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Hello Richard how are you, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in CG?

My name is Richard Rosenman and I’m 34 years old, living in Toronto, Canada. I’ve been involved in the animation industry (both classical and digital) for over 12 years now and to this day, I absolutely love what I do.

Early in my high school years I caught my first glimpse of the budding CG industry and I knew that was what I wanted to do. In researching where to study this new medium, Sheridan College was recommended. I took the three-year Classical Animation program at Sheridan in order to take the one-year post-graduate computer animation program but decided upon graduating that I wanted to work in the classical industry instead. Throughout the years thereafter, projects involving more and more CG eventually led me back into the CG industry.

Eventually, I decided to work exclusively in the CG industry, first at TOPIX, then at Redrover, and eventually at Hatch which I currently own, along with two other partners.

Please tell us something about the Hatch Studios, what services offered and on the projects your studio has worked on?

We launched Hatch on June 5, 2006 to continue creating the art that all three of us love so much. I am in charge of all the 3D related productions, Larissa Ulisko is in charge of all the Motion Graphics related productions, and Randi Yaffa is in charge of all Executive Production. We had all worked together in the past and were good friends so it was simply a matter of time before the three of us decided to launch Hatch.

Hatch specializes in 3D and motion graphics commercial production for broadcast, film, web and print. We are always expanding our range of formats and I believe this has been a large part of our success as you have to continually change with the times. Technology is advancing at an exponential rate and we make sure to keep up with the latest creative and technical trends in order to produce cutting-edge work.

In addition to our current realm of production, we also have an in-house short film and we’re also working our way into series production.

Since opening Hatch 2 years ago, we have been lucky to continue receiving amazing work and therefore expanding our creative crew. We are in the process of moving into a space twice the size of our current one and our staff is now at approximately 20-25 people.

Above and beyond anything else, we strive to maintain a healthy, creative and fun environment at Hatch which I believe encourages enthusiasm to produce outstanding work.

You have done various commercials in Hatch Studios; please tell us about your role in those commercials and which is your best commercial till date? If possible then please also tell us what problems you have faced in that commercial?

Yes, there have been so many commercials produced since we launched Hatch that I cannot remember them all.

My role is director for all commercials that are 3D related. Likewise, Larissa’s role is director for all commercials that are motion graphics related. We don’t simply direct – we have always enjoyed working hands-on and so I actively participate in the lighting, rendering and compositing of 3D productions. Likewise, Larissa participates in the compositing of her motion graphics work. Occasionally we work together on various projects as well which call for a mix of 3D and graphic design work (Ford “Rollercoaster”).

Unfortunately, as we continue to receive more and more projects, I have less and less time to invest in the lighting and rendering. My role as director is critical so I am at a point where I must unfortunately hand my role as a lighting artist to someone else in order to be able to continue directing. This is the one downside of your company growing, although there are ways in which you can always participate in a production hands-on, even if it’s minimal.

I’m not sure I have a favorite commercial but many come close. The Ford “Rollercoaster” spot is among the top because it’s so unique to anything else we’ve ever done. Likewise, the Kraft “Geyser” commercial is also one of my favorites because of the wonderful characters and beautiful animation.

Without question, every single commercial we produce always had one big technological hurdle that must be overcome. While this can be very frustrating, it’s also a great learning experience because you learn how to effectively deal with technical issues, troubleshoot them, and resolve them. Whether it’s scenes that are too complex for rendering or HD frames taking too long for global illumination solutions to compute, or fluid dynamics looking blobby – there’s always something.

At the end of the day, these hurdles keep you on your toes and allow you to continue to learn from your experiences and mistakes.

Can you give us the overview of how a commercial is made – from clients mind to the broadcast? What steps, expenses are generally involved?

Generally, the first steps involved in a commercial production, after we have been awarded the job, is to review the agency storyboard and re-work it so that it works for animation. While many agency creative’s have animation experience, some do not and quite often a storyboard can been improved to include shots that would not have been possible with live action filming. Sometimes the boards we receive from the agency are very rough and allow us to have a lot of creative freedom with it, while other times they are quite detailed and it’s only a question of tightening them up. Finally, sometimes we come up with good gags that can make the spot a bit more comedic and when we pitch these ideas to the agency, they often allow us to move ahead with it. The most enjoyable agencies to work with are those that understand that a production is a team effort and that ideas come from all sources. They see this as working together and this often results in the best outcome.

During this time we are also concurrently working on pre-production stages such as gathering reference material, drafting concept character design, working on R&D tests, etc.

Once our boards have been approved by the client and agency, the modeling begins. This can take anywhere from 1 week to a month depending on the complexity of the subject. If it’s a character, you must also factor in rigging and skinning which takes up additional time. Without question, characters are by far the most complicated models to create – regardless of whether or not they are stylized or realistic.

When the modeling has been completed, texturing begins. It’s important to complete it at this stage because afterwards the file will be distributed numerous times into various scenes. Therefore, you either texture the subject once before scene distribution or you re-do it numerous times for every scene that there is.

At this point, assuming that the model and texturing has been approved by the client and agency, we can begin animation. Once again, the amount of time allotted to this stage is completely dependent on the subject. A character will require the most amount of time while mechanical animation requires the least amount. It is not uncommon to allot 4-5 weeks for the animation of a character for 20 to 30 seconds of animation. Our animators are primarily character animators so they have a strong sense of comedic acting which is important. Like many of the previously-discussed stages of production, weekly work-in-progress reports are shown to the agency for approval.

When the animation has been completed, we can commence lighting and rendering. This is generally something I often take upon myself to complete and it’s also the stage where everything tends to come together. You have to keep in mind that until now, the client and agency have been seeing wireframe and / or grayscale previews so when they see the jump to full color, they are always pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, this is one of the last stages of 3D so you often have to remind them that it will come in due time.

All my lighting and rendering is produced with global illumination combined with traditional lighting techniques and image-based lighting. These change from production to production (for instance, you will use a very different setup for vehicle rendering than character) but the point of it is to use whatever tools are available to make the image look as best as it can. Understanding color theory, proper use of palettes, color grading and much more is crucial to creating a beautifully-rendered image.

The final stage of commercial production is the online session, a one to two day session where the final composited spot is loaded into a Flame or Inferno and final touches are added, with client and agency present. Once this receives approval, it is dumped to tape and ready to be aired.

What software program(s) do you use for your CG and why?

I have built Hatch’s pipeline around 3dsmax although I never ask any of the artists to use that particular tool. I hired the artists based on their creative skills, never their technical experience.

I’ve always enjoyed 3dsmax because it has been the one 3D app to provide an extensive list of third party plugins from users around the world. In addition, most of the new render engines were out for 3dsmax first and since I was heavily involved in lighting and rendering, this provided new tools that were only available for 3dsmax at that time.

Although we have built our pipeline on 3dsmax, I am personally disappointed with Autodesk and their poor marketing policies.

In addition to 3dsmax, we also use ZBrush for concept modeling, Silo for prop modeling and of course, the Adobe Creative Suite for all texture creation and compositing work.

At the end of the day, software is always secondary to the artist’s creative skills. I have hired animators with absolutely no 3dsmax experience simply because they are good and it takes them very little time to pick up 3dsmax, or any other 3D app. After all, 3D apps provide the same basic tools – it’s simply a matter of finding out where they put the buttons.

What’s the most useful thing you have learnt in 3d?

The importance of every aspect of 3D being the best it can be. In other words, if the modeling, texturing, animation, lighting, rendering or compositing is weak – the whole production has suffered. Everyone at Hatch is specialized in one aspect of 3D and this means they each have to perform at their very best in order to produce outstanding work. Everyone is therefore dependent on everyone else to produce the best possible work.


What do you like the most: Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Rendering, Directing or programming and please give 5 tips to the future wannabe animators?

Without question, directing is what I enjoy the most and what I believe I’m best at. Secondary to that would be art direction which includes lighting, rendering and compositing.

Tips for wannabe animators:

- Take a course – it’s very difficult to learn the fundamentals of animation on your own and it’s critical for you to understand them in order to produce good work.

- Study reference material – see how Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, etc, do it. This is the quality you should be striving for.

- Don’t just animate something that could be filmed in live action – produce animation that is fun, exciting, stylized and full of life. If it’s mimicking live action, then you might as well just film it.

- Forget about the technical tools and focus on the creative art of animation – again, knowing software is irrelevant. It’s how you use the tools that matters.

- Learn from your peers. You will never be the best – no one ever is. Egos don’t do well in this industry. Instead of having a know-it-all attitude, learn from those that you admire and inspire you. This is what I do and it has always helped me.

Are you developing any plug-in, if yes then please tell us something to our readers? Your site has various commercial and freeware plug-ins, how often do you update those?

The plug-ins featured on my site was my attempt in understanding the mathematics involved in CG. For instance, in developing 3D Sphere PRO, I learned how to mathematically shade a 3D sphere according to a pre-defined light source. This learning experience has shed so much light on CG math fundamentals that I now understand what causes certain program glitches and how to correct them.

DOF PRO, our best-selling and award-winning depth of field plug-in, is about to enter v4.0. While I cannot release any information about the new features, I can certainly tell you that the improvements and enhancements are far beyond anything you’ve ever seen in any DOF post-processing plug-in. Currently, DOF PRO is now being used by hundreds of large-scale production studios world-wide, and thousands of professional artists from around the world.

In addition, another very unique painting plug-in is in early beta stages and although it won’t be released for quite some time, it will certainly be of great interest to digital painters due to its distinctive workflow and characteristics.

Thanks a lot for taking out sometime for us from your busy schedule.
Thank you for taking the time to interview me and share my thoughts / opinions with readers of CGArena.