Big Ba-da-boom

Going online for a little bit to KILL FUGGIN ZOMBEHS

Looking for a Maya TD to help overcome some tech hurdles in the completion of the teaser trailer for my Portal film, "Companionship". We also need to develop a hair sim rig for Chell. It's strictly a fan project, and we're all working on it in our spare time, but if you're a Portal fan and have the TD magic, I'd love to bring you aboard!

[link]

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Getting close to the wire now! With a little over a week to go, my friend is tantalizingly close to his fundraising goal. And here's how he told me



That's a page I did for him several years ago for a web comic about Turra (plus some crafty Photoshop), and now he's on the verge of putting together the movie he's been after for so long!

There are some solid rewards for contributors; I'm getting an original sketch from the creator (I requested Chell, of course). So hit up his Indiegogo page [link] and contribute what you can. Consider it good practice for contributing to MY film later on!

[link]

EDIT: He did it! Cleared the remaining $2.5K in under two days! And with several days left, let's see how much higher we can get!

My friend has teamed up with filmmakers to get his OC Turra: Gun Angel on the big screen!

Check out their Indiegogo page! [link]

Time to kill some stuff!

Profile name:  Big Ba-da-boom

I'm in dire need of some kickass light/comp geniuses for my Portal short film, Companionship!

Shots are finally going to animation, but with the teaser trailer I'm trying to put out, we're just too short-handed with only two guys in lookdev.

So if you've really got the skills and want to help out with the film, send me a note and a link to your reel!

PS-- This production uses V-Ray and V-Ray Materials. Our awesome VFX supe, Daniel Hayes, has helped lay out some standards for the team.

Haven't played the game, but I'll still take a moment to pat myself on the back for being an animator on Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale! [link]

The little rigs were a lot more simplistic than the ones we normally work with, since the game needs to have a ton of them all interacting in-game, but we still managed to get some solid performances out of them, all things considered. Fun stuff!

So buy it, rent it, borrow it from your tween cousin, but definitely give it a try!

(I've worked on some pretty sweet titles, don't know why I chose THIS game to start bragging myself up!)

EDIT: Okay, we played the game (while a little tipsy) at work the other night, and it was a good time! Some of the rules/gameplay differ from Smash Bros., which is good because otherwise it's just the same game with different characters. Fun stuff!

Drives me nuts. When I'm at work, going through my dA inbox. An image loads, and instantly the buttons appear to "Add to favorites" or "Remove from Messages". In theory, it should work that way for every image, right?

Not for boobs!



I can speed right through pictures of frogs or spaceships or Super Mario Bros., but god forbid the next image should be a naked woman curiously discovering that she has these strange growths on the front of her chest. Suddenly those buttons are nowhere to be found! The picture just sits there, giant and boobtastic on my screen. I can't click to the next image, can't click back, can't even close the fucking window because apparently digital boobs have magical powers over my browser!

I'm not complaining that there are boobs in my inbox. I LOVE finding boobs in my inbox. I just wish they wouldn't totally fuck with my shit!

For those who don't know, My portal animated short, Companionship, Has a Facebook fan page:

[link]

And there's an official website for it as well! I've even picked up some really great animators who found me through this site:

[link]

So check them out, Like it on FB and share it with your friends! My producer and I are very close to pulling the Kickstarter trigger, and I hope to have raised awareness of Companionship dramatically by then

I've mentioned this, but I should mention it again, for those who missed it:

The Kickstarter video has been completed, and we're all pleased with it, especially for something shot on a phone, but the business end of the Kickstarter launch has proved to be more complicated that we'd realized, so for the time being it's on hold. It will happen, without any doubt. It's just not going to happen this week. I'm disappointed, as I know many of Companionship's followers are as well. But take heart, it's going to get here eventually!

Looks like there's a few more hoops to jump through than I'd expected. Between Kickstarter and Amazon, there's a number of things we have to take care of before we can launch. Not sure if this will set us back days, or set us back weeks, so I'll update as soon as I know.

Please be patient, it's still happening!

UPDATE: The Amazon stuff may not be as rough as it first seemed, so that part should be done fairly soon. Then it's more a matter of getting through Kickstarter's approval process, which apparently isn't too strict. So here's hoping for next week!

UPDATE UPDATE: Blargh! Delays, delays! The pitch video's pretty much set, we have our backer rewards pretty well figured out, but now there's a business aspect (yuck) that needs tending. Can nothing about this project be simple???

So there's a cameo for a certain megalomaniacal life form/operating system in my Portal short, Companionship, and wouldn't you know it? Ellen muthafrakkin McLain is confirmed to voice the scene!

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻   YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!

This has been an amazing week of positive turns for Companionship, and I think we might even manage to launch our Kickstarter next week like we've been planning!

Unless the other shoe drops. *gasp*

Portal and Portal 2 © Valve Software

So we're shooting for about a week from now, but the date still isn't solid. There are more T's to cross and I's to dot, and a few more things we want in the video, but it's looking very good that we'll launch in the next ten days-ish!

Another new piece from ... beautiful!

Well it's very simple and extremely short, but it's the first official animation test of the new Chell rig, so there!

[link]

Portal and Portal 2 © Valve Software

Or that's the plan, anyway. We'll put together a draft of the video this week, and solidify our budget for the film and the backer rewards (plus a secondary budget in case we're fortunate enough to go way over our funding goal, allowing us to punch up the production values and give more rewards), then we'll spend the following week tweaking things and making sure it's all set to go. It's possible that circumstances may conspire to make us wait an additional week, but right now this is the plan!

has topped himself with his latest concept art for a scene in my Portal short film, "Companionship"!



And he's already hard at work on the next one, so expect another art update soon. Christopher Ralph, another concept artist on the film, says he's going to get himself set up with a dA account, so with any luck I'll get to start bragging him up on here as well!

Portal and Portal 2 © Valve Software

Now that my Portal short film, Companionship, has Valve's blessings, we're cleared to go ahead and raise funds for it on Kickstarter!



So expect a launch announcement in the next two or three weeks. We'll be offering some pretty sweet backer rewards, like Blu-ray copies of the film, signed posters, art books, portal gun replicas, even a chance to win the iPad I'm using for the production, full of all kinds of behind-the-scenes material and with an image from the film laser-etched into the back!

But my personal favorite is the one-of-a-kind figurines, 3D-printed straight out of the film itself. You pick your favorite moment from the film, we'll snag Chell's pose from that moment, and have that printed as your personal custom figurine forever!



I can't really express how excited I am for all of this...

Portal and Portal 2 © Valve Software

Wow, how did I forget to post here, where all the publicity started, that last week Valve gave my Portal-based animated short film the thumbs-up!
After a whole lot of effort, Claire Hayes (producer) managed to get on the phone with Valve's head of legal, and not only do we now have their express approval to make the film, AND to raise money for the production (!!!), but we even got praise for what we've done so far!

I love the smell of victory in the morning. It smells like napalm.



Portal and Portal 2 © Valve Software

New concept art from , looking sweet (literally)!



He's an amazing artist, and a fantastic collaborator who's help to make the "Companionship" short even better, and inspiring the crew along the way! Check him out, watch his stuff, there's even more amazing work coming from him soon!