SIGGRAPH 2013

So I am off to SIGGRAPH this weekend. This will be my first time going. I am very excited about it. There is so much stuff that I want to see I probably wont be able to make it to half of the events I want. There is a Christians in Computer Animation meeting and a really big job fair, which I have have little hope of landing a job but I have high hopes of making some good contacts. God only knows.

I will be posting stuff here all week. Different events, booth info and hopefully photos with new and old friends. It will hopefully be a lot of Maya and Next Limit stuff. I am very much looking forward to the Realflow competition announcement and the new feature announcement for Maxwell render v03

MoCap

So I recently agreed to help out on a local commercial as creature designer, maquette sculptor, 3-D modeler and VFX supervisor. Now my roll is continuing to grow as the client has just finished installing a OptiTrack MoCap stage. So now I get to do the principle Motion Capture animation for the monster that I am sculpting. I am on cloud nine. Here are a few pictures. More to come.

Bees in a Jar

To start things off,

My name is Ryan Todd and welcome to my blog. Sorry it's a little empty at the moment. I just started this site and I am preparing some work to add. In the meantime, if you want to see some of my older work you are always welcome to check out my website at ryantodd.carbonmade.com.

Just a little about myself. I am a 32 year old kid, husband to my amazingly supportive wife of 3 1/2 years and now a proud uncle.  We do not currently have any children but we do have a 4 year old puppy who substitutes just fine. I have a BFA in 3-D Visual Effects and Animation from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and I am currently working on my Masters there as well. 

For the last 6 years I had the opportunity to work for a company in Wichita, KS. There I got the chance to work on a number of blockbuster movies and commercial spots. I consider myself blessed that I have been able to work on such a wide variety of projects, and to be close to my family while I do it. These project have allowed me to grow as an artist, to refine my craft, and to work with a wide range of wonderful softwares. But no matter what cool new toy I got to play with, I still found myself yearning for a career in 3-D character modeling. So with my wife and family supporting me, I decided to leave my job to pursue this dream. I also hope to gain more knowledge and experience through freelancing, be it character or commercial.

Please bear with me. As an artist words do not come easy to me. I will stumble through conversations. I misspell everything  and I have horrible grammar. But if you are an artist yourself, aspiring or professional, then you are probably not checking out my site for my long, overly elaborate stories and deep conversations.  However, at the moment, that is all I can offer for I find myself without a creative voice. That is why I created this site. I want to try and find it. I need a place to organize my thoughts because all of my creative ideas just feel like bees flying around in a jar, no direction and no organization. During my time here I hope to take you on my journey. As I learn and share fun new things, I aspire to be greater than I am. Above all else I hope you can learn from my faults and mistakes, because I'am sure I will make plenty. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I love to talk shop, to collaborate with other artists, and to share my process.