So something rather interesting happened this last week. Nick and Jess have a mutual friend in Quinn, a well-heeled and Western-savvy Chinese businessman. Quin runs a digital media and advertising company called Holotech here in the international arts district of Chengdu. His production company has created graphics for commercials and the burgeoning augmented reality advertising business. Augmented reality is a sophisticated addition to the advertising industry. An A.R. advertisement is basically a piece of paper or a business card wherein along with the printed graphic is an invisible code that can be read by any web camera, smartphone, or tablet connected to an internet network. When the camera views the invisible code, it streams a 3D render of an object, or interactive game to further enhance the advertised message. As it turns out, Quinn spoke to Nick about his video editing experience prior to EF, telling him he had an opening available for part-time work.As it turns out, Nick was a video major in college and has experience with the hardware, software, and techniques of the trade. He was very excited of course about the opportunity, and told Quin that he knew of a talented 3D artist who might also be interested in his business.
So mid Thursday afternoon I met with Nick and Jess near the old apartment in Tongzilin, and we caught a cab over to the international arts district of the city. Quin's office is on the 4th floor of a building still under construction. (The ride up in an elevator made of MDF boards was a tad unsettling). In his office, we were greeted by Regina, an attractive woman from South Africa who showed us into the lounge and with the help of Christina, a local, she began to show Jess and I a series of Holotech's AR ads. One such example was an Audi advertisement. When viewed through the webcam, a 3D model of the car appears and cycles through a selection of colors. The model stays in a fixed position on the paper, so one can freely rotate around the car to see it from each side. If the camera cannot read the surface, say if the viewing angle becomes too oblique, the model promptly vanishes. A second example was a travel ad for Paris and featured a model of the Notre Dame Cathedral. A third was a facial recognition ad for one of the Transformers movies. The camera would focus on your face and superimpose the 3D head of Optimus Prime over your own. The final example was a second Audi ad featuring an interactive driving game. One holds the paper, which is printed with the image of a steering wheel. AS you turn the paper as you would an actual steering wheel the 3D car in the camera feed would swerve back and forth avoiding traffic cones.
After they had showed us their examples, a pair of chain-smoking local designers came in a demonstrated some of the video and 3D work they had done for television commercials. Most of their ads were for above top-shelf brands of liquor popular with the Chinese elite. We're talking about bottles of liquor that each cost upwards of 100,000 RMB. This is the kind of video editing work that Nick is familiar with, i.e. integrating 3D graphics into a recorded video or using the 3D graphics and video software to render an entire advertisement on the computer. The two gentlemen were very friendly and their work was definitely impressive.
Once Quin arrived I took the time to show them all examples of my work, focusing on my newer and more impressive Zbrush models, as well as my Second Life avatars. They were well received. I told them how Sarah helped me start 3D modelling my last year in college and that I have been teaching myself how to use the programs with very little outside schooling ever since. They were impressed with my initiative and determination to learn the software. They also liked my work in Second Life, and were amused by creating these interactive characters for distribution in my free time. Zbrush was very interesting to them because very few of them had ever used it, so my detailed models made quite an impression.
I came to learn that Quin wants to expand and diversify his already successful company and is looking specifically for talented Westerners whom he can bring aboard his new venture. There are already many local graphics, advertising, and media companies here in the city, but the businesses who advertise through Quin's company will pay extra to have their projects headed by a Western design team. He is offering Nick and I the chance to help him build this new company under his guidance. We can continue to scout for and recruit other people for the team, such as audio engineers and other digital media specialists. We know a few of them both here and abroad that might fit the bill.
Right now, Nick and I are putting together digital portfolios of our work, and playing around with ideas for a company name and an associated logo. Once we have these portfolios submitted to Quin, he can put our names out there to do freelance work for the next few months. Within the next year, Quin hopes to open an entire digital production studio and needs someone able to teach others how to use the 3D programs that they work with at Holotech. I told him that I would love the opportunity to do freelance work on the side of my EF job and that I would be excited for the opportunity to teach in his studio. As the business grows, we will be able to select the most talented individuals to work on our team continuing to expand until we can create a standalone enterprise subsidiary of Holotech.
Quin also has contacts in the game design industry here in China. Not only do they produce many individual games for mobile devices, but major video game companies around the work outsource some of the production workload here in China. Personally I would love to try and focus on turning our prospective business into an independent video game company, so that I could finally start work on my own game. In the long run, if it proves to be successful, I would also like to help others produce their independent projects, perhaps by helping them to outsource some of their asset production to the contacts we are sure to make in the future.
On the whole there is much to be excited about this holiday season and beyond.
So mid Thursday afternoon I met with Nick and Jess near the old apartment in Tongzilin, and we caught a cab over to the international arts district of the city. Quin's office is on the 4th floor of a building still under construction. (The ride up in an elevator made of MDF boards was a tad unsettling). In his office, we were greeted by Regina, an attractive woman from South Africa who showed us into the lounge and with the help of Christina, a local, she began to show Jess and I a series of Holotech's AR ads. One such example was an Audi advertisement. When viewed through the webcam, a 3D model of the car appears and cycles through a selection of colors. The model stays in a fixed position on the paper, so one can freely rotate around the car to see it from each side. If the camera cannot read the surface, say if the viewing angle becomes too oblique, the model promptly vanishes. A second example was a travel ad for Paris and featured a model of the Notre Dame Cathedral. A third was a facial recognition ad for one of the Transformers movies. The camera would focus on your face and superimpose the 3D head of Optimus Prime over your own. The final example was a second Audi ad featuring an interactive driving game. One holds the paper, which is printed with the image of a steering wheel. AS you turn the paper as you would an actual steering wheel the 3D car in the camera feed would swerve back and forth avoiding traffic cones.
After they had showed us their examples, a pair of chain-smoking local designers came in a demonstrated some of the video and 3D work they had done for television commercials. Most of their ads were for above top-shelf brands of liquor popular with the Chinese elite. We're talking about bottles of liquor that each cost upwards of 100,000 RMB. This is the kind of video editing work that Nick is familiar with, i.e. integrating 3D graphics into a recorded video or using the 3D graphics and video software to render an entire advertisement on the computer. The two gentlemen were very friendly and their work was definitely impressive.
Once Quin arrived I took the time to show them all examples of my work, focusing on my newer and more impressive Zbrush models, as well as my Second Life avatars. They were well received. I told them how Sarah helped me start 3D modelling my last year in college and that I have been teaching myself how to use the programs with very little outside schooling ever since. They were impressed with my initiative and determination to learn the software. They also liked my work in Second Life, and were amused by creating these interactive characters for distribution in my free time. Zbrush was very interesting to them because very few of them had ever used it, so my detailed models made quite an impression.
I came to learn that Quin wants to expand and diversify his already successful company and is looking specifically for talented Westerners whom he can bring aboard his new venture. There are already many local graphics, advertising, and media companies here in the city, but the businesses who advertise through Quin's company will pay extra to have their projects headed by a Western design team. He is offering Nick and I the chance to help him build this new company under his guidance. We can continue to scout for and recruit other people for the team, such as audio engineers and other digital media specialists. We know a few of them both here and abroad that might fit the bill.
Right now, Nick and I are putting together digital portfolios of our work, and playing around with ideas for a company name and an associated logo. Once we have these portfolios submitted to Quin, he can put our names out there to do freelance work for the next few months. Within the next year, Quin hopes to open an entire digital production studio and needs someone able to teach others how to use the 3D programs that they work with at Holotech. I told him that I would love the opportunity to do freelance work on the side of my EF job and that I would be excited for the opportunity to teach in his studio. As the business grows, we will be able to select the most talented individuals to work on our team continuing to expand until we can create a standalone enterprise subsidiary of Holotech.
Quin also has contacts in the game design industry here in China. Not only do they produce many individual games for mobile devices, but major video game companies around the work outsource some of the production workload here in China. Personally I would love to try and focus on turning our prospective business into an independent video game company, so that I could finally start work on my own game. In the long run, if it proves to be successful, I would also like to help others produce their independent projects, perhaps by helping them to outsource some of their asset production to the contacts we are sure to make in the future.
On the whole there is much to be excited about this holiday season and beyond.