6/15/07 - Things have been crazy this last half year. Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare
went alpha recently. The hype for this game is almost double of what the last game was. People
all over the world are very excited for it and can't believe that the trailer is all in game
footage. I've done a lot of things on this game that have helped in the success thus
far. First off is creating the motion capture pipeline and conversion tools. I worked with
a guy from Dreamworks on coming up with a propriatary mocap blending system, which started off with an idea he had.
We worked together to build and implement it into our system and character rig from there.
After the basics were coded, I took over and rewrote it to fix a
lot of bugs and problems. At the same time I worked on merging it with animations tools I
was inventing and creating, such as a large networked pose library that works with mocap blending, a 'bake up, bake down'
system, a mocap conversion system to transfer raw mocap data into our rig, and a handful of other tools.
This resulted in our entire motion capture system being all proprietary and built in house as planned.
'Call of Duty 4' Trailer
Another thing I created over the length of the project is
a rope system that allows us to simulate realistic looking rope in the game. It is basically a rig system that
is built in script and mostly procedurally animated through scripts and plug-ins I've created, but occasionally there are some parts that
are just keyframe animated or edited.
Been doing a decent amount of API programming with Maya these days which has been a lot of fun.
Mainly animation and model export optimizations and additions, as well as a new tool or two.
Taking a Python class in a few weeks. Finishing up a version control program I made for a
side project for someone as well as just for programming learning and fun. A lot of large
problems to solve on that one. Works very similar to Perforce, except it inherently works
on FTP. I will be adding the ability to work on a network also. Finally I have been working
on a short story on the side about a gopher and a gardener with some friends. I created the gopher model and
wrote all the rigs for the short. Has been a lot of fun and I am able to add a handful
of cool things and have an unlimited pallet of animation deformers and such to make these
characters come alive. Been doing some animation also which is always cool, especially being
100% hand animated.
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10/08/06 - An episode of the highly popular TV show 'The Office' was aired recently that
featured 3 minutes about Call of Duty. You can watch it on YouTube.... Check this out, it is quite funny.
'Call of Duty 2' on 'The Office'
"You dont snipe in Carrentan! Ok?!"
Recently received more resposibilties and the things that come with that.
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9/23/06 - Starting two new courses this semester at UCLA to further my growing knowledge in
programming and Unix, 'C/C++ Functional and Object-Oriented Programming' and 'Intermediate Unix and
Linux'. Have the same instructors that I had in the Intro classes which is a great thing. My Unix
teacher really gets into the guts of the operating system as well as how computers evolved from Unix,
and has an impressive background of being an employee at JPL (Nasa's Jet Propulsion Labs). My
programming teacher also comes from a prestigious background and has been programming since
almost the early days of Fortran etc. He's a make or break type of guy and I wouldn't want it
any other way....hence his alias 'Professor Krazy'. Looking forward to another extremely enlightening
semester.
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3/26/06 - I completed C++ fundamentals using Visual Studio.NET 2003 class with an A. The
class was definitely well organized and a good compliment to my previous C course. I learned a lot
about C++ as well as the new managed code (MFC) for .NET and the program itself, which is very
powerful. I'm taking another run through with the notes because some of the concepts take some
getting used to. This semester I will take 'Introduction to UNIX and Linux' and take this to the
next level. After a year or so I'm guessing, I plan to get a Certificate Program in C/UNIX.
That means though that there is still a handful of courses I will have to take after this one,
including 'Advanced C Programming Techniques', 'Intermediate UNIX and Linux', 'UNIX and Linux Shell
Scripting', and 'Introduction to Perl with Applications to CGI Programming'.
On another note, we are moving into this brand new office that has all new age
design, game room, gym, awesome viewing room, all for Infinity Ward.
Theater room
The new work we are doing is
going very well. I'm adding all sorts of new ideas and 'inventions' to the pipeline. I'm doing mass
amounts of stuff as usual, trying to push everything to THE next level.
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1/12/06 - Well, it's a new and exciting year. Last year was a really good year for me. I
have really hit my mark and have been progressing quickly and steadily. During the end of last year
I continued my quest that I had started sometime ago, but was side-tracked for my love of computer
animation and the programs they run on. That quest is to become a skillful programmer of tools for
CG and other useful purposes. Last month I successfully completed a course in C programming, and
refreshed myself on a few topics I had learned at Wentworth, as well as becoming comfortable with
subjects in C that I had yet to cover thoroughly. This was mainly due to my being lucky enough to
have a hard core, old school instructor who made us do it the traditional way and to fully exploit
the use of important, abstract concepts such as pointers and also working with dynamic memory
allocation, structures and others.
Now that I have the basic foundation down, I will begin a
new course starting next week which will be the real beginning to efficiently creating plug-ins
and applications. The course is called C++ Fundamentals for Visual Studio.NET Platform, and the
course outline looks to cover a lot of very exciting concepts that I'm excited to explore and use.
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12/11/05 - On to the new games, and leveled up 15%. I'm now Lead Technical Animator on this game, with
two guys working under me doing some of the rigging stuff. I'm building one heck of
a pipeline now that includes all sorts of new tools and existing upgrades. Been to a lot of parties
and functions including launch parties, Christmas parties, and others.
Check out pictures of them
HERE. Infinity Ward and Activision definitely take good care of their
employees. I have to say, it has been incredible up till now to be part of a team that has created
such an amazing product. Furthermore, each person at work plays some sort of role in the process of
the production from concept, story line, creation, and post production. Makes the final result very
rewarding I think.
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10/23/05 - A lot has happened over the last handful of months. Call of Duty 2 went Gold
last week and is the first game ever to do so on these new Next-Gen consoles. The hype is really
high all over the world about the game, and the game is winning all sorts of choice awards. Spike
TV came by a few weeks ago and shot a show on the COD2 winner.
The host of Spike TV in the middle, the winner is the kid in the pinkish shirt,
and thats me on the far left. That is the vice president to the right of me.
The demo had around 2.5 million
downloads on the first week it was released. I am taking a C Programming course at UCLA to further
my knowledge on the subject, continuing from classes I attended at Wentworth Institute of Technology.
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4/16/05 - Been taking care of all of the technical aspects of the characters including
modifying and creating rigs, adding and updating the character pipeline, setup techniques and
optimization, and creating new tools for animators. Also do a lot of problem solving for issues
that come up with characters and animation, as well as keeping things in an organized and working
order. Toby McGuire stopped in yesterday to check out the game and hung out in the conference
room to play. Got to say hi but that was pretty much the extent of my interaction with him.
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3/12/05 - Got hired at Infinity Ward as a Technical Animator. Doing a lot of setup, MEL
scripting, problem solving, rig creation. Really enjoy what I'm doing and plan on expanding on
this aspect by furthering my programming knowledge. My skills in scripting and my knowledge of
Maya has been growing exponentially.
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12/06/04 - Santa Monica, here I come! Totally psyched, landed a job at a major game
company doing TA Animation/Setup on a contract basis. Area rules, company rules. Makers of
Call of Duty, yee haa! Love that game. Anyhow, the new chapter.
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7/24/04 - Just got back from a well needed vacation after sending out job applications. Went to
Cape Cod MA, did a lot of surfing, ate some good seafood, and relaxed with the family.
Surfs down...
I've been getting some positive responses for job offers, but am really
waiting on this one company I am interested in.
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6/08/04 - Well, a lot has happened over the course of 6 months. I was working full
time plus at Beeline Studios, a start up game asset company. Money issues have me now
moving on to other things. I have recently been putting my new reel together and will start
to send it out soon. I also have a recruiter in the process of talking with different companies.
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12/21/03 - Moving my work to an art studio with a couple of guys I've met recently
through friends, and continuing on some modeling and animation work with them. One of the guys
has asked me to join him on a company he's been working on. Updated my DupTool script awhile
ago and finally uploaded it. It's a lot more to the point and can be very helpful for general
even spacing at real time..
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9/25/03 - Been a long time since I've posted news. I have been extremely busy with
school and projects over the last few years, but it has slowed down recently.
I've been using this time to reflect on my animation classes, and have been gaining a much
clearer understanding and vision about the process of animation and story. I'll be revising and
updating a lot of my work over the next few months for my demo reel.
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1/20/03 - Working with Damage Studios on a demo for an upcoming MMORPG.
Check the jobs section for more info.
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1/11/03 - Big update on the site. Switched from using HTML to PHP, and added some
new things I've been working on.
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12/23/02 - Just finished the semester, but not actually. We have an extension on our
animations from Character Animation class, so I am going to keep working on my short "What Goes
Around". I am also in the process of planning my new short.
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12/02/02 - Got word that Ruin Hunters will be Janurary's issue of PC Gamer magazine's pick for "Mod of
the Month". Definitely made all the work that much more worth it.
View Game Trailer Here
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