Back to student life

As a Masters student.

Friends have wondered why. Parents have worried why.
I looked at the bill and thought "Oh my!"

So there's pretty much no turning back now, and I'm actually pretty excited about this new journey.

Ask me five years ago, and I would have told you that I'd be crazy if I ever went down this path - all I've ever wanted to do then was to animate.

And so, I worked as an animator (even though I was doing mocap most of the time), and I realized during my 2nd year of work that I really wouldn't want to be animating for the rest of my life. My goals were pretty much a blur from then on.

I was grateful for the chance given by my previous employer to try out being a producer for the NDP project. I suppose this was kind of a turning point as it gave me new sights on the industry and what I could do.

But, I still wasn't sure if I will want to rise up to be an actual producer for a feature film (maybe I still do.. and have my shot at having my name ON THE BIG SCREEN).

So came the day when I went on my 2nd honeymoon with my husband to Melbourne and it literally changed me. The city of Melbourne was so vibrant in the arts and there seem to always be a festival going on. We checked out one of their more popular jazz bars and were blown away by how the community love to support the arts.

Of course, I am sure Singapore has tons of festivals as well, just that maybe I haven't been quite bothered with actively checking them out. So anyway, Melbourne had left a deep impression on me (and also became a coffee convert since then), and it got me thinking about Arts and Cultural Management - a desire to see the animation scene shine in Singapore.

2016 was spent trying to find out more about the arts scene in Singapore, particularly in terms of animation. I volunteered to help out as a photographer at the Animation Nation 2016 event in October and heard about the success stories and struggles of local artists and studios. I had also started volunteering at the National Gallery to get myself more exposed to the museum culture here.

So yeap, here I am now, working full time and aspiring to complete my Masters in Arts and Cultural Management at Lasalle. Pray with me!

My time so far as a Coordinator at One Animation

While updating my LinkedIn profile on what I do as a coordinator, I could only churn out a couple of points that made sense to be added into a professional resume. But I couldn't help but feel a certain sense of injustice as there is definitely so much more to being in the coordination department - just that these things don't actually color up my job description.

So, I guess, I'm just taking some time to offload some of my thoughts on being in this amazing department.

One of the main questions I get from people within the industry is why had I chosen to be a coordinator. It's usually either this, or they generally assume that I do not have any CG knowledge - but I don't blame them. It is, admittedly, quite unusual for someone to have undergone some creative training, only to be in a job that does not require you to take any active part in it. Even my own father thinks that I have wasted his money on my animation diploma (to whom I replied that my understanding of CG helped me be a more effective coordinator as I understand better the processes).

So, why have I taken this path?

Just a myriad of reasons (not exhaustive):

• I see a need for myself to diversify what I can do within the industry - reason being that animation jobs are getting scarcer due to the inevitable reality of studios opting to outsource these jobs to other countries.
• I don't see myself being an animator in the long run. Yes, I love animation, but I'm also interested to see it grow as an industry/business in Singapore.
• Being in coordination, I feel, gives me the stepping stone toward understanding how studios operate as a business.

Along the way, some (negative) main observations I've found about being in coordination:

• There will always be people who see us as just being in an administrative/personal assistant role - which is wrong on so many levels (and we literally roll our eyes at that).
• Some people think we only read/answer emails on a day-to-day basis, and that it's all we do.
• It is generally a thankless job - when things go smooth, nobody celebrates that it could be because you have helped to manage things well. But when things don't go as planned/we meet with hiccups along the way, the coordination department is the first to receive blame (and yes, we do accept blame if we were the ones who caused a lapse in communication. And yes, we know and understand that we could have done things better).

It took me quite a while to get over this horrible realization. Of course, it still irks us that our work is often misunderstood, but at least I am able to better appreciate the value that we bring to the project - and it made me reflect about the way I may have misunderstood my own production department in my previous company!

I have learnt so much as a coordinator so far - skills that tutorials/schools probably can't teach you.
Things like:

• Learning how to people-manage. Especially when it comes to frustrated artists/directors (deadlines are real, and so frustrations are real too).
• Practising talking to people. I am actually a very introverted person, and to have to be able to talk to people everyday as part of my job is incredibly challenging - but I'm glad for the challenge as now I think it gives me more confidence.
• Communication skills. We have to learn how to adapt according to different people's communication patterns - so that we are able to be as effective as possible in getting the appropriate (and detailed) information across.
• Learning to be humble/professional. It is one thing to be lashed out at by someone/a department, but how we choose to respond to it is a different matter. Do I go with my instincts and be defensive about it? Or do I try to take a step back and better understand the underlying needs behind the frustrations? This is something that I still am learning from the gurus before me (like my supervisors etc) - it will undoubtedly take a lifetime to learn. Of course, at the end of the day, it is important to understand that nothing is ever done on a personal level.
• Google scripting! This, I think, is most surprising to me - whoever knew that the ability to write code will come in handy when I have a desire to automate repeated tasks in Google spreadsheets etc? I am now so glad that I did not choose to quit pursuing my Computing degree - and I am going to get my (future) kids to learn programming from young.

I do miss being part of the creative process from time to time. I am still looking for opportunities to further expand my exploration of this industry, so hopefully something may open up - or, pray, whichever path God leads me to.

So right now, I'm only doing animation as a hobby - but much like many other hobbies I have, priorities often shift as my view of the world and my own life shifts. And for now, it's about cycling (it's healthy and fun!) and thinking about what's my next step in my career (a Masters degree in Arts and Cultural Management? Maybe a stint in an overseas studio if the opportunity arises?).

Finally, after 2 years of work experience, I now have my work demoreel to showcase some animation, compositing and scripting that I did at work. Unfortunately, I am not able to showcase much of my mocap animation as that project is still pretty much confidential. I also did the rigging of the humanoid-alien characters in the reel (aka "bounty hunters").

At work, I also got the chance to put some of my MEL scripting knowledge learnt in college to good use, by writing some useful scripts that helps the company save time.

Thank you for viewing!

We Made The Merlion Swim

I don't think anyone has every seen the merlion swim. Except maybe for this video that I stumbled upon while searching for references: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcTsWfPq0Fc

(By the way, another notable style reference is this project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q256NEoJ2o. It's pretty welldone in my opinion.) 

So anyway, the NDP committee paid a visit to my studio early this year, asking if we wanted to participate in this year's Singapore National Day Parade - by animating a merlion swim sequence.

Fast forward a few months later... we spent weeks and months working overtime on weekdays and even sacrificing our weekends to do this project (honestly I think it was all great fun bonding with my colleagues and putting on weight together from all the pizza that we ordered).

It was also a great opportunity for us animators to do some hand-key animation from scratch (since we've been working with motion capture data day in and out).. Even though I think the animation could be very much improved on, I guess the warm response from the crowd made all our effort worth it.

Some stills of shots that I worked on:

(Close up shot of merlion talking)
Body and facial animation done by me
Lip sync done by my colleague, Chris

Animation done by me

It was a great experience working on this project with my animation team because we get to really learn from one another (it's a huge difference compared to when I was a student in 3dsense because I was the only animator in class and there was no one I could compare notes with).

Look! We're even on the news!


(fast forward to 1:30)

"Tooth Fairy" Short Film

At last, my Diploma Short Film is released on Youtube at my alma mater's channel.

The story:
In the middle of the night, when a little boy was sound in sleep, Tooth Fairy paid him a small visit. Most people know what Tooth Fairies do when they find a tooth, but do we ever wonder what value they find in something we discard away? Watch and find out!



Looking back at this short film, it certainly brought back nostalgic memories of slogging together (with tons of fun and learning included) with my classmates back then. Even though it may not be a Pixar-quality film worthy of any Grammy awards, at least it's a starting point for our journey ahead.

Mocap Zap Zap

There's so much to learn about motion capture and while Avatar/Hulk/LoTR made it look so cool and easy, getting down and dirty to actually using the system is really quite...something.
And I can't even say that I know everything there is to know about it. In fact, I may well be one of the least knowledgeable of the technology at work.

But it's been quite an eye opener. Learning to calibrate the system, sticking on mocap markers on actors etc are the baby steps to mastering it. The entire system is so sensitive that any slight movement to the cameras can cause calculations to fail. Wow. *hence the clumsy me has to be extra careful.. talk about stress!*

Anyway, I am really quite excited for the journey ahead. I'm looking forward to see how the mocap data transfers to the 3d characters.. and yada yada yada.

A brief history of Motion Capture: http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/character_animation/motion_capture/history1.htm

I'm still not very sure how mocap may compare to keyed 3d animation, but I guess as I learn more about the craft, I'd have some pretty interesting inputs. :)

*update* I've been trying my hand at 3d modeling recently as part of my company's training. Maybe I'll post some pics soon.

*update* check out a discussion of mocap vs animation here: http://johncelestri.blogspot.sg/2011/10/motion-capture-is-not-animation.html

A minor update

Hi everyone,

Just a little update on what I've been up to.

My company has been sending us for training in animation (and we've just started in modeling!). Well, there are a couple of shots that I have been practicing on but haven't yet got the time to go polish them. But I'll definitely try to work on those whenever I can (and since I've already more or less publicly announced it, I figure it would give me greater push). Hopefully, I'll be able to upload pictures of my modeling assignments as well.

I'm really quite thankful for my current job that allows for such exposure in different specializations. I must say that I can even paint skin weights more confidently now when I used to be so afraid of them.

Geek Out Party

I attended the Geek Out Party last night jointly organized by 3dsense (my alma mater), Polygon Pictures and Silver Ant.

It was held at St James Power Station, Boiler Room (say whut?!). And to be really honest, it was my first time being in a club... But anyway, I wasn't really there for the alcohol or dancing (I don't think anyone would want to see me dance. Sing? Maybe, but not dance. LOL) To me, it was more like a chance to just go there and say hi to the people in the industry whom I know.

Which I did.

It was a great time to have casual conversations with people whom I have worked with in school previously, my seniors, my teachers, and I even met with some people from Tiny Island whom I have met when I was doing some animation tests there. It was just a little tiring to keep shouting and straining my ears to hear what the other party was saying.

Oh, and I should probably say that the short film that my junior just completed (aka Project Phil) was AMAZING. It's not completed with the audio yet.. so I guess when it's done, I can help share it here on my blog.

------------------------

By the way, if anyone's wondering, work at Monstrou is really awesome. I've been learning a lot, rigging some stuff (and more to come) and just having crazy fun with my colleagues.

My first job

I have just started my first ever full time job as an animator at a small and humble local studio - Monstrou.

Will be staying on this job for three years and I do intend to work hard and learn as much as I can. Besides, the project we're working on is really cool and I can't wait. I might even try my hand at rigging!

I haven't been up to much lately ever since I came back from Japan. Basically just been relaxing, doing some freelance work, helping out in filming for a church project and working on a short animation practice project with a friend (which I have put aside for the time being due to the above commitments..but I have every intention of completing it! And I'm thankful for my understanding friend).

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Inspiration

I was told to come to Japan with an open mind - basically come here with no pre-planned project in mind and just see what inspires me. I wanted to do something abstract initially, but I thought I would be trying to force something out and that would make everything feel very unnatural..and well.. pointless.

So I decided to do something that reflects my personality and more.. me.

One of the biggest inspiration for this piece would be the fact that it's my first time being away from home for an extended period of time. It was really difficult for me initially as I struggled to live alone and learn to be more independent, not to mention the homesickness I felt every now and then. (I'm definitely not saying that I hated my stay here. In fact, I enjoyed every bit of it, but that's for another post.)

The inspiration for the stars came like this:
The first night I was here, I was skyping with my sister and she told me to look at the stars. However, the night sky here was cloudy and there were hardly any of them. Anyway, her point was that we are looking at the same stars even though we were miles apart (sweet but so cheesy!). Yea, but as cheesy as it may sound, look what came out of it!
So from there, I went into my own fantasy world to find an 'explanation' for the absence of the stars.

P.S. for people who may not be familiar with Singapore, the pattern of the stars at the end actually forms up the Singapore flag:

Technical Stuff (in case you wanna know)

Well, since people have asked me, I'm just going to state it here.
The 3D scenes were modeled (only the environment), animated and rendered entirely with Maya.
2D scenes were created using a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop, and then animated in After Effects.
Final editing done in Premiere.

Animating in 2D was initially challenging as I had no clue how I was going to do it (Because I sure do not have time to go draw out everything frame by frame). But learning from the geniuses at DigitalTutors, I found an amazing way to animate in 2D.

So for folks who'd like to know, I downloaded the free After Effects plugin "DuIK" for my 2D character and with it, I could animated almost like I could in Maya.

What I've Learnt/Experiences I Have Gained

I think I've definitely grown slightly as an artist while doing this project. Maybe not just skill wise, but I feel like I've taken my first steps in stretching my wings in storytelling. One of the biggest reasons I ventured into animation was because I wanted to use it as a tool to tell stories and I'm just so very thankful that I had this opportunity to do so. So, this project has definitely given me a boost in confidence in this direction.

Day 26 - Marinoa City

My second last day in Japan. My last day shopping. Last day taking the train.

Took the train to Meinohama station and went to check out Marinoa City, which is a huge outlet mall (kinda like the one in JB). Did some final shopping there.. and I wonder how I'm going to fit everything into my bags. And how much extra I'd have to pay.
Gosh. Guilty pleasures.

Went to this restaurant and ordered okonomiyaki.
Told the waitress that I didn't understand how to do this, so she offered to cook it for me.
Sugoyi! Arigato Gozaimashita!

Day 25 - Playing With Hikari

New word I learnt today: hikari, which means light.

Photography Workshop conducted by Nigel

Setting Up

A video that was looping, showing the events of the Itoshima Arts Farm when it was spring (i.e. rice planting season).
P.S. I saw footage of Sen (my school's principal), his wife, Yeo Shih Yun and Justin Lee!

Day 24 - Breathing The Arts

I have more time on my hands now to draw.

A drawing of Hiro-san's parents' house.

Days 22 & 23 - Roaming The Streets and Eating Sushi

Day 22 was when I 'hermit-ted' myself in the studio and house to finish up my short film. So nothing much to update there, except THAT IT IS FINALLY COMPLETED!

I'm now just taking a day at a time. I've got rough plans on what remaining things I want to do, like visiting the on-sen again, checking out museums, shopping etc, but I'm just taking it slow - maybe even leaving it to spontaneity.

So on Day 23, I went to the city to buy some souvenirs/snacks for my folks back at home.

Some sights along the way to Tenjin,
and Tenjin itself

Days 20 & 21 - Rendering, Sketching, Cooking [Project Update]

With the deadline approaching (I've been here for exactly 3 weeks now!), I've been a good girl and spent the bulk of the past two days working on my project and I'm proud to say that it's about 90% complete. (More project updates towards the end of this post).

Today, my Mac is basically exploited for rendering.. so while waiting for the renders to be complete (each frame takes about 20min.. and I have 72 frames for this shot.. so you go do the math. I wonder if it's my render settings or my graphics card?), I went on a short sketching trip with the bicycle.

Day 19 - Studio visit to Mont Blanc Pictures

(This post is supposed to be dated 24 September 2012)

Studio Visit to Mont Blanc Pictures

Really nice and warm people!

It feels really good to be meet people in the same industry overseas - that even though we may be miles apart and may not speak each other's language, our passions binds us together.

They recently worked on the film "After School Midnighters", which is currently screening in cinemas here in Japan. I saw the trailer once and was completely blown away by the animation. (If you're reading this and you have yet to watch it, you should do so! You can watch it at their website - link below).

Shuhei Kumamoto, the guy in the picture wearing the red shirt, was the animator (I assume lead animator), and I had the privilege of seeing his demoreel. Really neat stuff! He's been an animator for 13 years, and we have a similar dream of making it into Pixar one day. Haha.

Hirosinante Murakami, the guy in the middle, wearing the checkered shirt, was in charge of motion graphics and I also had the pleasure of seeing his work. Completely blown away by all the 2d animation he did in after effects.

Take-san, the guy in the green shirt, is the director. LIKE WOW!
And the best thing is they are all very friendly and approachable.

More information about mtblanc: http://mtblanc.jp/

Day 18 - Mountain Hike

(This post is supposed to be dated 23 September 2012).

Went on an unexpected mountain hike today. I had wanted to go to the Shiraito Waterfalls (it's another destination that I've circled on the Itoshima map) and for the longest time I had been contemplating whether or not to go because it's more than 10km away. Also, I've read online that the buses to this place are very very infrequent, which is a bummer because I have a concert in the afternoon to catch.

So, in the end, I decided to wake up early to see if I can cycle there. On Google Maps, it says it will take about 35 min to drive, and 2 hrs+ to walk, hence I estimated that cycling would take slightly more than an hour..

Everything went according to plan.. until.. I realised that after a certain point in my journey, it became a non-stop upward slope - which is impossible for me to paddle up. Well, I tried to, but I kept losing my balance and fall off the bike. Anyway. Walking seemed to take less effort.

Pictures!

Scenery hike

Day 17 - Cycling trip

(Apologies for the backlog of posts that I have yet to post, including this one)

This post would have been dated 22 September 2012.

This was the day I got a little bored of the city and I just wanted to cycle around. I had this Itoshima map which I had circled a few places I wanted to go - one of which was the Ito Local Art Museum. It's kind of like 3 train stations away, and I didn't want to waste money on the train, so I decided to take a cycling trip there.. anyway it wouldn't hurt to practice cycling a bit more.

Day 16 - Ippudo Ramen

I was on the hunt for ramen and people online have been recommending Ichiran and Ippudo for ramen. I had wanted to go hunt for Ichiran, but I couldn't find it, so I went for Ippudo instead.

@ Hakata Station

Days 14 & 15

I woke up late and so I'm speed typing this away while I wait for breakfast to boil (boiling eggs and water for tea). I'm planning to go to the city again (Hakata), to try some Hakata ramen, so I gotta try and leave the house as early as I can and return preferably before the sky turns dark. TGIF!

Updates for Days 14 & 15 (the days are starting to blur..which might be because I'm starting to get used to this place. I think I'm really really gonna miss this place when I go back home).

More Japanese Food!

Takoyaki and some tofu stuff bought from supermarket