Wrangler Transformer Blocking test v02

To see how my robot would fit in the car when transformed, I took the blocking test a little further and did a crude transformation animation to go through the motions. I don't think it will transform exactly like this as I don't want the robot to have to do a push-up to get on it's feet, so I am going to rework the legs a bit. But it's coming along. Soon I will design the robot look with these motions in mind.

I am open to crit and suggestions.

Wrangler Transformer Blocking test

So after seeing Transformers the movie, I am of course motivated (once again) to try my shot at doing a sweet little photorealistic animation of a transformer. I am also fond of my 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited which, I am finding, lends itself nicely to a transformer design.

I'm sharing my first attempt at creating a robot form of the Wrangler. I just modeled some basic parts of the Wrangler and then moved thim into a position that would suite a biped robot. Then I modeled a rough robot and tweaked the Wrangler part possitions, and viola.

I'm pretty encouraged with the results considering it was done in a few hours including modeling (except for the forearms and hands which was done a year ago for fun). I hope to take this much further and see what I can come up with. At this point, this really isn't a transformation, but just blocking and conceptualizing

2007 Character Animation Reel

Here's my 2007 Character Animation Reel. This is a collection of what I feel is my best character animation work. Some stuff is older some stuff is new. I tried to not cut it as a music montage like I have in the past but rather just clips from the shorts and tests that I have done. However, I found this was tough to do. Also, it looks like virb doesn't like to show my slates, so please excuse the black pauses.

Please post a comment and let me know what you think. If you see any animation that looks particularly odd or bad, please let me know and I will consider omitting it. I would love some advice.

Here is an image of my good friend Bibendum, or as most know him, the Michelin Man. Armstrong White has had the great fortune to be a major provider of Michelin Man ads for the past year or so. I have posed this 3D Michelin Man many times for many ads as well as animated web ads. It's always a pleasure to get a Michelin Man job since it is a character and not a car. Plus he is a 100 year-old international icon! At AW we are pleased to be currently holding the torch for this guy.

This image was posed and modeled (tire arms) by me, rendered by Damian Fulmer, and retouched by Lou Szvercsak. Everything is fake.

CGI Ford Mustang

Created as a sample for a local photographer, I lit and rendered this car using an HDRI background shot by John Roe. Shaders were created by Damian Fulmer and the image was retouched by Dean Armstrong. This image was featured as a two page spread in Elemental 2.

I hand modeled the Mustang from images of a die cast model as opposed to using CAD data which we traditionally do at Armstrong White. Play the video below to see a breakdown of this image from modeling to rendering, to retouching.

Autodesk selects Armstrong White imagry

Armstrong White has a really good relationship with Autodesk, the biggest CG software maker of for the Entertainment, Gaming and Design industries. They make 3Ds Max and Maya which is the backbone of our opperation. They have selected one of our pieces along with 7 others from the Film, Gaming, and Design industries to represent some of the best work made with thier software this year.

The above image was created by Joseph Brancik (CGI car), Dean Armstrong (retouching) and John Roe (background photo) and will be featured as a HUGE banner at the San Diego International Airport for this years SIGGRAPH, for the whole month of August. SIGGRAPH is the big industry conference for the CGI industries listed above. People from ILM, Pixar, Blue Sky, Apple, Intel, and many others go to this conference to show the latest work, software, and thinking.

This will be a big year for Armstrong White at SIGGRAPH as not only do we get a huge congratulatory banner, but Autodesk will also feature a Video Profile they created of us at the conference and my buddy and co-worker, Damian Fulmer, is teaching a Masters Class for Autodesk as well. Each year we get more and more recognition by the industry which is a great thing to see happening.

Stay tuned for the video profile which I will post on this blog as soon as I get my hands on the final version. Myself and a few other AW folks were interviewed for it.

FJ Cruiser Montage

This is a two minute montage of the work Armstrong White did for the FJ Cruiser Bulletin website. The clips you see here we animated by myself along with Cy Calcevic and Jim Smith. Damian Fulmer rendered them and Bruce Spike compositied them as well as edited this piece.

Every kid needs a good scare!

What happened to animated movies these days?! Everything is warm and fuzzy with far too many pop culture references and bland characters. The only major studio that seems to get it right is Pixar but even they play it safe when it comes to playing with childrens minds.

I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in the 80's when Disney (love'em to death) was in a lull and other studios were creating new and different animation that felt odd and trippy.... very anti-Disney. These films left a big impression on me because they had moments that were very creepy and even thought provoking. They scared me and perhaps gave me nightmares but looking back, I am greatful for it! They expanded your imagination, hightened your sense of wonder and showed you that the world isn't only filled with sunshine and lollypops. There is a dark side to life which kids should have a respect for early on. Even old-school Disney had repect for creepyness, just look at Fantasia's A Night on Bald Mountain, the old Skeleton Dance animation, The Old Mill short, and the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence from Dumbo!

Well, thank God for YouTube! I rencently went on a nastalgic binge and found some great clips from these bizare treats which I have organized into a playlist for you to enjoy! Be sure to check out my Trippy Childhood Animation playlist on YouTube to see if you share similar experiences. Or if any of them are new to you... enjoy.

List of wonderful 1980's creepy animation:
-The Mouse and His Child
-Unico
-The Last Unicorn
-Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure
-The Secret of Nimh
-The Sea Prince and the Fire Child

Got any other suggestions on creepy, yet wonderful animation? Please mention them in a comment!

-Mark

mderidder.com is going blog

Well, after my buddy Damian Fulmer showed me the wonder and magic of blogger I've decided to follow his footsteps and port all the content from the old mderidder.com to a blog based template. This will allow me to update the site much easier and gives me lots of bennifits like RSS (which you can utilize if you really want to keep ontop of my work, yeah right), a simple and familiar layout, and I can offload all the bandwidth from my host server (thanks Jake) to resources like YouTube and Flickr.

Unfortuately I do give up some quality in my videos by going the YouTube route, but since I am an animator and storyteller at heart, I really shouldnt care as much about how it "looks" but rather how easily acccessed it is. YouTube allows me to not have to worry about player compatability and I get to see how many hits a video gets and if anyone has any comments on it.

I still have a hard time imagining anyone would be checking in on my site to see what I've been up to. I really doubt anyone will even care enough to finish reading this post. If you are reading this, let me know by leaving a comment and I'll stand corrected! It is appreciated, and I hope you enjoy some of the content on this blog.

Thanks for stopping by! Keep in touch!
-Mark

Cadalyst Interview

I was recently interviewed by Cadalyst, a magazine publication and online news site which deals with all things CAD (Computer Aided Design). The interview goes into the Ford Edge project yet again and discusses the bennifits and limitations of using CAD data (design data) as a foundation for photorealistic rendering and animation. You can read the online version here, and a digital visualization of the magazine version here.

CCS Alumni Interview

A few months ago I was interviewed by CCS as a "Successful Alumni" for their website and brochure. You can read the interview here.

This is a 30-second CGI animation created by Armstrong White for the Ford Edge website. Artists: Mark DeRidder, Damian Fulmer Bruce Spike, Cy Kalcevic, and Mike Degg.

Pixel Corps Interview

Bruce Spike and I were interviewed by Pixel Corps for our work on the Ford Edge animation. The interview deals mostly with our process for doing photorealstic rendering and animating for our motion work. You can check out the two part interview here: Part 1 Part 2

Harrison's First Day Movie Poster

HFD_poster
Originally uploaded by Mark'n'Heidi

Created as a promo for the Salvation Army to send to local schools.

Harrison's First Day

A six and half minute 3D animated short film created for the Salvation Army starring Dick Purtan as an animated character. This short leads off an educational DVD kit that encourages kids to get involved in the Jr Bed & Bread Club which feeds and shelters the homeless in Detroit. This version still needs refinement at the map sequence and end credits.

The story was written by myself and DJ Hurula who produced the short as well. I Directed it and oversaw animation as well as animating the second half of the film. Character designs and models were created by me while the environments were modeled and textured by Dennis Fraser. Damian Fulmer lit and rendered everything. Mike Degg, Mike Prentice and Bruce Spike also provided some character animation while the map sequence was created by Joseph Brancik.

The Legend of Farmer Jenkins

A 3D animated short film about childhood legends and ghost stories and how they live in the minds of kids. I worked with Mike Tonder who created the backgrounds while I created and animated the characters.

Jenkins has been my little engine that could. It has achieved far more than I thought it would considering it was a student film. Here is a list of a few of Jenkins accomplishments:

Released on DVD as a part of a collection of Horror shorts

Received over 60,000 hits on Halloween 2006 when featured on front page of myspace.com

Featured on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Featured in film festivals across the country
-Waterfront Film Festival
-Los Angeles Animation festival
-Detroit Metro Shorts Film Festival
-Planet Ant Film Festival
-Eerie Horror Film Festival
-Independent Film Festival of North Texas
-Spooky Movie Film Festival 2006
-Spooky Movie Film Festival 2007
-S.N.O.B. Film Festival
-SEMAFX Film Festival

Featured on the front pages of the following sites
-cgtalk.com (recieved CGTalk award)
-cgchannel.com
-deathfall.com
-myspace.com

"Gotta Catch'em All!"

A fun little short film I did at CCS with the help of my cousins Jack, and Kaitlyn. This is CG character animation composted over video. I was very fortunate to have Ray Harryhausen, the legend, watch this short at CCS!! Don't believe me? Check out this picture. I promise it's him!

Playground Magic

A young girl with secret powers finds a way to get back at her young bully at school. A short film I made while I was a student at CCS.