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Virtual Technology and Design seniors will share their 3-D animation project during finals week
The A-Team responsible for “Egalitaria” may be a far cry from the iconic images of Mr. T and the A-Team of ex-United States Army Special Forces, but they’re bringing their best work in 3-D animation to audiences.
A group of six University of Idaho Virtual Technology and Design students have been working on 3-D animation to mix their academic exercises with a story about the world today.
Made up of Clayton Tye, Andy Lewis, Kevin Allen, Matt Lefferts, Nathan Rusch and Matt Holman, the group’s project will be presented as a part of their Senior Capstone on May 2.
Allen, Hooper, Lefferts, Lewis, Rusch, Tye and Jason Helt were semifinalists and honored in 2007’s International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge for their VTD356 project, “Inner-Visions.”
The group has created parts of a 3-D world called “Egalitaria,” which according to the group, takes on physical characteristics of Earth.
These works have been put together with music in trailers that will be presented on May 2.
“These trailers really are the ‘capstone’ of our work, but the real richness of this project goes beyond that,” said Lewis, primary environment artist and Virtual Technology and Design senior.
The project centers on 3-D characters, their culture and the role the viewer would have in experiencing the information presented to them within the short.
“It is a story that takes place after a significant sequence of eras and movements spanning over the time of a thousand years from the current day,” Lewis said. “Concerning themes, it’s a story about control and the need to control to survive.”
Lewis said the story takes place at the end of a massive timeline that has been created, which spans several thousand years into the future.
“Our story is one that questions the most important philosophical foundations of our current society, whether it be about organized religion, scientific morality, or political power structures,” Lewis said. “It’s a story that celebrates the capabilities of a healthy mind, the dangers of delusion, and the struggle humankind could face when forced to deal with something greater than themselves.”
With the several brainstorming sessions that occurred in the spring of 2007, the conflict and setting of Egalitaria was set.
“We began with a simple tossing around of ideas and possibilities for various productions until we developed a good foundation for a story that could be built upon and magnified,” Lewis said.
The team gave themselves six months for conceptualizing and pre-production for the story.
“My favorite part of the project was the concept phase,” Lewis said. “The possibilities for where we could take this story were essentially endless, and it was exciting to develop an original story we could call our own.”
Production manager and artistic director, Tye is responsible for keeping the team on schedule and helps to visualize the artistic styles primarily through the use of traditional 2-D design techniques.
“We are presenting ‘Egalitaria’ (during) finals week, and have an option of doing a public viewing and forum if there is enough interest on campus,” Tye said.
Responsible for the project’s environmental art, character and matte art, Lewis generated the original character-driven storyline during the concept development phase.
Allen, the team’s character artist and character artist, is primarily involved in the character pipeline, as well as being one of the primary animators.
Responsible for overseeing the 3-D creation and evolution of characters, Lefferts brings character development and animation to the table.
The group’s technical director, effects artist, shader artist, and compositor Rusch keeps the workflow running smoothly by implementing techniques to facilitate the smooth production of content.
Rusch handles the creation of simulations and special effects, as well as the rendering, grading, and compositing of the final output.
Creating the theme and instrumentation pieces for the project, Holman provided help with sound design and musical score.
As for what the group has in store for the future, Tye looks to a career in the entertainment industry.
“After the university most of us will be looking either to further our educations, or obtain jobs in the entertainment/arts industry as artists working for film television or games,” Tye said.
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