Hemant Singh – FX TD at CDL

Hemant Singh is a Special Effects Technical Director at Charuvi Design Labs in Delhi. Before attaining this position at CDL, he was a Technical Generalist there. Mr. Singh spent a short time as a Technical Artist and Developer Consultant. He filled the positions of Pipeline Engineer, Rigger and Developer at Ittina Animation Studios. Hemant received his education at Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) and Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, Bhopal.

CG Today : Mr. Singh, it is a pleasure to have you with us.

Hemant : Thanks.

CG Today : Mr. Hemant, you are currently the Special Effects Technical Director at Charuvi Design Labs in Delhi, a fledgling company begun in 2009 by Charuvi Agrawal. What makes this a studio with which you want to be affiliated?

Hemant : Well, I am working with CDL from the beginning and I found it to be really a nice place to work. The most amazing thing I like about CDL is its nice working environment. We are a small team; we all work together, learn, share and admire each other’s work. It is good to be a part of such an excellent team. And since this is a new company, I have got the chance to set up the production pipeline and experiment with my innovative ideas as well.

CG Today : Before becoming a Technical Director at CDL, you were a Technical Generalist. This sounds like the description of a professional who wears many hats. Did you find that to be true while in this position?

Hemant : Being a Generalist means doing lot of different things, jump back and forth between different tasks. A generalist could be anyone, a modeler, a lighter, etc. A generalist is a person who does a little of everything. Most people prefer to focus on specific tasks and they are pretty good with that, while others prefer multitasking. Being a generalist has its own benefits, like working with different departments and in that way you can get the advantages of overall consistency. I think it is good to hold qualities of both a specialist and a generalist.

CG Today : For a short while in your career, you were a freelancer. Tell us how you profited by being independent for a time.

Hemant : Being a freelancer is not always easy. It has its own challenges. The jobs don't arrive at right time and also there is no security in terms of finance, but on the other hand there are always interesting possibilities for you to follow up as freelancer. The best part of being a freelancer is you have complete freedom to do whatever and however you want to do. As a freelancer I got lots of opportunity to work on different projects which helped me develop my own style.

Cadbury Wowie Adventure Series commercials - Ittina Studios

CG Today : While at Ittina Animation Studios as a Pipeline Engineer, you were actively involved in developing the “Asset System” which restructured the whole pipeline. Can you tell us more about this system?

Hemant : Well, asset management system is the most important part of a production pipeline. In a fast production environment it is really challenging to keep everything on track and that’s where the asset system comes into picture. Ittina had an excellent pipeline team and the major part of the pipeline was developed by Mr. Blesson Abraham (TD) and Mr. Samy Ben Rabah (ATD & Developer). It was really an honor for me to work with them. At Ittina I was a part of development team and responsible for developing tools and handling rigging pipeline. I developed and designed lots of tools and plug-ins to facilitate production pipeline and workflow.

CG Today : At Ittina, you also served for a year as Rigger and Developer. We’ve heard it said that a good Rigger is “part animator, part programmer, and part interface designer”. What is your opinion about that statement?

Hemant : Rigging is an important part of an animation process. A character setup is an art with technique. Analyzing animation requirements and preparing a setup flexible enough to achieve desired poses and facial expressions requires good animation and technical skills.

CG Today : You worked on the Cadbury Wowie Adventure Series commercials when you were at Ittina, and have said that this was a “really amazing series”. Tell us more.

Hemant : Wowie was one of the interesting projects on which I worked. I joined the wowie team as a rigger and then later on I got chance to handle the entire pipeline for the project. It was a really fantastic experience to be a part of such an interesting project.

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