Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from Bishop Animation!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The California fires

It's been a crazy couple of days out here in Southern California. There have been (and still are) fires burning across much of Southern California. There are several people injured, a few that were killed, many acres burned, and many houses destroyed.

My family and I were some of the 500,000 + people that were evacuated. We actually left before we were asked to. My wife and I had been talking last week about what we would do in the event of wildfires, and we stuck to our plan. We put the kids, the dog, some paperwork, and some hard drives in the van and took off.



We left our home around 11PM on Sunday. We drove to Mira Mesa high school and stopped there. My wife and kids slept while I stayed awake, listening to the radio news reports and watching the large flag in the parking lot to get an idea of wind speed and direction. The shelter filled up fast. My family stayed in the van so that others could have the cots and such in the shelter (the gym of the high school). I did go in to the school from time to time to find out what was going on from some of the workers there as well as grab some coffee from the Red Cross.



We left the shelter parking lot at around 4AM. We made a brief stop in Sorrento Valley so I could check online to see where the fires were and how widespread they had become. Most of the sites from the local news stations were down or had not been updated since midnight. I drove to the beach, figuring we would only have to worry about fire from one side then. We headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway and then on the 5 North until we got to an area where the air quality was better.



We saw some more smoke up ahead, farther up the 5, but it was far enough away that we felt like we were safe. We found a hotel just north of San Juan Capistrano. I was beat by the time we checked in and got everyone in an unpacked.

After nearly a week of watching the news and not knowing what was going on at our home, we finally got back today. The Rancho Bernardo area lost several homes, and there were two people found burned to death in Poway. There was no fire damage in our neighborhood, and only some signs of strong winds at my house.

We lucked out, but there are many people in the greater San Diego and Southern California area who didn't do too well. If you would like to help, money seems to be the best thing you can donate at this time.

Here are some ways you can help.

Here is how YOU can be ready for an emergency

The next few days will be interesting. Just because the fires are out (or close to being out) doesn't mean the crisis is over. There are many families with no place to go, and nothing but the clothes on their backs. The clean up and rebuilding efforts will continue for months. The investigation and search for the arsonists who started some of the fires that started when the blazes began will continue until the crimes are solved.

On an animation note, the Walt Disney Company pledged Wednesday to contribute $2 million to restore burned areas and help victims of the Southern California wildfires. It is going to be quite some time until the area returns to some semblance of normal, but with the nation's help, we can get there faster.

Best of luck to anyone affected by the fires.

The Happy Pumpkin

Here's a quick Halloween greeting cartoon we made. Enjoy!

Coming in October...

keep watching for further details!

A quick fluid sim test

This is a quick fluid sim test I did using Real Flow. I animated it in about six hours, using a character model and rig from another project.

Revamped website

So we've updated our website. It's been a wild and crazy few months, with a complete overhaul of the company, moving from one coast to the other, and the birth of my latest child (that makes four for those who are keeping track).

We've also been asked by Fred Seibert to create the logo for Frederator Films. It's pretty exciting, since one of the projects they have announced is a Samurai Jack feature film.

San Diego CG group screening of " Ratatouille"

Next Friday, June 29th, the San Diego CG group will be watching "Ratatouille" at the Mira Mesa Edwards Cinema at the 9:35PM screening. You may want to Fandango your tickets now to make sure you get a seat. We'll be headed to the Studio Diner afterwards for a discussion of the film as well as planning upcoming meetings. I hope to see you there!

Pixar animation progression reel

I saw this on IGN and thought people might enjoy seeing it.

Anthropomorphic

an·thro·po·mor·phic
Function: adjective

Etymology: Late Latin anthropomorphus of human form, from Greek anthrOpomorphos, from anthrOp- + -morphos -morphous
1 : described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes (anthropomorphic deities)
2 : ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things (anthropomorphic supernaturalism)

Read more over at Channel Frederator...

Anthropomorphism

What is it? How is it used? Keep watching this space!

"Surf's Up" this Friday

So this Friday marks the release of "Surf's Up". If you are in the San Diego area, the San Diego CG Group is planning on seeing "Surf's Up" this Friday. Afterwards, we'll head to the Studio Diner to talk about the film. We would love to get some of you to attend.

We're looking at going to the show Friday, June 8th, at 7:20PM at the Edwards Cinema at Mira Mesa.

We're also going to be talking about upcoming meetings, as well as special events during Siggraph.

I hope to see you there!

Sopranos Soda

"The Sopranos" is arguably the best show on television right now. I'm a huge fan of the show, and have been watching since season one.

A few months ago, Bishop Animation was asked by Imbibe, Inc to create a commercial for Sopranos Soda, a line of all natural Italian sodas they were creating.

The commercial features the three flavors of soda (Chianti, Amaretto and Limoncello) as if they were characters from the show. They are roughing up an energy drink, looking for information. The commercial ends with "the Big Guy" from the rival energy drink family getting capped. You can see the entire commercial on the official website of the soda: Drink Sopranos.

From a technical stand point, the commercial was a tough one to pull off in the time frame we had. Computers make metal boxes really well, everything else is tough. This commercial features four characters that are full of moving liquid, foaming liquid, breaking glass, and more.

The sodas themselves are delicious. One of the perks of this project was that the client sent us a case of the soda for reference. I like the Amaretto the best.

"Kung Fu Jimmy Chow"

A project we worked on has gone live over at Heavy. It's called "Kung Fu Jimmy Chow".

The project was done for Camp Chaos. They created the characters, story, did the audio and boards. We did everything from just after the intro.

It was a long hard slog, and the last project we did at our studio in Pennsylvania before that version of the studio imploded and we moved to San Diego.

Have a look and let us know what you think.

"Fan Boy and Chum Chum" is a great cartoon

So we were in Los Angeles yesterday (well, Burbank, but close enough)for the Nickelodeon screening. Thanks to the guy who decided to drive his truck into the overpass on the 5 North, we missed everything. Eric Robles was nice enough to screen his short for us though.

"Fan Boy" is a great cartoon. The look is hard to describe, but you really need to see it in motion to appreciate it. It's a 2D animation style applied to 3D, and it works great. I'm not talking about 2D animation principles, but the timing itself. Held poses, camera moves, etc all come directly from 2D.

It was a nice use of the medium, and hopefully we see more from Eric Robles and Red Eye.

San Diego CG Group starting up

Thursday, April 19th at 8PM
The Studio Diner

We're planning on meeting here to start up a CG group in San Diego. The group won't be software or discipline specific. We hope to eventually have tutorials, guest speakers, group events, etc. Show up and help shape this group from the beginning. We hope to see you there!

New trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Soon...

This week's Channel Frederator Podcast

Zelda music

This guy is very good, combining one of my favorite games with one of my favorite instruments. Enjoy.

Drugs are bad

Check out this nature video to see the effects of drugs on spiders. Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs.