Fried Chicken on a Stick

Long time no updates

2012-01-23T23:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I made a blog post, I promise that I will update with new work when I can. And hopefully I will have a new reel in mid may, maybe earlier. I have been hard at work for the past year. I was a Render/Production technician at SPI on Green Lantern, and am now working as an Associate Lighting TD on Men In Black III.

I haven't been updating because to be honest I haven't had much to update with. I was working the graveyard shift on Green Lantern and once I went onto over time everything kind of flew by. While I did use the time to learn the facility tools, and poke around a bit I am not able to show any of that work. Look forward to an update in the coming months, but for now I will leave you with this.

The future is now.

2010-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Swing from Nicholas Hoyt on Vimeo.

Here is a look at the future

2010-03-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

The HD revolution...

2010-02-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

You know ever since I got my HD tv I have been on the HD revolution bandwagon. This changed literally yesterday when I saw my first Bluray on a super HD tv in Best Buy. I was in the Magnolia center when I saw King Kong on one of the TVs. Lets first establish I am not a fan of this movie, but I am a fan of the visual effects. They are gorgeous... Until I saw them in HD. In SD the artifacting of the medium gives the effects a nice soft edge, and actually cleans them up to the point where they work well with the surroundings. In HD the effects were so harsh that it didn't make sense. The compositing was obvious, and the Occlusion on the shadows was not dark enough to create a convincing shadow under the models. Granted the only scene I got to watch was the fight in the jungle between the trexes and kong, but in SD it looks so much more impressive than it did in HD. Not to mention that in HD the effects strobe as a result of the sharpening filter that is present. I also caught a glimpse of Chicken Little in a different room. When I went to look at that I was not happy with the result. It had somewhat of the same problem the shadows were not dark enough, but the texture were also a problem. They were not detailed enough for HD, and it created a somewhat bland scene. Granted ILM uses overly large textures for their effects. It was rumored in TF that they used 16k and 32k textures. Those are gigantic but given how insanely compact the UVs had to have been it is fairly warranted. But chicken little was made before the advent of HD and unfortunately it seems fairly obvious.

Dumb words in common nomenclature

2009-12-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

This has been gnawing at me for a while now. Words like deplane which means to disembark an aircraft is one of the stupidest words I have ever heard. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary though the word itself has a foundation from 1923. I honestly cannot believe that since the word has only been in common usage in the past few years. The word itself makes no sense, and there are no other intransitive verbs for any other craft. Deboat, or decar for example. Because they sound dumb that's why. "for those of you who will be deboating at the port today please have your passports ready." Deplane sounds just as dumb, its just yet another shortcut around using multiple words. Disembark the aircraft sounds better, and does not make the flight attendant sound like a complete moron. Instead we have to listen to Tattoo tell us of all "de planes" around us in the airport.

Google Wave a new product for Trolls

2009-11-08T01:04:00.001-08:00

Google has finally done it. They have taken something that is a wonderful idea and given it to the trolls. The first public threads on wave that I came across were posts asking for images of "teh Sexie Womens" and trolls waiting for a response so that they can tell you how stupid you are. And then refer you to Wikipedia so that you can do some "RAFO" what ever the hell that means. I looked up RAFO, but I really don't think that the Royal Airforce of Oman has anything to do with anything. I'm guessing it has something to do with being uninformed. Not everyone is a Wikipedia Nazi Troll so get over yourselves. No one really cares anyway. Pro-tip it took you guys 48 hours to find Steven Colberts edits, and he did them on national TV. Don't worry though no one is counting except you.

Anyway Wave is really great to use, Its uses are endless, but I can totally see 4chan invading it when it goes public. When that happens it will basically become useless. Granted they may have a little fear because anon will no longer be anon. When the trolling really starts I have a feeling google will be powerless to stop it so enjoy the minor trolling while it lasts.

Draw With Me

2009-10-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so I came across this video, its rather depressing, but touching at the same time. The story is really simple, but packs a rather hard punch.

Batmobile Concept

2009-10-22T02:50:00.001-07:00

Here is a Batmobile Concept that I have been working on in my very sparse spare time. I recently took up drafting of a sort. I find the use on french curves, and the anal retentive nature of the drafting process in general very soothing.
The design is obviously not perfect, and needs a significant amount of work and detail in its current state, but its coming along nicely from where it originally started out. Sorry for the messy drawing, I'm currently too lazy to use PS to clean things up. Partly not really worth it.

weee blend test

2009-10-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

Times of day

2009-10-08T12:05:00.001-07:00

Finally finished this despite everything else that is going on.

Animation and Modeling: Beavan Blocker

Thesis things

2009-09-11T07:16:00.001-07:00

Character Turn Table

Some Environment Render Tests

Yet another thing I have been working on

2009-08-17T23:27:00.001-07:00

Animated by Mr. Thorpe, and I did the lighting, comp, effects, sound and also rigged the nun-chuck as well. Character model Matt Kummer.

Go here to see the concept pages that Sean came up with for how the weapon works.

So this is what I have been working on

2009-08-03T04:07:00.000-07:00

Morning, midday, and evening. Midnight coming soon. Also fully rendered and composited animation as well but that may take a little more time.

Animation file and models courtesy Beavan Blocker.
I textured and lit these.

3d Realms gone

2009-05-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well, more industry workers are out on the street with the shutdown of 3d realms. It also means that Duke Nukem is officially dead. I really wish it wasn't true, but the dream of a new duke nukem game coming out no matter how delayed it may have been is never going to happen. This is very sad.

Duke Nukem Gone Forever? I wish I hadn't said that.

Double Take

2009-05-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

More Slow Motion

2009-04-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty awesome video, its also a little gross. Who knew sneezes had so much expulsion involved.

Sneezing In Ultra Slow Motion - Watch more Funny Videos

Take 2 Render test

2009-04-04T23:42:00.001-07:00

Thats not a booger its a grape.

LipSync

2009-04-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

click the picture

Lipsync render

2009-03-01T22:29:00.001-08:00

Here is a midway lighting pass on my lipsync. I still have a couple lights to add, some light tweaks and some texture work to do but its on its way there.

Ok So...

2009-02-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

Only certain people will get this, but i was looking at what my ads look like on here, and I noticed this gem. Ya it pretty much made my day, now if it was only followed up by a hand knocking a glass of kool-aid off a table in a drunken stupor.

Emotion Test

2009-02-16T20:40:00.001-08:00

Click my visage for a video

mini update

2009-02-11T04:08:00.001-08:00

This is just so you know I'm still around and posting. I will be posting some of my ca stuff soon enough. Anyway update over back to work.

Pushing and Pulling, Crazy this time.

2008-12-09T11:59:00.001-08:00

Yet another ridiculous moment in america

2008-12-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

Billboards under attack

Of course free speech only applies to the people who follow the norm. Anyone outside of that is degraded, and attacked because they don't follow the crowd. This is so ridiculous people shouldn't have to fight for the right to speak their mind, much less be denied billboard space when they paid for it because people are irate about the billboards message. It's amazing that this is what people get mad about. The highways in this country are littered with three kinds of billboards, Pro God, Fireworks, and Porn. God forbid someone gets to break that tradition of a Pro God billboard being juxtaposed next to a 24 strip joint billboard. I mean seriously people are fucking ridiculous. If they really want to complain about something they need to be concerned about more important things than what a billboard says. Having a message on a board isn't hurting anyone its just giving someone else a voice other than the majority, and the majority never likes that.

The Liberty Dollar

2008-11-29T18:30:00.001-08:00

Liberty Dollar

I had come across this website a while ago, and had written it off as a scam. Because obviously they are selling you money for valuable money. Its funny because now that they have actually established themselves as being a possible alternate currency the government decided to step in.

Hence the FBI raid.

guess it wasn't a scam after all, just really illegal.

Petas worst attempt ever to make you feel bad

2008-11-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

This game is so much fun, i don't know how it could make you feel bad about eating meat. Way to go PETA you made me love the slaughter of innocent animals even more now than i did before. If the music wasn't so jovial I think I would have a little bit more of a response to it. But since the music is just so well happy i just can't stop myself.

The ducks annoy him, but he just can't wring their necks...

2008-11-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

Pushing, and pulling, but not in that order

2008-10-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Pete and his barrel o' fun

lipsync caricature

2008-10-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

best commercial ever

2008-10-18T11:49:00.001-07:00

Mr. W

Amination

2008-10-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my second pass for the push/pull assignment

clicky clicky

Here are some anatomy and figure studies

2008-10-12T23:38:00.001-07:00

Free Will ?!

2008-10-05T02:20:00.000-07:00

This post was an inevitability.

When you try to disprove this an answer will be given to the extent that you must trust God and his decisions that it makes for you in your life. Or that the universe is ever changing, and that "it has a plan."All of that is bullshit. Now if God is making decisions for you in your life then that takes away the vital human trait of free thought and freedom of choice. Having this removed from you gives God the advantage over you. This means that you don't have a choice in your actions, and what you do. Free will is removed from you, and therefore God doesn't exist. Now if God is Omniscient then he is able to know everything that you are going to do, but cannot act on those things that you are going to do. But on the other hand since he knows everything that your going to do he knows every possible outcome of your decisions. So therefore you are prejudged for your actions before you do them and free will is once again removed from your life. Is it possible for God to exist and for Humanity to have what is considered free will? Even more confusing is it possible for God to not exist and for Humanity to have free will?

In both cases Humanity doesn't have free will if God exists he controls all and shapes everything so Humanity cannot have free will. If God doesn't exist then Humanity cannot have free will because everything that we do is shaped by our previous experiences and how we perceive everyone around us. This isn't even based on Chaos Theory, but based on common interaction, and how people behave around each other.

A leader reacts to the way their followers are reacting to them, while a follower reacts to the way their leader is reacting to them so no one ever has the ability to act on their own. Even in a situation of love and relationships no matter how well you know your partner you are still reacting to their own reactions which are based on your reactions. So no one is ever in control. If I feel awkward in a conversation, the person I'm conversing with will inevitably feel awkward; because I project how I'm feeling and their awkwardness adds to my awkwardness. We never truly get the chance to express our feelings because we are unable to actually have feelings of our own without being influenced by others.

A perfect example of this is that actors use previous experience to get an emotion in their performance. This is known as the method, and in order to invoke it you have to dig into past memories to get either angry sad depressed etc. This is a perfect example of how we are not actually able to think for ourselves. In order to even get angry or sad two basic carnal emotions we have to invoke it through experience. So we are affected by people from our past without them even being there to affect us. All they do is control what people consider to be free will. Every action that you do in your life is controlled by something you have previously experienced. And that control is not minute, if you make a decision to not steal something it is driven by something a fear of getting caught, or just that you were told as a child that its wrong. That is a much bigger daily situation than just getting out of bed in the morning. If you make the decision to get out of bed its not because you want to, its because something external is driving you to get out of bed. There is an external force driven by other influences that makes us do everything that we do everyday. There is never a point in which we are able to decide for ourselves. If we choose a mate its because they remind us of someone or because they have traits that were driven into our skulls.

On top of all this we do have the idea of Chaos Theory itself. This is the theaory that everything in the Universe is driven by something from the past. Now its a much much more complex theory than that, but that is the most simplified version of it. It comes down to the fact that if I move a glass, there is the possibility that I have caused a hurricane or earthquake to rip through some town somewhere in the world. Or that simple action could have caused a scientist to find a cure for cancer. Its almost impossible to determine what causes what to happen, but it can show that control is not there in any way.

This is the way it is, and Free will is a pipe dream created to make people feel better about the decisions that they make. Because if we are not confident in our decisions whether or not we decide them for ourselves is irrelevant. Our non confidence will drive us to be unsuccessful, and at that point what good are we to society.

3D Character

2008-09-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here is my character that I'm working with. Pete the cowboy.

2008-09-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

I know people are always bitching about content, but this video was just too hard to pass up.

obviously because its awesome and secondly because its amazing the way the human face contorts.

the last one is the best one.

Designs!!!!

2008-09-24T19:06:00.003-07:00

Here are some finalized designs from DFA

Reel from last year

2008-09-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

I never got the compression where I wanted it to be for my reel last year, but I have figured some things out, and here is what I had last year at the end of the year for a finished reel. its 17 megs in size, but its compressed from a 2 gig file so there is a little archiving here and there but not bad for the amount of compression that went on.

Possible Threadless submission

2008-06-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

I took my blog Logo, and made it into a Tee-Shirt vote away if you want it.
It's Delicious!

here is a full res of my lighting for the church

2008-04-13T20:22:00.001-07:00

Set update

2008-03-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished set with most of the lighting done. I'm building a seperate light rig for my character so his lighting throughout the scene will be consistent.

Prop test

2008-02-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some props I have been working on.

I have been finding it harder and harder to sleep lately. Its not that I don't have the time to sleep, its just that I can't stop myself from working. I get so hyper after about two or three hours of work that when I actually want to wind down, I have to really think about sleeping.

The Fail Blog

2008-02-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

http://failblog.wordpress.com/

This is hilarious! All the ways people can fail, and it never really gets old. So if you need a good laugh check out the fail blog.

My character that I'm working with this semester

2008-02-08T21:27:00.002-08:00

Here is my cat buglar Jaques.

maquette

2008-01-03T16:16:00.001-08:00

First post of the new year, and since some peeps have been cryin for me to update my stuff here it is. Here is my maquette that I did over christmas break, the pictures are somewhat lo res, so until I get better pics taken with my camera this is all I have. They are courtesy of the isight on my laptop hence the poor quality.
The Maquette is about 16 inches tall, super sculpy mixded with super sculpy firm.

Chuck Norris is apparently the enemy

2007-11-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

Apparently he is a conservative asshole that enjoys shitting all over the ideas that our forefathers created. Just watch.

What backwards state has the bible as its textbook? Thats the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Maybe I give certain states too much credit in their thought process, but seriously no one should have to endure a history of the ancient world class that uses the bible as the text!!

Win Condition!!

2007-11-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

A mule kicking the living shit out of a cougar.

Next Model

2007-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here is the turnaround.

Here is ma penguin

2007-11-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

In the end I enjoyed this project a lot, but knowing what I know now I would have approached it completely differently. One thing that did happen was a lot of learning, and intense head banging against the wall next to my desk. Also this project induced a lot of Hackers, amd Big Lebowski watching; Also Das Boot and Crimson Tide. Bear in mind this is sped up and has funny music to lighten the mood.

Favorite Movie

2007-11-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

What is your single favorite movie? I'm sure that the decision is not as easy as you would think it is. The funny thing is that a lot of people would tend to gravitate towards a movie they may not like as much, but is viewed as a great movie. Its funny to make a decision based on popular culture. Although everyone does it continually and daily, popular culture plays a highly subconscious role in your life. I know that I cannot answer this question with the name of a single movie. I know that if I answer this question there will be multiple answers, and yes, some will be driven by popular culture; while others will drift far from the popular idea of great movies. So I commit you to answer this question. What is your single favorite movie?

Layout Yo!!

2007-10-24T07:22:00.001-07:00

An interior for an outhouse you would never enter without a biohazard suit.

Living off Campus and taking people for granted

2007-10-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

You know the last few years I have lived off campus, and when I lived on myrtle st. it wasn't that big of a deal because I was 5 minutes away from school not even really, and I could go see my friends whenever I wanted. I really took that fact for granted, I never realized how good I had it living that close to school, but technically I was off campus. I miss being so close to the campus in all truth I'm not that far away still its only a fifteen minute drive down the street without traffic, but its much further, and I miss out on a lot of the opportunities to be part of the community that I was once part of. Its much more like a job to live a distance from campus, you go to work every day. My work is fun and enjoyable don’t get me wrong, but I have a strangely different opinion of how to get things done now that I am further away from everyone and everything. I never realized how hard it would be adapting to all my friends moving away. I may be able to make new ones, but it’s so hard not having my group of close friends near by. The adaptation to a business style life is not a bad thing it was order that I desperately needed in my life, but it is very hard for me to accept the loss of constant friendship that comes with being on campus and close to the "action." In all truth I know that if I lived in the dorms I would be bitching about living in the dorms, and how awful dorm life is. Although it may be tempting to want to move back into the dorms, I know that it would not be a good idea. I have lived on my own for long enough now that a move like that into such a confined space would be very detrimental to my mental health. I think ultimately it may just take looking for a place somewhat closer to school, but not in the neighborhood I was in previously.

Primitive Theater

2007-10-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here are my models for primitive theater. I have a pitcher and a runner, and in short the runner gets beaned for trying to steal a base.

New Logo

2007-09-15T10:40:00.001-07:00

15 minutes in Illustrator and Bam I have a new logo. Simple and it works.

Figured Everyone would get a kick out of this

2007-09-14T03:07:00.001-07:00

Priceline Ne-Go-Tiator, Everyone loves Bill Shatner enojy.

What a night!!

2007-09-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

I bought a brand new Asus CD/DVD combo drive, and I was installing it tonight. When lo and behold my CMOS decides to change my boot order not that it really matters, but it does when your computer no longer recognizes your drives, and seems to forget that you put in a new CD drive. Anyway so I muddled around the CMOS setup trying to figure out what the hell went wrong to no avail. After changing file formats, unplugging, plugging in, obviously afraid my computer was now under powered because the new drive is much better than my old one. I frantically tried to figure out what was wrong, bearing in mind the worst happened and my hard drive had a brain fart and wouldn't work any more. So after a few hours of pondering how to fix the problem I came back to my computer and in a last ditch effort went to abits optimized defaults that they have automatically setup in their CMOS settings; this is the one and only time you will ever hear me say this, ABIT saved my computer. Their settings apparently did the trick; a trick that is not known to me, but who cares my computer is now up and running again and I'm happy that I don’t have to reinstall windows. On a side note the Asus Combo burner I bought is amazing It was only 29 bucks, and burns CDs at 52x and DVDs at 24 x it’s a beast for the price, and I suggest picking one up if you are a hardware head like I am. I think what really happened was that my motherboard couldn’t stand the competition being installed as a CD drive, but in the end it had to give in because it knew it wouldn’t get used any more.

At least this didn’t happen to my comp thank god although it was close.

Temple of Shadows

2007-09-12T12:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a Layout design I created from tree roots. I really tried to push the idea out of the box; instead of just creating a castle or fortress built out of the roots I morphed it into a much more complex idea.

Bruce Timm Model Sheet Wallpaper #2

2007-09-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

After I found the turnarounds for TAS I decided to look around for other Batman related designs, and I came across a collection of model sheets for batman beyond. Here is the compilation of sheets, its 2560x1600. If you find any you would like added once again link me and I will be happy to add it.

New Wallpaper

2007-09-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

For all you batman TAS fans out there here is a compiled model sheet of heroes and villains. Bruce Timm is such a visionary, he was able to reinvent batman into a wonderful vision. He also basically brought interest back to batman after many years. Its 1600x1200; I couldn't find a turnaround for Robin or the Riddler if you find one link me so I can add it.

Possibility of overworking ones self

2007-09-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

Is it really possible to over work your self? Seriously most people don’t realize how much they can actually work until they are really exhausted, and truly cannot work anymore. Recently I was told that I was working too much, with the tacked on you will make us all look bad comment added to it, and this made me think. Is it really possible to work too much when you actually enjoy what you are doing? Is it even work to begin with when you enjoy it?
This comment about making others look bad made me think. If you don’t have the work ethic to make your self look good, then in all truth why are you complaining in the first place? I have no sympathy for people who complain about ridiculous things such as a poor work ethic, and not being able to finish assignments on time. If the assignment is regimented to X amount of days, then obviously you have plenty of time to finish it in that time frame.
I have noticed that in comparison to my Illustration work from my previous degree I am already enjoying this much more. It may be more mentally taxing, but I have already been able to revamp my schedule so that I am up early, and in bed at around midnight. It really helps that I cannot work from home anymore really. Part of my previous lack
of work ethic was that I had no reason to work in the labs at school because I had everything I needed at home. And since I was at home it always felt as if I could put work off until another day and so on and so forth. Obviously this lead to procrastination and poor sleeping habits etc...
I always found it hard to work in the illustration labs, because instead of feeling that everyone around me was there to help me if I ran into a problem; it felt more like everyone there was my competition, and also I felt as though my work was being constantly judged by everyone around me. I guess in the field of illustration that is true, but at the same time it is really hard to view your friends as your competition instead of just your friends. I guess that thought right there is why I hated it so much; I'm a helper by nature so I don’t mind giving people advice etc... But it’s really hard to view my friends as possible enemies in the future instead of possible workmates. It also doesn’t help that the faculty help to procreate this feeling of faux competition instead of an environment that would benefit us.
Well anyway that ends my rant for the day, onto work!! :D

New stuff

2007-09-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple ball bounces from traditional, and a second pass on my CA ball bounce. There is squash and stretch etc. in this one.

First Concept Assignment

2007-08-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

We had to do character designs based on observation and characterization. I did some observations and then finally decided on a design to work with and here it is.

Still Life

2007-08-27T00:25:00.001-07:00

Here is my first assignment for my CA class. We had to design a still life to get used to using the program. Be on the lookout for more updates, I have been filling my sketchbook pretty quickly so the next post will probably be character designs.

Not much doing

2007-06-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

Havn't been doing to much lately, but here is a wallpaper I made for all to enjoy. Its for the Dark Knight, can't wait for the movie. I'm working in
maya, slowly learning the software, and trying my hand at different things.

So the whole new posts thing.

2007-05-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

My posts will probably not be happening too often for a while well untill i create something decent in maya over the summer that I want to post. Until then I will be working and watching movies. So check back from time to time for updates, but also dont be mad if there isnt one. :D

Blog Song

2007-05-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

Added the official blog song, Rolo Tony Brown Town from the Tim and Eric Awesome show.

More arting.

2007-05-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

School is out, and the year is over. We are graduating into the world and here is more arting to open up this worldlyness with.

First post in Brown Town

2007-05-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Brown Town, the place where dreams are made, and then powerfully crushed under my mean dream machines hammer. Never thought that I would ever have a blog, was technically not my
style I guess. I will be updating as regularly as possible with arting items, and things i find interesting. Not that you will find them interesting but I do and thats all that matters.