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 Enroll now in our class starting March 29th 2010 Class and enjoy FREE HOUSING for the entire year! To take advantage of this rare offer, your enrollment paperwork must be completed by the March 15th deadline. The DAVE School is now offering FREE STUDENT HOUSING for students attending our class starting March 29th 2009! * We know times are tough so The DAVE School is doing what it can to help! Our housing program consists of a private bedroom in a shared condo or house within 6 miles of the school. This includes rent, basic furniture, all utilities, basic cable TV and WiFi service! We make it so easy you can move here in your car! And you'll be needing a car. To contact admissions now Please Email Scott Julien, Andrew KralorTerry Henry or call them directly at 407-224-3283 For additional information contact Karla Van Horn or Scott Julien at (407) 224-3283. *This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. This offer is only valid to fully funded students. This offer is being made only to new students who start our program on March 29th, 2010 who currently live more than 45 miles from campus. Students starting after that date can expect to pay $650 a month. September students needing more than one year to complete our program (by retaking a semester) can extend their stay but will be charged accordingly.  Ghost Whisperer - Ghost In The Machine - CBS Rick Ramirez CGI Artist GRADUATED MARCH 07 Eric Haas CGI Artist GRADUATED MARCH 07 Ed Ruiz CGI Artist GRADUATED JUNE 08 THESE GRADS WERE NOT OFFICAILLY LISTED BUT WORK JUST AS HARD ON OTHER NOMINATED EPISODES. Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy Farrah Welch GRADUATED SEPTEMBER 08 Manny Choi GRADUATED MARCH 08 Michael Davidson GRADUATED DECEMBER 05 Ghost Whisperer - Ghost In The Machine - CBS Arthur Vail CGI Artist GRADUATED MARCH 08 Chris Jennings racked up 3 nominations on his own! The Academy has a separate Emmy division for News and Documentaries. Also a big huge deal! He is nominated for the following: OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: GRAPHIC DESIGN & ART DIRECTION Apocalypse How? (Discovery Channel) Six Degrees Could Change the World (National Geographic Channel) Illicit: The Dark Trade (PBS) Emmy Nominee link: Click Here! He's also collecting a pile of Telly Awards for those projects and more! I AM EXTREMELY PROUD OF THEM AND ALL OUR GRADUATES!! -Jeff Scheetz School Director  Congratulations to the students of the June 2009 Class on the completion of Magma Corps. Magma Corps is the latest DAVE School student movie created entirely by the graduating students. Magma Corps is the brainchild of The Four Horsemen. "The Horsemen", as we refer to them, are toy designers. They are responsible for many of today's most popular action figure toys. As well as working on commercial projects for major toy companies, they also make their own custom toy designs. This is where Magma Corps was born.     Jeff Scheetz, The DAVE School director, saw the Magma Corps toys at a trade show and immediately saw potential for animation. The Horsemen were more then happy to allow the school to bring their beloved characters to life. We knew right away that we had what was going to be an amazing block 4 animation project. This time around we decided instead of making a full animated short we would try something different. We decided instead of making a full story, we would make a trailer that suggests a bigger story. Jeff wrote the script, and Craig Nisbet, the project's director, and Jason Pichon, the art director, started pre-production.  The Magma Corps universe is that of a fantasy future version of Hawaii. In this world a substance called Magma is common. But the most valuable of the Magma is White Magma. Our story has a really bad guy named Atrophus, who has a sidekick named Grugg. Together they steal the White Magma and use it to construct a deadly army of drones. The Mercury City P.D. won't stand for this so they construct an elite crew of specialist to take care of the problem. This crew is the Magma Corps! The horsemen had created a large array of character in the Magma Corps universe. There were so many great characters to choose from. Eventually 8 characters were selected. When all the pre-production dust settled, we had what looked like trailer for an awesome animated movie. Now the only challenge left was making it! Magma Corp demanded a very special group of artists to bring this vision to life. The students of the DAVE School's block 4 were up to the challenge. We saw impressive modeling and texturing work from Austin Riedhammer. Matt Dolemba crafted some amazing hand keyed animation. Brandt Harris worked around the clock to light many of the environments in the Magma Corps world. Also returning graduate Kristi McCree add many amazing graphic design elements to the production including all the signage and logos for the world, and created the title animations for each of the characters.   The completed trailer was shown at graduation. In the DAVE School tradition, we don't let the students see the short with the final sound until graduation. The sound was produced by the amazing Sound-O-Ramma. The Horsemen were also invited to graduation. After watching the short for the first time they couldn't believe how good it was. Eric "Cornboy" Mayse of Four Horseman spoke at graduation and had nothing but great things to say. The graduates had created "an amazing piece of work."  This may not be the end for Magma Corps. Jeff and the Horsemen are working to explore the potential of these characters and others. As of this writing, Magma Corps is being converted to stereoscopic 3D! Perhaps we'll see more of Argus and his crew in the future. One thing is for sure, the students of the DAVE School will be a part of it.  The best way to learn about The DAVE School is to come check out our facility. We schedule tours Monday-Friday. Call (407) 224-3283 today to schedule a tour!  The DAVE School is the subject of the cover story in the March/April 2009 edition of Career College Central Magazine. Writer Michael Mackie visited the school in December to meet with the staff and students in order to learn more about the program. He interviewed owner Jeff Scheetz along with students David Blemur and Jessica Wolff. Block 4 Student Alexander Llanos designed the cover of the magazine, which features everyone's favorite vegan zombie, Tofu. You can read the article here.  MegaCon, the Southeast's premiere comic, anime, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and multimedia convention, took place from Feb. 27 - March 1. The DAVE School was privileged to once again have a booth set up at the event. Attendees were invited to watch NASA SEALs 3D in a theater specially constructed for the event. This year's celebrity guests included Beau Bridges, Peter Mayhew, better known as "Chewbacca," stars from "Battlestar Galactica," and many more. There were also many retail outlets present and artists displaying their work, including DAVE School Block 2 student Jeff Brennan.  On Feb. 20, our own Sam Mendoza was invited to judge the Florida SkillsUSA 3D Visualization and Animation Contest held at Ridge Career Center. Ridge is a Polk County public vocational-technical center for adults and high school students. Four teams of two people each came from all over the state to compete in the event. They had four hours to animate a scene which illustrated the phases of the Moon. We are proud to have had Sam represent The DAVE School as a leader in the Orlando visual effects community during this event. Congratulations to the contestants and we wish you the best of luck in your future career in visual effects. We pride ourselves in being a school that will prepare you for a career in Digital Animation. Our graduates are Emmy Award-nominated artists and leads on high-profile projects. Click on the links below to read the stories of a couple of these graduates. What will your story be?  Graduate Profile - Dean Lewandowski Graduate Profile - Jana Yarbrough  Block 4 is currently hard at work on their final project. They are completing visual effects for the newest episode, "Enemy: Starfleet" in the web series, Star Trek: Phase II. This is not the first Phase II work that DAVE School students have done. In 2007, a class completed the visual effects for the episode titled, "World Enough and Time," which featured original "Trek" actor, George Takei. The Phase II series was created, and is produced, by James Cawley. It continues from where the 1966-1969 "Star Trek" television series left off and is one of many fan outlets available on the internet. Even so, the quality of these particular productions remains high, with many people from previous Star Trek installments involved behind the scenes. Block 4 student Alexander Llanos was impressed with the production level and said of the series, "It's the nicest fan work I've seen." The DAVE School's involvement with the production stems from contacts School Owner Jeff Scheetz made while working for Foundation Imaging on the television series "Star Trek: Voyager." "I saw a parallel between how [the studio] Foundation supplied the effects for Paramount and how the school could supply the effects for Phase II," said Scheetz. Principal photography for the episode was completed over a period of just two weeks in June 2008. In total, students have 103 shots with visual effects to complete. When finished, the episode will have a runtime of about an hour and will be available for viewing at Star Trek: Phase II. Scheetz thinks this production will prepare the students for the reality of current jobs in the industry. "Many of our graduates go on to work at VFX studios where their job is to fill in gaps in television episodes with effects," he said. Llanos agrees and approves of the project as "a culmination of everything we have learned [at the school]."  The graduation for the class of December 2008 was held on Dec. 17, 2008. For their final project, the students completed a music video for Broadway star and recording artist Kerry Ellis. In addition to completing the visual effects for the video, the students were able to take part in the live-action production when filming took place this past October. The students, many of whom came to the school with no prior digital animation experience, have learned complex software, faced tight deadlines, and come out of it with a finished final project. Graduate Jessica Wolff summed up her experience at the school by saying, "It was the best year of my life and the hardest year of my life. I'd do it all over again." Congratulations to the graduates: Mike Bellinger, Christie Coyle, David Crane, Ralph Flores, Richard Francis, Zach Fyffe, Nicolas Gelabert, Jared Laird, Ilyan Lavanway, Seth Lickiss, Jonathon Luke, Alicia Ostro, Amy Putrynski, Ryan Risch, Steven Scofield, Caleb Stone, Hermann Sverrisson, Michael Underwood, Juvenal Vique, Jessica Wolff   For Block 3's final project, the students put together footage of a real-life alien abduction that occurred at The DAVE School this past block. As you can see in the video clip, there were unfortunately some casualties during the incident including Universal Orlando guests and instructor William Vaughan. Innocent victim Sam Mendoza said about his harrowing experience, "The biggest shock was how little the students wanted to help. They were so focused on their work that they didn't come to my aid." Block 3 student David Blemur, who witnessed the whole thing said, "It was totally unexpected. It just came out of nowhere." It is important to note that alien abductions are quite rare in Orlando and things have returned to normal here at the school. Be sure to watch the video. In this two-week team project, Block 1 students were challenged to put their hard-earned skills to the test. As a team, they built an accurate, photorealistic virtual set of New York City. Armed with tape measures, digital cameras, and their own keen eyes, the students traveled to "New York" (aka Universal Studios theme park) to gather all the reference they could. The catch is that the production company's budget was limited and they only had one day in the city. "There were so many challenges on this project and I would rank working as a team as the biggest. It was our first group project and we learned a great deal about organization and the importance of working with others in mind," commented Tony Martin, Block 1 student. The city blocks were divided into five distinct areas, each comprised of several buildings. Students were graded on the quality of their models, textures, and lighting in addition to how well they worked together in their 5-6 person teams. "We try and prepare the students for working with others as early as possible to get them ready for a true production environment," explained instructor William Vaughan.     The DAVE School has always attracted the highest quality instructors from experts in their fields to Emmy Award-winners. The newest members to the faculty are no exception. The school is proud to announce the recent addition of instructors Craig Nisbet and Steve Warner. These two have differing backgrounds that will add new dimensions to the school's curriculum. Craig Nisbet is a returning instructor who will be working with Block 4 students. Nisbet previously worked at the school from 2001-2002 and actually helped to shape the program into what it is today. The program ends with Block 4, a 12-week production exercise that puts the students on the crew of a fully animated, or visual effects intensive, film. "Craig was instrumental in helping us implement the idea of making movies when he led his class to create the DAVE School classic Psycho Pump," explained School Director Jeff Scheetz. Nisbet started his career in digital animation in 1994, working on ride simulators for theme parks. He has plenty of industry experience including gigs as a visual effects artist on the television series "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and its accompanying film, the TV series "Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles," and the feature film The Ant Bully. Nisbet attended Hennepin Technical College in Minnesota where he studied TV Production, but his digital animation skills are all self-taught. Nisbet said he was drawn back to the school because of the opportunity to take a break from the industry. Scheetz said, "I'm thrilled to have Craig back. It's becoming increasingly common to have instructors go back and forth between the school and the industry because it brings our students the freshest ideas and techniques out there." Steve Warner has joined the school as the Block 1 instructor and will be responsible for introducing the difficult concepts of the LightWave software to students. He's up for the task though, saying, "I can provide students a way to learn a very scary process that's not only going to help them learn the software but also help them accomplish their goals faster than they thought possible." Warner received his formal education at the University of Arizona where he earned a BFA with an emphasis in graphic design. After graduation he started an independent design studio focusing mainly on corporate videos and commercial work. From there he joined CAE, the world's leading supplier of military training and simulations, as an Art Director and helped implement LightWave into the simulations. Warner is quite an authority on LightWave, having co-authored three books including his latest, Essential LightWave v9: The Fastest and Easiest Way to Master LightWave 3D (Wordware 2007) which is sure to benefit his students. "Long before he began teaching, Steve had been a major force in animation education through his books, videos, and online tutorials. He's made an amazing impact helping train prospective animators and we're proud to be able to focus that energy directly toward students," Scheetz said. These two new instructors are just part of a prestigious faculty at The DAVE School and will help to round out the curriculum, ensuring that graduates of the school can continue to embark on their visual effects careers immediately out of school.  Orlando, FL. On Oct. 13-14, Block 4 students finished a shoot for their DAVE School final project. The class is creating a music video for Broadway star Kerry Ellis, who can be seen as Elphaba the green witch in the hit musical Wicked. Working with producer Brian May, legendary guitarist and creative backbone of Queen, Kerry has recorded standalone rock versions of the songs "Defying Gravity" and "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked and "No One But You" from We Will Rock You, a musical set to the hits of Queen.   "This idea started about six months ago. We were looking at future Block 4 projects and had always talked about doing a music video. I ran across "Defying Gravity" and thought this would be a perfect song to use." School Founder and Project Director Jeff Scheetz continues, "I had visions of all kinds of cool Wizard of Oz and Wicked themes we could work with." Kerry's manager Jorg Betts was intrigued enough to put Scheetz in contact with May and his client to work out the details. "They loved the idea of doing a project with us, but had no interest in doing a Wicked-themed video." Instead May proposed an idea that had Kerry flying over New York, London, and beyond without the use of a broomstick. DAVE School instructor Jason Pichon proposed a storyboard based on May's idea and it was approved.   The trick was finding a shoot day. Kerry's role on Broadway only gives her one day off a week, but she does have an understudy. Theater managers were gracious enough to allow Kerry two full shoot days in Florida in what was the last month of her Broadway engagement. "We planned to shoot Kerry in many locations and settings, but once we realized we only had two days, we reworked the idea to film exclusively on a green screen stage," Block 4 instructor Jon Gress explained. Scheetz adds, "Good thing too because it rained all day! If we were outside, we would have been in big trouble."   The shoot allowed students to be a part of the filming both in front of and behind the camera. They got a chance to help out as part of the crew and to be extras filling the New York City Streets. "When working on set you really get to see how all aspects of a production take shape. It makes you that much more dedicated to the final project when you're involved from the beginning", said student Caleb Stone. Scheetz adds, "Kerry did an amazing job. She had to hang from wires in a flying harness for hours yet poured her soul into each and every take".   For the next six weeks students will be replacing the green backdrops with footage they create using computer animation. Gress said, "It's always great to work with outside talent like Kerry and Brian, because it sets the bar even higher. This is the video she is using to launch her career as a serious rock artist and we need it to look like it was done by high-end studios in NY or LA. We have a lot of work to do, but somehow it will be done by Christmas!" The three song demo called "Wicked in Rock" is only available at http://www.dresscircle.co.uk/product.asp?StockID=33943. When Kerry returns to her home in London, and the West End production of Wicked, next month she and May plan to record additional tracks for a US album release. About The DAVE School Headquartered in Orlando, FL, The DAVE School is a premiere educational facility for computer artists focusing on animation and visual effects for TV, film, and games. Established by Jeff and Anne Scheetz in 2000, The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School teaches a one-year program in employable skills in the art of computer animation and visual effects creation. Scheetz's vision is to institutionalize a vast body of visual effects knowledge, techniques and traditions and pass it on to the next generation of creative digital artists. If you would like more information about The DAVE School, or to schedule a tour, please visit www.daveschool.com or call 407-224-DAVE (3283). Scanning the list of the Primetime Emmy Awards nominees, one would expect to find names like Steve Carell and Tina Fey. This year, however, there is a new name that is very familiar around The DAVE School. Graduate Michael Cliett has just been nominated for an Emmy as part of a team from Zoic Studios for "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series." Michael graduated from the school in September 2004 and has come a long way since he first set foot here.   Before coming to the school, Michael worked as a flight attendant and also in the restaurant business. After losing his job, he stumbled upon a DAVE School commercial which started the ball rolling on his visual effects career. "I had absolutely no training or background in animation or visual effects. None. I had always been interested in art and animation, but I had no idea I had it in me to get where I am today," said Michael. The process of completing the program prepared him for his current career and success. "[At the school,] deadlines are assigned and must be met, the structure, the environment, the procedures, the project organization?everything is meant to simulate an actual working studio, and it does it to a tee." His first job after graduation was as an animator and effects artist on Joss Whedon's feature film, "Serenity." Since then he has worked on films, TV, and commercials. He is currently Production Supervisor at Zoic Studios in Los Angeles and has recently worked on the new series, "Fringe" and the film, "Fast and the Furious 4."   For Michael's Emmy-nominated work, he and his team were asked to produce an aerial combat sequence for the series finale of "Jericho" complete with CG F-15s, F-16s, and explosions. "The sequence was pretty dynamic and well thought-out. I had an amazing team and credit them a great deal with making this Emmy-quality stuff," he said. After finding out about his nomination, he was "on cloud nine all day and still am really." School owner Jeff Scheetz reacted to the nomination news by saying, "It was inevitable that a DAVE School graduate would be nominated for an Emmy and given his hard work and drive, I'm not surprised at all that it was Michael."   As to where he might display his Emmy, should he win, Michael says, "I am not going to jinx anything by even speculating on that. It's great to be nominated, so we'll see what happens!" The Awards air on Sunday September 21, 2008 on ABC. Good luck, Michael!  The Crystal Reel Awards were held on August 23, 2008 and The DAVE School came out winners. Tofu The Vegan Zombie, from the graduating class of September 2007, picked up awards for Best Animation, Best Sound, Best Director, and Best Composer. Firewall, from the graduating class of January 2008, picked up Best Composer, Best Special Effects, and Best Sound. "We're extremely excited that the students' work is being recognized by the judges of the Crystal Reel Awards," commented William Vaughan, Director of Curriculum. "I'm proud of everyone that worked on these projects and it's an amazing accomplishment for the students' work to win so many awards." The awards are on display in the school's conference room along with past awards for many of our other student films.  Congratulations and good luck to the following newly-employed DAVE School students: Farrah Welch and Emanuel Rosario-Diaz both headed to L.A. and began work at BSG VFX and Tiny Juggernaut, respectively. Devin Robertson is at Pixeldust Studios in Bethesda, MD while Gabriel Garza is teaching at Texas State Technical College.   Tiny Juggernaut PixeldustThe Seawolf crew took over a block of Universal Studios' New York set on August 7. The shoot began before the park opened and lasted most of the day. Students were able to drive their cars into the park in order to set up a scene of the creature stomping through the streets. Block 4 students were cast as frightened citizens of Harbor City, fleeing the creature through the parked traffic for a number of takes. The day was definitely different from the students' normal routine at The DAVE School. Said Chad Herrada, "It was fun to get away from the computer work we?ve been doing for the past 10 months and do something a little more active."  Congratulations to Deadliest Warrior graduates Ed Ruiz II, and Lorenzo Mastrobuono on landing their first post-DAVE School gigs! Ed is at Eden FX, and Lorenzo is at Tiny Juggernaut.   Eden FX Tiny JuggernautBlock 3 students continued learning Boujou, a 3D camera tracking program, this past week. Their assignment was to animate a Transformer model within a scene while matching the lighting. In addition, the project "showed the students the benefit of multiple pass renders and compositing them together to allow complete control over the overall lighting," said Les Foor, TA for the block. This was the second project the block completed with Boujou. Les explained that the program facilitates bringing together CG characters into real-life backgrounds while maintaining the appearance that the character is a part of the environment. View the Video Block 1 began work on hardware modeling last week with a Texaco tractor trailer project. The models were created to be a part of fictional instructional videos for the company. Students were given parts of a real-life tractor trailer model and the photo on the box for reference. The model had to be designed to scale and the students could composite it into a photo of their choice. This project was definitely a challenge for the class. Student Tony Bruno said, "When we were given the project, I didn't think I could do it, but then I realized that I had all the tools and had learned all the skills in class that I needed to pull it off."  On Monday, July 14, 2008 William Vaughan gave a lecture open to all students and graduates called "Seven Deadly Job Search Sins." In it he discussed the many "don'ts" he has seen fellow artists commit while searching for computer graphics jobs. He summed up his advice by saying, "The ticket to finding work is to be flexible, put everything you have into searching, and be persistent." The biggest overall sin is expecting to get your dream job handed to you right away and not being prepared to work up to it. Block 4 student Ryan Fell enjoyed the lecture and added, "That's the kind of thing you won't get from tutorials and textbooks; the real-life, we've-been-there information." This lecture was just the first of many William plans to give as the school's new Head of Education/Director of Placement. In the future, there will be more lectures related to putting together demo reels, how to interview well, and placement. Some of the greatest resources available to students and graduates are the "Jobs" and "Employer Database" sections of The DAVE School forum, both of which are updated daily with new job listings and employer information. Block 3 students continued learning Boujou, a 3D camera tracking program, this past week. Their assignment was to animate a Transformer model within a scene while matching the lighting. In addition, the project "showed the students the benefit of multiple pass renders and compositing them together to allow complete control over the overall lighting," said Les Foor, TA for the block. This was the second project the block completed with Boujou. Les explained that the program facilitates bringing together CG characters into real-life backgrounds while maintaining the appearance that the character is a part of the environment.  For one of their first assignments of Block 2, students created a Kraft commercial starring a noodle character. Aside from an exercise in which the students bounced a ball, this was their first opportunity to animate at The DAVE School. Student David Blemur said, "I loved the project because animation is one of my favorite things. You can see results, as far as it being good or bad, instantly." The students were asked not just to animate the noodle, but to give it a personality. Fellow student Jason Jenkins said he liked being able to bring the pre-rigged character to life for the project. We're looking forward to seeing more great animation from this block! View The Commercial  Work is well under way on the Block 4 project, Seawolf, which tells the tale of a menacing creature, a city, and the submarine that saves that city. For the first phase of the project, students have been divided into four teams to model the Russian sub, the U.S. Seawolf sub, a flying sub, and the creature. The hero models for these four aspects should be completed by next week. Team lead Farrah Welch said, "I'm really excited about the creature because I love organic modeling and [new Block 2 instructor] Jason Pichon did a great job designing it." This project has also helped to improve upon some students' weaknesses. "I actually prefer organic modeling but through this project I'm learning to appreciate hard surface modeling more," said Tony Stranges, team lead for the Russian sub. In addition to the hero models, the students are currently modeling the interiors of the submarines and parts of downtown Orlando which will double as Harbor City for the project. The DAVE School graduated its 25th class on June 25, 2008 at the AMC Loews at CityWalk. This block, alumnus Michael Cliett, now Production Supervisor at Zoic Studios, returned to speak along with Tim Prokop, Producer at MorningStar Entertainment. Clips of the class?s final project, a live-action pilot for Spike TV called Deadliest Warrior, were shown and broken down to showcase what each student worked on in individual scenes. Current students, make sure to visit the reception area at the school to check out the Deadliest Warrior shield signed by all the graduates. Stay tuned to the newsletter for information on the status of the series and when you might be able to catch it. Congratulations graduates: Scott Crawford, Edrick Diaz, Kathryn Eggert, Gabriel Garza, Erica Gelfand, Andy Gidaro, William Holland, Matt Jolly, Scudder Kidwell, Lorenzo Mastrobuono, Devin Robertson, Ed Ruiz II, and Jeff Yatchum    Manny Choi got a job on Battlestar Galactica. Aaron Juntanen & Greg Brietzman at Almagamated Pixels. Manny Says, "[Fellow graduate] Greg Breitzman learned about an entry level position at BSG VFX when he was down here with [another graduate], Aaron Juntunen, doing their tour of LA studios. Since they both took another position at Amalgamated Pixels [working with recent instructor Lee Stringer and graduate Derek Serra], he mentioned the job to me. I sent an email to [03 Graduate] Michael Davidson who works there; in 2 days they called me in for an interview. The interview went very well. On the way home, they called me and offered me the position. I start next Tuesday."
Graduates of the DAVE School are hard at work on the development of NASA SEALs as an animated feature. For the past few months they have been building on their student short to create a 10 minute 3D action sequence from the proposed film. School Director Jeff Scheetz explains, "We have been working with this story for years and decided to take it to the next level. Ultimately, we would like to open a studio that employs our graduates, Should NASA SEALs get funded, it would provide nearly a hundred rewarding jobs. This film we are building now is proof of concept that will be shown to both Studios and investors."  While many from the student short remain intact, new scenes are being added as well. "This version gives us a chance to clean up work that was rushed for graduation, and to add even more action and drama. Last week we brought back Stunt Dynamcs for a couple more days of wire stunt work on our mocap stage." says Graduate and crew member Tom Farrar. "The sequence is really about fighting zero gravity" adds Scheetz, " and the additional scenes really allowed us to explore that." The film is expected to be completed later this summer and on Display in the NewTek Booth at Siggraph in Los Angels. We are currently accepting applications for the June, 2008 class. Deadline for applications is May 15th. We are on a first come first serve basis based upon accepted applications. If interested, please contact the admissions department at (407) 224-3283 or email admissions@daveschool.com for more information. You can now apply online by filling out our online application here. Those interested in Student Housing should contact Karla at (407) 224-3283.   In California Brian Skvarla is working at Dilated Pixels and Josh Graham is at Tiny Juggernaut. David Radford is working at Advent located in Texas. Congratulations on your new Jobs! Related Links: Dilated Pixels Tiny Juggernaut  Our students chose a scene from a movie to composite themselves into. They were video taped acting out the scene on the greenscreen stage and then used keying techniques to drop in the movie footage behind them.  With just 2 weeks to accomplish the goal, Block 1 worked in teams to recreate the interiors of Disney's Nautilus. The entire class was split into five teams total, each tackling a portion of the ship. They had to model, texture, light and render all elements within the given timeframe.    "This project really gives the class a production team experience before they make their way to Block 4," explains William Vaughan, Instructor. "This time around the team really pulled together and produced some stunning work. This is a good sign for what they will be able to do later this year when they are working as a team on their first short movie before graduation."    The team also created a site to promote their work as well as build a home for continued work on the Nautilus. This is sure to be a must visit for any fan of the movie! Visit the site here: http://www.theprojectnautilus.com/Daniel Perez from our Firewall class (got a job same week as graduation) and Ryan Santos from our Tofu class were hired by Y & R at their new Miami Studios. Brian Arndt started his new job at Anderson Interactive. Anderson InteractiveAfter a day of setting up scaffolding, rigging and the likes, two stuntmen found themselves high-wired and performing aerial maneuvers for the DAVE School's next upcoming short featuring one of Hollywood's hottest tools of the trade, Motion Capture. One of our students comes to school after having one bad morning and finds himself to be a perfect fit for Green Screen theater.  "For Green Screen theater, I was able to transform myself into a crazy zombie. It was really cool to be able to use my makeup background on this project. I was taught makeup by Dick Smith, The father of special FX makeup." commented Andy Gidaro Chris Apczynski is working at Wet Cement in Minnesota, an animation studio producing family oriented programs. Ed Knight was hired on by movie mogul James Cameron to work for his company Lightstorm Entertainment in Santa Monica, CA. David Seitzinger and Gardner Watts are both working at AC Coin & Slot, in New Jersey where they are creating 3D gaming environments. Congratulations on your new careers! Related Links: Wet Cement AC Coin & Slot Our current Block 1 students had their hands full this week working with the raw power of procedural textures. The task was to texture an array of 3D objects without using any image based texturing. "Most artists new to 3D shy away from procedurals and never learn to harness the power to fully control their surfaces," commented Block 1 instructor William Vaughan. With their new found knowledge of this style of texturing the students ended the week by fully texturing a character.  Utilizing camera tracking of a supplied scene, students placed their characters seamlessly into real life settings. They rendered separate lighting passes and composited them together; giving particular attention to shadows and lighting to achieve a perfect match.    Be sure to checkout the movies! Related Links: ATST #1 ATST #2 GIJOE After a week and a half of instruction students were tasked with recreating real world gadgets. They were required to model, light and do basic textures for the project and they are now moving on to learning more about texturing.  "For me to be gaining this much knowledge so quick is surreal. I am extremely honored to be working with such great teachers and students that drive me to learn even more about my passion.", commented Julian Fitzpatrick, Block 01 Student.     Students reproduced a familiar television ad.  Students composite extraterrestrial beings to nearby cottages for fun and profit. Having trouble with your computer? Are the woe's of your system surmounting the wow's? Well Block 3 looks to give answer to the age old question of "Whats wrong with this thing!"  Recently, students found themselves overlaying animated gremlins onto real life computers causing destruction and mayhem to The DAVE School's IT department. Thanks to great compositing techniques, these gremlins have been the cause of many woe's including arbitrary desktop hijackings, screen flickerings and broken transistors. With that said, its good to get these gremlins out of our school and onto the web.    Be sure to watch all three videos! Monitor Gremlins Motherboard Gremlins Icon GremlinsTo introduce the new students to the world of 3D, they spent their first two days with the software creating CG versions of the new toyline by Bloco. Each student was assigned a Marine creature to rebuild and within 2 days they had a virtual toy.  "This was a pretty interesting project. The Marine Creature models were pretty fun to model and when they were all put together, they looked really cool. I'd never really seen any models like these, so it was kind of a fresh take on a 3-D model." Commented Jared Laird For the students second project they were tasked with the creation of an early Lunar Lander concept. They were required to model every aspect of the vehicle as well as composite it into several still images. This was their first step into creating 3D imagery and the result was a great collection of eye candy.        This week, Block 2 has finished some work on animation, doing a great job at bringing to life a transformer camera. Scott Crawford had this to say about his animation. "I enjoyed this project because we got to apply our knowledge to animation with our knowledge of compositing to create a final project."  Scott's animationThe year is coming to an end and so is the Block 1 students first 3 months. To put their skills to the test, Instructor William Vaughan assigned the students their final hard surface modeling project. This time the students tackled the world of MechWarrior.   Related Links: MechWarrior TrailerThe students in Block 1 recently completed their final organic modeling project. Their task was to create CG versions of the popular band, the Gorillaz. "The character designs of the Gorillaz make for a fun modeling challenge and most of the students are quite familiar with the band, so their was a lot of excitement on this project when it was announced", commented Manny, Teaching Assistant.   TV Guide announced the winners of its 2007 Online Video Awards and Star Trek: New Voyages has won best Sci-fi Webisodes. The TV Guide Online Video Award recognizes the best and most innovative professional video programming created for the Web. Chosen by fans, Star Trek: New Voyages won out over nominees such as the SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica," the USA Network's "The 4400," and "Afterworld," a $3-million animated series produced by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Electric Farm Entertainment, for MySpace.com. Related Links: Dave School Student Movies+ Star Trek: New VoyagesBlock 1 students just wrapped up on their first realistic head model as they continue to delve into the world of organic modeling. This 4 day project had the students creating cg versions of the cast of FireFly.   Meni Tsirbas visited the DAVE School to give an insight to what is currently brewing in his animation company Meni Things. He played a theatrical trailer of Terra, the current movie that his company has just completed which was all done in Lightwave(The software we use here). Showing off a reel of completed works and teaching students what employers are looking for in the industry was on of the many things that were talked about. As well as giving advice to students on demo reel Meni helped critque indivisual students work helping them compsose a better demo reel.  John Hirt was hired by Balance Studios, Kevin Hand's talents were picked up by Radical 3D and Steve Mitchum as found his place at IGT. Congratulations on your new Jobs! Related Links: Radical 3D+ Balance Studios+ IGTBlock 1 students just completed their first organic model last week. Working from designs for Kory Heinzen's animated short, Retroactive, the students had four days to create their first character model.    Be sure to visit the Retroactive blog online Related Links: Retroactive Blog  Graduates Justin Stockton, Jose Astacio, Brian Burright and Anthony Jacobs are all now at DreamWorks making their mark in the world of film. Related Links: DreamWorks  | ||||||||||||
| More Grads Go On To New Careers! | ||||||||||||
Graduates are invading the Industry at an fantastic rate! Six more grads have gone on to their new careers. Jacqui Sack and Dan DeEntremont are now working at Dilated Pixels. Martin Stankard started at Eden FX. Eden is known for doing VFX on such movies as Spiderman 3 and Hellboy. Chris Peterson and James Burton have joined other DAVE grads at Radical 3D to work on Dogfights. Congratulations Everyone on your new careers!
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| The Iron Giant Returns | ||||||||||||
":I really liked learning the particle aspect of compositing in Fusion. Learning how to layer nodes was very helpful" said student Loren Tonn.
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| Block 2 Learns to Lipsync | ||||||||||||
After modeling a realistic head in Block 1, students were required to texture it and animate a lip-sync to their favorite dialogue from a movie of their choice. The goal of the project is to try and show emotion in the dialogue. Student Devin Robertson had to say "Building the head was fun, but actually making the morphs and animating the head was a blast." |
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| NewTek Holds Event at The DAVE School | ||||||||||||
Shortly after, Instructor William Vaughan gave a free demo of LightWave. He gave an intro to dynamics, rigging and modeling. To wrap up this great event, master organic modeler and well known LightWave artist Taron gave a 2 hour presentation on organic modeling. Taron is well known for his abstract creature creations.
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| Tofu on Nvidia.com | ||||||||||||
From the Nvidia website: The Dave School (Digital Animation & Visual Effects) at Universal Studios, Florida is a one year program to train production artists for the film and television industry. The program is nine months of instruction capped off with a three-month project where the students produce a professional quality film. Completing any short film in just three months is a daunting task, but completing a professional-quality, fully-animated short in that span of time is unheard of. |
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| More Grads Go On To New Careers | ||||||||||||
Graduates Ed McDonough and Chris Menard are on their way to LA! Both of them have been hired on at Radical 3D which has worked on projects such as Starship Troopers and Mystery Science Theater 3000. They are currently working on Dogfights on the History Channel. Congratulations Chris and Ed on your new careers!
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| Block 3: Real Life Lighting | ||||||||||||
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| Block 2: Personality Walk | ||||||||||||
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| New Career: Flash Film Works! | ||||||||||||
Congratulations Teague, on your new career!
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| More Students Start Their Careers! | ||||||||||||
Ben Mitchell has become a full-time employee at Radical 3D in Rancho Park, CA. Congratulations on your new careers!
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| V.I.N.CENT Recreated in Block 1 | ||||||||||||
"It's pretty incredible how much they've taught us in only three weeks. Modeling the robot was a challenge, but lighting the scene and seeing the final output really went beyond my expectations!" said student Patrick Horne. |
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| DAVE School Presents: Firewall | ||||||||||||
The current Block 4 final project has been announced, and it's called Firewall! It is a movie about an air race in the not to distant future. Using live action footage combined with CG elements and planes, Firewall is going to be one fast paced, action packed film! A new cockpit was built for the heroine and was mounted so it could move 360 degrees. Using some new camera techniques and a jib, we were able to get some crazy camera angles never before seen in a DAVE School movie. Stay tuned to DaveSchool.com for Firewall coming in December! |
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| Graduate Placement | ||||||||||||
Graduate Ed McDonough is on his way o Radical 3D in LA where he’ll be working on the show Dogfights. There he will be joining other DAVE School graduates including Ian Mackey and Aaron Witlin, who have recently been hired fulltime as well! Nick Stevens, Gabe Cassata, Adam Bradish and Sean Joseph have all been hired by Branit VFX in Kansas City. Alex Lee got a job designing toys for Triad Toys in Austin, TX. Martin Stankard, a graduate of the Tofu class, has been hired at UFO Films. Congratulations everyone on your new Careers!
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| Block 1 Goes Into Space | ||||||||||||
The students were also required to composite their CG Apollo models into several photographs on the last day of the three day project. "I had a blast creating the Apollo. I really enjoyed watching it take shape as I cut in the detail and it's amazing how much you can learn from building a single model. I can't wait to jump into the next project!" exclaimed student Farrah Willis. |
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| Meet Josh, Your Helpful Friendly Admissions Rep! | ||||||||||||
I work in admissions at The DAVE School. My job is to help prospective students obtain the information needed to make an educated decision on whether or not The DAVE School is the right school for them. I walk the students through the application process, help them secure financial assistance, and make sure everything is in place for them to attend school before class starts. I really enjoy the small school setting. I have worked for several schools around the area and have always felt a corporate approach to the environment. The DAVE School has a mom and pop feel to it, while at the same time offering students a high quality education to prepare them for their career goals. When I interviewed for the position, I was really taken with Jeff and Anne's commitment and desire for the school and felt we would be a good match. I am a big sports buff; football, baseball, basketball, golf...you name it, I'll play it. I also enjoy playing video games and watching movies. I am a pretty laid back guy who just likes to find something to laugh at. Jurassic Park is my favorite all time CG movie. The first one, not the 2nd or 3rd. Wow, way to milk it for some money Hollywood! I grew up a HUGE fan of dinosaurs and was just amazed by how real the re-creation of the large creatures was. I saw the movie three times in the theaters. Other than E.T., I have never returned to a movie theater to see the same movie more than once. |
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| Congratulations To The Tofu Class! | ||||||||||||
On Wednesday the 19th, the class of September '07 congregated at the Universal Cineplex for the graduation ceremony and premiere of Tofu The Vega Zombie, their final project at The DAVE School. The theater was invaded by zombies including Tofu himself! Billy West, who was the voice of Professor Vost and Lab Monkey #5 in the movie, was also in attendance and spoke to the graduates after the screening. Billy recorded an interview with Teague "Fig" Chrystie, who was graduating that night, and the rest of the cast of Geekza which you can watch on geekza.com. Stay tuned for Tofu the Vegan Zombie in Zombie Dearest, airing on daveschool.com in the near future! Click Here to view more images of the graduation! Read more about Tofu at TofutheVeganZombie.com
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| Block 1: Knowing is Half the Battle.. | ||||||||||||
"I really enjoyed the G.I. Joe project because it allowed me to combine all the elements of 3D we learned so far into one awesome project," said student Scott Crawford. G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 is a line of military-themed action figures and toys. The line is produced by Hasbro and continues the theme and characters established by G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. It is also an animated series produced by the Japanese animation studio GONZO, currently airing on 4Kids TV and G4, and on YTV since the fall of 2006. |
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| Lee Stringer Ties the Knot | ||||||||||||
Congratulations Lee and Karen! |
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| The HDRI Invasion Continues! | ||||||||||||
Right on the cover you will see a render by DAVE student Alejandro Parrilla and modeled by Colin Adair and Instructor William Vaughan. Page 10 begins a story by Graduate Mike Rizzuto talking about Zoic. On page 52 you will find an interview with graduate Kim Candee about her work on The Moodsters and The DAVE School short Creepers. The interview was written by Graduate Jacqui Sack. Page 60 through 65 has a great article by Instructor William Vaughan about LightWave's Dope Track and the use of timing in a project. Kevin Hand has an image on page 76 of a Training Remote. Wiliam Vaughan has another article on page 80 in Gidgets and Gadgets about Antec's NoteBook Cooler. Get your copy NOW!
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| Rhythm & Hues Tom Wright Speaks | ||||||||||||
Tom came to talk about the ups and downs of the industry and what to look forward to and prepare for when looking for a job. He talked about some behind-the-scenes of the movies and deadlines.
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| DAVE Graduate works on Emmy Award winning show | ||||||||||||
The DAVE School would like to congratulate the Battlestar Galactica crew and Michael Davidson on a great job! |
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| Block 1 Tackles a Realistic Head | ||||||||||||
After their previous project, The Short Bus Superstars, the students were ready to begin the task of creating a photo real human head. Using photographs of students from different angles to use as reference, the students began constructing a head over a four day period. “I had no idea that my second organic model would end up being a realistic head. I was intimidated by the idea at first, but once I got into the process of modeling, it really came together,” said Block 1 student Lorenzo Mastrobuono, “This is exactly the type of work that brought me to the school and it’s exciting that I’m already doing it after only 2 months of training!” |
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| DreamWorks artist Kory Returns to The DAVE School | ||||||||||||
Student Gabe Cassata had to say, "From a production standpoint, he brought so much to our Block 4 movie, Tofu. He went over our shots and showed us how to change lighting or where to add elements. The time spent was invaluable."
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| Ron Thornton at SIGGRAPH | ||||||||||||
DAVE School Instructor Ron Thornton takes the main stage at the NewTek booth to talk about student final projects and the work that is put into them. He talked about Star Trek New Voyages and Aurora and the amount of time it took students to finish these great films. |
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| Short Bus Superstars go 3D! | ||||||||||||
The current Block 1 class just finished working on their first organic modeling project. In less then one week they went from zero organic modeling experience to modeling Albert and Derf, , based on comic book artist Rob Guillory's Short Bus Superstars. “Staying true to Rob’s original 2D designs was very important on this project," comments Instructor William Vaughan. “The students did an amazing job on the models and will be moving on to their next organic model armed with the proper skill set!” "It's been really fun creating 3D models from Rob Guillory's designs; not only that, I've gained priceless knowledge on how to make a production-ready character model. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to organic modeling" comments student Ed Ruiz II.
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| Lip Syncing in Block 2 | ||||||||||||
Students have been busily working away at one of their final projects in Block 2, Lip Sync. Taking a head they created in Block 1, students get to choose a clip from their favorite movie and animate the character saying the lines. Students were also responsible for making the morphs to move the mouth as well. Click below to watch two samples of student work. |
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| Student Made Wallace and Gromit | ||||||||||||
You can view the student creations here. |
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| Block 3's Iron Giant | ||||||||||||
Block 3 has just finished their current project, Iron Giant. The goal of this assignment was to model the Iron Giant, from the movie The Iron Giant, rig it, texture it and animate it in a live action scene. The Iron Giant had to portray some kind of emotion or action in the scene as well as interact with it in some way. Click below to watch a selection of students finished Iron Giant scenes. |
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| Creating the Vaughan House | ||||||||||||
"The Vaughan Estate project was an absolute blast. Our team of Carlos, Jeff, Scott and I really worked together well on our part of the project; the master bathroom. Most importantly, we had fun," says student Matt Jolly. "We were able to discuss as a team what worked and what looked good and we were able to successfully translate that in to the renders you see. I am really enjoying the DAVE School experience." Matt continues, "I have discovered that I really like working with lighting. The Hester’s lab project and this last project really let me try out some cool ideas with lighting techniques. I will continue to fine tune my skills in that area as well as learning the other disciplines being taught here. I am very glad to be here and am excited to learn all the instructors can throw my way." |
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| Graduates Start Their Futures | ||||||||||||
Mark Dehring, Dara Potocska, Aaron Witlin and Ian Mackey are all on their way to LA to work an internship at Radical 3D. Radical has done work on such movies as Starship Troopers and their new popular show Dog Fights on the History channel. Graduate Jeremy Joyner has accepted a position at Littleshots doing lipsync animation. Littleshots creates animated adventures with a spiritual message.
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| Tofu: Rising from the Grave | ||||||||||||
The Block 4 students continue to work diligently to complete their final project on time. Under the direction of Lee Stringer, Block 4 Instructor, the class has now entered the animation stage of the production with over 100 shots to complete. “It’s exciting to see the world of Tofu unfolding each week as the students get closer to deadline”, comments Tofu creator, William Vaughan. “They’ve nailed the look which was no small feat.” Stay tuned for Tofu The Vegan Zombie airing soon on daveschool.com! |
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| SIGGRAPH Wrap-Up | ||||||||||||
On August 5th through the 9th, companies in the 3D industry along with over 30 thousand industry professionals attended SIGGRAPH in San Diego, CA. DAVE School students, grads and teachers also attended. Block 1 Instructor, William Vaughan took front stage at the NewTek booth to do demonstrations of LightWave 3D. Known in the 3D community as the LightWave Evangelist, William not only demonstrated the software but fielded questions and introduced the students and grads to studios at the show. Instructor Ron Thornton also got a chance to talk on the main stage and show off the latest school movie Auroura and talk about his career in the field. There were several Dave school movies screened at the NewTek and Boxx booths throughout the show. The day after SIGGRAPH, graduates working out in LA met up with William for breakfast and to discuss their careers and experiences. William then stopped by Radical 3D for lunch, a tour and to talk to the 10 graduates and see what they have been up to working on the History channel's Dogfight series.
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| Student Placement: 3 more on their way! | ||||||||||||
Graduates Jana Yarbrough and Erik Bee are on their way to Memphis, Tennessee where they accepted internships at Paradigm Productions. Congratulations on your new careers!
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| Block 3: Real Life Lighting | ||||||||||||
"This assignment was a great way to prepare us for what we will encounter in the field. Not only did we have to animate the characters realistically, but we had to match it seamlessly into the existing footage. It was a great challenge!" quoted Block 3 student Derek Serra.
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| SIGGRAPH This Week! | ||||||||||||
What is SIGGRAPH? From the official website, "SIGGRAPH's purpose is to foster a membership community whose core values help them to catalyze the innovation and application of computer graphics and interactive techniques." DAVE Graduates as well go to attend the annual job fair held there and meet people in the industry. It is a great opportunity to meet the industry and make contacts for the future.
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| Job Strategies Lab Prepares Graduates for the Job Market | ||||||||||||
The DAVE School extends an open invitation to companies to come and interview students at the school. Students of the job strategies lab are required to interview as practice and possible job positions. They learn how to handle themselves in interviews and learn what their strengths and weaknesses are in an interview. They are reviewed by the potential employers and critiqued. Then William Vaughan, the instructor of the job strategies lab, can go through the critiques with the graduate and help them work on any issues they may have while doing an interview. This prepares the student so they will be ready and professional in future interviews and present themselves the best way possible.
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| Graduate Perspective: Jacqui Sack | ||||||||||||
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| DAVE School Wins at Eureka! | ||||||||||||
At Eureka!, a computer animation festival in Orlando, industry professionals, students and animation enthusiasts gathered on Saturday July 21st to watch animation from all over Florida. From the Siggraph website, "Eureka! is an opportunity for students and professionals to showcase their creative concepts. In a community whose media, entertainment and simulation industry continues to grow rapidly this film festival provides a much needed forum for recognition of local talent. Our goal is not only for local artists to gain attention within the community but to bring deserved attention to Central Florida, as a creative capital and a competitor in the worldwide Computer Graphics industry." Two DAVE School movies won awards at the show! Teddy Scares won for Best Student Production and Most Artistic. Special Delivery won for Best Technical Student Production.
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| DAVE School Invades HDRI yet again! | ||||||||||||
They Have a Plan pg. 10-17 From Tofu to Toy: The Tofu The Vegan Zombie Story pg. 38-41 Expanding Your Modeling Toolkit pg. 48-53 Interview with Chris Maness, 3D Generalist pg. 54-55 Hurry up and get your copy of HDRI and check out these great articles!
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| A Graduates Perspective: Chris Jennings | ||||||||||||
I graduated in July and now work for a company called PixelDust Studios in Bethesda, MD. They specialize in television production, post-production, animation, film, cgi, visuals effects and 3D animation. Myself, as well as another DAVE School graduate, work together as a LightWave team and the rest of the team consists of Maya and various other artists. My first project with the company was to redesign their company logo. They were using a grasshopper, and since have changed to a dragonfly. I designed, modeled, and textured the dragonfly to be a mechanical but yet organic creature. The next project I am starting soon will be doing effects shots for a mini series called 6 degrees with National Geographic. This project is about the earth's core temperature going up 6 degrees and projected what happens to the earth after each degree increases. There are some really big shots and should be a lot of fun to work on. My favorite aspect of 3D is the ability to see something real right in front of you and make the same thing in a virtual world to look exactly like the original object. Also that with 3D, the possibilities are endless with what you are capable of creating. With the advances in 3D Programs and simple user interfaces, not everyone needs to know how to draw, they can learn the tools very quickly to make a 3D element of what they envisioned. |
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| Block 3 learns about Motion Graphics | ||||||||||||
Block 3 is currently learning Digital Fusion which has become standard application in the visual effects field. In Block 3 students learn how to composite elements together, create particle effects in Fusion, track objects using Boujo and more. The current Block 3 class has just finished their most recent project, Thermal Scans. Given just a background plate and 2 videos of people, they need to recreate the effect of looking through thermal goggles at a building and tracking the people inside it. "When you first see these kinds of things they look really complicated, but after Dave West broke it down for us it was a lot easier," said student Derek Smith. You can watch a few of the students' final videos by clicking "Watch it Now" below.
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| Block 1 students model a ship from Thunderbirds | ||||||||||||
Block 1 has just finished their first hard surface modeling assignment, and their model, the Thunderbird 3 from the old television show Thunderbirds! Students were required to model the ship as accurately as possible and then composite it into a real life photo. Student Scudder "White Pony" Kidwell had this to say "At first I was really overwhelmed after seeing the rocket, but after learning how to break it down into simple shapes like boxes and spheres, it was a lot easier."
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| DAVE School adds Job Strategies Lab! | ||||||||||||
The DAVE School has recently added a job strategies lab to its list of resources available to graduates. It is not a required lab, but a lab students can take after graduation to help aid them in the search for a job. It includes lectures, assigned tasks and additional software training, this lab is aimed on helping students make a stronger demo reel and promote themselves in the field. "This lab has really helped me prioritize my time. I've learned what to do and not do when interviewed and how to word a resume correctly. This lab will really help me in my job search and has helped me prepare for working in the industry," says graduate Dara Potoska. |
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| Block 1 Warbirds Project | ||||||||||||
One of the planes modeled by the students was Instructor Ron Thornton's Russian fighter plane. "This was a great project as it was a unique opportunity for us to see the real thing, and then model it in 3D. It didn't hurt that whoever did the best model for this project got a chance to fly with Ron in his Yak-52," said Block 1 student Les Foor.
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| Aurora Now Online! | ||||||||||||
"Aurora is a somewhat darker science fiction short... It takes place in an alternative future Russia, where a massive disaster has forced the evacuation of earth. A Huge train carrying the last evacuees from Moscow has sent out a distress signal and a special team must investigate what has happened" explains Instructor Ron Thornton. Being able to be apart of Aurora and under the direction of Ron Thornton was an amazing experience. It taugh us a lot about teamwork and time management. Aurora was a unique story to create and see come alive on the screen!" said Graduate Jana Yarbrough. Click below to go watch Aurora and the Behind the Scenes slideshow! |
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| Tofu the Vegan Zombie?! | ||||||||||||
"Tofu" is a friendly zombie, created from a botched experiment in Professor Vost's laboratory. Monkey # 5, one of Vost's lab animals, stuffed a block of tofu into the zombie boy's open skull after accidentally losing the brain. As a result, "Tofu" eats only vegetables and grains and has no taste for human meat. However, if "Tofu" ever loses his "tofu-brain", he turns into a dangerous zombie creature, craving human flesh. "Tofu is such a unique and colorful character. Everyone here is just so incredibly excited to have the opportunity to bring him to life on screen. It’s the best kind of challenge we could have hoped for!" said Block 4 student Gabriel Cassata. You can watch Tofu dance to the song Thriller at the official Tofu site.
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| Realistic Heads in Block 1 | ||||||||||||
Block 1 students have recently finished working on a new project, realistic heads! Given only 5 days to complete, each student was assigned a students head to model. The goal of the assignment was to create a head that resembled the original photograph. “Creating a realistic human head is one of the biggest challenges a modeler faces in the industry” explained William Vaughan, Block 1 Instructor. “The students did an amazing job recreating their subjects matching every detail.” |
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| Aurora, that's a Wrap! | ||||||||||||
The Class of June 2007 has finished their final project at The DAVE School. A Ron Thornton original called Aurora. Instructor Ron Thornton explains, "Aurora is a somewhat darker science fiction short... It takes place in an alternative future Russia, where a massive disaster has forced the evacuation of earth. A Huge train carrying the last evacuees from Moscow has sent out a distress signal and a special team must investigate what has happened." The Aurora trailer is now online for your viewing pleasure! Keep checking daveschool.com for the full film in the near future!
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| Begoths in Block 1 | ||||||||||||
Block 1 students have recently finished their latest modeling project, Begoths. Begoths are a popular line of toys created by Steve Varner. “We wanted the students to work from existing designs to sharpen their modeling skills and see how close they could match reference,” explains William Vaughan, Block 1 instructor. The goal of the assignment was to create a CG version of Steve Varner's Begoth sculptures to be used in future animations. The model needed to stay true to Varner’s original design. “I’m amazed at how close the students matched the toys,” commented Steve Varner, “I can't wait to see how they bring them to life with animation.” "It was a really fun project. It was great that we each got a different Begoth to model so I knew mine was unique. We got a chance to use all the tools we were taught since day one!" said student Stephanie Dunyon.
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| Eric Haas: a Graduates Perspective | ||||||||||||
Ever since the days of Tron, I was very interested in 3D animation. I took a course in college, but we were programming 3D wire frames in Pascal. The furthest we ever got in actually using the programs we wrote was a wire frame spinning cube. I watched the field constantly as it evolved, but never learned how to do it. My father passed away in January, 2006, and with the money he left me, I signed up for the DAVE School class starting in April the same year. I'm currently working for a company run by Scott Wheeler called "Tiny Juggernaut" in North Hollywood. It's only my first week, but we're animating giant mechanical squids taking down submarines. Another DAVE School graduate, Jim Cummings, is also working with me. The entire company consists of six people, including both Jim and I. My family and I are researching homes in the Burbank and surrounding areas. We quite definitely plan to live here.
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| Christmas Village Racks up the Awards! | ||||||||||||
OUACV was 1st runner-up at the Moving Picture Magazine Awards in the Short corner during the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. It also won Grand Jury Prize for "Best CGI-Animation Film" at the 2007 Swansea Bay International Film Festival in Wales, United Kingdom. You can view some clips of Christmas Village and read more about it on the DAVE School website.
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| Block 1 and the Fantasy Gang | ||||||||||||
The current Block 1 class has been busy working on their most recent project in character modeling, "The Fantasy Gang". Marco Fantechi, a talented artist, who designed the characters specifically for the DAVE students to create in 3D. The assignment was as follows: Treating the assignment as a real-world job is key to the DAVE School education. It prepares students for the transition from school to a production company. The students were instructed to stay true to the original 2D drawings of the characters they were given just like they would in a real job. “I really enjoyed working from Marco’s design,” said Aaron Juntunen, Block 1 student. “I loved the challenge of staying true to the designer’s creation and was quite pleased with my first full character model.”
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| Star Wars: Tales of the New Republic | ||||||||||||
The video was so popular on YouTube that it had over 300,000 views and gained 27 honors in one weekend! Over 10 fans have uploaded duplicates of the video and there have been numerous video responses and even one music remix of it posted. The movie website went up a few days before Star Wars Celebration IV with just a few images. The number of hits received at the site and speculation on forums around the web was huge. The trailer made it up online at 11:59pm EST on Friday, the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars. A panel of Lucasfilm employees at Celebration IV were asked whether or not Tales was an official Lucasfilm trailer and their response was "It's a great film, but not ours".
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| Students Construct Virtual Sets for NewTek's TriCaster | ||||||||||||
“Working with NewTek on this project was a great experience.” commented Block 1 student Greg Breitzman, Block 1 student. “This project allowed me to not only get better at my 3D skill set, it also gave me valuable experience of working with a client." In just under two weeks, the class worked in teams to build the sets from the ground up. “Having the students work on team projects like this gives them the type of production skills that will prepare them for the real world,” explains school founder Jeff Scheetz.  "A lot of news and talk shows don't even construct physical sets anymore, they use computer generated backdrops. NewTek needed examples to ship with their Tricaster update and we were trilled to respond," Scheetz Adds, "To show their gratitude they sent each student their own personal copy of NewTek's editing software, SpeedEDIT."
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| Kim Candee: Graduate | ||||||||||||
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| Creepers Wins Multiple Awards! | ||||||||||||
The project of graduating class of December 2006, Creepers, has been making the rounds since its creation. It has gone on to win multiple awards in short film, comedy and youth categories. Since then, students from the class have gone on to work at Lightstorm Entertainment, Wet Cement, Wolfhound and AC Coin & Slot. Creepers has won:
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| DAVE Students Invade HDRI Magazine | ||||||||||||
DAVE School students have once again invaded HDRI Magazine, issue 14. This time, in mass quantities! Check out this recent issue for lots of great articles and tutorials.
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| DAVE School PodCast | ||||||||||||
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| Block 3 wraps up Green Screen Theatre | ||||||||||||
The current Block 3 class has just wrapped up their latest class project, Green Screen Theatre. The purpose of the assignment is to take a video of yourself shot on the DAVE School green screen stage and put it into a movie scene of your choice. The goal is to make yourself blend in seamlessly into the footage as if you were supposed to be there in the first place.
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| Gamers Against Violence - Aftermath | ||||||||||||
This last Saturday, DAVE Schoolers and gamers around Orlando gathered together at the DAVE School for a night of gaming and fun. The purpose of the event was gamers gathering together to say that games are not to blame for all the violence in the world. Over 60 people were in attendance.The event included console gaming on the PS2, Xbox 360 and even N64 and Dreamcast. There was also a 70”'x70'' Wii setup in the Green Screen stage and PC LAN gaming. Two tournaments were held as well. Smash Bros: Melee had a grand turn-out with 24 people registering for the tournament. The matches lasted almost three hours total. The winner received two brand new games that were generously provided by EA: Tiburon (located in Orlando). Later on that night a Mario Kart tournament was also held and was played on the original N64 console! The DAVE School would like to thank everyone who attended and made this a great event.
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| Teddy Scares in Rue Morgue | ||||||||||||
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| Graduate Ben Mitchell at Wet Cement! | ||||||||||||
Where are you Originally from? What brought you to the DAVE School? Did you always want to do CG for a living? Whats some things you learned at the School that has helped you in your new job? What did you enjoy most about your experience at DAVE?
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| Block 1 Models AT-ST In Their 3rd Week! | ||||||||||||
"I had no idea that I would be able to create something like the Star Wars AT-ST by the end of week three. I'm very excited about what I'll be doing next!" said Block 1 student John Kleedorfer.
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| Students Work on Visual Effects for Pink Five | ||||||||||||
Two sequels have been made so far, “Pink Five Strikes Back” and “Return of Pink Five.” Now DAVE School students have been recruited to do visual effects and compositing shots for “Return of Pink Five: Volume Three.” The debut of “Return of Pink Five, Volume Three” will take place on May 27th at Celebration IV in Los Angeles. This will mark the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars as well.
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| Block 4 Final Project: Aurora, a Ron Thornton Original | ||||||||||||
Block 4 students have recently begun work on their final project at the DAVE School titled Aurora. Instructor Ron Thornton explains, "Aurora is a somewhat darker science fiction short... It takes place in an alternative future Russia, where a massive disaster has forced the evacuation of earth. A Huge train carrying the last evacuees from Moscow has sent out a distress signal and special team must investigate what has happened."
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| Graduate: Terminal Reality Profile | ||||||||||||
Angel was asked why he went into the gaming industry. "have been in love with animation since watching Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings as a kid. Growing up just a stone's throw away from Disney World also helped fuel that passion. So I grabbed the books and used the internet (once it was invented by Mr. Gore). Did I just give away my age there? Oh well, I originally wanted to work making movies (what animator doesn't?) but soon realized that being a video game animator is more of a challenge and a hell of a lot more fun" said Angel. When asked what he was working on, Angel had to say "One cool thing I did recently was animate Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for Spy Hunter. After we received the mocap footage and seeing how fast this guy moves really makes you appreciate the sport he originated from. The animation team was able to take that footage and add our own little flavor to take it to that next level. It was really a fun project to be a part of.
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| Student Profile: Gabe Cassata | ||||||||||||
Gabe is currently a Block 3 student at The DAVE School.
What brought you to The DAVE School? What is your ultimate dream job? What has been your favorite DAVE School assignment so far? How has your experience at The DAVE School been so far?
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| Grads work on Christmas Village! | ||||||||||||
Recent graduates of The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School didn't have to go far for their first jobs- They went from studying at DAVE School to working at DAVE Studios just days after graduation. DAVE Studios is a newly formed company (owned by school founders Jeff & Anne Scheetz) set up to provide animation services for their clients.
"Once Upon a Christmas Village" is a 15 minute short written and directed by Michael Attardi who is now completing the script for a feature film version called Snowyville. The feature is scheduled to go into production in the fall. Scheetz adds,"We are really proud of how well the film is doing at festivals, and the European debut will be at Cannes. It's a really exciting time for DAVE Studios and Dream Balloon.
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| Rick Ramirez goes on to Eden FX | ||||||||||||
"So far I've been mostly doing work on shots for a pilot episode." Rick says, "and a lot of Roto work. But I've also done some texturing for a commercial jet shot as well as a head replacement." When asked why he attended the DAVE School, he replied "I became interested in 3D work after high school, but I didn't pursue it then. I spent 8 years in the military and on my last tour in Iraq, I downloaded some 3D trial software and started playing around with it. I then decided not to re-enlist and instead attend the DAVE School. My ultimate goal is to get a paying position at Eden FX or another effects house where I can do really cool work for film and television." Rick's final project at the DAVE School was an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages entitled “World Enough and Time” where he was lead artist on the Enterprise model. "The DAVE School was a great experience that prepared me very well for coming out to LA and jumping in head first. So far I haven't been asked to do anything that I didn't learn how to do at DAVE." said Rick.
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| Star Trek: New Voyages Aftermath | ||||||||||||
George Takei, who originated the role of Mr. Sulu in the 1960s classic TV show and can currently be seen on the hit James Cawley, creator and executive producer of the Web series, said he was also blown away by the visual effects provided by the DAVE School students. The student computer animators completed 658 shots, which he said was about three times more than the number created for any modern Star Trek television episode. “It's definitely Hollywood magic created in Florida,” Cawley said. “We developed a network-quality film and have raised the bar for fan films.” The number of shots being created by DAVE School students rose greatly from the initially planned 150, as producers continued to add more special effects. "The amount of work done at the DAVE School could have cost producers well over a half-million dollars at a commercial facility." said DAVE School instructor Lee Stringer. The Day after graduation, Takei and the crew of New Voyages hung out with DAVE School, alumni and faculty at the school over breakfast and chit-chat. The crew and Takei signed the Master-Replica Enterprise model that now sits in the DAVE School conference room. Later in the morning Takei also appeared on iVillage LIVE, a show filmed at Universal Orlando. He sampled The Love Chef's cooking and discussed his role on New Voyages. It was an exciting and busy day for the cast and crew of Star Trek: New Voyages and with the help of the DAVE School graduating class of March '07, New Voyages, World Enough and Time will soon be debuting to audiences around the world.
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| Locks of Love day at The DAVE School | ||||||||||||
On Friday March 30th, several DAVE School students and faculty gathered together to donate their hair to Locks of Love. Block 4 Instructor Lee Stringer, Housing Coordinator Karla Van Horn and alumni Jill Richter and current student TJ Hassmer all donated hair for the cause. A minimum of 10 inches of hair was required per donation. Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. At last count nearly $2,000 has been raised and DAVE School owner's Jeff and Anne Scheetz have pledged to match the donations raised through the event.
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| Graduation and New Voyages: World Enough and Time Screening ! | ||||||||||||
Congratulations to the March 2007 graduating class of the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School! On Thursday, March 29th at the AMC Cineplex at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, more than 300 people gathered to watch amazing special effects created by the graduating class for the newest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages. Students generated more than 600 effects shots for the 1 hour plus episode, and managed to meet deadline, on time with 17 seconds to spare! Producers Mark Zicree and James Cawley (who also plays Capt. Kirk in the episode); DAVE School visual effects directors Ron Thornton and Lee Stringer; as well as George Takei, (Who plays Mr. Sulu in the episode) were in attendance and made speeches following the screening. Takei commented on what a testament the show was as whole, to the collaborative effort and passions that go into such a project; and Cawley believed that the students’ work was as good as, if not better than the movies. The show’s cast bowed in admiration of the students’ remarkable work; it was an exciting night for everyone. Related Links:
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| Block 2: Animation Dojo | ||||||||||||
Students in Block 2 were assigned an existing character, and the task of animating that character through one of seven obstacles. The goal of the assignment was to improve and refine animating skills without devoting time to creating a new character, which is very similar to what happens in a real studio environment. Animators are usually given models already created by others in the production pipeline, which they must then animate. This was the final project for the current Block 2 students before they move on to Block 3 where they will learn Compositing and Green Screen techniques under the expertise of Instructor, Dave West. Related Links: |
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| Block 1: Devil Project and Get Together | ||||||||||||
The final project for Block 1 students this session was to create a 3D model of a seated devil character designed by a talented real life sculptor, Mark Newman. Students relied on reference shots of the original sculpture, and were required to model the character in a standing T-pose. Related Links: |
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| Star Trek: New Voyages Boldly Goes to New Heights of CG! | ||||||||||||
The class of March 2007 has just completed 567 shots for the fan-made Star Trek series New Voyages! From never before seen views inside the shuttle bay to navigating through ship wreckage, the students of the DAVE School have delivered an outstanding display of CG elements for the newest episode World Enough and Time. What is Star Trek: New Voyages you ask? Voyages is a fan-made series that picks up where the original Star Trek TV series left off; an all new 4th season of adventures with Captain Kirk and his familiar Enterprise crew.
Keep an eye on DAVEschool.com for updates and future viewing of this great episode! Congratulations to the DAVE School graduating class of March 2007!
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Recent graduate of the Tofu class, Teague "Fig" Chrystie has landed an internship at Flash Film Works in Hollywood, California. Flash Film Works has worked on movies such as The Last Samurai and The Guardian. 
I was born in Fairfax, VA but moved to Kissimmee, FL when I was 6 where I grew up.
DAVE school students and Graduates have once again managed to invade HDRI magazine with some more great articles and this time, the front cover!
DAVE School Graduate Tom Wright came to visit the school and give a lecture about his work in the Industry. Tom has worked on movies like Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Warner Bros' The Ant Bully and Walt Disney Feature Animation's Meet the Robinsons. He is currently in producation with Rhythm & Hues as a Lighting Technical Director on the feature film The Golden Compass. 
DAVE School graduate Michael Davidson, along with the rest of his crew at Battlestar Galactica, has landed an Emmy award for Battlestar Galactica in the category of "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series". 
On August 5th through the 9th, companies in the 3D industry will be attending SIGGRAPH in San Diego, CA.
Last month, Paradigm out of Memphis, Tennessee and Wolfhound Productions out of Orlando came to DAVE School to interview graduates for potential careers. Members of our job strategies lab as well as other graduates were given the opportunity to talk to the employers and discuss their demo reels and resumes.
Prior to getting into 3D, I was heavily involved in traditional art in
England where I had my high school education. I then followed my parents
to Florida in 2002 where I enrolled in college and continued to pursue my
education. I knew that if I wanted to transition into 3D, I'd probably
find a school in America that could teach me. I'd always loved 2D
animation, but after seeing my first Pixar movie the 3D world really caught
my attention. I started looking for courses concentrating on this medium
and was actually accepted into a 3D program at another institution. I grew
increasingly unhappy with what I was being taught and I knew it was time to
make a change. A friend of a friend's recommended the DAVE School and I
thought it was just another institution where I'd pay a lot of money and
come out with nothing, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and decided
to go on a tour. Probably one of the best decisions I've made in my life
to date.
Right from the cover, DAVE students and grads have invaded the latest copy of HDRI Magazine, issue 15. HDRI is a CG tips and tricks magazine for and by CG professionals.
One year before attending The DAVE School, I was finishing up my Bachelors Degree in Graphic Design and as my senior project I decided to go above and beyond the other students and make a concept car in Maya. I had to teach myself Maya so that I could complete this task. After about three months and many trials and errors, I had enough general knowledge to build in 3D a concept car that I designed. It's amazing how you can go from a simple sketch to something that looks real. After graduating and searching jobs for graphic designers, I felt that maybe there is something more exciting and fun that I could do. I started looking up visual effects schools and the DAVE School was the second one on the Google search. I basically applied, was accepted, then moved down to Florida about week and a half later and took a tour the first day of classes.
Block 1 spent a Saturday gathering reference material at the Kissimmee War Birds Museum. Students were assigned the task of recreating 4 different planes as their final hard-surface modeling project. “We wanted the students to apply all of their new found knowledge towards a real world object,” explained William Vaughan, Block 1 Instructor. “With the success of the History Channel’s Dog Fights show, where we currently have 10 graduates working at Radical, we felt this was a perfect fit.” 
Aurora is now ONLINE! On Wednesday, June 27th, the class of June '07 graduated at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was also the premiere of their final project, Aurora. After three months of work and a year of school, students got to see their film played for them in a full size movie theater with the full audio and soundtrack. 
This week Block students began their Final project at the DAVE School, Tofu The Vegan Zombie! The movie will be based on the Tofu toy being created by Instructor William Vaughan 
I'm originally from Rockaway Beach, New York and graduated from the DAVE School in the class of March 2007. My final project was Star Trek New Voyages: World Enough and Time. 
Once Upon a Christmas Village has been at it again, winning awards around the globe! Michael Attardi's short film, created by Graduates of the DAVE School, has gone on to be a hit!
Recently, students and Graduates of the DAVE School along with instructor Lee Stringer completed a trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the New Republic. 
The Bock 1 class at the Dave School recently completed over 20 virtual sets that may be used in tools such as NewTek’s Tricaster Studio live production system. The class worked along side NewTek staff as part of a continued effort to give students real world experience working for clients.
In 2005 Kim Candee decided it was time to try something new: A career in animation. Not the most obvious choice for someone in her position, but it was what she wanted to do. 
Always wanted to download the DAVE School student films to your iPod and take them with you? Well now you can! The DAVE School PodCast is now live and ready for you! Stay tuned for more movie updates in the near future! 
In this month's Issue of Rue Morgue Magazine, Teddy Scares was featured in a full page spread. "We had a bunch of amazing animators and the cast we got was a dream come true for me," explains Teddy Scares creator Joe DiDomenico, who worked on the project with William Vaughan, an instructor at Florida's Digital Arts & Visual Effects School (DAVE School), who had worked with Clive Barker on a previous project. "Will is a big fan of Clive Barker's, and when we got him on board, we were ecstatic. And Linda Blair is such a perfect fit for Rita Mortis, she was able to take a few lines and really bring the character home for me.”
Ben Mitchell recently started his career as a TD at Wet Cement. He will be joining 6 other DAVE School graduates already working there. 
After only 3 weeks at The DAVE School, Block 1 students began modeling an AT-ST Walker (All Terrain Scout Transport). The AT-ST was first featured in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in the battle scenes on Endor between the Empire and the Ewoks. The Assignment was to model and Texture an AT-ST from a small real life scale model (seen in picture below). 
“Pink Five” is a Star Wars fan film written and directed by Trey Stokes that made its debut on the net in 2002. It stars Amy Earhart as Stacey (aka Pink Five), a fast-talking Valley Girl-type who dropped into an X-Wing cockpit during the Battle of Yavin. The film presents familiar events and story points from Star Wars: Episode IV from a very different point-of-view. The original film won the 2003 George Lucas Selects Award and also screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. 
DAVE School Graduate Angel Gonzalez is out working for Terminal Reality in Dallas, TX. 
Where are you originally from?
Recent graduate of the March 2007 class, Rick Ramirez has recently gone on to work an internship at Eden FX, located in sunny Hollywood, California. This will make him the first DAVE School student to work for Eden FX!
TV show Heroes, stars in the newest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages. After viewing the episode screened at the latest DAVE School graduation, Takei said he was impressed with the caliber of work done by the graduating class, “Amazing things have been done, and it's comparable to what's on network TV. It's really impressive.”
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