Dartmouth Events

"This One Weird Trick": Purity vs. Pragmatism in Visual Effects and Games

Eric Froemling: In an environment such as Pixar, the best solution to a visual-effects challenge is not always obvious.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018
3:30pm – 4:30pm
Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Hall)
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories: Lectures & Seminars

Abstract:  In an environment such as Pixar, where immense technical capabilities collide with artistic requirements of caricature and exaggeration, the best solution to a visual-effects challenge is not always obvious.  In some cases, a clever artistic 'hack' can yield better results than an accurate physical simulation. Likewise, in game development, hardware limitations often make creative non-physical cheats a necessity.  Even when more technical simulated approaches are employed, it can be helpful to augment them with a handful of low-tech tricks in pursuit of the ultimate end goal: putting nice looking pixels up on a screen.

This talk will be a collection of pragmatic lessons learned from years of work in the film and games industry; specifically what people on opposite sides of the artistic/technical spectrum can learn from each other.

Bio:  Eric Froemling is a fourteen year veteran of the animation and video games industries. During his nine years as a visual effects artist at Pixar Animation Studios, he was nominated for seven VES/Annie awards for his work on films such as Ratatouille, Up, and Toy Story 3.  More recently his work has spanned mobile, virtual reality, and augmented reality projects in the games industry, including the award-winning Zombie Gunship franchise from Limbic Software as well as his own Editor's Choice recipient BombSquad.

For more information, contact:
Sandra Hall

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.