OWATC Open House Reel - 2001

Okay, first off: Yes, all the animations and artwork in here are horrible, and I think some actually are just tutorials out of books. We were just beginner students who had started off in a CAD course that gradually morphed into a 3D animation degree with our help and input.

To advertise the new degree being offered, all of us were instructed to put together a reel of stuff we were working on at the time, for inclusion in a "mega-reel" that I personally toured around my high school (and it probably went several other places as well).

Notable entries include my friend, Shad Bradbury, who now lives in Phoenix, and works as an animator at a game studio. Back in 2001, he had his own "personal studio" he liked to call "Dreanim".

Rex Thornock was our instructor who was learning the ropes along with us, having started out teaching CAD, but was now required to know 3D Studio Max 2.5 and more.

Matt Evans is another good friend of mine who still lives local to me as of this writing. He was a big Star Trek and Star Wars nut, and he loved designing Borg ships.

Brady Dalton is another local friend who moved south of Salt Lake City to take a job as an artist at a game studio. He was more of a 2D artist, back then, though, and was the only other "furry" in our group besides me. He actually can animate a mean character nowadays. If I can find a link to his latest work, I'll do it as a video response or something.

And of course me, Joshua Barney... I had my own "studio" called "Arctic Winds Animation", and it was admittedly lame. The web site listed is defunct. The penguins shown were a project I was working on that I had actual recorded voices for, from friends wanting to break into voice acting. I still have them around somewhere... but the project didn't get anywhere, obviously, or you would have seen it by now. There's also an amusing clip of me playing with effects in Max where I "touch" my cousin's head sitting behind me, and a light flare pops up. He had no clue what was going on, and looked at me at such the right moment that I burst out laughing. It's a stupid little effect, but it still makes me smile to this day.

The video of the thirsty flower is my entry for the National VICA Competition in 3D Animation. This was the first time I EVER used bones before, and it was a disaster. Still, the story was amusing enough that the judges saw fit to give me 2nd place. Also, I got a nifty "Toy Story 2-Pack" DVD from the judges for my enthusiasm while making it.