A University of Santa Barbara Graphic Design graduate, Todd has been working in VFX for over four years.
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| Q: Can you tell me a little about yourself? |
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My mom owned a video store, so growing up I watched a lot of movies. Thinking about it now I watched way too many. I guess I have always been drawn to movies. Working on them seems only natural. I have been working in the entertainment industry for five years. I went to school at the University of Santa Barbara and studied graphic design. My first job out of college was working on feature film trailers while also creating motion graphics for DVDs.
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| Q: What made you decide to become a VFX artist? |
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After watching The Fifth Element in
the theater, I knew I wanted to be a visual effects artist. I
really liked the look of the futuristic city, which paid
homage to Blade Runner.
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| Q. What artist/event/person inspires you? |
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I remember my brother bringing home Blade Runner from my mom's video store. As a young kid I was really blown away by it. Years later, I found out that Syd Mead was the conceptual artist for the movie. He has really inspired me and has contributed to some very iconic movies.
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| Q: How long have you been a Fusion artist? Where did you train? |
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I have been using Fusion for a little over three years. I started using Fusion at Digital Dimension. It was a really great place to learn. Dimension had so many talented artists there, and even under really tight deadlines, everyone would take the time to help one another. I was really lucky to start out in such a great facility.
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| Q: What have you worked on in the past? |
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The Battle of Red Cliff, Dragonball Evolution, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Laundry Warrior, Mirrors, Pink Panther II, Get Smart, Live Free or Die Hard, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Norbit, Epic Movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I am currently working on Bunraku at Origami Digital.
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| Q: What other compositing software platforms do you work with and what features do you find more useful within Fusion? |
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I sometimes use After Effects. One feature I find extremely useful in Fusion is importing 3D camera data. Using image planes, spheres or projectors, you can quickly place backgrounds such as skies for replacements or add 2D elements that can track with your plate. I often use the camera projection method for clean plating or wire removals. You can even import a 3D mesh and project a patch onto that. This can work really well for creating a clean plate for landscapes. This can really save you a lot of time.
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| Q: Tight deadlines and large shot counts put a lot of pressure on the artistic team. How does Fusion help you achieve your deadlines? |
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Fusion's ease of use is extremely helpful when tight deadlines are looming. Navigating in Fusion is very easy so this allows you to focus on getting your shots out.
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| Q: How do you find working with eyeon’s technical support during production? How would you rate our level of responsiveness? |
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Technical support is great, you guys are fast to respond and always try to find solutions to problems.
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| Q: What are some of your favourite tools in Fusion and how do they help in production? |
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One of my favorite parts of Fusion is the bins. This is such a great way for artists to share with each other and have access to shot-specific tools or materials.
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| Q: Do you make use of Fusion's 3D environment, and if so, how? |
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Fusion's 3D tools are great. I had the opportunity to really put the 3D tools to the test at Frantic Films on Red Cliff. We worked on some awesome shots that were composed of almost all 3D elements. We imported FBX files provided by the 3D artists and placed cards in Fusion's 3D environment to add practical fire plates to track with the 3D ships. There were hundreds of ships placed in rows and fire was spreading from ship to ship throughout all of the rows. It was a huge fiery inferno and was an artists dream to be able to work on. In the short time we all had to work on these shots, they really looked amazing.
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| Q: How important are stereoscopic capabilities to how you work? |
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I have not had the opportunity to work on a stereoscopic movie as of yet. It looks like there are a lot scheduled in the next few years so, hopefully, I will get a chance to work on some.
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| Q: What are your plans for the future? |
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I am just looking to be a part of some great upcoming projects. |
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