Debugging Openimageio

Tags: OpenImageIO, C++, Debugging, ASWF Dev Days, Github, OpenColorIO, VS Code

Initially, I went back and forth on whether I should participate in Dev Days. Ultimately, I reminded myself that a long term goal I had set for myself during ASWF's summer learning program was to be more involved in ASWF's open source projects. I already had limited exposure to USD and had been following along with the slack channels for OpenImageIO as well as OpenColorIO. In addition, I attended a few of the townhalls during ASWF's Open Source Days to better familiarize myself with the projects and their specific goals. It was helpful to see how the projects are intended to be used by artists and see examples of the tools in action. 

After hitting submit on the registration page, I felt immediate pangs of impostor syndrome and an overwhelming fear that my limited coding knowledge would prevent me from making any meaningful contributions. I was able to regain a bit of confidence after some reassurance from Karen Ruggles, who heads the ASWF D&I group. I also felt reassured after seeing posts with instructions and encouragement from other leads like Carol Payne and Larry Gritz. One helpful piece of advice was to look at the Github repo of the project I would be working on, which I finally decided would be OpenImageIO. 

The second piece of advice that was helpful was looking for any issues tagged with "good first issue." I decided to work on Issue MOV file causes exception when opening · Issue #3656 · AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenImageIO · GitHub  since it included language like "mov" that was recognizable to me. The first step I had to do was set up the project on my computer using a terminal. There were instructions provided on the Github repo of how to load OpenImageIO using linux and on Apple. I went down a rabbit hole of Googling how to set up the project and all of its dependencies on my computer due to it being less straight forward on Windows. I had spent half a day researching OpenImageIO and comparing other project setups like OpenColorIO. I learned that OpenImageIO was an optional dependency for OpenColorIO and was also able to coordinate with a learner from my summer program, Brooke Galvin, who had been taking her own notes on setting up OpenColorIO. I followed her very clear google doc, which had hopefully loaded all the necessary files needed for OpenImageIO. 

I still had trouble confirming if the files were in fact loaded correctly on my computer and after a supportive pep talk from both Carol Payne and Febry Cremer, decided to lean on the help of the OpenImageIO slack community, posting a question to the group if anyone had successfully set up their project on Windows. Through this communication channel I found a very helpful person, Jesse Y, and owe him so much gratitude for assisting me in using the windows cmd interface to confirm vcpkg and cmake were successfully installed so I could load OpenImageIO. We then worked together to reproduce the bug in VS Code and post updates to the OpenImageIO bug to gather any missing information. Although I had just completed a refresher course on C++, I quickly realized how easy it was to forget how the main.cpp file is used for testing functionality, when working with code created by other people. It was a rewarding and exciting experience to learn how to work with engineers on an open source production tool like OpenImageIO with many contributors and understand how issues can arise from dependencies that may need to be updated. I hope to participate in future projects and Dev Days going forward. 

Unreal Engine's Game Jam: 2D game

Tags: Unreal Engine, 2D Game development, Level Design, UI, Blueprints, Github, Unreal Engine Game Jam 

I met quite a few artists who were interested in working for a game company during ASWF's summer learning program. One concept I had been curious about was a game jam, which to me was a sort of hackathon for game creators and engineers. A learner in the summer program, John Haley, had posted his progress on previous game jams and shared a trailer of his winning entry. His team's Unity game jam entry, "Sword of the Morel, inspired me to participate in my first game jam. When the opportunity presented itself for me to learn how to create my first game for Unreal Engine alongside two artists (Ella who has a 2D background and another summer learner, Chris, who is more technically focused), I jumped at the opportunity. 

Although I was familiar with Unreal Engine's interface and had had exposure to blueprints for animating and scene creation, there was quite a learning curve with developing a fully operable game in UE. Our first challenge was to develop a game concept that was in line with the theme. The theme of the game jam was "Antiquate Future." In our desire to create an engaging game play experience, our team unanimously decided to do a metroidvania style game, which I admittedly had to Google to better understand what that entailed. Luckily since this was the first game jam for all of us, Googling was encouraged for research purposes throughout the game jam planning and execution phases. We also decided to go with 2D versus 3D since our main artist felt more familiar with that style given her background and that she already had 2D assets on hand we could reuse. Other details we continued to flesh out over Discord included character and environment appearance as well as the mechanics.

 With the main planning logistics taken care of, we moved onto setup. Christopher handled unpacking the UE game kit and setting up our Github to share and upload resources and files. For this project, we used Github desktop along with Discord to handle any versioning issues and merge conflicts. We decided to go with Github after running into some issues setting up Perforce, which was the alternate route of sharing files.  This point and click method of sharing files came in handy when I uploaded updates like blueprints and templates for menu button functionality along with tiling and asset importing of props and environment backgrounds. 

Although we were unable to finish our game, it was a rewarding opportunity to learn alongside other artists who were curious about tackling a 2D game in Unreal Engine (which I learned later is much harder than 3D), and exposed me to Unreal Engine functionality that I hadn't previously explored. I also developed a newfound appreciation for artists and game creators who finished their game in time for submission and were successful in creating and implementing a fully functioning game in a short period of time. Once again, I want to give a huge thank you to my wonderful team who was really patient and amazing to work with. 

ASWF 2023 Summer Learning Program Recap: Animation project

Tags: Animation project, Modeling, Texturing, Rigging Original story concept, Puppets, Arnold, Maya, Team project, ASWF Summer Program

When I began my job transition to computer graphics and coding, I looked for organizations that both supported LGBTQIA++ learners and shared a vision of diversifying the teams who work on TV, games, and film. While searching, I discovered the Academy Software Foundation(ASWF) Diversity and Inclusion Group. It took a couple years for me to build up my skills and foundational knowledge in Maya and python before I was admitted to this well sought after motion picture and technology focused program hosted by the ASWF's Diversity and Inclusion Group. 

I was more than excited to be selected as 1 out of 20 learners who would be given access to FX educational courses on production level topics and mentorship support. My knowledge of the FX pipeline grew as I explored Houdini and learned how to develop HDAs using VEX. I also knew that I learn best when it is project focused so I employed the same technique with my assigned mentor when tackling a pipeline project in Maya. My mentor, Patrick Coleman, who is very knowledgeable about the industry helped me translate a set of personal goals for the program into a list of ideas including short sprint like studies. His suggestions helped me step away from following tutorials and allowed me to explore more original creative ideas while working on teams. 

This topic of thinking outside the box came up when I presented him with a dilemma I had of how to execute a short film storyline I came up with. His best advice was to simplify so that I can meet a set deadline and if possible enlist the help of other artists. While deciding what to do, I had simultaneously signed up for an introductory puppet building workshop to strengthen my foundation of rigging and what to focus on to tell a good story. During the first puppet workshop I learned about a type of Japanese puppetry called Bunraku, where multiple puppeteers are involved and each puppeteer must spend time mastering one appendage before graduating to operate another part of the body. This unique style of theatre presented an interesting challenge to do a rig of just the legs and feet as well as to tell a story from just that perspective. I decided to use this idea to drive the narrative of my short film.

I worked with another summer learner and highly skilled technical artist, Julia Sousa, on a storyboard and concept art. She was also, luckily, enthusiastic about parts I was less familiar with including environment setup and animation contributions. After presenting my script to her, we decided feedback from a writer friend might help us ensure we were on the right track. The feedback my writer friend gave was instrumental in helping us align the story to the scope of the character's limitation, which in this case was a camera view from below the torso. Julia then developed an animatic which helped us visualize and decide which scene we would be able to create and focus on by the end of the program. 

My main contribution was the initial story concept and main character rig and model (legs and crocs). The final presentation, which was an Arnold render, blew me away in seeing an end product from start to finish. I had so much fun working with Julia and incorporating feedback from other senior artists. This project and my supportive community of summer learners and summer leads, overall, reaffirmed my switch in careers to CG where I can work alongside CG artists in film and television. As an added bonus, I  gained valuable insight from more experienced mentors.