Claws Counter-Attack vs. Ancient

Claws Stealth Attack vs. Grineer

Claws Stealth Attack vs. Ancient

Claws Counter-Attack vs. Kubrow

Claws Counter-Attack vs. Grineer

Grineer boi harmed.

Grineer boi harmed very much.

Claws Stealth Attack vs. Kubrow

(No doggos were harmed in the making of this animation. See? Good boi gets up again!)

Claws Heavy Combo

Claws Branch Combo B

Dual Swords Combo 3

Gauntlets Combo 2

Dual Daggers Combo 2

Katana Stealth Attack B

Infested Quad Knock Back Left/Right

Dual Swords Charge Attack Combo

Sword Branch Combo B

Dual Swords Branch Combo A

Sword BranchComboA

Dagger Branch Combo A

Hopping Ball (3ds Max)

I'm learning to animate in 3ds Max for an upcoming freelance gig.

It's a little like that episode in every superhero TV show ever where the main character loses their powers and has to go back to doing everything the hard way. They have an existential crisis, but then they realize that it was never their powers that made them a hero, it was their character...

...or maybe it's just a matter of putting the right keys on the right frames. Could be that.

It's actually a pretty comfortable transition thanks to 2014's new "Maya Interaction" mode so I can use the Alt+Mouse viewport navigation that is so committed to muscle memory.

Simple Ball Rig courtesy of Cláudio Escobar.

Freelance: Micro Bat

Here's another little character I animated for BitGem.

Micro Bat Vlad by BitGem on Sketchfab

"Child of Light" Announcement Trailer

This is the most gorgeous and exciting thing I've seen in a long while. The art and JRPG elements are exactly what I want in a game. I was so bummed at first because I thought it was a PS4 exclusive (and I'm not getting one any time soon) but then BAM! it's coming out for everything! Can't wait!

Freelance: Micro Wizard

Here's a little sample of the freelance I've been doing lately. This little guy was created by and animated for BitGem. I'm animating a bunch of these micro characters. They're sort of the second series of micro characters. The first series of micro characters were animated by my good buddy Justin Kupka.

Micro Wizard Morgan Fizban by BitGem on Sketchfab

Richard Lico's Game Animation Workflow

So. Awesome!

iAnimate Games: Winter 2013 Student Showcase

I love the fact that iAnimate has a program specifically for game animation.

iAnimate Podcast with Robert "Darryl" Purdy (Far Cry 3)

The folks over at iAnimate have started podcasting every week or two for the past few months and I only recently noticed. While I was catching up I listened to their December 21st interview with Robert "Darryl" Purdy (Animation/Cinematics Director for Far Cry 3, now at Warner Games) and I just had to share it.

I've listened to a lot of animation podcasts over the years: The Animation Podcast, Speaking Of Animation, Spline Doctors, 10th Muse. I haven't listened to every single episode of these but those I have listened to are almost always about film animation or animation as a general art form or games as a general topic. This is the first time I've heard a podcast that was exactly about the things I deal with every day and I couldn't stop nodding my head "yes!" as I listened to it.

Don't ask me why the blurb description says he worked at Bungie and Lucas Arts in the past because as far as I can tell he didn't, but whatever. Give it a listen.

iAnimate podcast with Darryl Purdy

Blocking Technique by Kevin Jackson (Updated)

Kevin "KJax" Jackson shares this fantastic tip on a quick blocking workflow that is not only fast and simple, but keeps your blocking very easy to edit up until you commit to move on. The technique uses one of the many tools included in MGtools which comes in both free and paid versions. I already have a tool that my genius friend Anthony made that does the same thing so I haven't checked to see if you need the paid version of MGtools or not.
Kevin was a year behind me in school and whereas I only had a brief stint at Rhythm & Hues he's been there for about 5 years and has earned the role of supervising animator. His animation is not only imaginative and well polished, but he works quickly so it's worth listening to any advice he has to share.
Update: Kevin has uploaded Part 2 in which he shows how the technique works in an actual shot with more complexity. He also shows off a few more of the many fantastic functions of the MGtools suite of MEL scripts.

found via Animators Resource

Keith Lango "Retires" From Online Animation Instruction

The original online mentor for animation, Keith Lango, is going dark. Oh he's still animating and even teaching, but he's closing the book on his long-running online instruction and blogging.
Ten years ago, when I was in school, there wasn't the plethora of awesome online animation resources there are today. If you wanted to print out some classic animation notes there was (and still is) AnimationMeat.com; If you wanted a forum to meet people, get feedback on your WIP, be inspired or get some practice there was 10secondclub, CG-Char, Digital|Rendering and a few others; If you wanted really clear and practical tutorials about HOW to animate there was Keith Lango.
Over the years he added even more resources like videos that explained things even more clearly, or personally tailored 1-on-1 online animation mentorship.
Today, there's a lot of competing online animation instruction options available and Keith leads a pretty full life as it is so he won't be creating any new online material, but all of the old stuff will be kept online so if you haven't benefited from it yet, you still can.

The Classic Tutorials
The Video Tutorials :`(
Keith's YouTube Channel

So thanks a bunch, Keith. I never met you, but I learned a lot from you about animation, dealing with disappointment gracefully, and remembering that there are a lot of things in life that are far more important than animation.


For those of you who don't necessarily want to sign up for the much larger commitment of time and money that schools like Animation Mentor, iAnimate, or AnimShcool require but really want quality, on-going animation wisdom rejoice! KennyRoy has picked up the torch and is doing a fantastic job of carrying it forward.

Where've I Been & What's New?

So I disappear from the blog for over a year and then just start posting again with no explanation? How dare I?

To be fair I actually started blogging again last year, but I've been doing it over at KennyRoy.com because, well, people actually read that blog. So general animation stuff goes there, and things that relate to me, but are also probably somewhat animation related will go here - but probably not as often as at the other site so go subscribe to that blog for more regular doses of animation goodness.

There's a lot of stuff I've wanted to post, but now it's sort of old news, so here's one giant brain dump about everything that's new in my life since I posted my 2010 demo reel last June:

New Computer

So, after my last computer went down in a blaze of glory while I was in the middle of crafting my 2010 demo reel, I finally got to upgrade. This was my first time building a machine completely from scratch.

I was pretty relieved when it worked on the first try.

Old Country

I had so much fun working at Airtight and I'm going to miss some really great friends. Redmond is a great city too. There's all kinds of stuff to do outdoors and a culture that really embraces both my wife's "crunchy granola" tendencies and my tech/nerd tendencies. However, my wife and I decided it was time to return home to Ontario to be close to family. So we loaded up the car for the cross-country drive from Washington, up to British Columbia, and across Canada to Ontario. Olive didn't have much room, but she was a trooper.

It was a bit scary to quit a perfectly good job without having a new one lined up first, especially these days, but we'd be back with family while I looked for work so we knew we'd be okay. After a few days of taking it slow we got impatient and pulled an all-nighter to arrive a day earlier than planned so we could finally relax and be at home again in the land of maple syrup.

New Job

Thanks to my new Franken-puter I was able to finish my reel and after pimping it out all over the province I landed the job I really wanted at Digital Extremes.

Admittedly, I was a bit conflicted between working on animated features or television in Toronto, or working on games in London. In the end, DE made an offer first and after one whole year here I'm so glad they did. It turns out that DE has consistently been recognized as one of the top/best employers in Canada. I'm having a blast working on Star Trek and I've even started doing some mocap acting from time to time at our in-house capture volume. Below is a picture of my fellow animator, who's done most of our mocap acting in the past, in our old studio. We've recently moved to a brand new, much fancier office, but our capture volume is still in transition.

New City

So I got the job and it was time to move again - at least this time the drive was a LOT shorter than it was from Washington. I miss Redmond, but London is called The Forest City for a reason (though after last winter I learned it could just as easily be called The Buried Under Snow City) and it's growing on me.

In truth, this city is one of the main reasons I wanted to work at DE. I've worked in Toronto before and the 2.5hr/day commute really takes it's toll. True, it's possible to live in the city, but I didn't want to live in the concrete jungle. What we really wanted was a house we could call our own and a yard for the dog and a garden - which we couldn't responsibly afford anywhere near Toronto.

New Apartment

The plan was to settle down and buy a house, but I had to live somewhere in the meantime so we found this great apartment within walking distance of work - which really helped when the snow was so bad the buses stopped running and we discovered the tire treads on our car were woefully inadequate - probably due as much to that cross-country drive as to the fact that they we hadn't replaced them since we bought our used car.

New Son!!!

The biggest change of all came just after midnight on the morning of May 29th, our new son, Elias Douglas Victor "DUGTOR" Sormin! (My wife won't actually let me call him that, though.)

Kids are hard. Total respect to all the good parents out there. He's adorable and fun though - just not so much at 1:30am, and 3:30am, and 5:30am, and 7:30am....

New Blog

Like I said before, I've started contributing to the blog over at KennyRoy.com - though I've cut back a bit since Elias was born. Kenny's got a fantastic thing going on over there. There's video tutorials and monthly lectures and his info is always of the sort that you can immediately turn around and start using in your daily animation workflow. There's some theory, sure, but above all else his tips are practical. Highly recommended. The blog and forums are free to anyone, but you can check out a preview of the paid content here or better yet, sign up for 30 days free and cancel any time with no obligation.

New House!

After months of searching we finally found a house that we could afford with a responsible mortgage, close enough to work, and with a yard that we can customize however we like. We compromised in that it's only semi-detached, but it was less than half the price we would've paid if I had taken a job in Toronto. I don't really have a picture of the house, but here's a half-naked picture of me in the backyard taken on International Handstand Day.






As you can see there's plenty of lush greenery around and we love it that way. There's no houses behind us, just a strip of forest with a private golf club on the other side so it's nice and quiet.

New CSA

I don't know if we'll ever find another CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) as good as Jubilee Biodynamic Farm, but we did manage to find a local CSA that's doing an admirable job.

Basically, a CSA works like this: you invest in a local farm and in return you receive seasonal produce. Usually you pay a seasonal subscription fee, but some farms will allow you to invest the sweat of your brow instead. I can't recommend it enough. Not only is it a great way to make sure you eat enough fresh food and try new things, it also promotes a more sustainable, responsible food production system. Farmer Eric explains it better:





Now, most CSAs are not biodynamic. Many are organic, but even more importantly they're local and farming isn't easy. I believe the only way to support and improve a more sustainable food system is to support the farmers that grow that food.


And Now, On With The New!
...

"Malcolm" - Awesome New Free Rig From AnimSchool.com

I've been eagerly anticipating this one ever since they announced it. Then, after they released the Softimage version they went and made me wait for over a month to get the Maya version! Well, I guess that's the reality of creating two complete, feature film quality rigs in separate packages. Check out the video below to get a sense of what this rig is capable of.



(Part 1 of a very thorough demonstration of the rig is available on YouTube)
As a bonus you can also download a free version of Adam Burke's excellent abxPicker MEL script for Maya 2011+. I loved using the old, free version of this script and was sad when the new version for Maya 2011 was no longer free.
To get your copy of abxPicker and the Malcolm rig click on the image at the top of this article or, for you lazy types, just click right here.

Demo Reel Feedback from Animation Mentor Jean-Denis Haas

Animation Mentor hosted a contest at CTNx 2010 for a free eCrit of two randomly selected demo reels. I submitted my latest reel and was one of the winners! I found JD's critique useful and there's no sense hogging all of the wisdom to myself so it's about time I shared it here with the rest of you.





Below are the notes that I took away from JD's eCrit:

Notes from AM CTNx eCrit of Tim Sormin's Animation Reel

Fortunately for me, my reel had already done its job by landing me the job that I wanted. I didn't have the time (or in some cases didn't have the Maya files) to edit any of the actual animation, but for educational purposes I decided to re-edit my reel based on his feedback. Here's the shorter, more focused result:





I think it's better, but I accidentally killed the audio - oops! So thanks JD and Animation Mentor. Hopefully this info will help me, and any readers I may have at this humble blog, make better reels in the future.

New Demo Reels

Game Animation Reel:
I am responsible for all player-character and enemy animation in this reel. No motion capture was used on this project. Animation was created using Maya. I was also responsible for integrating these into the game using the Unreal Editor.
Narrative Animation Reel:
I created all of the character and prop animation in this reel using Maya, with the following exceptions:
- Alvin and The Chipmunks was created using Voodoo (R+H proprietary anim software)
- The Chipmunk concert run cycles were pre-made cycles that I constrained to a motion path and then modified to climb up the mic stands.
You can download these reels by right-clicking the links in the "My Portfolio" section of the sidebar to the right and choosing to "Save Link As..." (or "Save Target As..." for you folks rocking Internet Explorer)

Airtight Games vs. Penny Arcade Ping Pong Challenge 2010

Part of my match at the Airtight vs. Penny Arcade Ping Pong Challenge. Unfortunately, I lost the match 1:2

Old Yeller

My computer just went to the big render farm in the sky.

The timing is pretty crappy as I was in the middle of a personal project, but I'm pretty sure all the HDD's are fine - just the mobo has gasped its last. Looks like I'll be replacing it a year earlier than planned, but considering this thing was already 3yrs old when I bought it used 3yrs ago and it could still do a good job of running simple Maya scenes I'd say it didn't go quietly into the night.

R.I.P. Old Yeller.

Perhaps a trip to newegg.com will help me come to grips with my loss.

Creative Drawing

Drawing is hard for several reasons, but one of the reasons is that it's often hard to decide what to draw. Being loose and creative is easier said than done. I'm starting to look into ways to keep the pressure off and try to keep my logical left-brain out of the mix. Here are a couple of things I've found so far:
Keys to Drawing from Imagination
I borrowed this book from the library and though I only got through the first couple of chapters before I had to return it, I liked where it was going. The first step is to "doodle with purpose." It's easy to do and it makes a great warm up exercise. Parka has a great review of this book here. Actually, if you like art-of books or instructional art books Parka is a great blog to subscribe to.
Alchemy
This is an open source drawing application that is specifically designed to engage your right-brain. It has tools to automatically mirror and even a random brush that creates unexpected shapes that can then inspire you to follow a direction you would never have thought of on your own. It's a bit hard to explain in words so check out this video of Alchemy in action if you're interested:



There are quite a few examples from users on YouTube.

Dark Void Has Shipped and We're All Still Employed

Dark Void is on store shelves so go buy it! It's now under $30 on Amazon and it really is a ton of fun to rocketpack into the middle of a firefight, land right in front of a menacing robot and Falcon-punch 'em right in the face!

Okay, okay so I'm three months late posting this, but I was busy trying to get our next AAA game green-lit. Huge props go out to Jim, Matt and Jared (owners of Airtight Games) for avoiding any layoffs at the end of Dark Void. In a time when studios everywhere are experiencing dramatic downsizing, if not outright closure, Airtight has made a deliberate effort to keep the workload (and paychecks) uninterrupted. As the Dark Void build got locked down and people rolled off of it they were able to move directly onto the Dark Void DLC team or to help pitch new projects. I can't tell you what everyone is working on now that the DLC has shipped, but the important part is that we're all still working.

:: Dark Void | Jetpack Attack ::

Cool little in-browser game using what looks like orthographic sprites of real Dark Void game assets:

(original source)

Dark Void - Tesla Roadster Sweepstakes

Do we have the best marketing team or what?Too bad about that jetpack...

John Williams: Thanks for everything

John Williams joined Southern's art faculty during my junior year. If I had to pick one word to describe him, it would be "passionate." The man was on fire for his beliefs, wouldn't accept less than 100% from his students, and never held back criticism when it was needed or praise when it was deserved. I've never felt so afraid to disappoint, so encouraged to excel, or so rewarded for my efforts as I did in his drawing and illustration classes.

His children were born while I was a student at SAU. I only found out he was sick last week.

Thanks for everything, John. You will be missed.

Pencil Test Depot = Awesome new blog dedicated to my favourite form of animation

I love art that is still a work in progress. When I took a trip to Europe and did the whole gallery/cathedral/monument circuit I realized that as beautiful as the finished art was I actually liked the unfinished works better. Finished paintings by the renaissance masters were amazing - so amazing that they almost make you forget about the artist. They almost become entities unto themselves and it's hard to imagine that the canvas was ever blank.

Michelangelo's David was once just a chunk of rock and as impressive as it is, it was much easier to see the hand of the artist and appreciate his skill when I turned around and viewed his "unfinished" slave sculptures.

I guess that's why, when it comes to animation, I love watching rough pencil tests so much. When the finished product is in theatres it has such a sheen of polish on it that it's hard to see the touch of the artist. The magic is so complete that you just believe the characters are alive. Of course that's the whole point - and it's the mark of a great animator to make you believe it. But what I really love is when I see these drawings, that are still clearly drawings - just pencil on paper - and they STILL come to life. The magic is still there, but I enjoy it that much more because I KNOW I'm being tricked. There's a magician behind it, putting his heart into his craft, fearing his work isn't good enough, sacrificing his time to get it just right, learning new things as he does it. It's beautiful and so, so inspiring.

I usually have to scour the Internet looking for great pencil tests because they're just not commonly available, but recently I had the pleasant surprise of finding all my searching was no longer needed. Jamaal Bradley has made it easy for people like me by starting a new blog dedicated entirely to pencil tests."...Pencil Test Depot..." has most of the work I had found on my own and promises to continue posting more. Go check it out if you like pencil tests, and subscribe if you want ongoing inspiration. I highly recommend it.

Interesting article from GamesBeat about the history of Airtight Games

It's a good read. I knew the general story of course, but this is a bit more detailed then the version I've been told. Here's and exerpt:

To fund their venture, Deal and his three partners (excluding Fries) each anted up $6,000. The $24,000 start-up fund, he hoped, would carry them until they got a contract. Until they found a publisher, each member (and their families) had to live off savings. The team met anywhere they could, from coffee houses to the nearby public library. “We started small and built slowly,” said Deal.

Read the whole article here: How Airtight Games started a console game studio with just $24,000

Proof that I went to PAX '09

Wait, is this Kotaku employee trying to get my identity stolen by filming my ballot entry for some Uncharted 2 swag? Aw, who cares, I'm on Kotaku!

original source: Kotaku.com

Disney set to acquire Marvel

original source: animatednews.com

Soon Disney will own Marvel Entertainment. Hmm. I don't really know what to think. It's certainly interesting, but I really can't say whether it's good or bad. Seems like an odd mix, but then I never would have thought I'd see Donald Duck fighting side by side with Squall Leonhart and Kingdom Hearts turned out to be kinda good.

Stan "The Man" seems to think it's good
Animation pundit Mayerson disagrees

If nothing else, it will at least be interesting.

Maybe we'll see some strange mash-ups:

original source: kotaku.com

Or maybe there will be redundancies:original source: penny-arcade.com

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Golden Jetpack

Marketing is having fun with this game. :)

original source: www.gold4jetpack.com

On a subtler note, I think this swag-bag for members of the press is really smart. It's a little different, it's certainly appropriate for a game with a lot of flight and vertigo in it, and it's stuff that the traveling press might actually have occasion to use.

So good job marketing team, except why don't the developers get tons of free stuff?

Bear McCreary, of BSG and Terminator SCC fame is the composer for Dark Void

Here it is straight from Bear's BSG Blog

And here's an interview he gave on Gamespot

This is actually really old news, but I haven't posted in about 5 months so I'm playing catch up. I think this news came out just about the day that I made my last post.

In a stroke of pure brilliance the powers that be approached Bear McCreary, the rising star known for his fantastic work on Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, to see if he would be interested in lending his unique musical aesthetic to Dark Void. It turns out that Bear was not only excited to accept this new challenge but that he is actually a big fan of games and, in particular, a certain Man from Capcom, who can only be described as Mega. Wow, some things just come together perfectly. Serendipity, I suppose.

Bear uses a very interesting mix of traditional orchestral scoring and some unusual tribal instrument solos. Anyways, the music fits our game perfectly and what's more it sounds so great that some commenters have gone so far as to say that the music alone will be worth the price of the game - that may be, but I hope you enjoy playing it too.

8-bit Dark Void

There are a lot of fans of the classics here at Airtight so sometimes someone will whip up a fun little bit of mock art - even our composer. So, seeing as yesterday was April Fool's Day, Capcom took the opportunity to share this stuff with the rest of you. Follow the link for more 8-bit artwork and an awesome remix of the theme music by Dark Void's composer: Dark Void's New Look

New Demo Reel [Updated]

The past year or so at Airtight Games has been amazing. I love it here and Airtight has expressed interest in keeping me around, but for personal reasons it's time to move home to Ontario. I will be here until the end of April then... we'll see.

If you are an Ontario studio seeking an animator for film, broadcast, or games please contact me for a copy of my current demo reel: timsormin*at*gmail*dot*com

[UPDATE]: My wife and I have decided to put off our return to Ontario and stay here in Redmond for a while. Looks like I'll be here for another summer of ultimate frisbee with the Airtight gang! I am now working on a new, unannounced title.

The creator of Gracie "Brazilian" Jiu Jitsu died today

Grand Master Helio Gracie 1913 - 2009

Some Refreshing News

In the midst of depressing news like Microsoft laying of 5,000 people and EA cutting 1,000 jobs it great to hear that someone is taking a different approach to relieving financial pressure:Blue Sky has moved it's studio from New York all the way, um, next door to Connecticut to take advantage of the "Hollywood East" tax breaks offered there. The best part is that instead of huge layoffs, they're actually expanding and hiring more people. Now I realize this plan was initiated long before the whole US economy collapse thing became big news, but it looks as if some smart planning may have saved some people their jobs, and that's always a good thing.

Behind the Scenes at Airtight via The Seattle Times

The local newspaper stopped by to take a look around and give a bit of a profile of us last week. If you're curious, there's some interesting info about our studio that I don't think has been made public before. Obviously, with the game still in progress no one can give it a glowing review, but it seems like most people are impressed with it so far and are looking forward to seeing the finished product. This guy doesn't seem to offer much of an opinion, however, opting to mostly give quotes from people who work here. (Click the picture to read the article)

"UP" Trailer Looks Great

Beautiful teaser trailer for Pixar's next film, "UP." I love it already, but then what did you expect?

(source: firstshowing.net)