Estuardo Sandoval

Why would a seasoned motion designer participate in Our Fly on the Wall program? Because it offers an experience different than any other studio. Hear it from Ivan Miguel, an Oakland-based senior Art Director and Motion Designer with over 15 years of experience. "A big obstacle for many freelance artists who may not have been invited to work at a big studio is wondering if they really know how a large project is handled. They may work on a part of the project but not have the opportunity or time to see the whole picture and meditate about how all the parts come together. The “fly on the wall” program offers a great opportunity to fill those gaps. While several courses for design or animation exist, creative direction (or art direction) is rarely taught and is one of those things you learn over time while developing a project with more people. Shadowing Hung and the rest of BIEN is like having the opportunity to be in the writer’s room and on the set of a show while making an episode. You can follow everything from how they answer a client’s brief, reshape scripts to be visually more compelling, hire the team according to the needs of the piece and build up the characters, always having in consideration that these aren’t just generic molds but that every decision reflects their uniqueness and background. An active eye, even with experience in these kinds of rodeos, will find many many tips and tricks to add to their own toolkit, from the way they compose decks so the client understands all of the steps in the process of making an animation, reducing in that way their possible anxiety, to the research and documentation they put together for the artists so they have all the tools at their hands to succeed. To their way of storing everything in a living Milanote document where anyone on the team can access all the info, without forgetting simple but powerful ways to configure posting and feedback on Slack, reducing the nonsense and making it easy to find each shot and its feedback, or briefing for the animation’s music (a part I always struggle with), or being present in dailies checking the teams work, worries, and progress. With so much attention to how great the shots look, to how accurate they represent reality, to the characters or the ins and outs of an event, BIEN has a specific perspective on how to approach the process that they aren’t afraid but happy to share with anyone. In an industry plagued with grey areas and unknowns, being transparent about your process and ideal of how work should be done and what a role should entail and sharing that with an audience of professionals that may not receive mentorship otherwise, is an initiative that I can only applaud." Check out Ivan's LinkedIn https://buff.ly/3K6w3Lc and his website here https://buff.ly/3K1s4Q9 As we like to say, hire this man!

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If you loved Fallout, you will love this! The show is… Silo (on Apple TV)!! First off, Fallout is one of the most popular shows in recent memory. The reviews are amazing (from both critics and audience), the viewership numbers are fantastic, and the series was just renewed for season 2. So now, let me recommend this incredible show like Fallout – Silo. It is based on a popular trilogy by Hugh Howey. The story is set in a Silo – a big underground building of 144 floors, where the last people of humanity are living. There are lots of similarities with Fallout – the Silo is like the vault, the rules and even the devices are pretty familiar– but still, this show is a completely different story, and the tone is vastly different. The creator is Graham Yost, who created the successful show Justified. Oh, and you have Rebecca Ferguson in the lead role, and she’s amazing! The world building is so real and very detailed, the mystery is intriguing, and above all, the production value. It’s an Apple TV show, and in the last few years they officially became THE home of prestige Sci-Fi shows, like Foundation, For All Mankind, Severance, etc. You can add Silo to the list! It looks like a movie. The sets, the visual effects, the lighting, the cinematography, everything looks and feels so cinematic. In fact, when I finished season 1, I immediately ordered the entire book trilogy from Amazon, because I couldn’t wait for the rest of the story. The first season debuted last Summer to glowing reviews, and also one of the best rating debuts in Apple TV history. And guess what? They already finished shooting season 2! Not only that, but Rebecca Ferguson recently said that they are already planning seasons 3 and 4. Don’t forget, it’s a trilogy, so they have tons of materials to draw from. My only problem with the series is that in the middle of the season the plot is dragging a little. The season is 10 episodes, and it should have been 8, more fast, more tight. But still, it’s a great show, and highly recommended! The first season of Silo is available NOW on Apple TV. Are you ready for your next binge?

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Here's a committee meeting from yesterday with the California State Assembly talking with people, artists, musicians, actors, music executives a professor of computer science, all addressing their experience with Generative AI and the impact it has had on their industries. There's so much good info in this, I implore you to watch the whole thing. I don't have much to say about the video. All the misconceptions people often have about AI, these politicians have those too, and it's cleared up quickly and eloquently by each of the speakers in easy to understand language. And speaking of politicians, it's pretty clear that no matter how much knowledge or lack of knowledge these politicians have about AI, they want to help their constituents, they want their constituents to help them see the issue clearly so they can help. We need regulations of course, but meetings like this are so important to achieve that goal. Politicians need to be educated too on things affecting communities. They are skilled at governing, not knowing every field of expertise under their jurisdiction. If we don't educate them, tech companies will. Also the Motion Picture Association was invited to attend to give their perspective on AI. They declined. In this meeting, democracy was at work and the MPA no matter how powerful, no matter how influential, would only have one voice in this meeting which could have been challenged by other speakers. So I get why they declined. *Full disclosure, I do know some of the speakers, but in my objective, non bias opinion, I think this meeting was excellent and informative :)*

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Attention animation studios! If you are currently hiring, here are some key things that separate our job board from any others out there: ✅ It’s Free. Right away you are saving thousands of dollars and getting an extra 10k + eyes on your posts. ✅ Our filters are designed for the industry, making it simple for qualified talent to find your open positions. ✅ Works on top of your existing hiring system, direct tallent from each post to your website. ✅ We add your post to our weekly newsletter with over 6k subscribers to help get further eyes on your posts. + Share it with our LinkedIn network of 10k followers. ✅ New people will discover your company in our featured companies directory. ✅ You can track views, clicks and applications that come from our job board from your dashboard. To create an account takes 3 minutes and you can begin posting unlimited job openings. Our goal is to make the Animation Framework your go-to resource for talent acquisition in the animation industry! www.animationframework.com

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Check out this helpful tip about IK/FK switching from Tyler Gogan (Senior Animator at Squanch Games)! Many thanks for using our Delta rig and for tagging us, Tyler! #agoracommunity #animation #learnanimation #animationtips #animationcommunity

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My goal in this tutorial is to expand my skill set by creating procedural organic material in Substance Painter. I came up with this idea after seeing the artwork Baby Zerg by Cino Lai. I didn't use any reference, color palette, or concept. I figured it out during the process, so you might see a little bit of struggle with parameters. :D "Watch the full tutorial here." :https://lnkd.in/d2jN3_Ra I also created 25 smart materials using this workflow, which you can download here: https://cstu.io/2afa60 #Substance #gamedesign #3d #gameart #Material #digitalart #digitalart #Animation #Substancepainter #Digital3D #art #Texturing

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Here’s my export settings that I use for high quality videos when uploading to social media. • FORMAT: H.264 • Rendering at Maximum depth • Bitrate VBR Pass 2 • Target Bitrate :12 • Maximum Bitrate: 25 • Render at Maximum Depth • Use Maximum Render Quality Try it out. 🎥😁

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Writing shaders made a lot more sense to me than using a node based shader editor. "NORMAL_MAP = vec3(0,10);" Really helps with foliage in an isometric style, especially if it's moving and is lit by a dynamic light source. it helps keep the lighting consistent and avoids back face discoloration.

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What is happening, I wonder🤔. In my 16 years of experience in the animation and VFX industry, for the first time, I am seeing so many "open to work" profiles floating over LinkedIn and other platforms. Massive layoffs are happening everywhere. Big companies are struggling to get works. The wave of job losses in our industry is unexpected .Talented professionals, who once enjoyed job security in a booming sector, are now facing uncertainty. This trend is not localized but spans across the globe. We don’t know the actual reason behind it. Is it geopolitical tensions, the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, or are studios and production houses prioritizing live-action and lower-cost projects over high-budget animation and VFX-heavy productions? Or is it because of advances in technology, such as AI-driven animation tools and procedural generation techniques? No clue !😟 Despite all these challenges, there is hope that the industry will revive. The demand for high-quality content remains strong. We will overcome this slump and look forward to a future where "open to work" profiles are a rarity in our industry once again.🙂#animation #vfx #cgi #films

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It’s important to match rigging chain to hooks of the proper size. If you need to figure out what size hook you have, it will almost always be imprinted on the hook somewhere. But, if you're looking for the label in imperial notation (such as "1/2 inch") you might be out of luck — many manufacturers print the metric equivalent (such as "13mm") for size. The location and formatting of the size marking is different depending on the manufacturer. On this Crosby Shur-Loc hook, both metric and imperial are provided for convenience. However the hook is marked, make sure you index that information and match the hook size to your chain size. AND, the hook grade to your grade of chain (for example, a Grade 100 hook for Grade 100 chain). For your convenience, here is a quick list showing metric to imperial equivalents: 6mm = 7/32" 7mm = 9/32" 8mm = 5/16" 10mm = 3/8" 13mm = 1/2" 16mm = 5/8" 18 or 20mm = 3/4" 22mm = 7/8” 26mm = 1” 32mm = 1-1/4” What is the most common size of chain and hook that you use? #LiftingEquipment #Cranes #Hooks #TrusttheLift

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It’s important to match rigging chain to hooks of the proper size. If you need to figure out what size hook you have, it will almost always be imprinted on the hook somewhere. But, if you're looking for the label in imperial notation (such as "1/2 inch") you might be out of luck — many manufacturers print the metric equivalent (such as "13mm") for size. The location and formatting of the size marking is different depending on the manufacturer. On this Crosby Shur-Loc hook, both metric and imperial are provided for convenience. However the hook is marked, make sure you index that information and match the hook size to your chain size. AND, the hook grade to your grade of chain (for example, a Grade 100 hook for Grade 100 chain). For your convenience, here is a quick list showing metric to imperial equivalents: 6mm = 7/32" 7mm = 9/32" 8mm = 5/16" 10mm = 3/8" 13mm = 1/2" 16mm = 5/8" 18 or 20mm = 3/4" 22mm = 7/8” 26mm = 1” 32mm = 1-1/4” What is the most common size of chain and hook that you use? #LiftingEquipment #Cranes #Hooks #TrusttheLift

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