anand 'AndyMaxman' baid

DDU dazzles with Merry Madagascar at CGTExpo ‘09

2009-05-27T07:21:00.004+05:30

It was a great experience representing DDU an the Expo in Mumbai. Tons of fun, met a lot of old friends and made some new ones too.

Apart from the DDU session which was only for professionals, at a Meet the Artist session
it was really cool interacting with students at a session I jammed with Deepak 'dada' Ganguly (Tata) answering character animation related questions.

DreamWorks Animation, No. 47 on Fortune's Best Companies to Work For list

2009-01-27T22:45:00.002+05:30

Some great memories of the DWA campus revisited in this video. Awesomenessss!!!

LINK

Angular Compositions

2008-10-15T23:09:00.003+05:30

Some explorations I did on still frames from movies looking for compositional cues.

The last image is my particular favorite and taken from the Seven Camels blog by Mark Kennedy which discusses it beautifully. Apart from the angular composition, there is also textural or surface detail contrast. I feel this image is well-balanced in terms of the level of detail in its three different subjects and the eye keeps following one thing to other and keeps the interest in the artwork alive.

Some explorations in the power-centers of Force and Balance

2008-10-15T22:54:00.004+05:30

Looking for the Visual Cues

2008-10-15T22:32:00.003+05:30

Textural Contrast, smooth against spikes

Lovely example of contrast in color, with the silhouette of the fingers being clearly visible against a dark colored tree.

I am sure this is self-explanatory what kind of contrast this is :)

The below two images show 'affinity / similarity' in the tonal composition. This usually helps in reflecting the mood of the scene, it can be pleasant, dark, sinister, suspicious etc. At times, even a choice of a particular color / tone can mean the occurrence of an event, action or can be used to convey a particular trait in the film. For ex - every time the color blue appeared in the overall composition of the movie 'Murder on the Orient Express', it would mean that a murder is about to take place.

Contrast In Animation

2008-10-15T22:04:00.002+05:30

Off late, it has been very interesting to watch out for elements which make a scene, shot work beautifully. Visual elements like line, shape, color, the contrasting elements in visual picture, the affinity factor, staging, triangular composition, circular composition...

Basically, what makes the eye look-at certain things in a frame, in other words, leading the eye of the viewer to what you want to show. Such a beautiful subject and so much to explore.

I got influenced and inspired in this subject more so, after reading Cameron Fielding's exploration of the power of pyramids.

And then there was the Bruce Block lecture that I attended while training at DreamWorks, Glendale. He opened up a lot of doors and his book is truly worth reading in understanding the visual elements of story-telling. Highly recommended.

I will soon try and post some images I tried to explore and look for these elements.

Gotta love Contrast.

'DreamWorks Supervising Animator' James Baxter - Bangalore Workshop Nov 6

2008-10-15T22:02:00.000+05:30

A golden oppurtunity for all the Animators around -

There is going to be a character animation workshop along with a Q & A session by DreamWorks Supervising Animator, James Baxter (Credits) on Nov 6th.

Having watched (in the archives actually) his 3-day workshop at DreamWorks, this is for sure a golden chance to all the Animators, professionals or students to learn from his session.

More info to be followed soon as to the venue and time.

Cheers!

Shots from the animation flick - Roadside Romeo (looking really sweet)

2008-08-27T22:22:00.003+05:30

I have got a crown, got a very nice one and its here on my head, look at it - King Julien, Madagascar 1

2008-08-14T22:59:00.003+05:30

Tim Ingersoll, animation trainer at DreamWorks Animation and an awesome artist and magician, created caricatures for all of the Indian artists who were trained by him.

The first dialog I animated was a test shot of King Julien from Madagascar 1 and the dialog was something like this -

'I have got a crown, got a very nice one and its here on my head, look at it.'

The line almost became a pet-peeve for most of us who were there for training and I kept getting snapped at for saying that line over and over again.

Thanks Tim for the cartoon and the crown. Cheers!

Two Promos from Roadside Romeo - was one of the Animators and was great fun working on both of them

2008-08-08T22:43:00.005+05:30

Interview with DreamWorks‘ Shelly Page on the India Setup

2008-08-08T22:23:00.003+05:30

Animation conglomerate DreamWorks recently partnered with Bengaluru based Paprikaas Interactive to set up its base in India. In a step toward scaling up its operation in India, the company is on a major talent acquisition spree. With the current team of 40 including French and Indian artists, DreamWorks plans to expand to 150 in a year‘s time.

Read More HERE

2008-06-16T10:38:00.002+05:30

Animators by the week, warriors by the weekend!

2008-06-16T10:31:00.002+05:30

En route to San Diego, Adi stopped us at a place called the Vista (sp?) Point, it really fun feeding nuts to the squirrels, they are so big in size compared to the ones in India.

And then in San Diego, we went to the US Midway musem which was on top of the Midway Warship. Really thrilling to watch those war birds up-close and even go inside some of them.

We even went in to a fighter plane simulation and it was really funny going 360 degrees inside it...haha! So you see this trip, I truly feel like a warrior-fighter with the horse ride and then this simulation. :)

2008-06-16T10:25:00.002+05:30

Some more KFP merchandise...

2008-06-16T10:19:00.003+05:30

Some fun fan-fare on the day of KFP release in the DWA campus

They had a booth put up to take pictures with the Panda and get it instantly framed...pretty cool

Some uber-cool KFP merchandise....Panda stuff was really adorable!

2008-06-16T10:03:00.003+05:30

The Universal Studio fire, right down the hill to where we are put up at, there was some serious fire-fighting then for the next 6-8 hours....

2008-06-16T09:59:00.003+05:30

Lovely pictures at the lovely Laguna Beach.....but seriously if not for Adi (who has been our frontman for the trip, teaching us to drive in LA (some guts you need to teach someone), taking us to the coolest of places, sight-seeing, shopping....been a great great help in all...

2008-06-16T07:21:00.005+05:30

Horse-back riding for three and half hours was one of hell of an experience....riding on edge of cliffs, maneuvering your own horse all the while, over-taking, it was simply the best experience I have had in adventure sports....On our way back, the sun had set and it just so amazing to look at the city from a distance atop a hill, where the only sound is of the hooves. I felt like a warrior (Kurosawa's Ran came to mind) riding it...Awesomeness! Huge thanks to Joe for taking us there and even riding along with us.

Chief at work, the DW India team with DW Indian Team at Glendale,

Me doing some serious shredding, am sure you can tell with the expression...

And then there was the mother of all experiences, being invited to watch the crew screening of Kung Fu Panda, very entertaining movie and am sure it will go a long long way at the box-office, but what was more special to me was the feeling of seeing everyone's names at the credits and the applause with that, had a huge lump in my throat the entire credit sequence. Animation wise, man, some serious action stuff in there....always wonder what the animators producing such qualilty work eat.

2008-06-16T07:12:00.003+05:30

Looking at this picture, reminds me that most if not all of these pictures of us has been taken by our animator friend Shajo John (jojo for us all), (if he had a choice to hold on to a chute or his camera, he most certainly will go for his camera)

at the Americana theater, Joe Aguilar took us all for the Indiana Jones movie, totally entertaining stuff

minutes before the house went full...

With Joe, at the Griffirth Obeservatory, nice view of LA from the top....

ahhhh! the sign of entertainment....

2008-06-16T07:03:00.002+05:30

The houses by the Venice Beach side in Santa Monica look really pretty...

Tons of color and style in Venice Beach, it surely was one of the highlights of all the places where we visited so far...

hmmmm....we looked and looked...but we could'nt spot her...

playing paddle tennis at Venice Beach...team building if you will...good fun

one thing for sure, esp if you are new from a place like India, LA has some really really sexy and mean looking cars and bikes....it is just so fascinating to keep staring at them....

DreamWorks India - pictures, fun-stuff with the trip so far...

2008-06-16T06:49:00.004+05:30

the DW goodie bag (there was lots foodie stuff too...India meal, fruits, veggies in the fridge, candy's),

making the most of the Kitchen (which usually was Aayush's room), Pramod and Mira are two people going to be most thankful to, for cooking some lip-smacking Indian food which we all miss so much,

Oakwood, the beautiful place where we are currently, this place is on a hill and feels just like Ooty or Kodai as the weather is really nice and cool.

DreamWorks Animation India

2008-06-16T06:39:00.002+05:30

I joined DreamWorks Animation India's dedicated unit last May 15th. Since then, there has been a sea of activities going on in my life.

-relocated to Bangalore from Mumbai, schooling for my son, new apartment,
-within a week or so flew out for the six-week training at DW's Glendale studio (using this weekend to blog this out)
-in a nut shell, the hospitality is great, the schedule for training and entertainment on weekends has really kept us super pumped up with the whole trip.
-Like I mentioned earlier about reading good things happen to new employees in the animation world as a young animator, all of that has been super-seeded with all the hospitality we have been given.

Moving On with my Animation Career!!

2008-06-16T06:24:00.005+05:30

It was tremendously satisfying experience having spent close to five years with Tata Elxsi, VCL. It has always had a great working culture as a company. I am totally thankful to all the super cool oppurtunities I had been given and for that would want to thank Pankaj Khandpur (the creative and business head), Indraneel (the operation manager), to my supervisors (Shrirang, Suhael, Mandy & Jitu bhai), to my close buddies in VCL, Subbu, Ravi Datla, RajeshV, Malli, Anil Singh....and to my amazing team and the other leads on Romeo, Bhavesh, Deepak Ganguly (Dada), Ritwik and Jaywant. You all rock!!!

Immediately post completing my assignments at VCL, I accepted what many in the animation world would call it as, 'the dream offer' to work for the dream team of DreamWorks Animation. What more! The coolest thing about it all was, it was all going to be set up in Bangalore, a place I call home. Sweet!!!

(when I was young as an animator, I would read about 'the phone call' a lot and today I can totally relate to it, you can't hear better news than that)

Roadside Romeo

2008-06-16T06:08:00.003+05:30

Just to simply put it -

I hold the animated movie (which is currently in production ) Roadside Romeo by Yash Raj Films & Walt Disney and directed by Jugal Hansraj, the most dearest to my heart. I am very fortunate to have animated and led a team of immensely talented animators and along the way have made a bonding relation-ship with every one who worked within the team.

Personally, the best part of being involved in the movie was the free hand that was given to us all about coming up with ideas and presenting it to the shows anim directors. If it excited them, Jugal would take a look at it and give his views. And Jugal always knew what he wanted from every shot in the movie. I remember the first time he narrated the story to us at Tata, he almost enacted every character out through the narration.

Here's wishing good luck to the entire team working on completing the feature. Can't wait to watch it kick some serious @$$. :)

Been really long, but good to be blogging out again!

2008-06-16T06:03:00.002+05:30

After days of delaying, i think i will hibernate out a lot of stuff that i have been wanting to share, mostly with whats going on with my animation life.

Promo of Roadside Romeo released

2007-10-19T18:47:00.001+05:30

Promo of Roadside Romeo released

Roadside Romeo is a forthcoming Bollywood animated film that will have Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor lend their voices to dogs for the first time.

Written and directed by debutante Jugal Hansraj who acted in films like Mohabbatein (2000) and Salaam Namaste (2005), this will be the first animated film that will be co-produced with the alliance of Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney Studios. The film will utilize state-of-the-art computer animation technology done entirely in India and will feature music, dances, songs and romance just like any other Yashraj Film so far. The film will be produced by Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra under Yash Raj Films and is looking at a release in the summer of 2008.
SOURCE

Having some fun with Live Action

2007-10-19T14:41:00.000+05:30

Created this video some three years ago (2004) while in Bangalore at our workplace.

Inspired by a lovely song 'kal rahe ya na rahe' by KK (video was created some five years ago)

Feels great to be a part of the 'National Award' winning team

2007-09-17T01:08:00.000+05:30

Tata Elxsi's VCL division wins National Award for Anniyan

Commenting on the award, Pankaj Khandpur, creative director, VCL, Tata Elxsi said, " Winning the National Award is no mean feat and we are extremely honored to have the nation's most prestigious award bestowed upon us. Aaniyan has some interesting visual effects and animation work by Tata Elxsi's VCL. About 6 minutes of SFX was delivered, executed by a visual effects team of five, and an animation team of 15, over a period of 3 months."

I got to create the 'Tunnel-way to hell' sequence when the Hero logs onto www.anniyan.com As I had a motion-graphics background, I teamed up with my colleague Rushi to create the sequence.

Interviewing AM Founders for cgTantra

2007-09-17T00:20:00.000+05:30

PART1 | PART2 | PART3 | PART4

Thanks to Bobby Beck and Carlos Baena for such a great interview with cgTantra. I am sure those character animation demo reel tips will help a lot to those wanting to learn about what goes into a reel.

Also, thanks to Rochelle Winters and Molly (AM) for co-ordinating with cgTantra to make this happen.

Visit to Pixar Animation Studios

2007-09-16T23:37:00.000+05:30

(Nikhil and myself at the gates of Pixar, me with Mike Wazoski, my fav' buddy from Monsters Inc and then Sully, Mike and me)

(with the Finding Nemo figures and Apurva, with the Incredibles family and from right to left, Nik, Apurva Shah, Chand and myself)

I have got to thank Apurva Shah, VFX Supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios for helping us with a visit to Pixar and also to Chand and Nikhil for initiating this trip to SFO. For many animators, Pixar is a dream studio and being in its campus one can feel the strong vibes of high-quality animation. This place was really huge and the atrium hall had some awesome life-sized maquettes from famous Pixar movies and the walls had original artwork of their latest release 'Ratatouille'. It was inspiring to see rough sketches done by animators and the notes they would write next to the drawings. Also, it was great to see the super cool room where the 'dailies' take place.

This truly was an unbelievable experience. Wow!

AnimationMentor Graduation and The Party Afterwards

2007-09-16T22:37:00.000+05:30

The G-Day banner, the Founders and Elaine Wu (AM classmate and award winner at the ceremony)

(AM mascot Spike and me sharing love and warmth, at the stage with Carlos after receiving the degree, Nikhil, Keerthi (Man, thanks a lot for all the help for being the local San Diego guy, thanks to your wife for the wonderful dinner, you are one crazy talented programmer-turned-animator I know and your paintings rock!) and Chand the guy clicking the picture, these were the shoulders I leaned on when I broke down missing my wife like crazy after getting the degree)

(Some crazy cool classmates who are now working on some soon-to-be released feature films)

(Sharing space with Mike Belzer, Animation Supervisor, 'Meet The Robinson's', Bryan Engram, Animation Supervisor, ReelFX Studios and Cathleen Hodgson from AnimationMentor.com, Carlos Baena, Animator, Pixar and co-founder of AM, guy with some insane amount of energy, he really showed his emotional side at the ceremony)

Monday, August 6th, 2007

This by far was the single most important day of my life as an animator. It ended up being an immensely intense and emotional moment sitting there in the hall on the graduation day. It was HUGE in so many ways, it meant achieving a dream I set out with all the support and strength my family could give.

It meant my wife and kid (I was blessed with a sibling for my son, a sister for him in the last term of AM, so yay! I am a proud father and a part of the AM Babies thread in the AM forums, ah! I miss it all now) sacrificing their weekends for me for 18 long months so I could work on my Assignments. I am pretty sure I am one of those lucky guys with a spouse really wanting you to have fun all the time while studying AM. Right from the beginning she showed great interest in AM and would always give valuable feedback on my assignments. She really has a great eye for detail and animation.

While shooting video reference for my assignments, my son Yash too would imitate me and deliver those dialogues acting things out. haha!

Thanks to Mom (she always would say looking at Bishop, the official AM character, on my computer screen, 'What? You are still working on that guy with the huge head? You work really slow.... :) , Dad for believing in me and supporting me to study further and my brother and his family for all the encouragement.

AM ROCKS!!!

Visit to Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City

2007-09-16T22:14:00.000+05:30

While at Siggraph, I got immensely lucky to meetup with Mr. Barry Weiss, Senior Vice President of Animation Production for Sony Pictures Imageworks at their booth. He was more than kind to give me an opportunity to meet-up with Mr. Robin Linn, Director of Animation Production at their Culver City studio in LA.

It was extremely inspiring to breathe the same air as the animators at SPI do. Awesomeness!

And for making it all happen I whole-heartedly want to thank Rochelle Winters for making it all happen.

(This picture is of Rochelle and me at the AnimationMentor after-graduation party)

Los Angeles

2007-09-16T19:19:00.000+05:30

Los Angeles was another great time. Good friend and colleague Adi Shayan was super kind to accommodate me in his 'humble abode' for three awesome days.

Adi has been VCL's Business Dev Manager and Producer and has been based in LA, Burbank for more than 3 years now. (Prior to that, in Bangalore he was very closely responsible for setting up VCL.) He is also very popular amongst the Deli's in the Burbank area. There was a time when I was pretty much lost in that area and I entered an Indian hotel there and asked them to dial 'Adi's number'. The owner instantly recognised Adi by his name and dialed his number without even taking it from me. Wow!

He also introduced me to his good friend Vinod who is working as a programmer at Walt Disney feature film studios. My taste-buds were treated to some much needed Indian food.

(Here I am with Adi having dinner at Mel's Inn in Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood)

Some great times around in San Fransisco & Vegas

2007-09-16T18:55:00.000+05:30

While in the US, I got to be around in LA, San Fransisco, San Diego & Vegas. All of the 15 hours in SFO was an awesome experience. Simply great weather, good Mexican food, great walking experience through the Piers and watching the Seals swim in ice cold water. The entire stretch was very picturesque.

Vegas had some crazy amount of lighting going on in the streets. My hotel Circus-Circus was at one end 'of the strip' and is a great family place to stay, especially if you have kids. Vegas also had some really amazing and lavish architecture, sculptures, bikes and cars. Loads of talented shows happening everywhere that you end up getting entertained for free. It was awesome to see a sculptor create on-the-spot scultpures of tourists. Very inspiring!

(That is Nikhil getting a face-lit from Chand)

Siggraph 2007 Experience

2007-09-16T16:21:00.000+05:30

(getting my reel reviewed by Bobby Beck at the AM Cafe booth)

(me trying out the PhaseSpace mo-cap setup, alongwith Siggraph SV buddies, some Rugby sportsmen at the exhibition floor)

(iron animator event 'FJORG!", a cool-looking sculpture at the Gnomon booth, the backdrop of the convention centre)

This year was the first time I got to be at the event and it was a very special one for me. Especially as my Graduation Ceremony with AnimationMentor.com was to be at the same place. The convention centre was really huge (someone said this time the place is smaller than usual, wow!) and had a wonderful backdrop of the beach with lots of Yachts parked by the bay. Being a Student Volunteer, I had access to pretty much the entire exhibition floor whenever not on-shift. As an SV, it was the first time in years I was working on anything but computer graphics. It was surely a very very unique experience interacting with students from different countries and backgrounds.

I enjoyed being around the Emerging Technologies gallery and the Art gallery, the Guerrilla Studio and watching the Shrekology and Ratatouille sessions. There was so much to absorb everywhere.

The PhaseSpace motion-capture setup was fun and impressive. I was setup in less than 2 minutes and was ready to go and the results looked pretty impressive. It will be interesting to see how performance capture takes shape in India.

(This is me trying out some mo-cap)

San Diego and me doing some Voodoo

2007-09-16T16:03:00.000+05:30

I got lucky in being selected as one of the 400+ student volunteers for Siggraph this year, and all the more fortunate to be provided housing for the event.

San Diego -
One of my first opinions about that place was that it was like a 'walking-talking museum'. Everything was so beautiful, calm and serene. I am sure anybody who has lived in Mumbai will feel that way. There was a sense of being inside a huge Film City Studio where the streets and buildings of San Diego where like life-size sets. At least that is how i felt with very very few people around.

While I was provided housing by Siggraph, I pretty much stayed with Chand (admin and co-founder of cgTantra.com and TD at Ettamina Studios) and Nikhil (Creative Director of Ettamina Studios) at their hotel. I made an offer to them they couldn't refuse. I was a carrying a bagful of Indian food which I was willing to share and they readily agreed to give up some room space for me. Earlier it was just for a day, but as things kept getting busier and busier I ended up staying with them through out the Siggraph days. It was a blast hanging out together.

While walking down the 'Gas Lamp Quarter' street on the second day in San Diego, I bumped into 'the animation ninjas' at a restaurant - It was an exhilarating moment seeing all three together for the first time.
(Shawn Kelly, me, Bobby Beck and Carlos Baena)

(Here I am 'showing off' my skills as a amateur Mentalist at Keerthi's house in San Diego)

Man, what a beautiful and spacious house he's got. The walls are adored by some really cool paintings by Keerthi himself. We were treated to some awesome Indian food, all credit to Keerthi's wife.

The Beginning!

2007-09-16T12:09:00.000+05:30

After hovering around various blogs and seeing what goes into it, here I am all set in attempting to create one for myself. Being a part of some exciting recent activities, I feel this is a good time to put one up.