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Kirk Nelson tells all!
(About being a TD, that is.)
At a Glance:
Age: 27
Occupation: Lead Web Developer
REVELATIONS title: Technical Director for Visual Effects
RTOF: What's your background? How did you get involved with computer graphics?
KIRK: I've been interested in CG effects since I was a kid. It was actually those old Listerine commercials with the animated bottle that hooked me. I set my sights on being an animator and never looked back. I made certain I had a solid computer and art backgrounds in high school and then attended the University of Central Florida to study computer animation. I did my senior project at Disney and was exposed to the good and bad of this industry, but still held to my love of the art. Right out of college, I moved to Northern Virginia and worked on 3D simulations for emergency rescue crews. Currently, I work as a web developer but still retain a passion for CG work. That is mostly what interested me about this project, the high level of CG work that is required. It's an excellent outlet for keeping my skills sharp while I'm writing HTML all day at work.
RTOF: How did you hear about this project?
KIRK: I happen to share an office with the director. He knew of my background in CG and asked me come aboard.
RTOF: So what does a Technical Director actually do?
KIRK: I'm specifically tasked to coordinate the CG efforts. The director, the second TD and I meet to discuss what need to be done and we assign the tasks out to the team. This involves taking into account each team member's skill set, time availability, and desires. I'm included in that team, so I receive taskings as well. Recently I completed the ascension shot scene and am currently working on the alley scene where Taryn enters the bar to meet Declan and Cade.
RTOF: What's been your greatest challenge?
KIRK: I'd say there are two specific aspects of this project that challenge me the most. The first is the time commitment. I find I simply don't have the time I'd like to devote to my work on REVELATIONS. And that bugs me personally because a lot of times it is what I'd like to be doing instead of the things I have to be doing. The second aspect I find challenging is coordinating all the CG volunteers and their work. We have people helping out that aren't even on the same continent. A wide variety of skills, styles, time commitments, software packages, platforms, etc. How do we make all that mesh together so we end up with a seamless final product and not a mish-mash of separate efforts? Ideally, the CG team on a project of this caliber all work in the same place at the same time with the same software using the same resources. That type of environment is conducive to a very efficient workflow that can quickly produce high quality effects. We don't have that luxury. Our situation complicates things. The separate locations prevent us from having a physical meeting where we can all share and critique work. And with so many different software packages and versions, sharing resources such as models, sets, shaders, lighting and camera info is additionally difficult. We have to come up with creative cheats and hacks to work around these problems, but we have a talented team of people and I'm looking forward to see what we, as a group, come up with.
RTOF: What the best part of the project?
KIRK: Watching the stuff come together. I really love seeing the evolution of a scene or model. Like some of the ships we have, for example. They started out as sketches, then progressed to rough models, then more detailed models, then they're textured and lit, then animated. Sometimes the final product hardly even resembles the initial sketch, but it is always enjoyable to see how ideas grow to create more and better ideas. I like to comparing the final output with the first sketch and say "Wow! That's sure come a long ways!"
RTOF: Is there a lot of research and study that goes into the scenes?
KIRK: There's always several steps that need to be taken with every scene. The first step is to establish the basic requirements for a scene, I have the luxury of being able to discuss these things with the director face to face and really try to get a sense of where he's going with the scene. Then I try to find source material that is similar or related to the scene, study that material and learn everything I can about it, really get into the what's and how's of the source. Then I try to sketch or storyboard out my vision of the scene and submit it to the director. Once that is approved the next step is the animatic, sort of an animated storyboard that will help nail down the primary motion, timing and camera angles. When all that is finished, the actual production level work begins.
RTOF: What or who are your influences as an artist?
KIRK: I've been influenced a lot by the works and writings of John Lasseter. He's a pioneer in this field and I think he's one of the few people who truly "gets it". Other than that, I'm influenced a lot by my peers and the work they are producing and how they produce it. I enjoy when we can feed off each other's ideas and strive to improve our skills and ourselves in the process.
RTOF: Where do you get your inspiration from?
KIRK: I tend to draw a lot of inspiration from real life observations and the things I see around me in my environment. I'm a big fan of realism and the only way to achieve that is to study real life. To see the way things decay, wear, and break apart. Also, natural movement is very beautiful. Simply watching something move and paying attention to its actual motion is fascinating to me. Each motion has a distinctive purpose, a reason. Things don't move just for the sake of moving. If you can figure out the motive behind every action, conscious and subconscious, you've gone a long way towards reproducing natural movement.
RTOF: How do you reconcile your vision as an artist with the director's vision?
KIRK: Frankly, I don't. This is his vision, his project. If I've got a different idea of how to do a scene, I'll bring it up as a suggestion, and it's his decision to take it or leave it. It's really that simple. Ultimately this project isn't about my vision -- I'll do that on my own time. When I find some, that is!
RTOF: How much of your time does REVELATIONS take?
KIRK: I unfortunately don't get to spend more than a few hours a week on this project. I'd prefer to work on it full time, but nasty stuff like needing to pay my mortgage prevents me from doing so.
RTOF: What have you learned by being on this project?
KIRK: I've learned how much can be accomplished by a team of creative people with a common goal. Sometimes Shane will pitch an idea to me about a location or a shot or whatever and I'll think he's totally nuts. I'll think there's no way we can pull that off, then the next thing you know we're shooting at the bottom of an active rock quarry, or we're putting together a teaser for a live audience at a festival. It's really amazing seeing how some of this stuff actually gets done.
RTOF: Any advice for those honing their craft or looking to explore the possibilities in CG and visual effects?
KIRK: Three things --
Rule #1: Drop your ego at the door. If you are producing art for yourself, fine, get as emotionally attached to it as you want. But if you are producing art for somebody else, look at it as their art -- you are just the medium that makes it happen. I don't mean you shouldn't put your talents and skills fully into your work, You absolutely should, that's why you are doing the art, and not them. I'm saying don't get so attached to it that you are offended when the work is criticized. Because it will be criticized. I don't think anybody has ever produced a piece of art that somebody, somewhere, at some time, couldn't find something negative to say about it.
Rule #2: Learn the art first, the tools second. Simply knowing how to use a certain piece of software doesn't make you a CG artist, just like knowing how to wipe paint on a canvas doesn't make you a classical painter. Learn the foundations of the art first, the boring stuff like principles and technique. Then learn how to apply those things with the fun, glitzy tools.
Rule #3: Use the best tool for the job. Many artists become territorial about their favorite software, almost to the point of being religious. It's fine to have a preference, a tool you are most comfortable with, but if you encounter a task that a different tool does faster, better, or easier, don't feel guilty about doing it. Sometimes it can open up whole new ideas or abilities you never even considered before. The wider range you have, the better and more marketable you are as an artist.
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