INSPIRATION · SUMMER 1998
Way back in the summer of 1998 while I was just starting in the industry at Computer Cafe, I bought a cool t-shirt with a dancing baby alien on it. This was around the time that the 3dStudioMax dancing baby was everywhere. Since we were a Lightwave studio, I had a cool little idea to make a character like this and create a fun animation with him. That idea actually grew into something completely different and larger which I may incorporate some day. I have always felt a bit strange about going so far with this short and character since I pretty much used the t-shirt as a basis for my character. Though I've changed the design and look to my liking, I definitely got my inspiration from the illustrations on the shirt.


THE STORY SO FAR · 12 DECEMBER 1998
When I first started working at ComputerCafe(now called CafeFx), I wasn't getting to do a lot of character animation which is what I really loved and wanted to learn. So, I started this project back in December of 1998 as a way to get better at animating. It started as a simple one shot short completely different from what it is today. Over the course of several months, I spent some time in my off hours building the baby alien. By the time I had finished him, I decided to make it a bit more elaborate and into more of a short film then a simple one shot animation. Around this time StarWars Episode I came out, and I thought he could use a robot companion. Inspired by some of the designs from the film, I created the Mark I and fleshed out a little adventure for the two of them. Of course, what baby isn't complete without a teddy bear?


SOFTWARE UPDATE VERSION 1 · 27 NOVEMBER 1999
We used Lightwave 5.6 at work, and while it was a great program for many things, especially modelling, it was sorely lacking in the animation department. Though I was very proficient with the software at this point and could rig my characters with its primitive tools, it was very frustrating trying to get a solid rig with acceptable deformations. I tried everything from puppet master(which worked best) to an expressions plugin for better control. While I ended up with something that worked, it was by no means ideal. Since I didn't really know any other software - or better for that matter - Lightwave would have to do as I was more concerned with creating animation then learning a new totally new software package.

Project:Messiah had been shown at Siggraph during the summer and looked to be an amazing character animation plugin for Lightwave. This was extremely appealling to me as it kept the learning curve down since it was an extension of Lightwave. We finally got a few copies the day before Thanksgiving and that changed everything for me. It may have been a little clunky, but it




alien model evolution



was far superior to Lightwave's built in animation tools. I spent the long weekend learning it and totally re-rigged all of my characters over the next few months despite several bugs in the program. Even though I had started a few shots already, I felt they were just temp and could be re-animated in this new package much better.



ENTER JIMMY NEUTRON · 8 JUNE 2000
I really had not made much progress on the short since I was working full time, but I did get the Robot and teddy bear both built and rigged. Even though Computer Cafe does great work, I was still a little unsatisfied with the amount of cool animation we got to do. I saw that DNA Productions was working on a full length 3d animated feature and decided to apply for an animation position. The cool thing was that they were using both Lightwave and Messiah, two programs I knew very well because they were essentially Computer Cafe's pipeline. DNA liked my reel but wanted to see more animation and asked for a test shot to dialog. I was more then happy to oblige with my new rig and animaiton software. I almost felt like this was the first time someone was asking me to "really" animate. While I had done short shots for commercials, this test felt more like it, plus it gave me a reason to test out my robot rig. After a few nights of work, I sent out my test and was offered the job. Working on Neutron is where I really learned to animate and probably the best break of my career, but it also removed the main reason for creating this short - practice and learning - because every day at work I got to animate, something I didn't get at Computer Cafe. During production, I all but stopped working on this short and in years to come, other films and jobs would force it to take a back seat as well unfortunately.

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