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BUSINESS PROJECTS

DIGITAL SUPERVISOR
2006
Charlottes Web; Night at the Museum (Trailer)

2007
The Kingdom

2008
Miscellaneous commercials (as VFX supervisor)
R&D: Cirque Du Freak, Fast and Furious 4, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Night at the Museum 2 (Trailer)


LIGHTING TECHNICAL MANAGER
I've worked hard over the last few years to change R&H's studio culture from one of show-specific development to one of studio-wide collaboration.  This has meant not only growing a team of expert Technical Directors in the Lighting department, but projecting good standards to the company as a whole.  We have far less redundant work now from show to show than we did prior to this effort; we enjoy robust standards for the highest-end CG work; and we've developed systems for the collection and implementation of good ideas across all shows.  In my tenure as Lighting Technical Manager, over 1,000 shots have gone through our production pipeline, via several feature films and commercials.  

I've overseen development of, and collaborated on several tools and workflows in that time.  Here are a few:

HDR EYE

I worked with a small team to design and build a unique camera for capturing high dynamic range panoramic images.  The pictures captured by this system are the basis for sequence lighting on all studio shows.  The camera is capable of capturing approximately 24 stops of lighting information in a single exposure.  
We accurately capture lighting detail from the very color of the sun itself, down to subtle details in shadow.  It has been a satisfying project to be involved with - particularly in integrating the results of the camera into our production pipeline.


SOFTWARE AND WORKFLOW DEVELOPMENTS

The Lighting Setup Toolkit is a suite of tools crucial to the efficient execution of all shows at Rhythm & Hues.
Specifically, the Toolkit includes:
  • An architecture for version control of all lighting assets
  • A system for distribution of lighting assets between various stages: Look Development, Sequence Lighting and Scene Lighting.  This includes a sophisticated branching system that allows for different artists to work on different versions of a character if needs be, so that character development can proceed in tandem with shot development in an unobtrusive way.
  • Tools for management of texture maps that help facilitate load balancing during periods of heavy disk activity
  • A lighting interface that ties together the above components, and is the principal working area for all lighting production in the studio.
  • A template language, which we use to capture new developments, in a way that subsequent shows automatically inherit the work of those shows driving innovation.
The Lighting Setup Toolkit makes use of the CGThing Database, which I've spearheaded development on.  Feature Film CG is a shared work environment, with different people performing various tasks in a complex pipeline.  The CGThing Database and tools were built to allow cross-discipline information to accrete in a studio-standard way such that any aspect of a shot that involves shared responsibility for delivery (tracking and lighting, for instance) happens with better communication and automation.  

I've overseen development of our proprietary renderer, Wren and lighting aspects of our choreography package, Voodoo.  These tools and workflows are extremely complicated, and I could go into great detail about challenges I've solved with these tools in production environments.  Areas of particular interest to me have included pushing on our layer-driven rendering techniques (Wren can output several layers in a single render, which we combine with a compositor), many components of how shadows work in a CG environment, and refining our use of motionblur in tandem with other rendering constraints.

Some details on shadows
  • Shadows in hair are tricky to simulate.  I built a means of approximating the diffraction and transmission of light in a hair volume in a way that is computationally expedient, and highly realistic.
  • Depth maps, and deep shadow maps specifically can be onerous for a litany of reasons which I'll be happy to discuss with anyone interested.  Various solutions I've achieved include: sub-pixel interpolation of DSM and DPT information; attenuated blur of shadow effects in special situations; ambient occlusion of hair on complex characters; balancing normal mapping with displacement mapping, etc...
The items I've listed are some of the things in which I'm most invested; though the studio lighting pipeline is broader than what I've discussed here.  I would be remiss if I didn't point out that I work with a team of talented artists and programmers.  Much of what I've listed here has taken place in a collaborative environment.  It remains a pleasure to work with that team, and to have the luxury of assembling those team members myself.  If I ever leave Rhythm & Hues, it will have to be for a special opportunity indeed.

(BRILLIANT SCHEMES IN WAITING:)
I'm interested in developing a system utilizing structured light to capture performance information in real time, in a manner that would not be obtrusive to on-set film cameras.  Assuming the concepts are sound (and I believe they are) this would allow us to automatically recover tracking and geometry information, as well as allow for dynamic relighting of a scene, and procedural generation of mattes between foreground and background elements on a set.  

...

Pre 2002:

LIGHTING SUPERVISOR
Feature Films
Scooby Doo
Soldier
The Sixth Day

Software & Workflow developments
Image based rendering introduced into production; accurate capacity planning; Auto-shadow workflow; etc...

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Feature Films
Stepmom
Flintstones
Cats and Dogs
Mystery Men

Video Games
Eggs of Steel - Playstation

Various Commercials

PRE-RHYTHM & HUES:
Prior to joining Rhythm & Hues in 1996 I worked on a number of challenging projects.

Abbot's Book is a story and game design which seems to constantly simmer in the feature film and/or computer game world.  I'm optimistic that the stars will fully align and that I'll get beyond the option stage one of these days.

I worked with NAPC on a rapid prototyping system using Alias and CNC machining software to drive milling and stereo lithography machines.  Details on request.

 



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