Laser Time.

Well, aren't I shitty at this blogging thing! I almost forgot I set this Blog up.  To be fair to myself I was on Facebook for a while and that took every once of my internet input energy. However, I have closed my Facebook account. So this is now my one and only outlet for talking ( boasting or Blabbing) to the internet world. I don't think anyone actually follows my post and why would they. So I intend to use this as a journal of sorts to record my progress. I have been struggling to get back into the animation world after a very debilitating illness.  Okay, so not to make this into a pity party. I am emotionally cool with what has happened. I am cool in general with my life, I just need to find new and different ways to get things done. I have Psoriatic arthritis.

 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/psoriatic-arthritis/basics/definition/con-20015006 

Which really sucks, and I mean really really sucks. Like it sucks the big one if you know what I mean. My immune system has decided for some unknown reason to attack healthy cells and tissue in my body. Mostly around my joints. Lupus is a more commonly known version of this disease. If you had  Lupus your immune system would go after organs and tissue around them. So in a way I am lucky. Inflammatory issues involving my joints is a lot less dangerous than inflamed organs. However it still really sucks. My feet hurt, and so do my knees, hips, lower back, shoulders, elbows and most annoyingly my hands! 
I take a ton of meds but I still have a lot of pain. So what is the point of this post? Well, I am glad you asked. Yesterday I had my first treatment of something new. Laser therapy on my hands. Technically called Low-Level Laser Therapy or LLLT is not new but it is still a somewhat controversial treatment for various types of arthritis. But is is a noninvasive alternative treatment with no known side effects, so no harm is done. ( unless you count the cost of the treatments ) My Dad tried it out when he was suffering from Sciatica and it made a big difference. He went from hobbling about with two canes to being more or less normal within a week or so after only a handful of LLLT sessions. Anyway, to make a long story short, I had an LLLT treatment on both my hands yesterday and I am scheduled for another tomorrow. Hopefully, these treatments will help. After all, what is an artist without his hands!
   
  

Even my parent's dog, Sophie, an 11-year-old Schnoodle ( part giant Schnauzer and part Giant Poodle) was treated by her veterinarian with Low-level laser therapy.

So what else is new? Oh...Ya.. I finally moved all my computer gear into my living room, only to
realize



I still can't sit at a desk in an office chair. So now I am in the slow prosses of moving it all back into my bedroom. Lots of fun.....NOT!

Okay bye for now.

Illustration and art direction

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I don't even think anyone reads this. Lol. But I want to document my process and progress, if not for anyone else, at least for myself! When my memory starts to fail me.

After a long quiet period, I finally built my new workstation, and I'm just about finished with the software installation process. To break up the monotony of software installation I did a couple tests yesterday of some rendering styles that I'd like to work with on my first project out of the gate.

If you have read any of my earlier posts, you would know that I've been collecting 1/6th scale action figures and accessories to use in a stop motion film. However, before I actually animate anything I'd like to create an elaborate story board or set of illustrations. I still intend to photograph the characters in front of the blue screen, but I'd like to color correct them and apply some filters to give them a more painterly look. The pictures in this post are all processed the same way. The tank was created entirely in Maya 3D as was the giant trench digger. The Brad Pitt and Winston Churchill heads are photographs of the 1/6th scale models I possess.

I promise there will be a hell of a lot more to come, now that my computer is back up and running, my hands have healed, and my body is allowing me to work again. Somewhat! Lol

Why it is worth paying more for proper Green or Blue paint.

Why it is worth paying more for proper Green and Blue paint.













For years I listen to people debate about chromakey paint. There's the one side that swears all paint is created equal, and it's a waste of money buying something like Rosco professional chromakey paint. There are many people online who swear by Home Depot's Behr "Sparkling Apple" green paint. The thing is you can pay $50 for a can of paint from a home-improvement store or you can cough up $100 for a can of professional paint like Rosco's DigiComp green or blue. 

The differences $50! All this time and debate over a lousy 50 bucks. 

I Believe that the professional paint is better, and the video I linked into this blog post does a great job of explaining why it's better. 

Let me put it to you this way. Let's say I have a client that wants me to shoot a bunch of interviews on green screen. In the end I edit down all the footage to about three minutes of final footage that needs to be keyed out. Now I chose to paint my wall with the cheaper paint, and so I saved $50. Let's put that aside for a minute. 

Now let's assume I spend a couple of days comping all the talking head shots and putting in some corporate flying logo behind them. Let's assume for arguments sake that the cheaper paint gave me a little bit of a problem and I spent an extra four hours fiddling around trying to get a clean key. That $50 I put aside will not make up the difference in labor for those extra four hours. And this is just one job. I've painted the studio wall already and now every time a new job comes in I may have to account for a couple extra hours of work cleaning up my keys. It's ludicrous to me to try and save $50 upfront knowing that I may spend literally hundreds of hours over the next few years wasted on cleaning up crappy keys.

Why not just spend the extra 50 bucks upfront and get a cleaner shot every single time I have to pull a key from my green screen footage.

Anyway watch the video and you decide for yourself.

Robert Waterworth 

Finally work has begun on the studio!

After months of farting around and dealing with serious arthritic pain etc. I finally started working on the stop motion studio.

 

Tiny camera

This is an HD lipstick Camera the plugs into the USB port.
I got it on eBay for $15
The video quality is pretty damn good pretty comparable to an iPhone.

I bought it so that I could use it in my stop motion film where my full-size camera wouldn't quite fit, like say inside a vehicle.
Don't intend to use it for a lot of shots because the picture quality isn't the best but it's great for getting quick shots in tight spaces.
Comes with a 10 foot cable so it's pretty easy to wrangle around the set.

Robert Waterworth 

Nice surprise!

After almost 25 years in the industry, I finally got invited to a TIFF reception. Oh crap I'm washing my hair that night!

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