2nd Anniversary of Asifa India CGMeetup

The long snaky queue outside K.C. College was evidence of Asifa's regular CG Meetups. The fact that it was the 2nd Anniversary was the icing on the cake. The counter at the entrance handed out feedback forms, raffle tickets and IAD 2006 flyers? Recycling surplus might be a more eco-friendly solution though. The slideshow on the projector displayed pictures of past IAD melas evoking nostalgia and keeping the crowd entertained. The crowds pored in and Blob Dylan decided to give an impromptu rendition. His performance was cut short however by a case of laryngitis.

The show must go on however and was kickstarted by a presentation on Asifa (The Association International du Film d' Animation) which has been around for half a century. The indian chapter having been active for almost a decade aspires to the same ideals and goals as the international organization. A short brief on the history of the annual International Animation Day mela and the CG-Meetup followed.

NewsFlash! Pixion and Tata Elxsi's Visual Computing Labs drop out of schedule at the last minute throwing the spotlight on Prime Focus. Merzin took the stage and spoke proudly of his company expanding from a single location to six locations in Mumbai, one each in Hyderabad and Chennai apart from their international locations in London and LA. He then proceeded to showcase Prime Focus' showreel followed by an exacting showcase of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Saawariyan'. From concept sketches to matte painting (painting textures from real-life onto 3D/CG models) Merzin took the viewers through the entire process. The process of matte painting was touted as invaluable in combining CG sets with live sets thereby adding depth and providing a realistic yet magical look n feel. The on-set green-screen shots enabled the VFX artists to match CG environments with the real sets. As one student enquired astutely as to why real sets were used at all since it was actually more challenging to match virtual sets. Merzin was quick to note that this was the very question posed to him by Sanjay Leela Bhansali towards the end of the production.

International Projects such as 'Tales on the River Bank' and '28 Weeks' were up next on the screen along with a sneak preview of 'Agent Crush'. Prime Focus created CG miltary vehicles and simulated explosion sequences for the feature '28 weeks'. Matte painting was used to make London virtually empty in many of the scenes in the movie as the story required the city to be evacuated. Next up was the very innovative 'Tales of the River Bank' a remake of an old television series. This feature combined real puppetry with virtual sets created in CG. Scenes included sky replacements, CG smoke and particles as well as realflow liquid simulation. CG environments provided the backdrop for puppets and miniature models in the film. One highly impressed student requested an encore and the showreel projected yet another time the miracles VFX can produce.

Rhythm & Hues came on with the case study of the recently released 'The Golden Compass'. First up was a short presentation on the features R&H worked on in 2007. These included Evan Almighty, The Kingdom, the just released Alvin & The Chipmunks and of course the case in study 'The Golden Compass'. The unique creatures known as daemons were all designed and created by R&H from look development to lighting and texturing. These daemons are the soul apparent of every human character in the film and share the same eye structure/colour and some of them are capable of morphing into other avatars.

Prasad discussed the production partnership that exists between the R&H studios in LA and Mumbai. 'The Golden Compass' required 500 artists working in tandem between Los Angeles and Mumbai. Visual FX supervisors Raymond Chen and Bill Westenhofer guided the project from concept to completion. Prasad further outlined the early R&D process to the advanced pipeline stages. Over 150 employees of R&H India were actively involved in this project. Everything from pipeline programming to rendering tech is done in-house by R&H. The R&H India team went on to emphasise their 100% integration with the Los Angeles studio. The innovative Education Department at Rhythm and Hues which consists of supervisors, leads and mentors has succesfully trained freshers coming out their apprentice program to directly work on these world-class VFX projects. In fact 50% of the R&H India team that worked on 'The Golden Compass' were freshers.

Henry David Thoreau echoed this sentiment of extraordinary accomplishment in his immortal words:
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."

Dread Locked!

Its a warm fuzzy afternoon. I'm chatting with a dear friend and prepearing lunch at the same time. Yes I realize multi-tasking is best left to womne. No time for debates now. I gotta get me some garlic from the lady with the cart down the alley. Prepare for takeoff! Boxers on? Check! T-shirt? Check! Cellphone? Check! Blast Off! In a flash of a second our hero is outta the door like a stone from a sling. Slam! he's outta the door and in orbit when uh..oh.. "Houston we have a problem. Im not carrying my re-entry pack!!!"

I'm locked out and my keys are inside the house. Brilliant eh? Well our hero doesn't panic. he calmly walks around the house, peers through the window and hey! there they are. Right where I left them: on the refridgerator. A mere 16 feet away. This is a mission for ground crew.

As I walk towards the security hut, one of them runs away to have lunch. Another bumbling idiot followed me half-heartedly as we found two narrow 2x4's and went about tying them up to create one long elongated arm. Version One turned out to be flawed partly due to gravity of course. Bumbling idiot walks away mumbling something about a siesta. Along comes the third of the ground crew; a glimmer of hope or a radioactive spark?

This one is a wisened young turk who accosts me to the corner of the universe where lies the verstaile bamboo stick. I pick one up and another and some rope to tie together. We return to our home planet, hover in orbit on the dark side and contemplate our course of action. The stick are knotted together and are aimed at the re-entry panel on the inside of the door. Now run! I yell at ground crew to spin over to the other side of the door and haul the handle below 'C' level while I jab at the panel through the window using Version Two of the elongated arm. And Voila!!! we are back in orbit!

Whew! Another day in the life of Spaced-Out Man!

The Great Divide

In no other industry is the divide more apparent or obvious yet so closely linked and interdependant. What am I talking about? Why quite simply the gap between the technical and the creative; the technologist and the artist.

I recently attended a forum on animation and interactive technology. The discussions ranged from topics like pipeline & production design to network and storage implementations. The sessions threw light on high-performance computing, rendering, file systems, low-cost hybrid solutions. A glimpse of future trends was showcased in the form of an industry and technology road map. Examples of how technology was being innovatively used in the country were highlighted.

The subtle undercurrents spoke of how creative artists are stubborn and inflexible when it comes to following pipeline processes and conventions citing their need to be abstract and imaginative. The general attitude that the creative artist; a glorified icon of the animation industry is largely responsible for the growth of the industry isn’t helping any. Ask any bright eyed student of the opportunities he sees in the animation industry today and chances are you will not hear any technical job profiles. The artist maintains that the idea is paramount and his creative vision needs the freedom to be abstract and obscure.

I maintain that creativity in education should be treated with the same status as literacy. However I would define creativity as having original ideas that add value. So when technologists are grappling with a pipeline bottleneck or inefficient networks to innovatively improve production they are in fact being creative. Writing scripts that simplify and streamline creative processes is a technical process yet is entirely guided by an artistic vision. Creativity is problem solving at the core. Innovation, design, communications, invention, all disciplines depend on both the technologist and artist mindsets working in concert to solve the problem. Technologists and artists need each other. Projects grow exactly because of the combination of the two. They work in different ways and with different methods but ultimately they complement each other. Ideas need implementation to accomplish anything real.

We need to remind ourselves of this because so much of our schooling, training, research and career movement is one-sided, naturally and unnaturally following a specializing/narrowing path. Lifting our heads to look around from time to time can be very refreshing and valuable. Innovation comes from bridging languages, disciplines and cultures.

Many people are technologists and artists at the same time. It's not always an either-or thing. I question the need to divide people into these binary categories. Sure some people tend to be one or the other, but others try to carve out a niche in which they can be both at the same time. Part of the creative process is to think both ways simultaneously - to alternate frequently, minute to minute. Making this separation implies that professionals should choose one or the other as a career path. Perhaps we should simply be conscious of the fact that most of our colleagues tend one way or the other, but we should try to develop both strengths together and avoid going only one way or the other.

Let us pay homage to the man of "both" worlds. Leonardo da Vinci. He found a plane of thought that encompassed both the world of art along with the world of the sciences. Leonardo was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, and scientist. He is most likely the epitome of the Renaissance man who dared to bridge the great divide.

2008 aint gonna wait..

Last nite I had my last dinner of 2007 at the famous National Dhaba in Bandra. This place is non-descript and 3 feet below road level yet is iconic in the history of Bollywood. Ugh.. I hate that word! Back to the history of the cafe.. This place has been alive since.. well a long time and has been home to some of the famous stars of yesteryear like Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Jackie Shroff, etc. Why am I dropping names? To iterate that I had the best sarson ki saag and makki di roti on New Year's Eve in such hallowed premises. Not really.. like i give a shit about some famous rich actors :P However the food is excellent and noteworthy since I ate there every single night for my first two years in tinseltown. No indigestion or tummy-upsets. All food cooked over burning hot coals. No fancy gas stoves and electric chimneys. This place provides me of memories of a life so rudimentary, rustic and raw. Its not just the cuisine and style of cooking that elicit such reverie. The old sardar sitting at the counter is as antiquated as his institution. He swears by his healthy cuisine and will not serve aerated drinks or chaas (spiced buttermilk) at night for health reasons. His toothy smile, bespectacled face and tiny turban (actually he has a small head) is painted on the landscapes of my memory for meals to come.

This was the highlight of my night. I felt gratified. It never ceases to surprise me how much food governs the mood. Having studied the various nutrients required my the body and the effects they have on the brain; it still is incredible when i actually experience it within. If I had to choose my favourite body organ, I would gladly forego that which makes me what I am (hint: I'm male!) and nominate instead my stomach for the esteemed position.

Gliding in the glorious afterglow I found myself at a Barrista meeting another Sardar, his wife and cranky pampered brat. I decided to indulge in something chilled like maybe an Iced Tea (peach). Big mistake! It was sweet and way too much considering I had just had 5 makki di rotis! So much for that peaceful easy feeling the Eagles described so perfectly. I now was bloated and felt like the anchor of a ship being dropped down.

Let this be your New Year resolution I told myself: Eat Light, Smile Bright!

With resolute determination and a heavy load I embarked on a journey back home to enjoy the other great pleasure that life offers to the innocent; a good night's sleep! The rickshaw driver however had other plans. He asked me a question which set off a flurry of ruffled opinions. "Do you feel like its New Year's Eve?" he asked. I let off a tirade of fiery statements about the commercialization of just another calendar date, about the basic rise and fall of the star we know as the sun that signifies a day in our lifes and how it's pristine sanctity is being defiled and desecrated by celebrating one day over the other. Luckily I had a sympathetic listener who almost succeeded in ripping me off 20 bucks with his earnest endeavour to listen to me. Unluckily for him, he met an old scoundrel who depsite his mere 3 decades on the planet feels more like Rip Van Winkle yet is as mentally agile as a petty pick-pocket.

If I were to paint a self-potrait, It would be of a young man sitting in a old man's bar waiting for his turn to die..

Always Keep Death In Mind

"Dying teaches you more about life than living." ~ Ritesh Reddy

The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, we should meditate about being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords; being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand foot cliffs, dying from disease, commiting seppuku at the death of one's master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.

Crawling back from the Abyss.. Life's a bitch and I love Her madly!

After spending years in the abyss, one would be inclined to think oneself invulnerable to minor lapses in the fabric of physical 'reality'. Jackie Mason said "It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like. "

In the three days that I lay flat on my bed groaning and moaning of a hallucinatory flu, I experienced the plumbing depths of my private hell. In all its gut-wrenching, intestine-squeezing, life-sucking, energy-draining glory the flu did for me what I needed to start the up-coming new-year. A purgatory! I have been stripped clean and something yanked the plug off my drainage system and gave me a natural enema without me having to stick a pump up my arsehole. Strangely I have never felt so alive in a long long long time. I've spent the best part of the day puking what looks like water out and shitting what again seems like the same fluid. Hey I'm singing from both ends! Its always harder to convince your gag reflex to stop when there's nothing left to puke. So while I hover over the ever accepting pot stopping only to change ends, an epiiphany crawls up warily.

As I walk out to get some air, I'm feeling more aware in an unaware kind of way. I feel like a being not of flesh and blood. I can still remember the last time I felt this way. That was however in a different life. In this re-incarnation however this has been a first. Delirious? A product of my hallucinations would be far more dramatically profound considering my flair for fantasia. This was a simple punch to the gut that knoocked the bloody shit out of my sails. Life always does to me what my biggest and fiercest opponents haven't done till date. Knock me out!

Paranoia?

You ever get that feeling like your not alone? You hear voices but there is noone there. When you lie down to sleep you feel like something is touching you but nothing is there. Most of the time it is because something is watching you, something is touching you and something is screwing with your head. You may not see them but they are always there, they hide in shadows and wait for their chance. They are small but there are many of them, groups of them feeding on fear. They do not have a name because noone has ever discovered them and survived to name them. In fact, there are probably a few of them watching you right now, watching for their chance to move in...