My entry for the Pre-Dominance War Animation Challenge.


The rules were to use 2 of the existing characters available on the site (above) rig them and animate, a 6 second fight sequence. 1 attacked, 1 defender, who must end up dead on the ground/floor. I chose team cgsociety, as I've been sneaking on their forums for a while. Wish me luck! :)

14 Actors, 14 Moments

14 actors acting, creating different moments. Great acting reference. Great example of clear performances without dialogue.

14 Actors, 14 Moments

.. and also, "Immersion" by photographer Robbie Cooper.

Shows how focused young video game players can be.

Immersion

When You Become Episode 2 - Sparkling Water for Rainbow Six

Take Cover!

Animation I have been working on.

Sketchy Ice Creams

A great example of how something as simple as good timing can really make your animation stand out.

California

beautiful building size mural

me walking/seeing in ocean for first time

Newport Beach, cool little beach town

Niki on Newport Beach

Niki loving some of the Frida pictures at amazing Mexican restaurant

Bird

High Zoo Tram

Ok-with-heights-Zoo-Tram

Awesome Eagle.

Awesome Flamingos

Niki & Giraffes

Hippo

Seals on the beach.

Tree next to windy ocean.

Only cave in San Diego, accessible by land, through creepy cold, tight, dark tunnel.

Opens up to awesome water-level ocean view deck inside awesome little cave.

Cave Niki.

Cave Niki & Matt.

More Caves.

more cave/cliff dwellers.

End of the trip beer sampling. :)

Adelson's checker shadow illusion

Recently revisiting this cool color illusion, too awesome to not post...

Basically the theory goes like this...the colors A + B are identical colors. But because the surround tiles are contrasting, 1 in shade, the other not in shade, the eye perceives the colors different, due to the influencing surround colors. Not believing this what-so-ever, I actually took it into photoshop to cut out the rest of the pictures except for A + B. They are the same color. Crazy eh?





SOURCE

"Uncanny Valley" and video games

What is the "Uncanny Valley" you ask?



Recently playing Medal of Honor, I've been coming across a few of these points mentioned in the video. While feeling immersed in the environments and the situations that you come across, it is the little things that take you out of the moment. Getting stuck on a little piece of debris on the ground, forcing you to walk around it, when in actuality you would walk over it. Feet going through the ground, and of course the facial animation, but thats a ways away from pefecting in game.

I am excited to see what game companies (Especially Ubisoft) have in store for us, in terms of making it to the otherside of the Uncanny Valley, which I think, is not too far off, Ive seen some close calls, and think that very soon we will be climbing out the otherside.

Makes Sense

A quick little acting/dialogue piece I have been working on..

Team Fortress 2 - Everybody Dance

Dance Fortress 2

Animation by James Benson.

Make sure to watch it at least 8-9 times to not miss anything. So much win.

Brilliant Animated Short by Jeremy Clapin

Skhizein

Article about my pugs in the Toronto Star!

Miso - the rocket scientist on the left, and Hummus - the caveman on the right.

 “We call Hummus our little caveman as he didn’t get the smarts in his litter! But he is the most loving and ridiculous creature we have ever seen. He likes to get tickled and makes funny faces when your hand comes down to get him. He also does what we call corn-cobbing. When you scratch his back, he lightly nibbles up and down your arm, leg, face, finger, whatever is closest to him!”

Article Here : Puppy mill days are all behind him now - Yourhome.ca

Ball Obstacle Course

Just a quick ball obstacle course exercise i did in my free time.

Heeeyyyyy.........

Happy double bounce walk cycle I did.

Ninja Drop

Just a quick exercise I did, studying curves, lines of action, and blocking.

..wait... what?

just a quick change of expression I did one saturday afternoon...

Ready, Set, Go!

Welcome to my blog! From time to time, I will be posting some of projects I'm working on, or have worked on, movies/games that inspire me, & just different experiences in my life. Ill start off with my reel as of right now..



... which can also be found on my site (matthewlajoie.com)

A couple films I have worked on...

Piranha 3D:

In this trailer, I worked on the shot previs/layout for some of the cave shots, camera animation, environmental animation (kelp, egg stacks) but not sure if it was used in the film, as this film went from studio, to this studio, to that studio, to this studio.

It was a pretty fun film to watch. Jerry O'Connell has the best parting words ever & Christopher Lloyd is still awesome.




Jonah Hex:

Mostly did environmental animation & matchmove facial animation (worked on the scenes with the dead guy in the cage) Pretty fun movie too, really well done disfiguration on Jonahs face.



Inspiration..

one of the most inspiring games i have ever played...



Dantes Inferno. So Bloody. So Violent. Amazing animation, amazing music, cinematics are top notch, amazing gameplay.. I am currently replaying it a for a 3rd time.




Uncharted 2 again amazing, as a whole package. Characters, Personality, Animation, Cinematics, Environments, Music, Story, everything just comes together perfectly. I believe it won game of the year for 2009, which I can see why.

ok, bye for now!... :)