Firechild Video

Getting the contract

2011-11-03T23:04:00.001-05:00

I had lunch with a long time client earlier today and the topic of freelance work came up. Some of the things he said were so truthful, so brutally honest, that I felt you guys needed to know. I asked him, out of all the bids he gets for assignments, what made him come to me time and again. He replied simply, "Because you are the fastest designer I know."

That really hit home for me. He admitted that he has gotten bids from more talented designers, as well as much faster designers, but what made him choose me was the balance of speed and talent. I am fast enough to get their projects finished ahead of schedule, but talented enough to make those products with professional quality.

That's what most employers in this country want. Being talented at what you do isn't good enough anymore. You have to be good... and FAST. Speed trumps talent 99% of the time. Keep that in mind if you plan to pursue a career in motion graphics or design.

Don't get me wrong... if you are fast, but have no style and your designs come out lacking, an employer will pass. On the flip side, you can produce some of the greatest designs ever created, but if it takes you twice as long to achieve those results as some other professional who produces graphics half as good, you lose again.

Basically what I am telling you is that you have to find a balance. When a project comes up and you start coming up with idea's to pitch, don't pitch idea's that will take an eternity to produce. Pick designs in your comfort zone. Pick a design you know you can do well, and quickly. That way, when you finish ahead of schedule, you'll have the time to go back, tweak, and really make it outstanding. At the same time, you'll impress your employer and he will be much more likely to throw new jobs your way.

Blender Quick Tip: Creating a Luma Matte

2011-10-22T15:08:00.001-05:00

Have you ever rendered a video out, waited several hours, only to find out you forgot to enable your alpha channel? What do you do then? Re-render the entire thing? NO! Of course not! Save yourself some time by using a Luma Matte. It's a quick, easy to set up render, it renders quickly and most non linear editors support Luma mattes (masks). This quick tip will save you tons of time in overcoming mistakes. I hope you enjoy and I hope it helps.

Blender Sapling addon

2011-10-18T04:12:00.002-05:00

So I have been playing around with the sapling addon for Blender 2.59 and I'm in love. It's so much fun, so versatile and so very, very impressive.

If you haven't played around with the addon yet, I highly recommend you do! You may need a basic understanding of it as we move forward through time. Just saying!

Are you a gamer?

2011-10-05T18:08:00.000-05:00

It's a simple question. If you are a gamer, I want to know what you use for online gaming! Why? Well... I can't tell you that yet.... let's just say I have a really "fun" idea. Before I can say anymore, I need to hear from you! I need to know what system most of the community uses.

Please take part in this poll! I wouldn't want to exclude anyone when the big day comes!

You can find the poll below, or in the sidebar. Tell your friends and family! Let me know your opinion!

Newton's Cradle Tutorial Part 2

2011-10-05T16:59:00.001-05:00

Time to finish this model up! In this part we will just take a quick look at some lighting and texturing. In particular, we will be using HDR lighting for a quick and dirty setup. It's far from perfect, but hopefully it will get your creative juices flowing and point you in the right direction. That's what this is all about after all! Enjoy!

Update

2011-10-03T01:18:00.001-05:00

Hello friends. I'm currently traveling for work and writing this from the blogger phone app, so I will keep this short and sweet. I'm almost finished with part two of our newtons cradle physics tutorial and will have it posted as soon as I get back into town. Its taken a little longer than expected for various reasons, but mainly because I wanted to make the finished product better. I've been toying around with the physics engine a bit lately and getting some pretty exciting results. Hope to share all this with you very soon. Till then, have fun and happy blending!

NEW TUTORIAL: NEWTONS CRADLE PHYSICS

2011-09-06T16:18:00.001-05:00

What started off being a quick, simple look at the blender physics engine has now become a two part tutorial! In this first part we are going to take a look at the modeling and physics of a Newtons cradle.

SEE THE TUTORIAL AFTER THE JUMP!

The blender physics engine can be a little tempermental at times, and you will see a good example of that through the course of this tutorial, but if you stick with it, it can also yield some pretty impressive results! Just remember, even the tiniest of modifications to a scene can have drastic results in the physics calculations.

In part two we will look at HDR lighting, setting up the render, and the wonderful chrome material! Stay tuned and happy blending!

Newtons cradle in Post production!!

2011-09-05T21:19:00.004-05:00

A few months ago I posted an experimental render of a Newton's cradle built in blender, with the promise of a tutorial coming soon (see the render here). Well, if you read my previous post then you know life has side tracked me and pulled me away from the recording process. Now that things are back on track, however, expect a new tutorial by this time tomorrow! In fact, I've recorded everything and I'm now just waiting on the render. (I used HDR lighting, motion blur, etc... so the render is taking a while). Here are a couple images just to wet your apetite! Should be a fun dip into the exciting world of Blender physics!

Like I stated, the tutorial is complete, just waiting on the render, and then the uploads. Hope you enjoy!

Where I've gone

2011-08-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

I know it's bee quiet here for a good long while. For that I am sorry. I know I have probably already lost many fans and regular viewers, but I want you all to know it is my intent to get things back on track.

Now to the question at hand: What happened? Well... I'll tell you all about it, after the jump

This has not been a happy time in my life. In the past six months I lost my day job and lost more than 75% of my freelance clients. Both losses were completely out of of my control. We have the weak economy to thank for that one. Many businesses simply stopped advertising during the dark economic times. So, for the first time in my life, I was forced into the Texas unemployment insurance system.

Claiming an unemployment check every week is not a fun process. I was bringing in barely enough money to keep food on the table. That meant I had to work harder than ever to pick up new clients and keep some kind of income coming in or risk not having a house over my head. The extra time I had to devote to earning an income meant less time available for the blog and the development of new tutorials.

Eventually, however, I landed a great job with a nationwide newspaper publishing company. Things were beginning to improve. Finally I had a little more time to devote to training tutorials and the blog in general. However, my hard times were not over.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my personal life, but I'll give you the quick summary. Just when things looked like they were improving professionally, my personal life took a big hit. My fiance left me. That put me into a fit of depression, as you might expect. I didn't want to do anything. I would try working on training tutorials to take my mind off the pain, but I simply couldn't focus.

Finally, I recently learned that I have health issues that require me to completely change my lifestyle. My eating and exercise habits had to go through a complete overhaul.

As you can tell, there has been a LOT on my plate recently. I've had so much to deal with that I had no choice but to put the blog on the back burner for a while. My health and emotional issues had to take top priority for a while.For that I am sorry, but I hope you understand.

Now to the good news. It's very simple. I'm back! I've dealt with the health, emotional, and professional problems in my life and I am better than ever! I've never been healthier, happier or wealth....no... okay... so the financial problem still exists. I haven't won the lottery yet. So I'll keep working hard, focused on my goals. This is a good thing for you, because you and the Firechild Nation have become a top priority.

That is where the idea for a script came from. I knew I had to return to this blog in a big BIG way. I had to do something to make you all forget about the months of silence. In short, I had to WOW you. I know I haven't done that yet, but hey... I'm still writing the script!

There you have it, the longest post I have ever written. I'm not even going to proof read this. I'm just going to post my raw words and feelings right there on the page for you.

In closing, I'm sorry I was silent for so long... but I am BACK!!!! Missed you guys

It's Coming...

2011-08-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, I'm sure you are wondering why it has been so quiet around here lately. Well, I think the time has finally come to let you in on a little secret I have been keeping. I don't want to spoil the surprise right here on the home page, so click on the "Read more" button and we'll talk a little more after the jump.

Okay, now that we are alone. Here is the reason it's been so quiet around here:

That's right folks. Something big is in the works. This screen shot pretty much says everything, and nothing.

Is it a short film? Feature? Animated? Will eating two gallons of ice cream make me sick?

Let me answer the last question first. Yes.
     The rest of the questions will have to remain a mystery. For now. However, I can share with you the idea behind this project. For months now I have been planning training tutorials and sketching out ideas when I realized something, there are already so many random training videos out there that I needed to do something different, something that would help you more than twenty minutes of rambling on about some random effect.
     Then I started thinking, what if the training videos weren't random? Sort of like an advanced training series where every tutorial is part of a larger project? Then it hit me. Yes, I am about to leave you hanging. Don't want to spoil the surprise now do I?
     We will have more for you very soon.

Blender 2.58 just released!

2011-06-23T01:23:00.000-05:00

That's right folks, another "stable" version of Blender is available over at Blender.org. I just finished downloading it myself, so I can't speak on any of the improvements just yet, but it's worth a download... if for no other reason than to get rid of that hideous splash screen from 2.57!

The Blender gang has really put a lot of effort into this release, you can tell just by the long list of improvements and bug fixes involved in this release. Check it out here

It goes without say that Blender just keeps getting better! If everything goes according to plan, we should see Blender 2.59 sometime in August. Until then, let's have some fun with this new Blender! More detailed review coming soon.

Can you say BLAH!? -------------------->

Blender Back to the Basics: Rendering

2011-06-06T17:17:00.000-05:00

In this sixth and final installment of the back to the basics training series I'll crack a couple jokes, ramble a bit... but more importantly I'll be showing you beginners out there how to render your video. See the video after the jump.

The back to the basics series has been a lot of fun to produce, but reading all the comments, answering questions, and laughing at the wise cracks has been even more fun! I hope you enjoyed watching this series as much as I enjoyed making it, but most importantly, I hope you learned some useful tips to get you on the road to Blender Super Stardom!

Don't forget, you can submit your designs, renders, videos... anything Blender or VFX related and see them featured on our USER GALLERY!

To submit a design, simply click here

Miss me?

2011-06-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

Hey gang, sorry for the silence the past couple months. I can't go into too many details (yet) but I was hired on as special FX supervisor by a very talented, visionary director and that gig has kept me on the road quite a bit lately.

We are just finishing up post production and I'll be back in my cozy home studio in no time. One good thing about spending so much time on the road, I've had plenty of time to daydream and experiment with Blender. (thank God for laptops!)

Blender 2.57 NOW AVAILABLE!!!!

2011-04-15T19:50:00.000-05:00

For the first time in over two years, an official, non beta release of Blender is available for download. This calls for a celebration!!

If you haven't done so already, head over to the Blender main page and download it now! Seriously. Go. Stop thinking about the barbeque and get to downloading!!!

This is an exciting moment that we have all been waiting a long time for. The entire blender community should get together for a BBQ! I'll bring the chips and salsa! Who's bringing the beer?

Why Blender?

2011-04-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

As a tutorial producer, every now and then I get a comment on one of my videos that really makes me think. Mattgraeme provided me with just such a comment on our first SPARKS EPISODE. Will learning Blender enable me to get a job in the real world? Yes and No. Read on:

Here is what Matt had to say,

"there is only a handful of small companies that use blender in their pipeline, and even if you wanted to get a job at one of those companies, then you would have to be a better artist than the 500-2000 other applicants. If you want a job using blender then don't expect for the phone to be ringing off the hook with job offers. (thats why most people who use blender are hobbyists, and the ones who do make a living out of it are the people who make tutorials)."

This is very true. Blender is NOT the tool of choice in the professional, mainstream 3D world. Commercial 3D packages such as 3D studio, Lightwave, and Cinema 4D still dominate the market. Why, then, would you want to learn Blender?

There are several reasons. First of all, a good foundation in 3D theory is essential to any piece of software. The software is only the tool. Learning Blender as a way to grasp general 3D design and knowledge will make learning any other 3D software much easier. I began my career with Lightwave 3D. The knowledge I gained in that platform made learning Blender MUCH easier. The same would be true in reverse.

Second, times always change. Just as Blender continues to evolve, so does the 3D community as a whole. More, larger companies are beginning to take notice of Blender. The businessmen in charge of the companies finances are beginning to look at Blender as a way to save the company TONS of cash (Blender is free after all.) and artists are beginning to look at Blender for it's more and more intuitive workflow.

When I first began working at the local television station, in house 3D design was unheard of. Shortly after I was promoted into the Image and Promotion department, the supervisors began thinking of idea's to upgrade the companies image. 3D animation was first on their list. Hiring a company was too expensive, so instead they purchased a copy of Lightwave 3D (the standard back then) and a training manual. I was handed the book and told to "learn, and learn quick". This was my first crash course in 3D. It took almost a year, several more training resources before we produced our first 3D animation, but the foundation was now in place. Flash forward several years... Summer 2010, just before the mass media layoffs nation wide (of which I was a victim) and another evolution took place. This time of the financial variety. Our copy of Lightwave was completely obsolete, but the company was unwilling to pay the high price tag for an update. Almost immediately, Blender came up. One morning I showed up for work, Lightwave was gone from my work station and the familiar Blender logo icon was on my desktop. Of course, I was laid off two days later, but I assume Blender is still being used to this day.

The bottom line is companies love high end designs, but not nearly as much as they love saving money. Blender gives them both. So why should you learn Blender? Not only will it give you a strong foundation in 3D design, knowledge you can take with you into ANY other program, but as the 3D world evolves, more and more companies are adopting Blender into their workflow. Learn it now and you'll be all set when that day comes.

Firechild Sparks: 1. Creating a Studio Backdrop

2011-04-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

In this short Spark, we will take a look at a quick and easy method of creating the first part of your Blender photography studio: The seamless backdrop!

Firechild SPARKS!!!

2011-04-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited to announce the start of a new series of training tutorials called FIRECHILD SPARKS! Sparks are short, quick burst tutorials. We'll take a look at simple quick tips, procedures and theories.

The idea is to have a series of easy to produce, but fun and informative tutorials to fill the gap between our major, feature length training videos. So welcome to Firechild Sparks. Episode one will be posted in a couple minutes. Enjoy!

Quick Tip: Blender and Wacom

2011-03-29T21:03:00.000-05:00

If you've ever done any kind of work in image editors (photoshop, illustrator, GIMP, etc...) then you already know the value a wacom tablet. I've been using a tablet for YEARS and couldn't imagine a life without it (try rotoscoping in After Effects without one... ugh).

Recently, though, I began using the tablet with Blender. While you don't need the precision control for most tasks, it works WONDERFULLY when you get into sculpting and some texturing.

This quick tip will show you how to set up Blender to work with a Wacom tablet, a two button or one button mouse, or even the touch pad on a lap top. So whether your going to be using your tablet or just want to be able to use Blender on the go... there is good information within. Enjoy.

The new look of Firechild Video!

2011-03-22T02:39:00.000-05:00

Please join me in congratulating Jonathan Santiago from Austin, Texas for winning the first ever Firechild Logo Design contest! More after the jump...

Picking the winning design wasn't easy, as you can easily tell by taking a look at the finalists designs in a previous post.

I had to pleasure of speaking with Mr. Santiago on the phone a few minutes ago and believe me when I say he is a class act.

I hope you can all appreciate the symbolism in this design. Instead of a literal "child" in the design, Jonathan chose a Power symbol. He tells me he did this for two reasons... first, knowledge is power, so a power symbol for a website that provides knowledge seemed fitting. Second, kids today are born an raised in a "push button era".... I couldn't agree more! In that context, a burning power symbol makes perfect sense for the Firechild nation!

We wanted to link you to Jonathan's facebook page so you could all drop him a line and congratulate him, but Mr. Santiago preferred we didn't. Jonathan is a regular here at Firechild Video, so leave your comments below. I am certain he will see them!

The Logo Design Finalists

2011-03-21T03:50:00.000-05:00

Still no word from our winner. He has a couple more days to respond, or we will be forced to pick the next runner up. In the mean time, you guys have to check out some of these incredible designs. These, in no particular order, are the designs our impartial panel of judges picked for honorable mention. Enjoy!

Design by: Tom Gomes

Tom, you have mad cartooning skills! Very cool looking character. The time you spent on this design really shows in the final product. Hold your head high and be proud!

Design by: Sergio Nettleton

Sergio has been a long time follower and one of the first members of the Firechild Nation, so it is no surprise to see his work make it to the final round. Mr. Nettleton, you have been a great supporter and you have a real talent. Excellent work sir.

Design by: Lejon Lin

Unique, professional, and creative. Keep your eye's on this designer."Wow" is a word that came up time and again in the judging sessions. Thank you so much Lejon for your amazing work. Logo design is no simple task and you have proven that.

There you have it... our esteemed finalists. I wish we could have multiple company logos. If we could I would have each and every one of these designs.

Oh... and there are no losers here in the Firechild Nation. Those of you who see your designs above, keep a look out in your email inbox. I will have a little something special headed your way. Just my way of saying "Thank you".

For those of you who submitted a design, but didn't make it to the finals... keep an eye on your inbox as well. Love you guys.

A Winner At Last!!!!

2011-03-17T02:21:00.000-05:00

It took plenty of time and arguing amongst the judges, but a winner has finally been chosen for our first ever Logo Design Contest!!! We have sent an email to the winner and are just waiting to hear back from him before we share his design with the world! Tomorrow I will be uploading the runners up work just to show you all how incredibly difficult our decision was. As soon as I hear back from the winner, we will share it with the rest of you! Great work all around!!!

P.S. - Now that the contest is concluded I can turn my attention back to the real heart of this website.... that is... MAKING TUTORIALS!!!

A NEW FACE AT FIRECHILD VIDEO!!!!

2011-02-28T02:07:00.001-06:00

It is my esteemed pleasure to introduce you to a new face at Firechild Video. His name is Gabriel Valentin Ochoa. He's been a commercial actor and major player on the independent film scene for a number of years. He is also an accomplished video editor and very dear friend of mine. He joins Firechild Video with the passion and intensity needed to take us to the next level... He's also a really funny S-O-B.

Gabe recently started his own youtube.com series that had me literally ROFLing. Here is a clip from his first episode.

He is a good guy with a level of professionalism that far exceeds the silly stuff we do here. Still, I for one am honored to have him on board. You'll be seeing a lot of Mr. Ochoa in the coming months here on Firechild Video.

As you can tell, there is a lot going on. I'd better get back to work. Drop by Gabe's youtube page and welcome him to the Firechild family. Tell him Chad sent ya. wink.

P.S. - He passed defensive driving. Turns out sobriety isn't part of the exam after all! Who knew!?!

Logo Design contest Update

2011-02-28T01:28:00.000-06:00

Our panel of four judges, believe it or not, are still hard at work sorting through the mountain of submissions. They have narrowed the selection down to the semi finalists, now comes the REALLY hard part... picking our finalists. I know this is taking just a little longer than expected, but we didn't expect such a massive turnout! I just wanted to pop in and give you all an update. Stay tuned for more!

I am an unfunny A-hole

2011-02-16T15:52:00.002-06:00

Hey gang, every now and then I get a really nice comment on a youtube video, or in an email, offering tips on how I can improve. I just thought I would share one from my very first tutorial:

"blockbuster don't sell clues, they sell movies. remember, being funny is a gift

and you don't have it, lol

a person trying to hard to be funny and fail over and over again becomes

an a hole that's still not funny get it.

I JUST GAVE YOU A CLUE, LOL!!!!!! KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!!"

-whoisflowfatal

Thanks whoisflowfatal. Thank you for the "clue" and thanks for proving your own point. I'm sure I am not alone in saying that your comment, while heart felt, exquisitely planned, punctuated, and spelled, was far from "humor". Yet by your randomly placed "lol"s I can see you find yourself quite the comedian. What were you saying about a person trying too hard to be funny?

You will get no apologies from me. I try to be as conversational as possible in my videos. Yes, I am corny at times (anyone remember the "super duper" line?) but that's just me. I'm not trying, I'm just being me. If I were trying to be funny, I'd be a comedian and not a graphic designer. I'm just having fun. period.

Plus, I have worked with a WIDE range of graphic designers at every level of talent and experience and let me tell you... we ALL have a quirky sense of humor. If you can't get past that, maybe it's time to try something different... knitting or paint by numbers for example.

Oh, and to provide a little contrast, here is another comment left for the same video. This one explains exactly why I will not change.

"Pretty sweet... I like your tutorials and the way you talk through them. You are the only

guy who I find funny (the other is Andrew Kramer) because the other guys

here (youtube) that are uploading their tutorials overdrive the sense of humor

and sound too fake for me. You can be a good teacher."

-getintherings99

That is why I do what I do! Sincerely, your favorite unfunny a-hole of motion graphics

Contest Now Closed!!!

2011-02-15T00:01:00.001-06:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Logo Design Competition! The number of entries is incredible. Our judges definately have their work cut out for them now.

Here is where we go from here. I have pre-selected five people, three professional designers and two average folk, to act as judges. We are aiming to have a winner picked by the end of next week, however, that deadline could change as there are TONS of very, very good designs. This is not going to be an easy decision.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and good luck to all of you!

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