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Meet the XSI Dream Team...

Todd Akita
3d Technical Director, PSYOP

Originally trained as a painter, Todd turned his attention to computer graphics shortly after graduation from art school.

In 2000, after years of freelancing and teaching in the New York area the founding partners of PSYOP asked him to join their small but immensely talented team. Since then, PSYOP has continued to grow steadily and has evolved from a small boutique to a large-scale studio operation.

Recent PSYOP projects include work for some of the world's most recognizable brands, including but not limited to Mercedes, Infiniti, MTV, Renault, Bombay Sapphire, AT&T, McDonalds, Nike and Coca-Cola.

David Andrews
Animation Director,
The Orphanage

David Andrews graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1982 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Film Studies. He enrolled in Sheridan’s Classical Animation Program, where his student film, Trouble With Joe won the school’s Kodak Award.

In 1987 Andrews began a six-year period of freelance commercial animation, including positions as Assistant Director to Derek Lamb at the National Film Board of Canada and Assistant Director of a Saturday Morning show for WDR-TV in Cologne, Germany.

In 1993 he moved to California beginning his career in computer graphics animation. In March of 1998 Andrews completed work on his animated short, Tweet Tweet Sludge, a hand-drawn cartoon about birds and frogs living in an oil refinery.

Bradley Gabe
Senior Creature TD,
Stan Winston Studio

It was at SIGGRAPH in 1995, while watching a presentation by Industrial Light & Magic at the Softimage User Group that Bradley realized his career path. After a short time doing character work at a small games company, he returned to his native South Florida to attend graduate school in computer science and work on commercials.

A few years later, he moved into high end 3D, joining up with the team at Quiet Man in New York where he helped create effects for national campaigns including Gillette's Mach 3, Chester Cheetah, and the award winning AT&T Blue Line Guy.

Bradley left New York for the West Coast, where he joined ILM as a creature TD, working on Van Helsing, Harry Potter 3, Son of the Mask, and Lemony Snicket. Since then, he has been a creature and pipeline consultant for clients including Paramount and Stan Winston Studio, where he continues to work as the Senior pipeline and creature TD.

Greg Punchatz
Senior Creative Director,
Janimation

Greg developed his artistic skills at an early age in Dallas, TX, creating creatures and sci-fi/ fantasy clay models.

He provided make up/prosthetic effects for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Robocop (all three films), Coming to America, Beauty and the Beast (TV series) and Spy Kids 2. He also designed creatures for the 1993 best-selling first-person shooter Doom.

An XSI user since version one, Greg started his 3D career at Janimation (Dallas, TX) contributing to the Area 51 game trailer for Midway games. He relies on SOFTIMAGE|XSI to produce commercials, visual effects, and pre-viz sequences for clients.

And Your Host...

Alex Lindsay
Chief Architect, Pixel Corps

Alex has been involved in computer graphics for nearly 20 years. He has extensive experience in digital production including print, real-time graphics, multimedia titles, forensic animation, television, and film. He spent several years on the production of Star Wars: Episode 1 (at JAK Films and then at Industrial Light and Magic). Alex has taught at the Academy of Art and at the San Francisco State Multimedia Studies Programs. He writes for 3D Magazine, 3D World, and Post and is a regular guest on TechTV.

Softimage Production Challenge

Date & Time: Sunday, August 5th, 12:00 PM
Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, One Market Place, San Diego, California Map >>
Room: Del Mar A&B

Register for this event

Imagine this: with an important pitch around the corner, you and three colleagues need to turn a character concept and a simple storyboard into a short, high-quality shot that you can present to a client. Sounds simple enough, right? The catch - you’ve only got one day to get it done.

Sound familiar? Have you ever wondered how others would take on this challenge?

On Sunday, August 5th, please join MC Alex Lindsay (Pixel Corps) for the inaugural Softimage Production Challenge and watch four of the CG industry’s top artists & XSI gurus work together for the first time - and for one day only - during SIGGRAPH 2007.


The Tick Tock Man, star of the Softimage Production Challenge

Starting with a concept drawing, the XSI dream team of Todd Akita (PSYOP), David Andrews (The Orphanage), Bradley Gabe (Stan Winston Studio) and Greg Punchatz (Janimation) will model, rig, animate, light, and render a character - right before your eyes.

You’ll learn from the pros how to plan and execute a small but complex project on a very tight deadline—from logistics, to workflow, to division of labor. You’ll also find out how powerful, non-destructive SOFTIMAGE XSI workflows allow artists to work in parallel to achieve the best results in the shortest time.

Space is limited, so register today. Attendees can register for as many sessions as they would like. Food & beverages will be provided.

And to see how it all turns out, don’t forget to register for the Softimage SIGGRAPH User Event, where we’ll be presenting the results of the production challenge.

Schedule

The Softimage Production Challenge is divided into four 2-hour sessions: modeling, rigging, animation, and shading/lighting. In each session, one artist must begin his part of the production, and achieve a useable result to pass to the next artist. Artists are expected to go over their time limits, but will be able to work in parallel to reach a final version of the shot in eight hours.

Part 1: Modeling (1:00 PM - 3:00PM)

Working from the creature design, the modeler will rough out the geometry. He’ll plan out a modeling strategy and decides on the best techniques. Before his 2 hours are up, he’ll need to pass at least a rough model along to the rigger.

Part 2: Rigging (2:30 PM - 4:30PM)

Starting with the modeler’s rough geometry, the rigger will begin building an animation rig that suits the creature design and storyboard requirements. Flexibility is the key here, since the rigger will need to update his rig with new geometry as the modeler passes on more refined versions of the geometry. After two hours, the rigger must have an animateable rig ready for the character animator.

Part 3: Character Animation (4:00PM - 6:00PM)

The character animator will block out and finesse the animation according to the storyboard, knowing full well that he’ll have to transfer the animation from one version of the rig to the next, as the rigger gets closer to the final version. After two hours, the animator must pass a version of the animated character to the texture/lighting artist.

Part 4: Shading/Lighting (5:30 PM - 7:30PM)

The shader/lighting artist will light the scene, develop the look, and set up render passes, fully expecting to transfer materials and settings from one version of the mesh to another, as the modeler, rigger, and animator all send their changes. He’ll need to work quickly because shot must be ready to render after two hours.

Additional Technology Provided by:

Softimage would like the to thank the following companies for providing additional technology for the Production Challenge:

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