Agile 3D CGI Animation Process Lecture & Book Signing for the MIT Animation Group
Wilmington, MA — Michael Scaramozzino, DreamLight’s President/Creative Director, was recently invited to kick off the annual guest lecture series for the MIT Animation Group. Michael presented a one hour lecture to the group on Nov. 19th. at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA. The lecture covered his unique Agile 3D CGI animation process as outlined in his book — Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short, published by Jones & Bartlett Learning.
DreamLight’s Agile 3D CGI Animation Process
Michael outlined the many steps in a traditional 3D CGI animation production process. This process generally includes three distinct phases; pre-production, production and post-production. Such a structured production pipeline is often useful in large productions or when the production is spread across different groups of specialists. Michael then showed how he transforms this traditional segmented production process into a more condensed iterative process in a manner similar to the Agile development process increasingly used in modern software development. With this condensed production process a sole filmmaker or very small team quickly assembles a rough story reel. Then through an iterative process of testing, analyzing and refining shots they progressively transform the rough story reel into a finished animation. The resulting condensed approach often yields the most efficient process possible for a small focused team.
“I was honored to be invited to help ignite and feed the creative spark springing to life in a new generation of animators.” Said Michael Scaramozzino. “I hope my Agile 3D CGI animation process proves helpful and I can’t wait to see what animations this talented group of students creates in the future.”
DreamLight’s First 3D CGI Short Film – BlastOff!
After a brief introduction Michael launched the Keynote presentation with a screening of DreamLight’s first 3D animated CGI short film — BlastOff! The short film is based on the original BlastOff! Bed he designed and built for his son, Michael James, as seen on HGTV’s Look What I Did! The award-winning short film was screened at over a dozen film festivals across the country. A new HD1080p version of the film is currently in production to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the film and the 30th anniversary of the DreamLight studio. Stay tuned!
The Autiton Archives 3D Animated Pilot Webisode – Fault Effect
Michael then outlined many of the steps from the production of The Autiton Archives 3D animated web series pilot webisode – Fault Effect. This was the 3D animated CGI short film production that was further detailed in the book. He then presented a screening of the pilot webisode as was released with the book.
Premiere Screening of DreamLight’s New Trick Shot Video
Michael concluded the Keynote presentation with a world premiere screening of DreamLight’s new social media viral video — Trick Shot Video. This 30 second 3D CGI micro short was created as a promotional sample to take advantage of social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.
NOTE: If you have a fast Internet connection you may change the video setting to HD1080 and view fullscreen.
Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short – Book Signing
Following the presentation Michael fielded a one on one Q&A segment and book signing. Students had the opportunity to meet and ask questions of the author/filmmaker as well as purchase a signed copy of his book – Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short. The book is also available on Amazon.com.
Agile Software Development – DreamLight Constellation
With his computer science background Michael has been able to apply an agile development methodology to the 3D CGI animation process because he uses an agile software development process for web / app development at the studio. He’s been deploying such an agile development process for web / app projects since before such a process was formalized and became widespread. Two recent apps that Michael created with this process are DreamLight Constellation and DLI_SNUB-Launcher for distributed network rendering with LightWave 3D’s ScreamerNet. Originally created in Apple’s XCode he now develops the newest versions using modern cross-platform web / app development technologies including JavaScript, Node.js, React.js, Git, HTML5, CSS and Electron.
All images and videos © DreamLight Incorporated. DreamLight and the DreamLight logo are registered trademarks of DreamLight Incorporated. BlastOff!, BlastOff! Bed, The Autiton Archives, Fault Effect and all character likenesses are trademarks of DreamLight Incorporated. All other names and logos are trademarks of their owners. Lecture photos by Michael James Scaramozzino.
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