<DAZ_Rhyno> to ask Adam a question, send your question to QuestionBot as a private message by clicking "@QuestionBot" on the right hand side.
<DAZ_Rhyno> Ok, here's a bit about Adam, just so everyone can get some background
<DAZ_Rhyno> First, and most importantly, Adam was our very first Featured Chatter here at Artzone. We're happy to welcome him back and talk to him again about his work in the VFX industry and his work on teenage mutant ninja turtles.
<DAZ_Rhyno> Adam Holmes started "TMNT" back in March of '05, prior to a 4 months stint in Sydney for "Superman Returns" in the 2nd unit visual effects department. He, his wife and an animator-friend created the initial teaser-trailer pre-vis for "TMNT", which was used to sell the film deal to the studios.
<DAZ_Rhyno> In late summer, Adam returned to LA to a new studio full of designers, storyboard artists, and production crew. He headed up their pre-vis department, working with the director, head of story, and art director to design the cinematography of the film. Adam's live action / CG cinematography and visual effects experience was key in designing the shots. Inspiration from the classic epic films and comic-book style angles, resulted in a visual style never seen before in a 3D animated film.
<DAZ_Rhyno> His crew of 7 3D artists brought their own unique skills, completing the entire pre-vis, -and- a new teaser trailer in just under 6 months. The combined efforts of the US pre-production team and the power of 400+ talented Hong Kong CG artists and technical wizards, has allowed Imagi Animation Studios to create an all new breed of CG animation. Adam also worked heavily in lighting / VFX development.
<DAZ_Rhyno> Adam Holmes is a '96 graduate of Columbia College's Film program in Chicago, concentrating in Cinematography and Editing. He's worked for Big Idea Productions in Chicago, some of LA's top boutique FX houses, such as Digital Dimension and Frantic Films, and as a 3D product specialist for Autodesk.
<DAZ_Rhyno> to ask Adam a question, send your question to QuestionBot as a private message by clicking "@QuestionBot" on the right hand side.
<adam3d> Hey all, thanks to DAZ studio and Artzone for hosting me again!!
<adam3d> We're in the last phases of the film, so it's a little nutz right now, but we're reallllly excited for all the fans to see the film.
<adam3d> So, get your friends and family to the theatres March 23rd. It'll be a worldwidde release into 1000's of theatres
<maartenvs> Adam, can you describe your favorite Special Effect to us
<adam3d> Recently, I was blown away by Pirates 2. The digital character work was outstanding, and it looked so real
<adam3d> I saw some side-by-side comparisons of the real actor's facial reference, and the digital double (Davy Jones) and it was perfect. Those ILM guys have it down
<Cdlzt> resisting urge to ask about ninja ducks, whats been the hardest effect to achieve in the cg medium on this film
<adam3d> good question. there's a few things that are hard when you're creating a stylized reality, as we're doing in "TMNT"
<adam3d> things like smoke, fire, atmosphere...all the things you take for granted in a live action shoot, are difficult to create in CG in the sense of them integrating into the world you're creating
<adam3d> there's lots of plug-ins and tools that can create great dynamic effects, but do they fit the style you're trying to achieve?
<adam3d> in the end we try to make those effects have a purpose and be subtle enough to not draw attention to themselves, and they work really well
<3DFineArtist> Adam, how did you get started in special fx, was that your first job when you started out in cg? or did you slowly graduate or move to that department? also what aspects do you like most about working in special fx?
<adam3d> Hey, that's always a fun story, which is too long to type here, but I had tried to learn as much as I could on my own, read books, learned the tools, tried to emulate effects I'd see in movies and TV...
<adam3d> using "educational" software...and just living, eating, breathing CG...
<adam3d> I was fortunate to get in at Big Idea in chicago after some years doing corporate graphics which was where I felt I had my big "break". I did a littl eof everything and finally was able to do lighting and effects, which I learned traditional techniques in film school
<Cazcie> Just curious, isn't it kind of late in the game to still be in the last phases of production with the release date quickly comming upon us?
<adam3d> Well...yes! But with any film of a decent budget, you have the resources to do many last minute things.
<adam3d> for instance we're doing final sound mix at the Warner Bros' studio and they're able to do amazing things very quickly. I got to hear some of it first hand and I was blown away with the "BIG" factor the sound brings to the image
<adam3d> I'm currently working with Technicolor for the Digital Intermediate process which is the final color correction before the burn film. We have to approve every shot digitally, as film is expensive and time consuming to burn, so these tools end up saving us money
<Nester751> Hello Adam. I often hear about CG film makers working on a film up until the very last minute. Do you find that this trend is becoming more common?
<adam3d> Yes, for the same reasons the final film can not be finished until the last minnute. The tools and technology and experitese of the artists are so advanced, that turnaround to make a change is quick. Producers and the studios have to work together to find schedules that don't end up burning people out in the end, but release dates and unforseen problems can make this an impossible dream
<adam3d> I heard from John Knoll in a presentation of Pirates 2 fo how much they did in the end of their film and he was a little upset at the trend, but no one wants to fail. As soon as a major film fails due to this, maybe things will change
<rkfoster> Many "computer generated" animations tend to look alike but good ones escape this like "The Polar Express". The trailer I saw for TMNT also suggests a unique visual style. What parts of the 3D process lend themselves to creating a unique style?
<adam3d> Yes, I agree, many look alike and with "TMNT" we think we've broken that mold...
<adam3d> I think it starts with a clear vision on what style fits the story and the characters
<adam3d> and with "TMNT", Kevin Munroe had a vision of this stylized reality. real, but in gritty comic-book sense. He's written and illustrated many comics and researched the original TMNT's for what made that style work
<adam3d> Also, we have a great productiondesigner, Simon Murton, who I worked with on Superman. Google him, he goes back to films like "The Crow' and "Tank Girl". He contributed amazing details and designs that make the world in sync with the director's vision
<kulay> who is your favorite turtle?
<adam3d> hahaha...I like the kid in Mikey a lot, and in "TMNT" he isn't just the comic relief, he has real emotion and brings the audience into the story because you can relate to him from being a kid, or from your childhood-past
<amsolano> How has it been working with such a mainstream set of characters, or have you done major characters before?
<adam3d> it's been really interesting. I liked them when I was , a kid, like most people who grew up with the cartoons and the live action films. But I hadn't been around them for so long that it was nice to take a fresh approach, and see where Kevin wanted to take the characters. This is really the 1st big/majorly known character set I've worked with
<GraphicMaster> Who bank rolls the project, Warner Bros' studio ?
<adam3d> the studios have a stake in the film, but a simple answer (as I don't delve into the lawyer stuff that often), is that we produce it and they buy it, based on variuous contractural obligations. A co-production is different, where both parties invest 50/50
<adam3d> we're fortunate that the owner of Imagi is really dedicated to bringing new types of CG films to the market , making both familiar icons new and exciting in that Big Film way, and creating our own ideas and characters. So there's a lot of support from our studio execs to make films that exceed all expectations
<amsolano> how much movement of the turtles was done with 3d motion capture versus manually manipulating or was all of the motion done with capture?
<adam3d> great question, especially with a lot of films employing mo-cap techology, as games have done for years....
<adam3d> i can say 100% of the film was traditionally hanf keyframed.
<adam3d> That's not a slap to mo-cap artists, it's that our animators in Hong Kong are very very good and can bring these characters to live in a way that seems real, but not so real that it looks mo-cappy (is that a word? mo-cappy?)
<adam3d> "hand" not "hanf" my bad
<adam3d> i have friends that animated for Monster House (which is up for an Oscar). and they used some mo-cap straigh out and some for just reference. It's really the style of the character that dictates what type of aniamtion works best. I think both keyframe and mo-cap have uses in feature CG films.
<3DFineArtist> It's nice to see in this trailer that the animation of the skateboarding scenes have them doing more technical realistic tricks on the boards. are some of the animators skateboarders or used to skate or did they have to take a close look at some of the moves some of these skaters do on film?
<adam3d> Um, I'm not sure if some of our animators are boarders. It's possible, but we always refer to as much real-world reference as we can, from other CG and FX films, and things like skate videos, motorcycle videos (our production designer created one turtle's motorcycle, and he's an enthusiast rider himself)
<Kuanbyr> What is your 3d program of choice for modeling and animation?
<adam3d> personally, I love 3ds Max. Grew up on it and have done tons of film VFX with it. At Imagi we use Maya on Linux, and Rendeman. We have over 400 artists in Hong Kong which requires a lot of speciaized tools and technology . we wrote custom software to create the turtle's amazing muscles, and tree dynamics, and crowd systems...so with that kind of operation you need to develop a lot of your own in-house tools.
<adam3d> Fortunately Autodesk now makes both Max and Maya so these tools can work together to enhance their strengths
<BSavej> What are rendering times like for a feature length movie?
<adam3d> pretty long actually! the more CPU power we get, the more we use. All shots are split into 10, 20 , up to 40+ layers so we can control lighting and FX in the compositing stage, so each layer may take say 10 min, but then times 40
<Nester751> Also out of curiousity, how much pre viz did you have to do for this movie?
<adam3d> Well, I supervised the pre-vis department, and our team of 7 guys did the whole film in just inder 6 months. It was really necessary to fesh out timing and to determine what levels of texture and lighitng detail is actually seen through the lens
<theodirk> So, given the production schedule that you spoke of, are you working on TMNT at this moment. Is there anything that we can look at in the film and say, he was doing that when we were talking to him?
<adam3d> besides banging my head on the keyboard...oh, that you can see in the movie...ha. Um I'm just rendering dissolves and transitions out now for the final output using Combustion. But I added some spark effects to a shot of a destroyed skyscraper last minute, which you may see. I've also been adding a ton of camera shake to the action shots, as it's easier/cheaper to do that in 2D after the final comp is done
<janetcat> Could you give some beginning advice for new movie producers? The home pc ones?
<adam3d> sure. just keep it simple! try to create animations that don't get your bogged down in useless details. it takes 100's of artists to make each frame of a feature, so decide where best to spend your time, with what you enjoy doing and are good at, and you'll be more pleased with the results.
<DAZ_Rhyno> About time to wrap things up, are there any last things you'd like us to know?
<adam3d> well, first, a thank you again to DAZ and Artzone for hosting, and thanks for all you for logging in, those were some well informed questions.
<adam3d> We really excited to see what you all think of our film. we're all a little nervous...
<adam3d> but a funny story was when we recently got a big digital projector setup at our office so we can view the final movie in all it's glory...
<adam3d> we sat and watched a big action sequence with 5.1 surround sound and we all had goose bumps and I looked over to Kevin, our director and he was literrally on the edge of his seat with excitement...just like he was watching it for the first time
<adam3d> So, again, thank you and remember March 23, only in theatres!!
<DAZ_Rhyno> I know a lot of us are looking forward to March 23rd, and now it'll be just that much more great.
<DAZ_Rhyno> Here is a link to the trailers for TMNT http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/teenagemutantninjaturtles/hd/
<DAZ_Rhyno> Thanks so much for your advice, and behind the scenes perspective. Please come back soon!
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