Games Technical Instructor at Staffordshire University

It's been a while since my last update, but since last year I've been working at my old university, Staffordshire University as a Technical Instructor for Games and Visual Effects. The job itself covers a number of things ranging from teaching to supporting staff and students with hardware, software and anything games related. 
In particular I've been in charge of their motion capture stage, the largest in UK education. It uses Vicon mocap software and hardware, and I had worked with their system since I was a student here, so it didn't take me long to adjust to any new changes.

I was unsure of the teaching aspect at first, teaching students to use mocap and overseeing their sessions but I ended up giving sessions pretty naturally, and have been hearing good things from both students and staff.

Seeing the university again and students working on various projects has made me want to work on games and animation again, and I've been able to work on a small project in some spare time. I plan to show some of my progress here soon, so I hope you look forward to it.

3D Animation Showreel - March 2021

 

A showreel showing some of the work I did at Keyframe Studios for Dead Pixels. There's a focus on action here, between the animations and song I chose. Once more of the work I did comes out I hope to put them together for another showreel.

Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoy!

Dead Pixels Animation Portfolio

It's taken longer than I would have liked, but I've finally gotten some Dead Pixels content from Keyframe Studios and put together this portfolio video.

 

There are two videos, this one which has a small commentary of my time at Keyframe Studios and the work I did for rigging, skinning, scene work and animating, and a showreel focused on animation, which I can use when applying to jobs. It feels good to have some evidence of my work, instead of just using text all the time.

I hope you enjoy the work I've done!

The showreel will be available in the next post.

Freelancing with Keyframe Studios and the release of Dead Pixels Season 2

For the last few months I've been working with Keyframe Studios again, but this time in a freelance role, and instead of the second season of Dead Pixels I worked on animation for the 5 minute version of The Adventures of Zeze Zebra, a CGI show aimed at young children. 

My role here ended recently though, and I'm back to searching for jobs. This time though, I want to spend more time wokring on my own project. I've been working on my Fino model whenever I've been searching for jobs, but this time I want to work on something that is less of a hobby or portfolio piece, but more of a serious project. I want to make a game.

I've mentioned wanting to work on a new project in previous posts, and I think that is what I'll do. I will still be applying to jobs and trying to find places to work, that will be my focus, but any spare time I have I want to spend on something new. I don't want to give any details for now, in case this all comes to nothing, but once I have something to show I intend to leave updates here similar to Project Fino.

As a final note, the second season of Dead Pixels released recently, on January 26th on E4 and on Channel 4's VOD service. I watched the first episode, and it's strange seeing the things I worked on appear on a tv show. I knew most of the details of the show from when I worked on it, and got to watch most of the episodes before they aired, so I admit I don't feel as excited as I thought I would be on something I worked on, but seeing it there in front of me did make feel proud.

I hope to put some Dead Pixels content on my website soon once some more time has passed for people to watch it, but for now both seasons of Dead Pixels can be seen on Channel 4's website, as well as Avatards, which some people may not know but it was the original concept for Dead Pixels.

 

Dead Pixels: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dead-pixels

Avatards: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/avatards

Project Fino Update: Idle Loop

 

 

 

Another update to Project Fino. 

I decided to continue using the Fino model I've made and work on creating animations, but quickly ran into some problems with my 3DS Max License since I'm not in university anymore. It doesn't look like there is anything I can do about it, and I rendered the little I did in the time I had left. An Idle animation that I haven't had a chance to look over.

Without 3DS Max I'm not going to be able to continue Project Fino for now, and it's going to be very hard to work on anything else since 3DS Max is my most proficient software. This is a chance for me to try out and learn other software though, and the first that comes to mind is Blender considering it is free and open-source. It would let me make my own assets while keeping ownership of them or using them commercially. 

For now though, with the world and how the Corona Virus has affected it, it's hard to bring myself to work properly. The last few updates for Project Fino took me a long time to work on, and my own work ethic has slowed down a lot. I'm hoping that things get better and the world can start moving again soon.