The new year is here! Ready or not! I, for one, was not quite ready for it. Christmas break was filled with traveling and appointments and other busy things. I was just starting to relax, then before I knew it, 2011 was thrust upon me like a sudden case of indigestion and I was back in work on Monday. It really was a good break, and a much needed one at that, but I would have liked a little more down time. But enough about 2010, it's 2011! Exciting times! And there are new titles that have been announced!

Back in the spring, I started on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Wii. This was my first project that I stayed on for the entire production cycle, which turned out to be a fantastic experience. I was able to see first hand how a project starts and finishes, and since it was a small team, I participated in nearly every aspect of production. I worked closer than ever with programming and design and gained valuable insight into their tools and workflows. I learned how to better communicate with non-artists, and made some great friends in the process. We really had a lot of fun making this game.

And the project I'm currently working on is the recently announced Captain America: Super Soldier for Wii. I've signed on as Lead Cinematic Artist in charge of taking our scripts and creating epic cinematic cut-scenes worthy of the star-spangled avenger. Though a few months ago, tragedy struck when our A/V department at HVS lost both of our video editors. Knowing After Effects as well as I do, I stepped in to help a project that needed several motion graphics pieces made up for their game. I juggled both projects for a few months before someone was found to take over the company's video needs. It has made me busier than I like to be, but I really liked doing motion graphics again. It was refreshing, and even though it wasn't that long, I really sharpened my After Effects skills and learned a bunch of new tricks. Now I'm back making Captain kick some ass and look good doin' it!

So my idea of updating this more frequently has kind of gone out the window, but not without just cause. Work has been keeping me busy, and I haven't had any real milestones that I thought were worth writing about. Well, I shouldn't say that. I have worked on a ton of projects, worked with lots of different folks, and learned more than I ever could have predicted. Let's go down the list of games I've worked on, and see what I can finally talk about.

They started me out on The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the Fifth Sun for wii, working on pre-rendered cinematics. Although this was familiar territory for me, working in 3DS Max was entirely unfamiliar. Having only ever used it to complete my art test, I had to learn its deeper functionality on the fly while creating these cinematics from storyboard to final render in a matter of four months. Character Studio was a big enough change on its own; forcing me to learn an entirely new methodology and tool set for animating characters than I had been used to with Maya and XSI. While learning the software, I was personally responsible for half of the eleven or more minutes of cinematics we created, including storyboards, camera and character animation, complex visual effects, basic texturing, lighting, and rendering. It was a challenge, but I'm quite proud of some of the work that I did.

Next up was a brief stint on Iron Man 2 for wii, where I worked on in-game cinematics. Though there was much less work to do for these (mostly just storyboards and camera/character animation), transferring it all into the game engine provided its own set of challenges. Having never done in-game animation of any kind, I soon became aware of the technical limitations of working in the engine. As before, I learned the tools quickly and managed to pump out two story-driven cutscenes in about three weeks.

After that was a long journey on Tournament of Legends, a brawler for the wii, doing mostly character animations. Now these were actual interactive animations on playable characters, which was new for me and was a learning experience in itself, but we also used motion capture for nearly every move in the game. I hadn't worked with motion capture either, so it was a challenge on two fronts. Between me and two other animators, we created every piece of animation in that game. These were complex characters too. Some had wings. Some had layers of cloth dangling off of them, which had to be hand animated. One character even had medusa-like snakes which all had to be hand-keyed for each individual move, which I was primairly responsible for.

A short run animating for Conduit 2 was next on my plate. My task was unique though. They gave me a set of enemy characters, and asked me to develop a style of animation that they could all follow. These were an advanced race of insect-like robotic creatures that I was told had to move in a way that would constantly suprise the player. The look I came up with was a success, but you'll just have to see it for yourself. It's too weird to describe.

Working on The Grinder was yet another challenge. It was the first game at HVS to use Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine that the company had just acquired. It was new territory for everyone, and I was one of the trail blazers. I was responsible for certain enemy animations and a cinema in the demo we were working on for GDC. This involved learning the new node-based animation builder system as well as learning (and fighting against) the buggy new cinema creation tool. Since GDC was approaching, I often didn't have time to wait for bug fixes, so the challenge became working around the bugs and tool limitations to create work that looked like there were no limitations involved.

It seems like every time I encounter a new project, I'm having to learn something I've never done before, and I hope that trend continues. So far it looks like it will be. I've just been assigned to a new small unannounced project as the animation lead, and I'm excited to finally use all my experience as an underling and apply it in a leadership position. It'll also just be good to start on a project from the very beginning and watch it develop to completion.

So that's where I am now. I'll try to keep things updated here more often, but I make no guarantees. I can say one thing for sure though: next time you hear from me, I'll have plenty to write about.

Woo-hoo! Ladies and gentlemen, I am overjoyed to announce that, as of this morning, I have been hired as a full-time animator at High Voltage Software here in Chicago, IL! Finally, all my aspirations, my commitment, my years of education and planning are all coming to fruition. I can begin the career I set out to achieve. Let's take a moment so I can breathe a sigh of relief... *sigh*

Although it makes perfect sense, I hadn't really envisioned myself in the game industry. At VFS, it was all about animation for video. There wasn't even much talk about animation for games. It was just kind of assumed that we'd all find jobs animating for film or television or something similar. I didn't even consider that a video game enthusiast like myself might be better off in the games industry anyways. Sure enough, I applied, interviewed, completed the art test, and was hired all within the span of a few weeks. I'm extremely excited for this opportunity, and I'm looking forward to all that I'll be learning here and subsequently everything else I'll be doing over the course of my career.

By now this is old news, but it's still big news, and I decided that people who visit my site should know about it! In January, 3D World Magazine published their 112th issue with a two page spread about me and the making of my short film, No Quarter. It was a huge honor to have my work featured in their Showreel section, especially considering some of the work that's been featured in previous issues. The VFS Blog did a short follow-up article about me being in the magazine. Overall, I'm very proud to have recieved all this recognition, even more than a year after my film was completed.

Also, I've decided to start updating my homepage regularly with entries like this. My site is over a year old now, and it's time to give it some fresh content. I have, however, been updating my animation, images, and resume pages with new content very regularly, so please keep checking back for new work.

My name is Mike Trent, and everything you'll see here was created by me. The main purpose of this site is to show off my animated short, No Quarter, which was created durring the last 6 months of my 2 years at Vancouver Film School. During my first year there, I was enrolled in the Foundation Visual Art & Design program, where I gained a broad knowledge of visual communication. My second year was spent in the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program, where I focused on learning character animation and created my short film. By the grace of God, I managed to survive both years, and came out with a wealth of knowledge and the skill to bring digital objects and characters to life. After graduaion, I moved home to Michigan, and I recently moved to Chicago to further my career. I am currently open to any and all job offers involving digital animation, motion graphics, editing, or any other field related to digital media. I would particularly enjoy any offers near Chicago. I love the snow, classic rock, and cooking dinner for two. Anything else you might want to know about me can be found on my resume or by asking me using my email adress below. I'm glad you came and hope you enjoy your stay!