Some Photos from Adapt

I found some photos from my "Transformers" presentation at the Adapt Conference.

Here's I am, acting like I know what I'm talking about.

Here's I am taking questions after the hour and a half presentation. I was told there were around 1000 people in the room.

After the presentation, many people came up to the podium with questions... and for autographs. Stop laughing.

Emile Ghorayeb, one of Adapt's founders, and me.

Some photos courtesy of CGSociety and CGChannel.

Linkorama:

• Adapt 2007 website
• CGSociety's coverage of Adapt 2007
• VFXWorld article on Adapt 2007 [registration required]
  
• VFXWorld preview of Adapt 2007 [registration required]

Home from Adapt

I just got back home from Montreal and the Adapt Conference, and I'm really tired, but still basking in the happy glow of the conference. Everyone was so friendly and kind-- I had a great time hanging out with the attendees. A special shout out to all of those who organized the Conference.

And, luckily, it seems like people really enjoyed my "Transformers" presentation of ILM's work. It was my honor to show the attendees all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into creating the visual effects for the Michael Bay film. And if you were at the presentation, you saw that we had a lot of unique challenges to overcome.

I guess this is as good a time as ever to link to the full credit list for ILM's "Transformers" team.

Thanks, Adapt team, and to all that came to the show!

More on ADAPT Montreal

VFXWorld has posted an article about the upcoming ADAPT Montreal conference, and they have some wacky quotes from yours truly. Be sure to click through to pages 2 and 3, which is where my part is located.

Vaziri is scheduled to give a special "making-of" presentation on Transformers. "I'm really so excited to talk about Transformers with people," he says. "Working on the film has been a wild ride, and I'm very anxious to talk about how we came up with solutions to very difficult problems. I love interacting with fellow colleagues, trading ideas, making new friends, and that looks like what //ADAPT is all about."

Vaziri will speak for two hours about how ILM accomplished the effects for the film. "I'll be talking about just about all the aspects of our production, from shooting on location, design work and creating the characters, animation, lighting, roto/paint and compositing, of course, with a special emphasis on compositing and integration of synthetic characters into photographic plates," he adds. "The presentation will contain relatively general terminology, but since one of my main focuses will be photographic integration, I'll probably be tossing out more film/photography terms than complex computer graphics terms. I plan on showing off specific shots from the film, showing before and after breakdowns and talking about what techniques we used to complete them."

I'm really looking forward to showing off the work that we accomplished for "Transformers." We've made some fantastic breakdowns that will really illustrate the complexity of the project. It will be great fun.

Oh, and what a perfect way to ruin a gorgeous shot of Optimus Prime, ready to take on Megatron in a knock-down, drag-out fight... by placing my ugly mug right next to the mighty robot. That brilliant shot was accomplished by the amazing team of Meghan Thornton (lighting), Jeff Wozniak (compositing), Duncan Blackman (layout), features the amazing Keiji Yamaguchi's animation, among other artists.

Read the full article at VFXWorld.

See Me In Montreal

Will you be in the greater Montreal area at the end of September? Then come see me talk about "Transformers" at the ADAPT Conference. It looks like it will be a great conference, with presentations by Phil Tippett, Syd Mead, Carlos Baena from Pixar, and Shawn Kelly from ILM (who will also be talking about "Transformers").


My presentation will be jam packed with sweet breakdowns and works-in-progress. I've got a lot to talk about, and if you're interested in how ILM created the visual effects for "Transformers," you cannot miss it.

Hey, Americans. Dust off your passport and book your flight. It's gonna be awesome.

Visit the ADAPT Conference website.