Located in Waltham, MA, the Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) is a Boston University affiliate and host to a variety of unique certificate programs in film and media. CDIA was founded by Bob Daniels and Bob Frasier in 2005, motivated by the idea of creating a digital oriented school that focuses on the hands-on aspect of education, rather than pure theory. With a high instructor to student ratio, the faculty is able to attend to the individual and provide personal support, while still granting the freedom and flexibility of larger schools.
When the director of the filmmaking program, Federico Muchnik, was asked what separates CDIA’s curriculum from other institutions, he said, “As far as I know it’s the only school in the New England area that has a module-based certificate program in the span of 7 to 9 months. The different divisions of the school, such as the filmmaking, recording arts and 3-D animation programs, have been known to work together on the same projects.”
At this time there are roughly 70 students enrolled in the filmmaking program, including both full and part-time students. Graduates even have open access to the equipment room at the Waltham campus long after they finish the year, allowing for potentially greater production value on later ventures without having to pay to rent the needed equipment.
“As it stands now,” Muchnik said, “the filmmaking program is designed to teach real-world and practical skills that are applicable to professional film environments through intensive learning with specific goals.”
After extensive career oriented instruction, students are prepared to enter the ever-changing and advancing world of the arts. With an additional campus already opened in Washington, DC, CDIA is host to programs in various evolving fields. Whether someone is pursuing specialized education in photography, 3-D animation, graphic and web design, audio production, web development, or filmmaking, the Center for Digital Imaging Arts is a growing institution with a bright and promising future.
Production Artist Joe Jancsics did something many people only dream of in the movie production business. After heeding his creative calling, he made the transition from a world of compliance and audits in Boston’s financial district to a new one of digital content creation. After receiving a certificate in 3D Animation from Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts, Jancsics now works with cutting-edge software and emerging technology at Sky Skan, the Nashua, NH-based industry-leading maker of Full Dome theaters. During his transition, he established www.bostonanimators.com as a networking forum for animation artists and is currently working on a stereoscopic IMAX movie conversion to a fulldome format that is set to release in the Fall of 2009.
Joe and the Shuttle Atlantis he made for Digital Sky
HEC: How did you get started in your career as an animation artist?
The company I work for, Sky Skan, had just added a well-known fulldome producer to the team and she was in the early stages of revitalizing the production department. We crossed paths through www.bostonanimators.com, a website I created several years ago. After a few discussions things evolved into an evaluation of department needs and my expression of interest towards joining the team lead to an interview. Eventually I was offered the production artist position I am in now.
HEC: How has your education helped you?
The 3D Animation Certificate program at Boston University CDIA helped me learn the concepts of the tools I use today. Though it did not help me directly, for example I learned Maya there and instead use 3D Studio Max at work, but had I not enrolled in the program I would not have a grip on the core concepts that I use today. I learned the fundamentals of 3D animation in the classroom on Maya and stuck to that for projects. Upon hire at Sky Skan, I threw myself into self-study of 3D Studio Max. I am now at the point where 3DsMax is more familiar, but I use both regularly. Classes are great but keep in mind that styles and ideas need to come from the heart and that most of the work needs to be done at home in order to meet deadlines. It’s important to develop good habits early to have a strong foundation to build upon. Switching from Maya to 3d Studio Max was not a problem once I got past the differences in the user interface and other workflow adjustments.
I should also mention that there’s a whole different, more technical and less artistic, side to working in a production environment. Prior to working as a production artist I had a successful career in the financial services industry. My undergraduate degree is in Management with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. The transferable skills from my former career have surprisingly helped me and the team I work with. I work closely with our distribution team to provide cutting edge content to dome theaters all over the world; accuracy and timeliness are of the highest regard. I quickly identified a need for a ticket based submission system to ensure precision for content distribution requests, a direct connection to my experience of using trade tickets in my prior career when submitting buy and sell orders. Having my experiences in a different field sprout a clever idea that streamlined our distribution structure was unexpected and very rewarding.
Most audience members watching animated content probably don’t realize that organizing and managing a production pipeline library of digital assets and rendered output requires a significant attention to detail. I am certainly more challenged now than ever before; it’s part of what keeps things interesting on a daily basis. I think my current position is a direct result of my background, which helps me bring a variety of skills to the table.
Hubble Space Telescope created by Joe for Digital Sky
HEC: What is it like as an animation artist?
At Sky Skan I work with three departments: production, software development, and content distribution. Being a small company and serving a global market, it is necessary for all of us to operate with some degree of self-management as well as have the versatility and willingness to multi-task. Of course, a high level of competency with technology is required. Currently, I am working with the production team on a movie called 3D Sun. This was originally a stereoscopic IMAX movie; we are converting the source files of the show into the fulldome format. Most of my assigned scenes involve modifying the speed and trajectory of spacecraft, particle emitters, and other objects along with the repositioning of camera movements to look appealing in the fulldome environment. A high quality transfer is important and dependent on the skills of our team, adding a large sense of accountability and personal responsibility. Additionally, the fact that we are using stereo left and right cameras to make it compatible with 3D glasses makes this even more exciting. I am eager for its release later this year; so far we’re off to a great start!
For the software development team, I build models for real-time software, called Digital Sky, engineered here at Sky Skan. Digital Sky allows a planetarium operator to take an audience on a tour within and beyond our galaxy in real-time 3D, with star coordinates based on real scientific data sets. The software can also run on a stereoscopic system. This is, however, only a part of what Digital Sky can do. It has been a pleasure creating models and assisting in the development of real-time shaders to streamline the process of bringing new models into the system.
My work with the content distribution team involves assisting with the process of video slicing, which requires a higher attention to detail than most would expect. With regards to my position, I am doing tasks that I enjoy and have the pleasure of working with a great group of people. In that sense, this is a great field. Generally speaking, motion graphics and 3D animation is competitive, demanding, high energy, cutting edge, and constantly evolving. For me, working with animation software is more of a lifestyle decision than just a job; I love it and am always working on my own projects outside of the office in the effort to further improve my skill as an artist. It’s important to enjoy and be passionate about the artistic aspects as well as dedicated enough to stay late or work extra when necessary to achieve the desired results. There is also, of course, a plethora of other technical tasks that require a keen attention to detail and minimal errors.
FrankenSteinfeld by Joe Jancsics
HEC: Any advice for new graduates?
I’ve seen people that have no website or “digital footprint” sometimes happen to land a job, but it’s very rare. Make the smart bet and just create a website. A website for a 3D artist should be simple; the main items should be the demo reel, contact info, and a small gallery. My opinion is that if nobody can see your work, then why bother creating it at all? A common thing for beginners is to fear uploading renders because they are not up to the level of quality they are satisfied with; the irony is that someone viewing out there might think it’s just good enough to offer you a foot in the door. Every team needs all levels of talent, so let them make that decision by uploading your projects and joining forums to seek critiques. A free and easy way to push out quality revisions is to join a forum, share work, and implement suggestions from critiques. Rinse and repeat until the desired look is achieved; certainly no tuition payment or school loan is needed for that.
Watch Joe’s demo reel (scenes from Solar Storms appears courtesy of K2 Communications, Melrae Pictures, and Sky Skan):
HEC: What is your most memorable work experience thus far?
Attending the 2008 International Planetarium Society (IPS) conference in Chicago. This was followed by the dome theater awards show called Dome Fest; it was a great, educational, and fun experience. I was rather new to my position at Sky Skan when I went off to Chicago to work in our booth at the conference. The extra hours invested prior to and during the conference were significant. Everyone put in a lot of extra effort and the camaraderie amongst the staff at the end of the conference was impressive and contagious. In Chicago I worked overnight with the installation team to setup our temporary 8k and 4k stereo projection system. In a matter of days the work that should have taken several weeks was accomplished. Prior to IPS I had only visited one planetarium and had never before seen our own 3D Digital Sky software on a fully installed stereo dome. I was absolutely blown away by the demo, to say the least. I felt a great sense of pride to be a member of the Sky Skan team. Knowing that I was part of something that knocked me out of my own seat that first demo night, I had no idea what to expect and my jaw hit the floor when I saw our own system. If you are reading this and you live in New England, please do yourself the favor and check out the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, New Hampshire. If you are somewhere outside of New England, look up the location of the nearest fulldome theater and just go there. The shows are really amazing and the ticket prices are very fair; you won’t be disappointed.
