As mentioned, it’s been my good fortune to participate on projects directed toward the entertainment world, commercial production, and technical research and development. In so doing I have had the opportunity to work with some of the best talent in the industry and most creative partners.
Software
Commercial Production
Games
Film FX and Television
Intellectual Property (IP) Development
Software
Neovisuals.
Neovisuals was a fully developed 3D animation, modeling, and image compositing package targeted to the broadcast and product design market. It also appeared as a product called “Spectre”, available through 3M’s broadcast products division. The software was first developed (as most packages were at the time) with a command line interface at its core (ex: “move square.o;1 to x=0 y=0 z=1 $copy 1”, etc). This made it robust and highly script-able but ultimately challenging as a graphics package. Technical types loved the command level, artist’s…not so much (try plotting 3D coordinates non-visually at the command level). The trend to GUIs (Graphic User Interfaces) soon pushed the company to develop a fully functional interface. This was my first exposure to user-experience testing and interactive design. Our direct interaction with coders and engineers as expert users and sales-support specialists (formally we were pegged as “marketing”) was more effective than might be expected. Most software engineers are eager to learn how their work is received, and what problems need solved; the more challenging design discussions generally being reserved for senior levels. But truth be told, no one feels more like a band of brothers (and sisters) than after pulling all-nighters before the unveiling of a new version of the product at a big electronics show…! The product was advanced enough to be acquired by software maker SAS for its own graphics requirements but possibly always too late to the game in the broader market.
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Commercial Production
Projects at an ad-driven production studio covered a range of consumer products. We created post-effects and fully CG sequences for everything from product spots to amusement park rides, from station ID’s to stereo 3D IMAX films like “Imagine“
. These were still relatively early days in the industry – with only one 3D IMAX theatre to review full scale results in Montreal Quebec. So nothing surprised me more than when our research and calculations actually produced a floating rendered brain in the middle of the room! A nod to science enthusiast and expert here to Jay Ingram (host of CBC radio’s “Quirks and Quarks”, Discover Channel’s “Daily Planet” and author of many internationally recognized science book titles) who helped introduce us to neurological specialists as we struggled to visualize its complex structure and functions. The commercial production world remains (to me) the best place for young production talent to get a variety of very high quality, fast turn-around projects under their belts.
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Games
Phoenix3 (3DO). S.C.A.R. (aka “The Condemned”, Microsoft Games). TriplePlay Baseball (EA Sports). SSX (EA Big).
My first game with Graymatter Inc was Phoenix3, a side-scroller t
hat incorporated a mix of 2D and 3D rendered animation. The restricted colour palettes and frame rates were challenging, but even the best rendering engine would not have offset the less impressive game play qualities 🙂 The sci-fi action game did however include some strong “FMV” (Full Motion Video) sequences that we created. In comparison, the Microsoft Games “S.C.A.R” 3D mech warrior style project raised the bar the bar though, with engine writer Andi Smithers and his team pulling rabbits out of hats. The project changed a few executive hands and may have overshot a little however in the sheer volume of creative elements, game-play options, and levels – pushing milestones and sleep cycles off schedule. In its life, the project also changed hands (and vision) more than once which can carry its own challenges.
My move to Electronic arts as Art Lead exposed me to a large pipeline and unique “Producers” vs “Production” philosophy/structure. Oh, and a separate game-testers breed that apparently existed somewhere well under-ground and reported often… As a sports title, Triple Play Baseball did not aim to brea
k any huge molds; rather relying on improved motion (via motion-capture systems with actual baseball pros), graphics quality (palettes, polygon counts, and textures), and more accurate game-engine dynamics. Somewhere in between the left brain (engine coders) and right brain (production artists) hemispheres was a bridge filled by people like myself and other technical support “tools” specialists who developed a “nodding” knowledge of each side’s requirements. My technical counterpart amazed me by recognizing the animator’s frustration of having to re-assign motion to character models every time a new version of rig was updated. In very little time he humbly revealed an “Animan” app that could allow us to drag and drop any new model or motion onto each other seamlessly – something I have yet to see demonstrated in the animation production packages to this day. I remained with EA through the early conceptual phases for snowboard “boardercross” franchise hit 
SSX. Executive producer/creative director Steve Rechtschaffner seemed intrigued by my explanation of the emblem of my 1967 classic Camaro SS (Super Sport) car emblem and I believe seized upon the implications of “Super-sizing” the game experience he had in mind. I returned to Toronto as character and world building design was underway.
At my new
company CORE Digital Pictures, I had the opportunity to supervise the production of Rockstar Games’ Midnight Club 3 promotional video sequence that was integrated in the release. Marvelous animation work and direction by Jesse Bradstreet.
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Film FX and Television
Angela Anaconda (Decode/DHX, Fox, Teletoon). The Time Machine (Warner Brothers Pictures, Dreamworks SKG). Save’ums (Decode/DHX, Discovery Kids. Dan Clark Productions). Salem Witch Trials (Alliance Atlantis). Chop Socky Chooks (Decode/DHX, Aardman Animations). Iggy Arbuckle (Blueprint Ent/E1, National Geographics Kids, Teletoon). 5 Boys and a Garden Hose (CORE Digital Pictures, Teletoon, Disney).
The popular sindicated Angela Anaconda series was developed and animated using a hybrid of live-action, multi-angle photo images. The automation of the images and their hierarchy of body and face parts was controled through CG package Houdini from SideFX Software (a very flexible, technically robust graphics package. Images were collected, adjusted and integrated with other hand-drawn elements to achieve a very unique visual result/experience. A good sign for any series is the amount of laughter during creative sessions – and few can match the humour Paul Brown brings the table. Some other stand-outs include animation director Jennifer Dickie, and art director Davian Bobrowska who helped solve our colour and look development challenges.
Houdini was the FX tool of choice for the studio and was used on both The Time Machine sequences and Salem Witch Trials – both of which required specialized “flockin
g” algorithms for bats and birds, courtesy of CORE’s software coders Mark Visser/Rob Pieke, and rendered wonderfully by Snr lighter Terry Bradly. Houdini however (at least at the time) was not the package of choice for character animation, and so I moved the group to the more industry standard “Maya” product (serving at least to allow access to an artist pool that tended to know it more widely from school). 
This produced the animated CG series The Save’ums, which took advantage of some ready plug-ins and specialized lighting models enabled us to produce rapid results. Amortization of elements is the name of the game in series production, and so we developed processes to track shots, models, and animation that could be re-used as episodes continued. Much thanks to the Production Managers and Coordinators to keep the wheels in motion. Bless them.
Chop Socky Chooks was one of the most richly creative shows I have had the chance to work on – in this case as Series Supervisor at CORE. Created and directed b
y Aardman’s extremely energetic and cool Sergio Delfino, the series (which was picked up by Teletoon and in the U.S. on Cartoon Network) benefited from a direct co-production relationship; Aardman handling design and stories, while we built the shows from assets to final edit. I should stress that I have rarely dealt with more hard working and gifted talent as Aardman had to offer the project. With serious cost and schedule challenges in front of us – and a sophisticated visual look target – it remains a significant accomplishment for all involved. The pipeline (relying on elements from a variety of packages including Maya, Shake and Fusion 2D node-based compositing & FX tools, adobe creative suite products, and a range of 2D and 3D modeling/surfacing tools and plug-ins) was a solid “bridging” effort that utilized special purpose python scripts/tools to manage hand-offs from department to department – conceptually envisioned and directed early on by CG animation phenom Warren Leathem. Equal credit deserved by Asset supervisor Shervin Shahidi, production managers Jody Jessop (a natural) and Danielle Kinsey, Decode producer Janice Walker, and many many fun, talented, and dedicated team members in pulling this one off.
Iggy Arbuckle (created by Guy Vasilovich) began concurrently, and achieved 
some unprecedented Flash animation quality (many at the time believing it to be traditionally animated). CORE partner John Mariella and myself assisted the direction and supervision, but the episodes were solidly directed run under episode directors Paul Brown and Bill Speers and animation directors like Ben Pinkney and other fine talent. The main tools were Flash and Photoshop, with asset/production management software Tactic being utilized for the first time in the studio.
CORE’s first IP (Intellectual Property) development opportunity, 
“5 Boys and a Garden Hose”, came about through a development deal with broadcaster Teletoon who was impressed enough with our creative and production potential (landing the Disney Feature at the time did not hurt). CORE’s Gary Mundell had a created the boys comedy concept which was successfully (and hilariously) completed as a pilot for producing partners Teletoon and Disney) I was involved only in a support role once the pilot was under way and was impressed with some new tools including Storyboard Pro to help further digitize the process (managed and introduced by Paul Anderson). Powerful touchscreen Cintiq monitors were often used in the pipeline as well. I retain hope of seeing the very fun and deserving series – or something like it – airing soon one day 🙂
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Intellectual Property (IP) Development
When I moved to help establish Chemistry Entertainment Inc – a creative development arm for TV, Web, and Mobile content – with commercial group Topix, I was able to bring with me a couple of unique property concepts I developed with some particularly gifted artists/designers. One was an existing overseas property that originated during a very successful publication run in the UK of a (mostly boys) spoof magazine called Viz Comics. It was called Black Bag (a parody I believe of an old “Lassie”-like traditional comic strip named Black
Bog about a helpful Border Collie), and was created by rare creative gem Graham Murdoch. For some reason that no one really cared about, Graham had replaced the main collie dog character with an anthropomorphized garbage (or “dust-bin) bag. The resulting character (who is intelligent enough to get himself and his hair-brained master out of disastrous scrapes) developed into one of the most oddball and unique characters I have come across. Certainly I felt, that if the kids of the world could love a sea-sponge, they would like be open to an equally entertaining friendly
garbage bag! Graham and I, with help from gifted conceptual artist Keith Lee, developed the adaptation of the property toward a wider family audience that would appeal to new viewers and older fans alike. For a taste of the story development, feel free to enjoy the following outline.
Another wonderfully conceived project named “Sum Gals” came out of some creative discussions with acclaimed Toronto designer and collectibles artist Hoi-An Tang who offered equally unique creative ideas. The resulting girls property concept is cute, contemporary, and very cool. I can imagine it being widely enjoyed internationally, and offer some of the entertainment qualities that existed in Anagela Anaconda.
I continued to help identify properties for Chemistry to develop which would both indicate the creative talent/potential at the studio as well as the rang
e of audiences and age-groups it can adapt to. One of the first was an internally developed concept (a comedy mostly for boys) called “Run Human Run” which follows the humorous challenges of a group of gamer-nerds who become the unwitting heroes and last hope to the save the planet from an invading robot army from space. From their high-tech abandoned military bunker, the crew are delighted to learn the control systems accept console game controllers! Some inspired designs from the Topix animation crew and some fresh writing/script development from budding screenwriter Tony Johnson.
Soon after, I was given the opportunity to connect with web/app developer Rich Williams who remains to me one of the coolest, funny, dads a kid could have. A 
tech-savvy ex skateboarder and one time amateur car-jumper, Rich originated a property concept that took advantage of his realization that he and his kids had naturally combined skateboard moves with toy cars – an idea he was right to presume that was ripe for the new generation. The result was a series, toy, and game concept
we developed into a product called Tach Thrashers. The short trailer and proof of concept animation showed the wisdom of utilizing commercial artists wh
o were able to build, animate, and render very high quality sequences in literally a few days. Some excellent support artwork/designs from freelance artists Michele Assarasakorn (environments), and vehicles by Raymond Xu.
During this time I had connected with some particularly 
savvy and creative music producers Boomtang Records (Tony Grace/Rob Deboer) and a creative partnership was formed for a new music-based product called “The Gizmods”. 
The Gizmods were a band conceived out of some exceptional conceptual artwork from Topix’ own Kim Leow – designs that were both cute, merchandisable, cool, and friendly to international markets. My suggestion was to develop the band (who were effectively space-born cast-aways) into a sort of rising underground pop/rock/hip-hop/dance sensation for kids. Boomtang, who had achieved earlier acclaim through its gold record selling, viral Internet 
hit “Hamster Dance Song”, was into creating similarly catchy tunes to help drive the band and concept. The G’mods were born, and were identified as a suitable property to debut on the music side – specifically in the on-line digital realm. Their debut song “Whole New Day” debut on iTunes, with more hits in production to follow.
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| Special Projects |
| Web Analysis and Visualization Applicaton, R&D (Topix Computer Graphics In, NRC IRAP Program), Project Leader Web and Mobile Applications Survey (Realspace Digital Technology Inc.), Research Director |
| Intellectable Property Development |
| The Gizmods(Chemistry Entertainment Inc, Boomtang Music), Creative Director – music release,series development Run Human Run(Chemistry Entertainment Inc), Creative Director, original production Black Bag (Doug Masters, Graham Murdoch), Creative Director, adaptation for series |
| Television Animation |
| Chop Socky Chooks(Decode Entertainment/DHX, Aardman Animation),Production Supervisor Save’ums(Decode, Dan Clark Productions),Director Angela Anaconda(Entertainment), Director Iggy Arbuckle(Blueprint Entertainment), Direction Assistance (Episodic) The Dating Guy(Blueprint, Marble Media),Creative Consulting/Development Franny’s Feet (Decode Entertainment), Art Direction/Look Development |
| VFX |
| Salem Witch Trials(Alliance Atlantis, Spring Creek Productions), VFX Animation Director The Time Machine (Warner Brothers Pictures), VFX Animation Director Goldfever (Goldfever Films Inc), VFX Animation Director Imagine (Wild World Films), VFX Animator |
| Games |
| SSX Snowboarding (Electronic Arts), Art Lead, Contributing Design/Concept Triple Play Baseball (Electronic Arts), Art Lead (3D) The Condemned (Microsoft Game Studios), 3D Art Lead Phoenix 3 (3DO Entertainment), Snr 3D Artist (3D) |