I must be getting old…
It’s been a while, huh? I don’t think I have ever been this busy in my life. Not that I am not excited by it all but the workload I have now is pretty much doubled for me and I think more is coming. I need to start taking a look at what I have got goind on and weigh my options more so that I can slow my pace down a little. I never thought I would be saying this but I think I am tired.
Here’s the latest…
My new role as Head of CG Animation at March Entertainment is proving to be the right fit for me. It is everything I wanted to do and more. So far so good. I have a lot of responsibilities and a great deal of input into the projects, workflows and so on. I am really excited about this opportunity and happy to be a part of this company. There’s a lot of good things on the horizon for us at March and I can’t wait to get moving on all of the future projects we have coming. To top it all off the team is pretty cool. I am getting to know all of them and I am happy to say they are definitely a talented bunch of folks that really are into what they do. A big shout out to all the gang at March Entertainment in Toronto. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the March team in Sudbury, Ottawa and Los Angeles (and wherever else they house people).
I’m still Mentoring at AM and loving that too. Teaching two classes while all I have going on is proving to be tougher then usual. That’s mainly because I have more projects on the go then I have EVER had before. The current round of students I have in my classes are all fun to talk to and work with. They’re progressing pretty well. They all make my time at AM a great thing.
I’m still co-producing/Animation Directing on the short film “The Ottoman” with my friend Mike Stamm. Seeing as my day to day activities have sort of taken hold of most of my schedule thus far, Mike has taken the pre-production aspect of the process onto himself more so and done some wonderful things with the visual designs (thanks Mike). Some really great stuff is coming and I can’t wait to show more of the project. I also can’t wait to get to the animation process. Mike is doing his directing/producing thing and just running wild with it. It is looking so awesome. AWESOME, I tell ya!!! Just in case y’all never knew, the website for the production can be found at www.the-ottoman.com. Have a look at some of the stuff there. It’s cool!
Charles and I (pretty much the FUNhouse Interactive team) are now in the final stages of the 1.2x update to tradigiTOOLS. That’s our plug-in for Maya that helps CG animators (using Maya for now…hint hint) follow a more efficient, effective and fun animating method based on traditional animation practices. As always, this update will be FREE to already licensed users of tradigiTOOLS and we’ll be making further announcements on the progress on FUNhouse Interactive’s site (www.funhouseinteractive.biz). I am excited to say that March Entertainment has also hopped onboard the tradigiTOOLS family and now have a studio license for their CG projects. How cool is that!? Ya! Ya! I know! I know! I do have some influence there but I am not the one signing the checks so it is totally great to see the powers that be at March, have faith in what tradigiTOOLS can offer. The whole team is using tradigiTOOLS on our current project and we will be using it in future projects as well. NICE!!! Well at least I know I am enjoying the tools myself but I am a little biased. Sadly, I am not animating as much on this project but I do have plenty of other things going on to keep me busy at March. I am loving it. I did mention that right? Anyhow, Charles and I have other plans and surprises coming in the future for our FUNhouse Interactive things. More to come when it comes. Stay tuned by registering an account on our Community forums over at our site.
Before I end this I do want to thank someone who has really helped me over the years. A great friend more then anything else and a wonderfully talented professional. Charles Wardlaw, co-author of tradigiTOOLS, AM student, animator, super-human computer programmy man… THANKS!!!! You ROCK!!!
Cheers to all. I have to go and rest my tired old bones now. 
Ciao!
-Dimos
In: Animation, Life, Nothing Really Special, Work
on May 6, 2009 at 2:09 pm
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Hi Dimos
I’m so happy to hear all is going well at March and in your other projects! The Ottoman looks amazing and so appealing. I’m very much looking forward to the next version of Tradigitools!
I wish you well and can’t wait to see what’s next for you!
Take care!
Em
on May 12, 2009 at 3:04 am
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