Jeep Wranler Storm animation

This animation was created as a sample to showcase AW's many abilities. From realistic vehicle movement and rendering, to matte paintings, environment creation and particle simulation. This 23 second piece also shows AW's ability to create a unique look and narrative.

It was a blast working on this and I am very proud of how it turned out. Everyone at AW put their best foot forward and I think it shows.

By the way this project was fueled, creatively, by a trip I took this past May with fellow AW artists Pete Reynolds and Bruce Spike where we spent 4 days in Tornado Alley chasing tornadic supercells. Much of the background imagery from this animation came from the photos we took while on the chase.

CLIENT: Armstrong White
DIRECTOR: Mark DeRidder
CO-DIRECTOR: Jon Parkinson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Roe
SOUND DESIGN: Yessian Music
CGI ARTISTS: Dean Armstrong, Rob Burman, Mike Degg, Mark DeRidder, Dennis Fraser, Damian Fulmer, Mike Prentice, Peter Reynolds, Clarence Rice, Kevin Sanderson, Bruce Spike, and Nikki Vassallo

AM Class 4 Progress Reel

Here is everything I have created at Animation Mentor up until now! I am working on my short story ideas now. Stay tuned to video pitches and animatics!

Latest Demo Reel

I have made a quick demo reel because it's been a while and I have new stuff from AM. Speaking of which, I have decided to take a term off from Animation Mentor to focus on a couple life issues which need more of my attention. I'll be back at it in January!

FJORG 2008 Entry: "Loveless End"

Well I survived the grueling Iron Animation competition FJORG! It was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I was on one of 16 teams who had 32 hours to complete a 15-45 second character animation about a common theme. This years theme was "The saddest story ever told". I was on Studio TeAM (AM for animation mentor) along with JJ Pastore and Chris Schloemp who are fellow AM students.

We decided to tell the story of a relationship that was never worked on and allowed distractions to come between them which in the end resulted in no love at all. The three of us are married and we thought that would be the saddest story. While we are very proud of our film, in hindsight we realize that we didn't focus on which way we wanted to go with this one (funny or sad) and therefore have a bit of a mushy blend. But given the scenario and the fact that every hour there were new distractions from Disney animators giving talks to Shaolin Monks giving martial arts demonstration. Oh and then there was the techno music until 3am. I got a total of 30 minutes sleep on this, so I'm amazed we turned anything in!

Unfortunately we didn't place in the top five but thats ok as there were a LOT of great submissions. The competition was extremely tough this year. Either way it was an honor to be a part of the competition. I had direct feedback on my work from animators that work at Disney, Dreamworks (Shrek Co-Director!), Pixar (Andrew Gordon!), Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, etc.

Here is a documentary they shot during the competition! This gives you a great idea of what the event was like and how much pressure we were under!:

FJORG demo reel closer

So two fellow Animation Mentor students and I have put together a demo reel with the hopes of getting into this years SIGGRAPH FJORG competition. The competition pits 16 teams of 3 animators against each other in a 36-hour animation-off. The goal is to create the best 15-45 second animation in only 36 hours.

Anyhow, I animated the closing line to the demo reel where the announcer begs the judges to let us in the contest.

My competition buddies are JJ Pastore and Chris Schloemp.

Mercury Montage

For the past year I had the opportunity to lead a team of CG artists at Armstrong White to create over 40 "photo-realistic" animations for mercuryvehicles.com. The animations involved everything from 360's to feature animations to technical animations for all five Mercury Vehicles. This adds up to almost 20 minutes worth of animation.

This video is a 2.5 minute montage of that work. All imagery seen here is 100% computer generated. Moving Pixels created the 3D backgrounds while Armstrong White created the camera/car animation and lighting/rendering. Compositing was done by both Moving Pixels and Armstrong White.

Camera and vehicle animation was created by Mike Degg and myself, while Damian Fulmer and Mike Prentice took care of lighting and rendering the vehicles. It all came together in Shake with the help of Bruce Spike and Joseph Brancik. Background models/textures and additional compositing were completed by Moving Pixels in Santa Monica, CA. The Mercury Montage was edited by me.

AW Video Profile by Autodesk

A little while back, Autodesk asked to make a video profile of Armstrong White to showcase a company doing automotive CGI work using their software. This is a big honor since Autodesk is one of the biggest software makers for our industry and for them to select AW for a video profile puts us in a unique select group of talented companies.

The interview gives a little history of AW and shows how we use Autodesks software. I am featured in the interview along with Chuck White and John Willette which was a nice opportunity for me. It is not something I am used to doing as the video shows:)

Check it out and let me know what you think.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.