Interview with Maryse Bouchard, Graduate from the Film and TV Program, Fall 1998 and Textures and Lighting Artist at Hybride Technologies.

1. Where do you work and what is your job?
I work as a Lighting and Textures artist at Hybride Technologies, since 2003.

2. Why did you choose a career in 3D?
Because it was possible! What I mean by this is: when I was in high school, 3D did not exist. Or rather, it wasn’t known. I would have loved to work on animated cartoons but I believed that it all came from the USA and thus, wasn’t available to a little girl from St-Jean Lake like me. While I finished my degree in Pure Sciences, special effects movies such as The Abyss, Total Recall and Terminator 2 were presented in cinema. It was “never seen before” and very exciting! At the same time, I saw the first animated short-film Tony de Peltrie. It wasn’t an animated cartoon: it was totally different from anything I saw before and I was totally mesmerized. I learned that the film has been produced by Montrealers and that one of them had started his own company: Softimage. I was also very happy to learn from my brother, who was studying at the Cegep de Jonquière, that the school was starting a new introduction course on Softimage. I then stop question myself about my registration to university and I completed my course at Cegep in marketing. Softimage was a revelation and it was perfect for me: I was going to be a 3D artist.

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VFX animation has a style all its own, which gets lesser attention than skill sets taught to most animators. In this master class, participants will learn ways to see their animation with a critical and realistic eye.

Michael Beaulieu currently works at Sony Imageworks Vancouver as an Animation Supervisor. Michael trained at Sheridan College’s Classical Animation program and began his career at C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures soon after graduation. While at C.O.R.E., Michael helped design the movement of a creature in the film They and worked on various TV series. His filmography includes many feature films such as Jumper, Transformers, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, Smurfs and Amazing Spider-Man. Feeling fortunate to have learned tips and and tricks from some industry greats and to have been a part of some amazing projects, Michael’s main focus now is to mentor animators and supervise animation on exciting films. You can check his latest demoreel for more examples of his work.

The master class will take place on May 25th, from 9AM to 5PM.

Visit the ELITE website for the complete master classes’ schedule and our Facebook page for the latest news regarding the convention.

This one -day workshop will introduce the advanced techniques of lighting created using the rendering tools of ChaosGroup V-Ray. The workshop covers base techniques of lighting, linear workflow, realistic shader creation and rendering optimization. It is designed for 3D artists, industrial designers and architects.

Matt Guetta is a CG and 3D artist specialized in architectural visualization. Starting as a hobby, Matt was soon fascinated by the 3D universe. In 2009, he decided to reorient his career and started to learn V-Ray in order to become a lighting artist. Check his website to discover more of his work.

The master class will take place on May 29th, from 9AM to 5PM

Visit the ELITE website for the complete master classes’ schedule and our Facebook page for the latest news regarding the convention.

Interview with Mark Morissette, Graduate from the 3D Animation for Film and TV Program, Fall 1998 and 2D Supervisor for the VFX Department at Vision Globale. Mark is also the president of the Montreal Nuke User Group.

1. Where do you work and what is your job?
I am the 2D Supervisor of the Compositing Department at Vision Globale. I make sure every VFX production work perfectly in the company.

2. Why did you choose a career in 3D?
I discover Autodesk 3ds Max when I was studying aeronautic at ENA. I then found out about Centre NAD and I switched to my second passion in life: movie and cinema. Read more

Most people in the business have been either brainstorming or have taken part in “out-of-the-box” thinking sessions when building a Creative Vision. But the problem is, while some ideas stick many don’t. And then, once committed to these ideas, two nagging questions often rear up: are we moving forward on the right track? Will this approach actually deliver results?

This master class will be delivered by Mark Shekter and Nancy Trites Botkin of First Star International. They will introduce an entirely new and proven methodology (Think8) for building a Creative Vision for any type of media project. The value of the Think8 system is that it’s a natural complement to all computer and graphics technologies and has been called “Creative Thinking Software” for the digital age. After years of research into the patterns of success (books, TV shows, films or other media), Mark Shekter found that “creative thinking” was not random, but rather “directed thinking”. His system has been taught to thousands, enabling creative directors, designers, game-developers, artists, and programmers to “rethink how they think” about building a creative vision, strong characters and immersive stories for their products. Read more

Interview with Michel Lanoie, Graduate of the Digital Design in Video Games, Fall 2006 and senior texture artist at Eidos Montreal.

1. Where do you work and what is your job?
Senior texture artist at Eidos Montreal.

2. Why did you choose a career in 3D?
Since I was young, I was always captivated by video games. As I grew older, I began to wonder how they worked. How was it possible to create something as wonderful, seemingly from nothing? That what was intriguing in 3D.

Also, being able to move vertex and polygons, to use simple geometric shapes in order to create a complex structure and to create a 3D object from 2D shapes, is a process that I find wonderful. At this point, imagination is limited only by the obstacles that we set up ourselves. Read more

David Hubert, who was an guest master at ELITE 2011, comes back with his collegue, Pierre Perifel, for a whole new master class in bio-mechanical animation.

The workshop will be about the human body bio-mechanical and it visual interpretation in the realization of a character 3D animation. Deep knowledge of human anatomy, as well as the laws of physics, are essentials to create a realistic and credible animation. Since the art of animation is to interpret and to push reality further, this knowledge must be combined to the rules and techniques of traditional animation, to be fully used. This master class will develop a better understanding and a better grasp of the human body mechanical movement and its visual interpretation.

Since a young age, David was passionate about cinema. Graduated from Inter-Dec College, he first worked as an animator at TVA International, then at 4Elements Studios before directing a character animation team on the movie Pinocchio 3000, at Cinegroupe. David worked in Marseille, Sydney and London, before moving to Los Angeles to work at Dreamworks Animation. During those years, he worked on many feature films and 3D animation movies such as Happy Feet, Hellboy II, Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, The Croods and Madagascar 3 – Europe Most Wanted.

Born in Lyon, Pierre currently lives in Los Angeles where he works at Dreamworks Animation since 2008. He get his diploma in 2005 at the Gobelins, the Ecole de l’Image in Paris and coproduce the short film Le Building which receive many awards. At Dreamworks, he works as an animator on Monsters VS Aliens and on Shrek Forever After, then as a lead animator on Kung Fu Panda 2. He now works as a supervising  animator on Rise of the Guardians, which should be out in the theaters by November 2012.

Pierre receive many awards during his careers including an Annie Award in 2009 for his work on the short animated film Secret of the Furious Five and a nomination, also at the Annie Award, in 2012, for his contribution to Kung Fu Panda 2.

The master class will take place on May 24th, from 9AM to 5PM.

Michel Gagné began a highly successful artistic career in 1985 after graduating from Sheridan College School of Visual Arts, where he studied animation. Renowned for his unique vision, Michel has lent his talent to several animation companies, such as Don Bluth Studios, Warner Bros., Disney, Pixar, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, etc.  His creative work can be seen in over twenty feature films including The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones and Ratatouille.

The master class will be about the Art and Animation of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, winner of the “Best Animated Video Game” Annie Award.

It will take place on Monday May 28th and will present how traditional animation technique can be transposed inside a video game. The class will use examples from the gorgeous visuals and rich story telling of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, from which examples will be used in order to illustrate the subject. At the end of this training, whether participants are animators, game designer, artists, writers or producers, they will be able to incorporate the unique vision of Michel Gagné in their daily creative process.

Check our Facebook page for more information!

Scott McCloud will be an guest master for ELITE 2012!

Scott McCloud has been writing and drawing comics since 1984. His books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics are available in 16 languages. McCloud has lectured and consulted for Google, MIT, Pixar, Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution. Sin City creator Frank Miller called him “just about the smartest guy in comics.”

His online comics and inventions like the 24 Hour Comic can be found on his website.

The master class will take place on May 28th and 29th, from 9AM to 5PM. The master class will consist of a visual lecture and intensive hands-on workshop in the art of making comics. Strong emphasis will be given to developing clarity, storytelling skills and personal expression from the participants.

Check our Facebook page for more details!

ELITE presents its new master speakers for the 2012 Convention!

Giovanni grew up in the Philippines being greatly influenced by sci-fi, horror and anime. He moved to Canada with his family in his teens and studied Computer Graphics at Seneca College where he began his interest in all things CG.

He currently works for Industrial Light & Magic as a digital artist, creating creatures for films such as Pirates of the Caribbean 2, War of the Worlds and The Spiderwick Chronicles. His most recent work can be seen in Star Trek in which he was the creature model supervisor.

The ZBrush Creature Workshop will take place on Wednesday May 23rd at Centre NAD.

Check out our Facebook page for more informations!

The ELITE 2012 Convention will take place from May 21st to June 1st.

Hope to see you all this summer!