Computer Graphics World

Education Supplement 2015

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4 2 0 1 5 E D U C AT I O N & R E C R U I T M E N T S P E C I A L Birthday L ife is full of surprises. In the comedic animated short film "Birthday," a tiny creature is born into an en- chanting alien jungle. Quickly, he learns some valuable life lessons. "Birthday" is the thesis film from School of Visual Arts (SVA) student Nick Tustin. And, it is certainly cause for celebration, as the project recently received a first-place Emmy at the 36th College Television Awards, and continues to pick up wins at various festivals. "Senior year, I basically lived in a lab, working on thesis films, and it was one of the most fun years of my life," says Tustin, who also assisted other students with their projects. Like all students in the SVA Computer Art program, he began his education by learning Autodesk Maya, and then was introduced to a mixture of VFX and CG. By junior year, he began specializing in lighting and matte painting, but continued taking general 3D classes, which exposed him to a range of technologies. "During senior year, everyone gets to know one another quite well, so we often end up helping one another on our films, since some people have different skills than others," Tustin explains. "It's uncommon for a student to be a true generalist. I had a few classmates help me with certain tasks [on my film], like comp'ing, some character modeling, and a bit of rigging and animation. I also delegated a few shots to be animated, and a few props to be modeled and textured by a handful of underclassman based on their reels and how much work there was to do. Nevertheless, I still took care of the majority of the work for the film in each skill set, along with carrying out the roles of director and producer." Approximately 99 percent of the work occurred outside of class, but Tustin still met with his thesis instructor to review and update his edits. Preproduction started halfway through his junior year, in early 2013. Production then began in the fall of 2013 and finished in April 2014. Tustin's interest in biology is apparent in the film. "I have a fascination with insects and macro wildlife footage, so I knew I wanted to do something in that realm. Once I came up with the idea of a naïve little bug struggling to survive in a brand-new environment, it was fun to devise scenarios where he'd be deceived by his surroundings." When designing the character, Tustin researched arthro- pods, as well as jungle fauna and flora for the sets. The film runs two and a half minutes – a length Tustin believed to be realistic based on his skill level. "I had other story concepts early on that had even more characters with simulations and hair, and a photorealistic style. But in the end, I decided to go with what would produce the best story. There were a couple of shots in 'Birthday' where I planned to use dynamics: the imposter acid shoot and the puff of pollen when the character falls on a flower." Since his knowledge of dynamics was limited, Tustin instead came up with faster solutions. He used blendshapes to animate the splash of acid by hand, and comp'd in footage of flour for the puff of pollen. The main character is a newborn, jelly-like bug. The shader, which took some time to develop, becomes more transparent and refractive near the end of his extremities. "The shader took longer to render, but with some optimiza- tion, Arnold handled it pretty well," Tustin notes. The modeling, animation, rigging, and lighting was done in Autodesk's Maya, and rendering with Solid Angle's Ar- nold. The artist used The Foundry's Mari to texture and the company's Nuke to render. Tustin rigged the main charac- ter with a customized version of The Setup Machine from Anzovin Studio, and the remaining characters and props using traditional methods. Unfortunately, he realized late in production that the main character's rig was unusable for walking. "Thankfully, he's flying for most of the film," says Tustin. "Creating the film was immensely helpful for developing my CG skills. It also helped me with learning how to direct and manage others," says the filmmaker. "Because of the close quarters in the computer lab, it was as much a good social experience as it was a technical and creative one," he adds with a smile. On a more serious note, Tustin maintains that the film taught him a lot about discipline and creative productivity. Without question, making a film is a lot of work, and there are many unforeseen problems that pop up. Yet, creating your own film is really enjoyable, Tustin notes. "Once you start to see the renders and your edit finally starts looking like a real film, it's very rewarding," he says. Currently, Tustin is working as a 3D artist at Taylor James, performing generalist CG work. If his award-winning short is any indication, his skills will continue to evolve as he experiences more "Birthdays" in his future. ■

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