I actually used this list, to hire a TD, for a project that I was working on. I had not learned any ICE, and I was in no way a programmer, so I put out a request, on this list, for anyone who could TD the project for me. I got a fast response from Jimmy Gass. It was a project that required a crowd of people, within an stadium, all made from 12 characters with 10 different texturemapped clothes.
This was prior to the addition of Crowd FX to SI. It all worked out great. Jimmy did a great job programming the ICE compound so that all I had to do was create the 10 different texturemaps per character. and plug them into the custom ICE compound, that Jimmy wrote. No crowd funding was needed, as it was funded by my client ( 50% deposit before the job starts). I bet there are many Softimage freelancers, or small animation companies, that do not have TD experience, that would benefit from any of the TD's here, as well. I just don't know how much work is available, since I have only had to do this once, and I have learned how to put together simple ICE compounds, myself, with the help of so many tutorials, such the great ones from Paul Smith... Yes, that muscle system is an impressive demo. >From what I understand, FabricEngine's Splice will be the way to go for programming for Softimage, Maya, and other 3D Apps, so that development of plugins (or addons, or whatever) would easily be ported to other apps. On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 5:51 AM, Nicolas Esposito <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi guys, > > This is maybe not the best time to write about this, but maybe something > good could be done about this idea. > > Looking around si-community and here as well I saw a lot of topics > regarding "How to" and "Help me with" in order to achieve a goal. > This is perfectly fine and on both communities there are lots of talented > people willing to give advices, share compounds and make tutorials about it. > > There are some specific things which are not so simple to develop, and > most of the time you can't get the thing you're doing to work, so you end > up going nowhere, or switch to another software you know already do what > you're looking for ( if there is one ). > > So, with this in mind my proposal is quite "simple": > Setup small found raise groups, using kickstarter, in order to finance a > TD or a talented artist to develop a custom tool which allows you to reach > your ( ours ) goal. > The TD look at the request, setup the minimum amount on money needed to > develop that tool, then the fund raise campaign begin. > > Lets start with an example > - A muscle system within Softimage: Most of you saw the Peta commercial > and the behind the scene and saw the amazing thing The Mill did using > Softimage; also recently Paul Smith did a demo of his muscle system which > looks pretty damn cool; Vorlex developed his plugin using ICE, and those > are just few examples. > - VFX done with ICE: Exocortex already sells amazing plugins, but lets say > I need specific VFX in my shot and I need someone who's capable to create > what I need. > > To put it simple would be the answer to "I don't know how to do this, can > someone do this for me if I pay?" > > The found raising could be applied not only to Softimage ( even because > I'm not sure how many TDs want to create tools for a Software which is > going to be left out in a couple of years ), but extend this idea to other > software, for example Fabric Engine, which has huge potentials and lots of > people right now are really interested into this framework. > > So, what are your thoughts about it? > > Cheers > > Nicolas > -- Best Regards, * Stephen P. Davidson* *(954) 552-7956* [email protected] *Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic* - Arthur C. Clarke <http://www.3danimationmagic.com>
