animation – davepreciado

Feb 20

by Dave in Film Maker, Work 0 comments tags: animation, maya, mayahikretargeting, mocap, mocaptutorial, motioncapture, motionediting, performancecapture, previsualization, previz, VFX, vfxtutorial, videogameproduction, virtualproduction

ALITA BATTLE ANGEL Performance Capture + Behind The Scenes Preview

Have a look at some of the on-set capture we use at Weta Digital. We did a LOT of Motion Editing and performance changes – it’s NEVER a 1:1 situation and there is a lot of artistry and technical ability required to successfully pull off such an amazing Mocap Film. Check it out! #mocap #mocaptutorial #mayahikretargeting #maya #motioncapture #performancecapture #motionediting #animation #vfx #vfxtutorial #videogameproduction #virtualproduction #previz #previsualization

Feb 19

by Dave in CG, Work 0 comments tags: animation, maya, mayahikretargeting, mocap, mocaptutorial, motioncapture, motionediting, performancecapture, previsualization, previz, VFX, vfxtutorial, videogameproduction, virtualproduction

New Mocap Tutorial! Maya HIK Retargeting

Hey guys, I’ve been asked over the years how to work with Mocap data in Maya and if I could share some of my workflows. I’ve done the 1st of a few I have in mind to go over some basic workflows starting with Maya’s native HIK system, and how to retarget motion capture data to a custom pre-existing animation rig. I cover basic concepts, what retargeting is fundamentally doing, retargeting from fbx mocap skeleton to custom rig, 1st of 3 methods I use and is a good segway into more complex plugins, briefly cover fbx workflow, and some basic Motion Editing concepts. I hope this helps – enjoy! Maya HIK Retargeting Tutorial #mocap #mocaptutorial #mayahikretargeting #maya #motioncapture #performancecapture #motionediting #animation #vfx #vfxtutorial #videogameproduction #virtualproduction #previz #previsualization

Oct 12

by Dave in Work 0 comments tags: animation, Batman, cg, DC, film, JusticeLeague, mocap, MotionEdit, VFX, WonderWoman

Justice League trailer @justiceleaguewb @GalGadot @BenAffleck @PrideofGypsies #Film #VFX #Mocap

I worked on this one for a couple months. Lots and lots of battles! Looks like it will be a fun one 😉 #JusticeLeague #DC #Film #Mocap #MotionEdit #Animation #VFX #CG #3D #Batman #WonderWoman

May 24

by Dave in Work 1 comments tags: animation, CaraDelevigne, film, LucBesson, mocap, MotionEdit, SciFi, Valerian, VFX, WetaDigital

Valerian – Final Trailer!

OK I’m really excited for this one. I got to work on a few fight scenes and animate/motion edit many of the main group of enemy aliens. Luc Besson is really awesome to have as a client. He knows what he wants, shoots what he wants, and lets the artists do what he hired them for. He’s excited everyday and has a unique way of corralling the artists to get what he wants in the end. I hope this does well in the cinema because I’d really love to work on another one of his films – Valerian 2 perhaps 😉 The 5th Element is very special to me. This was the movie where I made up my mind that I wanted to work in visual effects. Seeing futuristic New York for the 1st time blew me away, and I knew I had to be a part of this. So it’s come full circle for me. All that’s left on my vfx bucket list is working on a Star Wars film, and to animate the Hulk 😉 #Valerian #LucBesson #CaraDelevigne #SciFi #VFX #Film #Mocap #Animation #MotionEdit #WetaDigital

May 16

by Dave in Work 0 comments tags: AndySerkis, animation, film, MattReeves, mocap, VFX, WarForThePlanetOfTheApes, WetaDigital, WoodyHarrelson

War for the Planet of the Apes

Final trailer for War of the Planet of the Apes is out! This is the most I’ve ever contributed to a film. I was fortunate to block out several sequences on this film as well as block to final animation in several key shots. Check it out! #WarForThePlanetOfTheApes #AndySerkis #MattReeves #WoodyHarrelson #Mocap #Animation #VFX #Film #WetaDigital

Apr 30

An old interview from my 1st Art School I attended…19 years ago…

Dave Preciado Q&A: “Hobbit” Motion Editor By: Rachel Handel Filed under: Animation & Effects December 16, 2014 Share This: The Art institutes: What work did you do on The Hobbit Films? What are the steps involved? Dave: I worked on the last two Hobbit films – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (THB2) and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (THB3). “For THB2, I was on the for the entire post duration of the film, roughly 6 months, and the same on THB3. I’ve worked as a motion editor—basically an animator/technical animator who works with performance capture data, using Giant Studio’s motion editing software called Nuance instead of Maya—on both films. On [THB2] I did get to work on stage with the director, Peter Jackson, during the final month of shooting virtual cameras. Motion edit and animation are essentially the same thing when it comes to working with mocap (motion capture) data, so we work most closely with the animation department. Both animation and motion edit fall under the “Motion” department at Weta Digital. As a motion editor, I do a variety of jobs on the film. I clean up motion capture data, solve the performers data onto […]

Jul 06

by Dave in CG, Film Maker 0 comments tags: 3d, animation, BFG, cg, Disney, film, mocap, motion capture, Motion Edit, Steven Spielberg, technical animation, TheBFG, VFX, Weta Digital

The BFG

It’s been a while since my last post due to an immense amount of work that has fallen into my lap these past few months, including an epic battle between me and the dark corners of the internet. After finishing up the the Gallipoli project for Peter Jackson, ANZ, and the New Zealand Government (http://www.wellingtonnz.com/discover/things-to-do/events/the-great-war-exhibition/) I went back to work for Weta Digital on Steven Spielberg’s feature film: The Big Friendly Giant (The BFG by Roald Dahl). I’ve worked on many great projects in my career, but The BFG was the absolute most fun film I’ve ever done. I had a lot of artistic freedom on this show, and much of my work on body animation was left untouched and sent straight to Final Motion. You’ll find much of my work were close ups on BFG’s hands – a fully animated shot of BFG placing labels inside a chest – animated, not simmed – by me 😉 and perhaps a tight shot of BFG closing/locking a dream in a jar. Hands are tough, but seemed to be my speciality on this show. There are few films the come along every generation that define a persons childhood – I think The BFG […]

Nov 13

by Dave in CG 0 comments tags: animation, cg, Compositing, Massey, maya, mocap, motion builder, motion capture, music, music video, new zealand, nuke, NZ, Pacific Heights, VFX, virtual production

Pacific Heights – Airborne

Here it is! I’ve been working on this in my spare time since the beginning of May 2015. Working on a feature film while doing a music video…oy! We finished a week ago and it premiered today, Friday November 13th! I’ll post a more thorough update soon – stay tuned!

Jul 07

by Dave in CG 0 comments tags: 3d, animation, cg, Disney, keyframe, practice, reference, Tangled

Mike vs the Zombies – Tangled reference animation test

Been ages since I’ve done any keyframe animation. Brushing out the cob webs – using a scene from Tangled as reference for some animation practice. Start to finish this was about a 1 1/2 weeks of full time work broken up over 2 months while I was at my day job. Used the Mike free rig on CreativeCrash and the free Maya World Zombination Character Rig by Proletariat Inc.. Looking at reference is something animators have been doing since the 9 Old Men days – Disney’s Snow White is a perfect example. What I do in the performance capture world is no different. We look at reference footage of what the actor did, and make our timing and pose adjustments accordingly. Keeping close eye on arcs, pops, etc – no different than adjusting your base layer animation. For this keyframe example, I took the Tangled reference and got my key poses down first. Adjusted keys in the graph editor for timing, then did all the in between fixes so I got cleaner arcs. This isn’t perfect, but for not doing any pure keyframe in several years it’s not too bad.

Feb 10

by Dave in Get Out 0 comments tags: 3d, animation, cg, character, dog, maya, mudbox, sculpt, turntable

Mugs model, UVsets, & sculpt

Once I had Mugs’ design finalized, he was ready to model in Maya. Using image planes for my model reference, I was able to shape my character to look exactly like my design. I started with a low poly version, and used this as my base for everything. At this stage if was easiest to lay out the UV’s. I’m not using ptex just yet as some applications I may be using are not ptex friendly. I do love the idea of not having to fuss with UV’s but I’m a bit old school in that area at the moment. I added a collar with a buckle, similar to the one my dog had. After some tweaks and a smoothing pass, Mugs was ready to go into Mudbox for some sculpting. In Mudbox, I tried my best to sculpt out muscle groups and shapes according to canine anatomy. Since Mugs is heavily characterized, and I still want him to be cartoony, this was a delicate exercise. At the end I felt I had accomplished a nice balance of believable muscles, but still feeling toon like. I also painted some color as his base texture in Mudbox. Exporting maps from […]