Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH

The 'man' behind the 'animator'

By Shylo Smith

Javier Solsona (otherwise known as "Goosh" to friends and colleagues alike) is an animator at Electronic Arts. Typically an interview tends to revolve around the work, either past or present. Meeting someone as intelligent, worldly and passionate as Goosh lends a hand to stray from the typical and towards the extraordinary.

This thirty-something year old began life in Argentina and grew up in Patagonia. Starting out on a Commodore 64, he developed those home taught skills with a B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. It was there and then that he got the 3D fever. On the move yet again, he travelled to Brazil and continued his studying of 3D animation and various 3D courses. Up and off once again, finding himself working as a freelance graphic artist in London, UK for various companies such as Cisco Systems. His work finally brought him to Vancouver, BC where he got a job working as a creative director in a small company. But Goosh is a learner of the world, and after a year the knowledge bug had bit him again. He studied for six intense months at the Vancouver Film School in their Character Animation program. After his completion, he was awarded a scholarship for his efforts in his final film.

Once out of school, he got a position at Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver working on their 3D department as a visual effects artist doing commercial ads, game cinematic and music videos. He can now be found at EA Canada. He was one of the cinematic animators on DefJam Vendeta and is now working on other upcoming games. In his spare time, when he is not climbing mountains, he can be found at home doing rigging and animation, for his website. His personal work can be found at Digital Dreams (no longer active) and his rigging material at Rigging 101.

Q.		You have done a lot of travelling around the world, what do you think about Vancouver on a personal and professional point of view?

A.		Vancouver is great. Vancouver is home. I've been fortunate enough to have travelled and lived in many places, but I haven't found anywhere else that offers as much as Vancouver does. On a personal level, I do a lot of outdoor activities and Vancouver has everything to offer. In the summer there is all the outdoor sports. Rock climbing, hiking, camping, etc. When winter comes, the mountains are covered with snow and that's time to hang the ropes and tents up and take the skis out. There is just an endless amount of fun to be had out there. On a professional level, Vancouver has a lot to offer. Of course it is not LA or San Francisco, but there are enough companies (big and small) that provide a big enough industry.

Q.		Do you have a favorite place to rock climb?

A.		I really like Smith Rock in Oregon, but we recently traveled to Red Rocks (a few miles outside Las Vegas) and it was amazing. Those two places are definitely up there on the list. Locally there is a lot. Squamish is huge and has pretty much everything that anybody would want. And between Squamish and Whistler there is just and endless amount of rock to be climbed.

Q.		Do you feel there is a 'graphics' community here in Vancouver?

A.		I think there is a community, though probably not extremely well organized. You get to meet people that do the same things you do, but it would be nicer to have more events and seminars. Siggraph is doing a great job and bringing the community together. I hope there will be more things like this in the future.

Q.		With the vast amounts of graphics people out there, in all aspects not only gaming, are you surprised that it is not a tighter community?

A.		Yes and no. I find that since Vancouver is such an outdoorsy city, people tend to get together with their sports friends more than with their work friends. Since there is so much to do out there, people seem to find their other most common activity (apart from work) and hang out there. If there wasn't so much I would probably think that the community would be a little tighter. Having said that, you also find a lot of people in the community that do the same things you do and so hang out together. I guess if there was a more organized community in Vancouver it would be a little tighter.

Q.		What is your favorite part about being an animator?

A.		Each day is a different day. Each day is a different challenge. It never gets boring. I also love working with so many talented people. We have a very tight group at work and we have a lot of fun together.

Q.		What is the most difficult aspect?

A.		I find acting the hardest one of the hardest things. Also trying to create something with another persons vision (your director) can sometimes be very challenging. The good thing is that most times directors or animation directors have a lot of experience and knowledge, so if you follow their lead you'll end up getting way better results.

Q.		What do you see happening with animation in the Next Generation of consoles?

A.		I'm very excited about Next Gen. I think it'll be an amazing change from what we are seeing right now. I think the biggest change will be in the models, textures and lighting. You'll be able to have a lot more on screen so the world will look a lot richer. On the animation side, I think we'll have a lot more freedom. Right now we are sometimes restricted on the amount of bones we have or the amount of morph or blend shapes for doing facial animation, etc. Next Gen should give us a little bit more freedom to add those extra details that will make things look so much nicer. Right now you often have to sacrifice say having bones in the hands for each finger so that you can add a new character on screen. For Next Gen we should be able not only to have bones for all the fingers but to have 3-4 more characters too. I think Next Gen will be getting closer and closer to what you are seeing in TV these days. I find these very exciting times to be working on the gaming industry.

Q.		When did you start the Rigging101.com site with your partner, and what was its main purpose at its conception?

A.		When I was studying I looked everywhere for a character that I could animate. Something that somebody would have done already so that I didn't have to go and build my own character from scratch. But there was nothing to be found. The internet community was a lot tighter then. People didn't share as much. So eventually I gave up and built my own character. It was great because I learnt a lot. After I finished studying I decided to build a character and offer it to the community so that people, specially students and people starting out, could have and be able to animate with. They wouldn't have to know anything about rigging or any fancy setups. All they would have to do was open the scene and animate away. The character that I created got the attention of Lluis Llobera and he asked me if I would mind if he rebuilt it. After that we started talking and we figured there was very little information out there related to rigging. We decided to write a few tutorials and in time to start creating new rigs. That's how rig101 got started. this was probably about 2 years ago. We've been very happy with the response it has gotten and we are very happy to have helped so many people. We slowly keep on adding things. We are sometimes pretty busy at work so we can't put all the time we would like into it, but we are always working on new things, new ideas, new setups. Right now we are working on ideas for a quadruped. We figured there are too few quad rigs available for people to animate with so we are giving that a shot.

Q.		Lastly, what words of wisdom can you extend to our readers?

A.		It's a great industry to be in. You sometimes have to work very hard, and sometimes you get to play very hard. I think most people that are in it love it with a passion and that's what's so great about it. There are so many talented people out there. I can't imagine doing anything else.

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