sure if/what Zhann has stated to you all, but I just got off of 6 months of working on the new Robert Zemeckis (motion capture) movie, a remake of "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carey. Basically, it was a lot of the motion capture crew that had just done Beowolf.

Crazy/cool experience, to say the least. The hours was what had to drive me away from here. I had been flirting with the film industry for the past 10 months or so, but this project truly claimed my life in all the hours I put into it. (I was gone about an average of 16 hours a day, 6 days a week) It was a marathon to say the least.

We are now out of Production and the core IMD (Image Movers Digital) team will go back home to Northern CA to go make this into a full fledged 3D movie, which will take them only 10 hour days for about the next 18 months....

While I wish them all the best, it is nice to sleep again for more than 5 hours at night!

I literally havent had time to sleep, much less do any Brycing, but...I do have one render somewhere that I did a couple of months ago that I'll have to dig up, more boolean modeling as usual.

So...how's everyone? I see Renderosity finally went back to some darker colors, huh? Better than that whole php white scheme.  ;o)

AgentSmith

Welcome back, AS. You're going to stay around now? Good!!! That would give us poor newbies a chance to pick your brain...

Heard a lot about you. Nice to finally meet you.

TS

 Welcome back - you have been busy!

Hiya, Smithy!
Want your old job back? Too late! ICM got it.  hehehe!

Seriously, nice to hear from you. You've been seriously missed. Come back and tell us more when you've had some sleep.

Glad to see you back AS missed you.

Wow..that was a monster job time wise...glad yer still sane, I dohope you approve of the shape of the Bryce Forum/Gallery. Didi my best till ICM came on  board first as a Coord and then as a Mod...we seem to be well staffed at he mo but if y'all want your old position back we all thought of your absense as more of a sabbatical than an actual "good bye and thanx for all the fish" type of thing, I d be willing to drop back and let you move back into your old spot. Just work out the logistics wit Stacey/Karen/Jumpy our current Admin team. Any how it was real good to see your name pop up in the old in box this A M.. ...

Hi AS!  Welcome back, and pleased you're doing so well!

Wow!  Welcome back AS!  LTNS.  And let me say... you Lucky bastard!  LOL  that sounds like a lot of fun, a lot of money and a lot of exhaustion.  I hope that the job is giving you great satisfaction. :c)  May you darken the doorways here more often.

Welcome back As.....what you have been busy with the last months really sounds exciting, and rewarding too....glad to hear from you again!

Who's that man with the shades? :ohmy: It's AS! Dang, that sounds exhausting, but exciting! Good to see you back, though. ;)

Welcome back agent smithers! You do realize we all need an autograph of you now that you're a moviestar right?

Quote - ...glad yer still sane, ...

Waddya mean still? He hasn't been sane yet! One of the requirements of the job.
Welcome back AS! We kept your cell padded just the way you like it. Bryster even kept the puffy cushons fluffed up.

The place looks fantastic and its awesome to see the wheels of Bryce still turning for everyone.

Sane? Nah, never. I wouldn't be caught dead in sanity...

As far as work goes...I think I'm going to try and take a ride on this film thing, and see if I can chisel some sort of carrer out of it. It's worth a shot.

I have hopefully only a few weeks to catch up on my life and visit all those friends and family members I have neglected for the past months and then with luck I'll be on the next project, this time for less than 6 months, lol! (Most peoples' gigs with motion capture are 2-4 months)

And, then later this fall my real goal is to get onto "Tin Tin", which will be filming 3 back to back motion capture movies just a few blocks away from where we did Christmas Carol. That would most likely go on for 9-12 months and would be an awesome opportunity to move up the food chain and into major league 3D.

We'll wait and see what happens.  ;o)

Until then, just relaxing.

AgentSmith

Hey Big Guy!! Glad to hear from you & I'm really excited for you.

This is the dream ride that many of us would sell body parts for. Do you get your name or your companies name in the credits? I'll certainly be looking for it.
Keep plugging along in the industry, with your enthusiasm & ingenuity, we're likely to eventually see KD studios as a household name someday. Got my fingers crossed for  ya.

Love all the renditions of Christmas Carol, can't wait see this new one. Any previews out there, or are you tied by NDA?

Anywho, good to have you visit!!
Poke your head in as much as you can during the down time.

Rod

GREETINGS AS !!!!!!

Great to here from you.  Now that you are undoubtedly rich from all those hours, it is good you have a heart to visit us mere mortals.   You have been missed. 

Willie

I BETTER get my name in the credits, lol! I had around half a dozen titles while working there, but I'll accept whichever one they happen to put up.

No previews for the Christmas Carol yet. IMD has one very small concept art on their website, http://www.imagemoversdigital.com, but the real concept art I got to see (everyday) is absolutely incredible, more realistic looking than Beowolf. A Christmas Carol's main artist is Doug Chang, you might know him from his internet "Robota" fame; www.dchiang.com

Hey great to see you come up for air.

Tin Tin?  As in Herge's Tin Tin?  Captain Haddock, Thompson and Tompson, Professor Calculus and Snowy????  That Tin Tin?

nice to see you again short hair.
didja learn anything while at this job? or did you tell them that bryce did it better?

Me? I just released the 3rd Bryce tute dvd...you need to IM me.

:)
BT

wow... a pulse and everything...;) Still think of you every time I see the first Spiderman movie (dang cable...;)

I think Bryster should take the opportunity to cannonize you...so whaddaya want...Dahlgren, Parrott, or Napoleon...;)

and to think I knew you when you were merely brilliant...;)

wow... a pulse and everything...;) Still think of you every time I see the first Spiderman movie (dang cable...;)

I think Bryster should take the opportunity to cannonize you...so whaddaya want...Dahlgren, Parrott, or Napoleon...;)

and to think I knew you when you were merely brilliant...;)

Yup that Tin Tin. It will be 3 back to back mocap movies each directed by a different director. So far, Peter Jackson and Steven Speilberg are lined up to each do one. The third director has not been decided upon, but internet rumors point to Robert Rodriguez. Principal photography starts in Sept. read a little about it here - http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080321m.php

Yes, I did learn a thing or two at this job, lol. I didn't land the absolute coolest of jobs, but I did get to play around in their million dollar PC room, Yes, I said it....PC. Everything ran on Windows XP. 45-50 very high end workstations all with 30" monitors. And, that was just in the main control room. I have no idea how many computers were in the entire building.

Napolean, definetly. Everyone knows kida what he looked like.  ;o)

P.S. Holy Crap, I gotta change my sig, it still says I'm a Mod, lol.

AgentSmith

Hidey Ho Neighborino ! I knew if I meantened your name enough times you'd show up ! ! ! ! (notice that's FOUR explanation points) 

How'm I ?Well under the heading of "too much information" I'm suckin' down quart of Busch (can't afford that Guiness ) and eatin' Lasagnia. More talk than show on Bryce Forum  for my part and I had to replace the timing belts on the Suburu what I'm thinking of naming  the "S car"; you know- look at that "S car" go ! ! !  (everyone groan here), work is a bit iffy - my friend with MacMillian homes says it won't get better in the trades (which I'm forced to fall back on) until the housing glut caused by all the repossession/auctions is neutralized... so work is day to day until then but with a little help from my friends I'm getting by(sounds like an old BE-at-les song eh? ) My 6800 nvidia card took a dump so I can't play Gothic 3 amoungst other things and the girl that kept calling me for the last year seems to finally have realized that she was to me just a one night stand - heartless I know but she annoyed the whatever double hockey sticks outta me - what COULD i do?? My cat Katrina is living up to her name and has learned how to teach me her language so I now know what she wants and when ! !  I saw my ex-roommate the other day and he says he wants the microwave he gave me a while back - I reminded him of the fact that he gave it to me - not loaned it to me and told him that the last time it took a crowbar (or the threat of one) to get him out and that he was not welcome within 1300 feet of my residence for any reason (if he persists I'll make it legal - or take a page from the game of Half-Life)  . On a lighter note My cousin Betty is still teaching Violins in Tacoma (hmm I just realized she lives in the same town as an ex (gears grinding in my head)). Anyrate I need to talk to my cousin about that Violins business so I might go there for a few daze if I can get someone to babysit my Katrina. My other Cousin Pete is still writing software - he should only get me into the business too; but all my relatives are like that - a cousin of mine OWNS the building I stay in - but will she even give me an even break? Noooooo ! ! 
     
I'm thinking of a series staring  a "Mr Snoink", some sort of clowns and possibly someone we all know and ... well know anyway and other suprises - but we both know how terminally lazy I am so it might not ever come to fruition.

I could go on but at this point you're probably thinking - "Plese Don't" so already having read your mind in the future I gonna stop now...

But before I go I wanna say: Ah man where you been Agent ?? We been looking for you in every dive between here and Fresno ! ! !. the gang misses you, Agent - I miss you !! come back to the gang Johnny ..err Agent !!!       

" P.S. Holy Crap, I gotta change my sig, it still says I'm a Mod, lol"

It sure read nice though! Glad to have you around again... missed you lots....

its a bit like when the parents come back after a holiday leaving the teens at home - "***Quick! better check round see if we broke anything". -
*** Was good to see your name.

Quote - Tin Tin?  As in Herge's Tin Tin?  Captain Haddock, Thompson and Tompson, Professor Calculus and Snowy????  That Tin Tin?

In the netherlands we call them all different:
Tintin = Kuifje
Professor = Professor Zonnebloem (sunflower)
Thompson and Tompson = Janssen & Jansen :) 
Snowy = Bobbie
Haddock is still called haddock though... 

I used to be a big fan of TinTin when i was younger! Probably would still enjoy reading them again.

Most Americans are "huh"? What's Tin Tin? But, show them a pic of the characters and they have this vague distant memory of it from when they are kid.

Strange choice for an automatic 3 picture sequel, imo.

TinTin roxorz my soxorz :-P sounds a fine choise to me. I'd defenitely watch 'em all three.

Hey AS good to see you come up for air ;)

Good to hear from you AS. It´ll be way cool to watch that movie when I know that your one of the contributors.

LOL, I only recently saw a TinTin book and this after several years working in the library. Never caught my attention.
But I'm glad your job prospects look good. Keep up the good work OH and you're booleaning is great as per usual.

Wow, Smithy, I wondered why you weren't posting anywhere.
You've been busy, dark horse!

Major congratulations on getting in with the movie crowd and I hope it continues to lead onto bigger and bigger things for you.  Play your cards right and by the time it get's to 2010 we might all be buying the Kirk 2010 Calendar (I can see it now, all hair and stuff).

Go for it fella :thumbupboth:
Nice render, BTW.

Ah hell, I just noticed ICM and The Bryster are among my new bosses as well :ohmy:

Well it's happy news to see AS lurking around here again.  Beginning to realize R'osity has a "pulse" of contributors that go away for a while and then come back.

As for Tin Tin.  That's just great news.  I've loved those books since I first discovered them as reprints in the 1970's.  I just pray they don't try to modernize them in the movies.  They will lose all their charm.  My all time favorite stories probably are "Red Rackham's Treasure" and "Secret of the Unicorn", with "The Calculus Effect" being a close third.

Although I did like "Prisoners of the Sun" too.

Ah that's where you'd got to! ;) WB! :)

Hm, the main ladies and Beowulf's captain were awesome characterizations, IMHO, rest were...patchy at times.

TinTIn, meh, I'd MUCh rather see them use that effort to make the "John Carter Of Mars" stories (one of which IS being done apparently, as full CGI, woot!)

Good stuff AS, glad to here the long hours didn't drive you too nuts! I been some long ones lately but for only a couple of weeks at a time and no where near as much fun as yours!

Agent who?

Its good to see you back.

Oh wow, what a great time you must have had.  I am just so envious.  Really nice to see you back, Kirk.

Is there any chance you could say a little more about the kind of things you were doing?  Details, but not specifics if you can't.

I'm particularly interested as I'm doing a BA (Hons) Animation here in Wales, and trying to decide if I have enough time to do the rendering in Bryce - where I know what I'm doing or do I need to... er, if the Bryster's listening maybe I'd better not say what I might need to do...

Oh and does the movie have that "Herge's Adventures of Tintin!" announcement that I remember so well from childhood?

Welcome back (even if belated!) That is one hell of a real-life intervention - got fingers crossed for you that the ride goes on. Been rather busy myself (to the point that I have render ideas stacked up but very little time to work on them.)
Tintin, very cool.

Fran; From what I have read, the Tin Tin the movies should be made (fairly) directly from the original books, not from the animated cartoon "Herge's Adventures of Tintin", I believe.

As far as my job on "A Christams Carol" goes I was in Asset Tracking. That is keeping a precise, literal record of all Assets that were in the Volume (the stage) at absolutely any given time. An Asset is anything that would play part in the action; actors, props, set decorations, even the cameras that were in every take of every scene filmed. I would track all of this through automated software with barcode scanning alongside with a manual entry of all Assets that went in/out of the Volume. I would then keep a comparitive database going all throughout the filming day of the results. This was so when post-production starts up, the team would always know precisely what object (or actor, camera, etc) was present in every single take. Everything from Scrooges massive bed down to an actors pocket watch had a barcode and was kept track of.

It was organization on a very vast, fast and extreme level to say the least. Best part was, was that it kept me close to the Volume and being able to watch all these great actors (and Robert Zemeckis) do their craft.

Ah, yes Bryce projects on the backburner....I have just now went in and looked at  the ones I had stacked up before this job started. It's amazing how many fleeting ideas I have had, that have been made into a starting scene and saved and then just collected, lol.

But, there are some that have to be realized, sooner or later.

As far as Tin Tin goes, that is a goal of mine...don't know if I can land inside of that project or not, but no matter, there are SO many Motion Capture movies being slated, getting onto another shouldn't be a problem.

I mean, James Cameron's next two movies (at least) will be motion capture, and that's not even counting "Avatar" which is still filming about 4 blocks away from where I did "A Christmas Carol". Along with Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton, they will all be doing MoCap movies shortly.

Also, the building in which "A Christmas Carol" was built up to film, should be used for at least one more MoCap movie, but of that I'm not sure I can/should legally say what is going to be filmed in there.

MoCap is interesting - I believe we have something on that here - anyway I caught the tail end of a conversation between 2 3rd yrs, where they were talking about it - in one of their animations I mean, not a commercial thing.

Wow and Congrats on the work...
You always did inspire me in bryce. I just saw the Beowulf movie (*late I know) and there is a lot of talent there, I guess you felt right at home! :)
Hugs
Ariana

Wow! You'll have your name in the credits I presume?

Yup, name will be in the credits. In fact I need to go and submit my credits over at IMDB, make sure they show up there also.

Wow! Now I can say I know someone famous in Hollywood! Woo Hoo!

I can just see it now, Orlando Bloom, Jonny Depp, AgentSmith, .....

Quote - I BETTER get my name in the credits, lol! I had around half a dozen titles while working there, but I'll accept whichever one they happen to put up.

No previews for the Christmas Carol yet. IMD has one very small concept art on their website, http://www.imagemoversdigital.com, but the real concept art I got to see (everyday) is absolutely incredible, more realistic looking than Beowolf. A Christmas Carol's main artist is Doug Chang, you might know him from his internet "Robota" fame; www.dchiang.com

I'm glad it's more realistic looking than Beowulf - I just did my last essay for this year on "Beowulf & Realism" - and I didn't think it was very.   Realistic.

Did you say when "A Christmas Carol" was due out?  Christmas maybe?

Beowolf wasn't truly planned to be photorealistic, just a stylized version of more realistic animation.The team just wanted to do a good bump up from their previous project, Monster House. Photorealism as we all know takes time. Which is one thing Cameron is taking with Avatar...They are still doing some more motion capture. That will be the photorealistic movie to beat, absolutely no doubt.

A Christmas Carol will be out for Christmas of 2009.

Welcome back AS.  I am glad that you are doing what you want.

AS!  Good to see you around.  I don't know if you even remember me, I've been gone for a hell of a long time as well though.  It's good to see some familiar names popping up in here.