After months of studied deliberation, (as well as being sidetracked by the new condo), I’ve finally taken delivery of my first ever laptop – the new Sony VAIO VGN-FW190 – with this being its virgin post.

It was becoming painfully obvious that my old PC just wasn’t cutting it for a supposed game developer, (I’ve never really been a PC gamer), especially when it wasn’t even hitting the minimum requirements for some of even the most basic of software. I was, however, loath to give up the dual-screen setup I’ve grown accustomed to at work and at home so have found some solace in the FW’s unique 16.4” widescreen.

If it even allows two documents or webpages side by side during my various forays into graphic design or simply gives the 3D viewports a little more breathing space, it’ll be worth finally breaking free of the constraints of the desk. Now to find a café sur le Plateau…

OK, back to business. The first of two sessions from ADAPT 2008 – members of the Disney team working on incoming CG film Bolt talk about their road to enlightenment regarding an intelligent solution for driving blendshapes to maintain a high quality of deformation on a character lacking clearly defined limbs and a neck area. Of note, TD Hide Yosumi was actually a former member of SquareEnix, having worked on Final Fantasy X and the Disney-collaborated Kingdom Hearts series.

Walt Disney Animation Studios: Building A Hamster Named Rhino

Clay Kaytis, Philippe Brochu & Hidetaka Yosumi – Lead Animator, Lead Modeller and Technical Director for the character Rhino.

This presentation could easily be split into two parts, with the first concerning the solution achieved to maintain model fidelity in a character that could easily move between biped and quadruped movement, and the second on their general deformation solution for all areas of body/limb movement.

Beginning with an exclusive new trailer, the speakers began by describing the requirements of the rig which required the dual functionality of quadruped rodent-like movement and bipedal anthropomorphic acting. The character Rhino was described as essentially a ball of fat covered in fur that exists primarily inside a hamster-ball. While the ball-rig setup may have proven an interesting topic enough, with the TD writing special software for this alone, it proved enough of a challenge to overcome the transition between 4 and 2-leg stances.

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In the spirit of UK:Resistance, “because you can’t not use pictures like this when they come along”.

Seen on mental health blog The Trouble With Spikol via Marie-Jo.