Originally posted: Monday, 19 March 2007

Someone at work found this video from Autodesk (previously Alias) on YouTube about weta’s use of Maya..

I remember the time of this shoot… it was right after we had finished Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.  I had finished my contract at Weta and was on a two month holiday.. probably the longest vacation I’ve had since I was about 14 years old.  It was amazing.. every day I’d get up.. go for a run with the dogs along the Eastern Walkway, come back and just hang out.

About three weeks into the holiday I was sitting back on the porch in our house, drinking a gin & tonic , and listening to a Loop cd.  The sun was beating down, but there was a slight breeze, making it possible to sit out and not get immediately drenched with sweat.  The secadas were a lovely backdrop to the rhythmic beats coming from the stereo, and for the first time in nearly 15 years I realized that I was completely and utterly relaxed.

I had nothing to “get ready” for.

There was no work on monday, no “how am I going to solve this problem” thoughs running through my head.

I wasn’t stressed about what Peter was going to say about my next shot, or whether or not I’d actually be able to complete the shot in the time provided.

There were no Mel scripts to fix.

No renders to check.

No shots that could use just a little more love.

The only thing I had to do, at that moment, was scratch a tiny itch that I had on my right shoulder.

But I let it sit there for a few minutes.. just slowly itching away.. because I was enjoying doing--and thinking about--absolutely nothing.

Just the sun, a drum beat, a cold glass in my hands, and a spider slowly crawling across my shoulder that would scare the crap out of me in about 47 more seconds.

I hate spiders.