Sunday, August 20, 2006

WDCC: "Mistress Of All Evil"

Malefeciant, Marc Davis's most elegant designs and one of the most striking Villains ever is captured in her climatic element in this spectacular sculpture by Kent Melton.
Much of her designs "coolness" comes from the amazing use of her Black/purple gown throughout the film.The way it moves and the fiery shapes it makes.
And this sculpture does a wonderful job of capturing that same majesty as a very furious & frustrated Maleficiant casts a spell of thorns on Sleeping Beauty's Castle to prevent her evil spell from being broken!
This piece was sooo hard to find...its a piece from 1997 and was the first in the Villains Series. :-)


Friday, August 18, 2006

"Blvd.Efil"Premier Today

Finally, its done!!!

It will be screened today at the Sheridan College Auditorium. Looking forward to seeing for the first time with an audience.
I know most of u are not local...but for whatevr its worth, woudl have loved to have u in the audience!
Here are some images of the look that i was experimenting with in the last few days...but i finally ended up taking it in a totally different direction(as per the Main Title).

Friday, August 04, 2006

"Blvd.Efil"Scene 11 Rough Animation

YAY! I just warapped the animation last night! 10 days to go and have to come up with the look , enviorment, lighting, rendering etc etc!
This is the rough animation for the last scene i just finished...the camera is temp..not the final angles and moves.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

"Blvd.Efil"Scene 07 Rough Animation

To Touch or NOT To Touch....THAT..is the question!!
:-)

LAst 13 days..nearly done!!:-)

p.s The ribbon is hand animated not a Dynamic simulation or whatevr...and i guess it goes without saying, that by the end of this film i HATE ribbons!!

Monday, July 31, 2006

People & Places


I took this pic last year in a small villiage in India. Something about the young & the old i find quite fascinating.
They both represent such contrasts in terms of what they represent & where they stand in life,but yet also so extremely similar at the same time !

Monday, July 24, 2006

2D Feature In Develpment At WDFA!!

OKKKkkkkk....finally the news people like me have been dying to hear!...it seems its confirmed...there IS indeed a Definate 2D film project under development at WDFA.
And its being developed by (not so surprisingly) Ron Clements & John Musker.
And the project is..."The Frog Princess"!!!
Was hoping for (the now canned??!?)"The Snow Queen"to get the honour of bringing back the great Disney 2D Animation tradition, but hell...am not complaining,this will do just FIIIIINE!!
Yay! :-)

Sunday, July 23, 2006

TB's Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3D

One of my fav. original story /characters ever....cant wait to watch it in theatres and in 3D!
Here is the poster for the Re-release.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

WDCC: "You So Totally Rock,Squirt"

This JUST in!!:-)

I could not seem to get the pics i wanted with this one. A really weird shape...but amazing though!!
Its cool that both the turtles are connected to the wave at only one place (Crush's right hind fin)...it actually looks like they r floating...simply remarkable design and weight balancing!!


Saturday, July 08, 2006

In Theatres : POTC Dead Man's Chest (Review)

Yes it a bit too long, yes its a bit too overly complicated (or tries to be)... BUT i thouroughly enjoyed it!
Considering the genre it belongs to...i think its the best "Summer film" of this summer over the impossible missions and super heroes.

I LOVED the designs & the effects on Davy Jones & his crew! So far best VFX of the year goes to ILM for this!
Some real cool landscapes...& it sure "LOOKED" like it was all REALLY shot on location in the Bahamas and not copy pasted a mountain from New Zealand , a river Europe & the sky from Timbuktoo, and i think keeping it REAL like that,does make a difference.

The best part i like about this this franchise is that its not based on existing & over exploited source materials .And its refreshing to a see a whole new world and charcters being created.
Granted its based on Walt Disney/Marc Davis and other Imagineer's work...but that hardly counts when we compare it to most of the source materials of other franchises.
Besides the Theme Park attraction did not offern much in terms of story and charcter.
I wish more studios and writers put on tehir thinking caps & try and give us more original stuff.
They dont have to be perfect, but it would be nice to see what New stuff people can come up with.Just cause its based on existing material, does not mean its gonan be great (referring to most of teh summer movies of this year or any other year for that matter).
Am not crazy about the cliffhanger ending...though i was pleasantly surprised & excited to see that an older character re-introduced in the end & look forward to seeing him in POTC 3: World's End, May 2007!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

"Blvd.Efil"Scene 01 Blocking

Finally...have some work to show...been working on the modeling,rigging,weighing etc etc....
All that is still an ongoing process but have started animating before i fall a bit too behind.
So here is teh Opening SHot with teh credits and we see the man walking carefree as he whistles a tune when suddenly he hears something and looks around and cut!
Its just blocked in temp animation...i havnt even rigged the face and stuff yet...but it jhad just been way to long since i posted any new work!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

In Theatres: Superman Returns (Review)

So how do u review a movie which u were really looking forward too...but after seeing it, u neither LOVE it enough or HATE it enough...i guess basically what am trying to say is, does not draw a very strong reaction in u.

I liked it...a few loop wholes..liked the visual fx, teh jet sequence was tres cool, however i am not sure how Lois could survive all that mid air bashing ...i guess sleeping with Superman makes u a demi -Superwoman?
Like the casting...Routh sure looks the part,dunno if he can act...i dont think he needs to in this role anyws.

Singer did mange to make Supes interesting considerng he is so goodie-goodie and lacking a sense of mystery or a darker side.
I was extremely dissppointed with the climax or the lack of it rather. Maybe thats why i walked out feeling a little short changed. What was the climax? Supes in a hospital bed?? will he live? ooooh i REALLLLLY wonder!!!?
I mean there were so many possibilities the moment he lands on that Crystal Rock thingie...but all that ends up happening is he gets bashed and stabbed & left for dead like in any alley way in any gangster movie set in a NYC-esque city!
Come on..this is SUPERMAN!

Also, i wish the kid was exploited a bit more too...he coudl have been an amazing part of the cilmax.He just seems to be in the worng movie for most of the time...staring at people as if he was in The Omen or something!?
The only reason i think he was just used as a tease & the movie was so restrained/loose ended in soooo many ways is, that proabbly this is just a set up for a trilogy or something. But even then...i wanted to be knocked out, and that didnt happen!

I like some of the nostalgic stuff like ,the nod to Reeve with the final closing shot of Superman smiling at the camera before he exits ,the very satisfying use of teh JW theme & cues mixed with new material, the design of the Opening Credits etc etc.
Liked Spacey enough to want to see more of him...and the canible dog was a surprise touch!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

WDCC: "Trust In Me"

Sorry for the lack of more updates! Been awfully busy with school, that should change soon!...however have some new pics here that i took.
Its my new-est WDCC sculpture from The Jungle Book featuring Mowgli and Kaa!
Inspiring...aint it?

Monday, June 12, 2006

In Theatres :"Cars" (Review)

I liked it!!!
Visually stunning!
Cool soundtrack....bucket loads of heart (yes inspite of it being about talking CARS!).
The best animated movie of the year so far, and possibly one of the best movies of the year too.
A bit too long maybe...could have been 15 mins shorter or so but since u genuinely end up feeling for the characters and their predicaments...i can seem to forgive that.
Though i do think the "PIXAR FORMULA" is begining to show now...maybe TOO clearly!...and i think this is the perfect time for them to wake up to that and shake things up a bit before it does them in and thats is in terms of their story telling devices as well as their visual style.
But i am glad to get a break from yet ANOTHER animated movie with cute CG animals!
Monsters Inc Still remains my fav.Pixar movie and Bugs's Life my least. "Cars" probably fits somewhere right in the centre of that scale.
So irrespective of the box office returns...those who keeping score...PIXAR is still 7 for 7 in my books...though i wont add "and going strong"!

Friday, June 09, 2006

"Moments" Scene 15

Currently busy working away on finshing my model and rigging my main character from "Blvd.Efil".That also happens to be the most challenging stage for me in this CG animation pipeline.Hopefully will have somehting to share from it real soon.

Till then here is a rough composite of a scene from "Moments" without shadows,CC etc etc....have to finish this soon too!! geez..so much to do!

BUT...none the less am gonna make it to the theatres to see CARS today!....rest assured,will post my 2 cents after!
:-)


Monday, June 05, 2006

WDCC:"Seaside Serenade"

I was rescently gifted a membership to the Walt Disney Collector's Society by my cousin!
And this sculpture came with it....so i was just having fun takinng pics of it!!!?!lol

I know it look sliek i have a lot of time on my hands...doesn't it?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

"Moments" Scene 74

Rough animation line test for this farewell seen where the little girl gets a gift from the old man.This scene was one hell of a long scene and hats off to Yogesh and Nilesh who worked on it and coloured (and re-coloured) every frame by hand with pastels!!!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

In Theatres : X3(Review)

Hmmmm...i loved the first 2 X-Men movies directed by Bryan Singer. A fine balance of popcorn Summer Entertainment and beleivable Character Development leading to a very satisfying movie watching experience.
So its was very unforunate for me to find that the 3rd and supposedly the final chapter in this franchise did not do the same!
This one was strictly "OK"...there were just too many things missing...
A) Where was Nightcrawler from X2? is he not there just cause the actor could not make it back?
B) Whats with the pigeon guy..?? why was he even put in if he was not gonna be explored or developed. He seemed far more interesting than the chick running through walls!
C)The "Fur Ball"...u gotta be kidding...his presence on screen drew the most(& there where many)unrequired laughs and snickers from me! not good!
D) Phoenix...i waited the whole movie for a cool..jaw hitting the floor "Phoenix Moment"...but all i got was her floating in the air crying "save me"& everyone around her running and turning into what looked like garnulated pepper balls! Phoenix was just not FIERY enough for me!
E)And at the end,I wonder how those mutant kids will learn to hone their talents in that school with the bald kid there now sucking in all their powers! Could be quite annoying!

I know this review sounds like its coming from someone who does not know the X MEN comics too well and thats true! SO,i dunno if thats how prof Xavier ,Magnetto, Cyclops etc actually meet their end or not...but it sure did not seem convincing in the film.I mean,it seemed too forced..lets just kill peeople off or turn them into "Homosapiens" (which BTW is so simple, like pushing a button...and EUREKA! instant de-mutation!) cause we need to raise the stakes and wind up the franchise!

Cause somehow it seems the story did not demand all these deaths!and that too in such a not-so-glorious fashion!! i mean...they were such super powerful beings ...and u just put a needle in him and thats it?!
Hell,its MAGNETTO we r talking about!!!!

It was not JUST not built up enough...their death was not the pay off that was required to satisfy the script...and i am the last person to have problems with killing off primary characters!
I wish the director/writers chose to explore the very intersting concept about the cure, and the arguements for and against it rather then "lets just kill the next Xmen we can think off"!

I just hope now that Superman Returns is worth this sacrifice, cuase then i will hold Bryan Singer resposible for ruining 2 movies this summer, one by directing it and one by NOT directing!! Now, that would be a first!;-)

Friday, May 26, 2006

"Moments" Scene 10

This is my rough line test for a new scene and it hooks up to another new scene, Scene 9 (posted earlier).
It's after the girl's doll has been knocked over by a man who is in a hurry to catch a bus.
The Girl gives him a displeased look for a short bit and then picks up her doll.

Horse In Watercolours

Though its not very new, i still remember it being lots of fun doing this quick life drawing with watercolours! Should do it more often!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

First Flight & Moments

Hey Cameron,

I just wanna say, that i do understand that how this might be just a coincendence as most story themes are so universal.

Though that was on my mind while i was watching FF, its only after i read ur name in the credits that i thought "Moments" COULD have played a part in inspiring FF.

And then i read some articles on FF on AWN etc it said that it was pitched to execs in END of 2004 and Moments was screened for you in April 2004.
I was understandably surprised and a bit taken aback.

I wrote on my blog to put my thoughts out there...and you will see nowhere do I "ACCUSE" you or slander you...i am simply talking about what i saw and the similarities and coincendences associated with all this AND asking people for their opinions on both the films to know if people can even connect the two or not!!

Like you have too...i too have invested a lot of time and hard work in my film..and i have continued to work on it, make it bigger & better since April 2004 and its finally in post production now. So i just cannot "NOT care" about what i saw.It was and IS a valid concern from my point of view.

It was not my intent to come off as accusatory.I know how similar ideas and storytelling tools can be and i would respect a fellow film-maker enough to first approach you and ask you frankly before i maliciously accused you,if at all!

Again, i appreciate u leaving a message here and clearing this up and wish you all the best with "First Flight"!

Thanks
Kushal Ruia

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Lip Sync Assignment

Just finished a Lip Sync assignment with Fred (Supplied Model).
Experimenting with different textures and shaders and stuff...

....and YES,thats Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector!

(unfortunately u dont see much of the acting in the eyes & stuff in this low res version and also the audio is a bit off after compression on YouTube it seems):-(

Saturday, May 20, 2006

SHOCK & AWE!!!

Today Dreamworks premiered a brand new short film called "First Flight"before the theatrical print of Over The Hedge in the cinemas.
I was excited as it started,cuase I love short films.
As the film progressed, I was a little surprised to see that the story was quite familiar and within a few seconds my brother pointed it out too and then I knew it was not JUST my imagination!



As the film progressed its story seemed amazingly similar to my graduating film called "MOMENTS"which i made at Sheridan College in April 2004.
Not only are the story and plot the same, the similarity in portrayal of character interaction is striking...just one of the characters was different...a bird instead of a little girl and a different ending.


While watching First Flight today the thought going through my head was, "Wow! what an amazing co-incidence!!" But soon the surprise turned to shock when the film finshed and the credits rolled!

It was directed by Cameron Hood ...who COINCIDENTLY was representing Dreamworks at the Industry Screening of Graduating Films at Sheridan College,Canada in April 2004 where MY film,"Moments" made its debut as a student film!!!

For those who have seen my film and know what i am talking about...make sure u get there well in time to catch "First Flight" before Over The Hedge and let me know what u think!!

I mean...there is even a paper plane symbolising the bird being run over by a car!!!!
Will locate and post my April 2004 film shortly!
Like i said...i am pretty shocked...dunno what to make of it!

Stuff from my Short Film "Moments"

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Sssssssuper Weekend!


WOW! Had an amazing weekend...and this one of the many cool things that i did...YES! thats indeed a REAL "Ball Pyhton" on my hand!!
And dont be fooled by the smile, i was PETRIFIED! I admit i did not have the balls to have him around my neck, but i settled for the hand after MUCH hesitation (putting it mildly)!

I think the pic says it all...i dont need to post the video clip to prove he was real and how i made a fool of myslef...i will let u use ur imagination!lol

More on the Sssssssssuper Weekend to follow soon!;-)

Friday, May 12, 2006

Nostalgic Fun: The Flour Sac & The Puddle

I was going through my Gigs & Gigs of data when i found some of my my pre-historic animation.
It was quite funny to see it all. Thought i 'd post a few even though they are very crude and old.

This particular one was my very first go at personality animation in my first year of college.
It had to be a flour sac interacting with a prop whos name i pulled out randomly from a hat.
I remember getting a "Mirror" first...but then i gave that up for a shot at pulling out some other more "Interetsing" prop, to only pull out a "Puddle", which had more or less similar possibilities as a "Mirror" but just add to it the fun of figuring out how to animate water if u wanna show some interaction! Joy!
Should have stuck with the damn "Mirror"!

Monday, May 08, 2006

In Theatres : Mission Impossible III (Review)

And Summer starts!!
Yes its a BIG studio, BIG star ,BIG budget BIG franchise but...small movie!
There were no real BIG explosive blow u away "did u see that ?" kinda special effects moments which one expects from movies of this stature.
Director JJ Abrams of Alias/Lost fame sticks to his Alias formula.
The movie is ineresting no doubt,holds ur attention the whole time and to the director's credit its cause of the "pure" action and the circumstances and the story telling thread and no sp.fx jazz!

Am not saying thats bad, its great!! but we know that Abrams is good with that, he has already established that in his Tv shows...how about shaking it up a bit for the big screen?

Essentially...its like watching Alias on the big screen with Tom Cruise instead of Sydney Bristow( Jeniffer Garner).
Its amazing to see how blatantly Abrams uses the very same devices and techniques and creates the similar moods with the score, colours, lighting and sets as Alias!!
Among many other things,is it a co-incidence that Alias opened with the main character strapped to a chair being interrogated?
or people having "charges in their head" a la Will Tippin from 2 weeks ago in Alias?

Why not just make a big screen version Alias instead?!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Ric Sluiter On Art Direction And More

Ric Sluiter Art Director of Mulan,Lilo and American Dog and Sheridan Alumni, was over at the college to give a little talk on Art Direction.
As expected ,cameras were required to be switched off once he started sharing artwork, so unfortunately i have nothing to show...but maybe i could just share some of the things he said and talked about.
His presentation was based on the work he was doing for an animated feature at the Florida studio, which was scrapped/cancelled/put on hold when the studio was shut down.
Many of u may know of it...though its title was ever changing...some of them were "My Peoples", "Angel & Her No Good Sister" and finally "A Few Good Ghosts".
He showed concpet art, final designs, test shots created for publicity etc etc. and they were very cool.
The humans etc were all 2d and the hero (Elgin), he made puppets of his ancestors and they were made up of things like brooms, buttons ,gloves etc etc and those were CGI.
The backgrounds were all 2d but painted in Photoshop.
The look was very different, specially the opening prologue which talked of a family curse and was very inspired.
Also i thought the heroine (Rose) was probably one of the most beautiful Disney Heroines yet...reminded me a bit of Tarzan's Mom (human one, not Kala) , who i think surely wins the "Hottest Disney Mom Who Dies In The First 7 Mins of the film" award!!
The story was a bit like Romeo and Juliet with Love Vs Fear being the theme.
Had the voices of Dolly Parton among others as one of the puppets.
It looked cool enough for me to want it to be finshed some day..hopefully it will!

Other things he briefly touched upon (some old, some new) which other animation/ disneyphiles might wanna know are:
1.He was working on Toy Story 3 before it was shut down. He just moved to American Dog .
2.Disney seems poised for a come back and everyone is very upbeat.
3.No more sequels.."...we wont be ruining Peter Pan anymore"
4.Stuff he has seen from Glen Keane's Rapunzel just blows his mind away..."...Its like watching beautiful Glen Keane drawings moving in 3D"
5.Rapunzel story has been reverted back closer to the classic story rather than spoof-ish take on it.
6.Ron n John are back at disney to make a film (2d maybe?)!
7.Eric Goldberg is on his way back too!!!
8.He loves Photoshop and paints only on that now!

I think thats all i can recall for now...and yes...i got him to sign my Lilo & Stitch 2Disc DVD from region 2 which has a lot of him and his work and the Mulan Sp. Edition too..i unfortunately did not have my Art Of books here with me...tragic!
But i got to speak with him for a short bit so it was cool and fun!:-)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Pics From NYC

I just realised, in my great enthusiasm for posting the Tarzan on Broadway Stuff...i forgot to post some other pics i took while i was in NYC last month...so here they r!

And yes..on friday we had an amazing presentation by Disney Art Director Ric Sluiter (Mulan, Lilo&Stitch and forthcoming American Dog)...he showed some real cool stuff & shared some amazing info and advice...so will put something together on that in a day or two!

The Empire State

Walk On Broadway

A Room With A View

Saturday, April 29, 2006

"Blvd.Efil" Story Reel

..the timing needs to better...for things to register and all....i just had to get it done..didt it all 3 days man! it was hell....will work it all out at the kinks and more in the animation stage!
here it is anyways!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Same Central "Prop", Different Central "Plot"

So those who have been following my blog...proabably know how i had story crisis and had to trash my original film idea (of which i had posted some boards here too) cause it was too technically ambitious in the given time frame.
So I was REALLY pressed for time...so in a rush i came up with this another simple story ( Not the most amazing idea i have ever though of for sure) and put together the boards and a story reel with temp. audo in RECORD time, even for me! lol

So this guy here..is our new star..the story is totally differnet form the earlier story..though the main prop ( A Red Box) still survives in this one too...i dont have a name for this film yet ..its proabbly gonna be somehting like "Temptation On Boulevard Efil" or just "Blvd. Efil" i dunno...am open to suggetsions..after i have posted the rough story reel,i would be more than glad to have suggestions from u guys about the title too.
BTW..Efil is "Life" spelt backwards...ist not menat to be very obvious...u will see...
For now here are a few panels from it...and yes,still trying to use a stylus to draw on the comp!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

In Theatres : The Wild (Review)

OK...if u told me that one day that i would i be writing a postive review of this film ... i would laugh a hearty laugh.
It was mixture of Finding Nemo, Madagascar and genrerous helpings of many Lion King moments...
But thats very usual for animated movies now days. I am not sayin "The Wild" is a great movie...but it surely does not deserve the negative goodwill most of us have for it.
It looks like real hard work and its paid off well. Yes, the style is not to my preference , being more towards photo realiasm than a stylised look.This is the only reason why i might prefer Madagascar over The Wild. In all other aspects Wild surely surpasses Madagascar or even the rescent animated movies like Ice Age 2.
And even though it's style is NEAR photo realism. it looks consistent and good and is still better than gag inducing designs from some Dreamworks films...Sharktale anyone?!
Am not sure which come first...Madgascar or The Wild...but i dunno why..i think i belive the fact that The Wild was in production b4 Madagascar but got delayed and Madagascar beat it to the theatres.
In either case, i think CORE in Toronto had surely proved themselves as an able feature producing studio...and i would surely look forward to their next endevaour...and Disney and Mr.Lasseter need not be TOO embaressed of The Wild, we have seen a lot worse off late.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Funny Stuff!

No, i have not made this video...just found it on you tube! thought it was funny..i mean i have THOUGHT of capturing somehting like this but never got around to it..but its cool to see someone actually did!
It shows how people drive in India...though its not Bombay where i usually drive( which is even worse) but still..its India!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Tony Sees The Light!

Whats Tony upto now??
Tony visits an Art Gallery and sees the light.
or
Tony Turn & Walk Assignment:-)
If nothing else, am really begining to enjoy the endless possibilities in term sof rendering and texturing and lighting....it was cool to have this comic book kinda look ...and it was all a simple lighting arrangement...its funny where everyone is trying to make it look more real and 3d, i am the nut trying ways to flatten everything! oh well...old habbits die hard! i LOOOVE 2d!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!

Yes...am going insane here! its the end of tehe semester , crazy workload and everything that could go wrong,IS!
i dont even wnat to begin talking about it all here...but one of the biggest set backs has been that the day b4 i just changed my story idea for my film project...and this is AFTER i did full colour storyboards and a rough story reel for it and one day b4 they were due!!
so i guess u can begin imagine my state of mind...
anywho...this past weekend was the first time i tried using a WACOM tablet to draw digitally on the comp. it was fun..so i decided to do my entire storyboards that way...though the drawings were quite bad..it was quick and let me keep it simple and move on to the next panel...
here are a couple of panles from the now "Abandoned Movie Concept"...:-(

Saturday, April 15, 2006

"Left Out" Yet Another WIP Version (with Audio)

Okkkk...getting there....the 2d texture animation is yet to come for the facial expressions...some tweakings with the texture and i forgot to render the text saying "Don't Go Away"revealed on the wall as the Big Doll exits!
So all that in the next & final (hopefully) version! :-)

Thursday, April 13, 2006

My "Tony" Jump!

Meet Tony...get used to him...u will be seeing a lot of him...he is the Rig we use for our human animation exercises...so...this is my first excercise with him...A jump...and this also the first time i really understood the technical process of texturing and lighting ...or atelast begining to!
His arms were such a pain to animate...i really missed my pencil/paper!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Cool New Music Video & ThisTime It's "In The Rain"! ;-)





Just saw this music video online..its a new video by Enya called "It's In The Rain"...though i dont think ist too complicated technically...looks like simple After Effects(I could surely be wrong, remember the idea of the doll being simple?)....but it looks fresh and nice...
and though this song would not be my first choice for a 2nd single from her new album(Amarantine), but i like it after seeing the video! The rain drops look cool..and the clouds remind me of Mulan titles!

Can u belive she is 55 years old!!?? I mean look at her! Special Effects?

You can see the entire video here.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

~<< In Memoriam: Dwarka Bai >>~


I woke up this sad morning to a message from Bombay saying that Dwarki is no more. Dwarki was someone who brought me & my brother up but no one ever treated her or looked at her like a "Nanny". She was family & a second Grand Mother to me & she lived with us in our old house.She was not living with us from the last 10 yrs or so but she would drop by now & then, she loved my brother & I to bits.

She had been sick the last few years, more age related problems. I met her only 4-5 times in the last so many years mainly cause I was also not in India too much in the rescent years.Last I met her was just a few months before I came to Canada in January'06, & for some reason, I had this bad feeling I wont see her again so got this picture of us taken.

She was the last person still alive who I knew who's very sight could take me back in time to places and to the company of some very important people that are no longer there in my life. She was the last living link to many of my childood memories & loved ones.The last few times I met her, I would just be so overcome with emotion and pulled back into those memories that I could hardly even talk to her, would just sit there & look at her as she talked.

It pains me to think that though I so wanted to & was going to go visit her to say goodbye before I left for Canada, I was so absorbed in my own world ,with finishing my film ,getting my VISA ,preparing to leave the country & other such selfish things that I got caught up & could not make the "TIME" to go say a simple goodbye!...and now its a bit too late.Its a regret that I will carry for the rest of my life.
I hope she would forgive me for not letting her know what she meant to me & know that I will always carry her in my heart as a part of who I am,no matter where I go.

Rest In Peace Dwarki...You Will Be Missed Dearly.

"Left Out"- Work In Progress Animation

NEARLY DONNNNNNNNNNE! As u can see the textures are swimming all over the place...so have to figure that out and then i have to figure out how to ANIMATE the textures( facial expressions)so things read better...and then just tweak the animation a bit more and texture the Backgroundand light it and render it and put Sound etc etc ..phew!
Like i said "NEARLY" Done!:-)
It turned out a bit longer than the story reel , but i will proabably able to get it down to 10 sec once its all done!
I always put up rough 2d animation..so why not 3d too? yeah...i know its not the same..but still!:-)


(Those who dont know what this is all about, u can see the Story Reel here!)


Saturday, April 08, 2006

"MOMENTS" Temp Composite of Sc. 14

Its missing effects layers,colour correction and some size relationship issues...but here it is anyws, an updated verision of Sc 14 who's line test i posted last week!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Oh This Is Gonna Be EASY....Yeah RRRight!

How simple does that look to texture, rig etc in MAYA? Yeah, well i fell for that too when i picked that balsted doll for my FIRST CG Project.
Its killing me...forget me ,even my teacher was surprised by the challenges this DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE doll is presenting & made a tutorial out of it for everyone else!lol

Oh well..i just kinda finished working on its Texture...(for those who r not MAYA freindly, this pic below is the art i made which has to wrap around the "Model" of the doll in virtual space giving it the "Look" that i'd want).So here is the texture for this...and am working on the animation now...hope to have it done by the weekend!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Some More "Tarzan On Broadway "Stuff

Am awfully busy with school these few days...shoudl have a couple of new projects to post up next week (if they dont end up looking TOO embarrassing that is!)
So until then...take a look at these...

The Introduction Art On A Screen B4 The Show Starts


Jane Caught In A Giant Spider's Giant Web (This replaces the baboon chase)


Take A Bow
(NO, Tarzan & Jane arn't phosphorescent in the show, its just a bad pic!)

Sunday, April 02, 2006

In Theatres (Review)-Ice Age:The Meltdown

STORY! STORY! STORY! Why ,Why OH Why cant these people get that straight? Especially in Animation when the film is in production for 3-4 yrs if not more so there shoudl be nothing that isnt thougt through...also when even teh smallest element is under the control of the director/artists!!Then why this crap?Are people sleeping through the production?

Ice Age 2 is GORGEOUS to look at .I might even go to say its one of the most visually simple/beautifully designed CG movie yet...but then whats the point if there is no such thing as a "STORY" or a good reason to make this movie other than to cash in on excisting hit! The jokes are so juvenille and done and cliche!! Though Scrat does provide welcome releif and sometimes Sid too...but,geez!

Whats the excuse this time? Will the filmmakers blame Michael Eisner and "Executive Interferance" for this mess too? Cuase it wont work...wrong studio!..or wait, maybe its Rupert Murdock to blame here.
For too long have animation filmmakers /directors tried to get away by blaming things on exectives..i am sure they did mess up many things...but i dont think its JUST that anymore.
I just feel bad for the aniamtors and other artists who work on such productions. They put so many years of their lives into such products...only to see the storytellers drop the ball at their end!
Its a sad sad sad situation.What a waste of beautiful art and time and money!