X-Radiation

May 20th

The suit was ready at the front desk first thing in the morning. We started the day early and made our way to an art school in Xi’An to give a presentation for both the art school students and the students and staff from the Maya Group studio and school (no relation to Autodesk). The folks at SideFX gave me some T-shirts and mouse pads and I used these to great effect to energize the crowd by tossing a few of them out at the start. It was a similar presentation to the one I’d made the other day. During the Q&A, there were only a couple of questions but as soon as I made it clear that those who asked questions got a T-shirt we were flooded.

We moved the afternoon seminar a few blocks away to an auditorium at the Maya Group School. I presented an introduction to crowd animation and some Q&A as well as passing out some Houdini instructional DVDs. After this presentation Mr. Hu arranged some photo ops with the staff and students of The Maya Group and they made me an honorary dean of the Maya School.

Mr. Hu hosted Daniel and I to a 72 course vegetarian dinner in a private dining room the size of a Westside condo. The chef is a Buddhist monk who manages to make tofu really taste like chicken. We had a private serving staff of 10 beautiful women as well as a private en suite bathroom. The restaurant actually had about a dozen such rooms. Between courses 46 and 47 we attended a private concert by musicologists playing 1500 year old instruments uncovered in archeological digs in 1978. The toasts were nonstop and we knocked back 7 bottles of baijiu. I got to meet some really great folks: Mr. Nu, Mr. Ree, Mr. White and Ms. Li Li. Mr. Nu and Mr. White introduced me to a few Chinese drinking games. Mr.Ree decided I would be his Shifu and he my disciple. Once this relationship was consecrated by a secret ceremony Mr. Ree was required by the dictates of ancient Chinese customs to drink three times for every drink I took.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

May 19th

Special Agent Shaw picked us up and took us back to the Shaanxi Animation Industry Platform building. I participated in a town hall with the Platform’s key managers to talk about their specific animation questions. They introduced me to an architectural visualization of an animation campus called Town Star that Xi’an is planning to build in the next few years. The Town Star complex has twin forty story towers dedicated to hosting vertically integrated animation and post production facilities. The campus also plans to feature restaurants as well as museums with exhibits on the history of animation. They are also planning a school on the campus to teach the next generation of animators. After showing me their impressive plans they asked me to provide some specific advice on what else to include and I gave them my ideas.

We toured the studios at the Shaanxi Animation Industry Platform building then headed for another family style lazy susan Chinese meal featuring apple-wood smoked Peking duck. Best damn duck I ever ate.

After lunch we headed over to Mr. Oong’s studio located in an old pharmaceutical factory. They brought me into their audio studio where I busted out some raps on the mic. They gave us a Kung-Fu demonstration using their Motion Analysis performance capture system. Next up they demonstrated their Minolta laser scanner and Zprint 3d printer. On our way out we stopped back in the audio suite where they’d added a beat and mixed down the rap I’d recorded earlier.

We travelled to the edge of town to visit Mr. Oong’s museum. Apparently his father was visiting an area about 100 miles from Xi’an where the locals were tearing down ancient houses that ran along a river for building materials, paving stones and latrine liners. He organized a project to move the buildings brick by brick to a new museum location and reconstructed the entire neighborhood. I joined a traditional Chinese folk band on the stage in the courtyard of one of the reconstructed domiciles for a rendition of Public Enemy’s “You’re Gonna ger Yours”. I also advised them on techniques for digitizing antiquites.

It was a long day. We got back to the hotel . This was the last we saw of Special Agent Shaw but I think he was following us the rest of time to secretly ensure our safety and document our whereabouts. Ms. Fu brought the suit to my room for a final fitting and took a few more measurements. I selected a couple of matching ties, sent Ms. Fu home and fell asleep.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

May 18th

I ran into Daniel and Tim at the breakfast buffet. Discussed the day’s strategy. Special Agent Shaw picked us up. Thanks to his excellent driving skills aggressively navigating the Xi’an traffic we arrived at the Shaanxi Animation Industry Platform building. After a brief introduction to the Platform Directors Mr. Lu and Ms. Soon I was lead into a press conference where several journalists asked me to compare and contrast the American and Chinese animation industry as well as advise them on how the Central Chinese Government could support the animation industry in China. Following the press conference I addressed a crowd of 350 journalists, government officials, industry professionals and students giving them an introduction to SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia as well as a personal history of my work in visual effects and animation.

We took a break for lunch in a private room within the building. There was a contingent of Japanese executives working on animation in China as well as the heads of various animation companies working in the Animation Industry Platform building. The Xi’An Director of Propaganda and the Director of the Xi’an Department of culture joined us as well.
After lunch I gave a one-on-one interview with China Central Television (CCTV) where I talked about my favorite projects and informed the journalist that stereoscopic 3D was the new hotness in animated feature film production in America.

For the afternoon session I presented information about the history of computer graphics in film. I think I lost the audience a bit during this part of the presentation. This was followed by 45 minutes of questions and answers.

We had a family style dinner on a lazy susan in a private room in a Chinese restaurant that had the largest lobsters I’d ever seen sitting in the tanks in the lobby awaiting their sizzling fate. Mr. Lu’s wife, the Shaanxi Provincial Director of Propaganda, joined us and we engaged in the Chinese tradition of toasting each other with shots of Baijiu. Mr. Yan from Yelloon Animation and Mr. Oong who runs another animation studio as well as the museum of Shaanxi Folk Art joined us as well. The restaurant staff wheeled a television into the room and turned on the Central China Evening News. About half way into the broadcast they ran the interview from earlier in the day. Things got a little hazy after that but Special Agent Shaw’s professional driving ensured our safety on the way back to the hotel. Ms. Fu arrived at the hotel, suit in hand, for a first fitting and I let her do her thing over a glass of Macallans before crashing out for the evening.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Last night I had a chance to try out that corn juice beverage. Yup. Tastes like corn. Sweet corn, with maybe a hint of salt. Not bad really.

Yesterday afternoon G. Scott Owen and myself gave presentations to the students and faculty at Shanghai Normal University. The talk was attended by a group of students as well as various Deans and Chairs of the univeristy such as Wan Qinghua and Lu Jianfei. We were inducted into the 2009 International Scholars Forum and presented with chops containing the Chinses characters for our names. Afterwards we went out with the faculty of the univerisy and publishers of Fantasy Art Magazine, Mr. Wang Wei and Ms. Ying Zhang  for a wonderful dinner. Mr. Wang is an amazing artist in his own right and helps run an animation seminar for Chinese youth called the Asian Youth Animation and Comics Contest or AYACC.

I didn’t realize that Chinese kids were just as in to Cosplay at their Japanese counterparts. It’s a little different than the Harajuku scene, maybe a little less punk rock and more anime but still cool to see.

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Rambo Game at Cartoon and Game Expo

Am I the only one who is amused watching Chinese video game players in Shanghai play a Rambo video game where the object is to kill Communists?

Dead Men Tell No Tales

This amusement attraction on display at the Cartoon and Game expo lets the player take out what appears to be an animatronic Somali pirate with a rocket launcher on a moving boat. Extra points for a head shot!

What's up Doc?

My parents always said they wanted me to be a Doctor. It took a while, but I think they finally got their wish. Mr. Wang Wei is in the forground while G. Scott Owen, Dani Weinstein and some of our hosts at Shanghai Normal University receed into the background.

Click on the picture for a hi-rez panorama

This afternoon I spoke at a forum on the future of animation in China with Scott Owen. I met a lot of interesting folks including the bureau chief of the Agence France-Presse Asia Pacific Shangai division D’Arcy Doran, originally from Toronto. After the forum we went to the Bund for a few Tsing Tao draft beers and I took a few moments to shoot this panorama of the waterfront. The file is big, so be prepped for a download.