Frequently Asked Questions
[everything
you ever wanted to know about Cat Ciao]
last updated: 10.27.2000
Q: Why "Cat Ciao?"
A: Why not? In all seriousness, "Cat Ciao" is a classic case of art imitating life, but with a twist. One morning about a year ago, I was awaken by the sound of neighborhood birds running headfirst into my bedroom window. I thought that was kinda strange - a sort of a fluke in nature ala Gary Larson's "Far Side." Then a friend told me her cat would wait expectantly under her window for the same thing to happen, and pounce excitedly when the bird would pass out and fall to the ground. That moment was the birth of "Cat Ciao."Q: How did you come up with the title "Cat Ciao?"
A: I needed a working title early on in pre-production so I gave myself 15 seconds to come up with a catchy title. My thinking was that if it were a good title, it would come to me in that short amount of time, and hence meant to be. Otherwise, it'll be a long process of trial and error and brainstorming. Fortunately, the title "Cat Ciao" came to me in about 10 seconds and it just felt right. A play on words on many levels.Q: What kind of Hardware and Software did you use during the production of "Cat Ciao?"
A: For modeling, character setup, layout, shading & lighting, and animation were all done using AliasWavefront Maya v2.5 running on Sgi O2 & 320 workstations, along with a Sony P366 laptop. Rendering was performed on Sgi Origin 2000 and Challenge servers, as well as a dual Pentium 320 NT workstation.Q: What about post production, editing, and other softwares?
A: There was minimal compositing done. All the editing and sound mixing were done in AdobePremiere v4.2. Photoshop v5 was indispensible in the preparation of textures and titling.Q: How long did the project take?
A: Cumulatively, it took about 6-8 months. I was working on 3 films at one point of time during Cat Ciao's production so this is a ballpark figure.Q: How many people worked on the project?
A: 3Q: Who did what?
A: Ed Allard provided all the techno jazzy beat soundtrack using mostly Sonic Foundry's ACID program while Christina Ahn performed the wonderfully melo-dramatic violin playing in Act 2. (thanx Ed and Christina!) Everything else I did myself.Q: What was the workflow through the production pipeline?
A: Cat Ciao followed a traditional workflow in animation production. In order of execution, here's the pipeline:
Story & Visual Script
Character Design
Storyboarding
Animatic
Modeling
Set Dressing
Layout
Animation
Shading & Lighting
SoundFX & Music
Editorial
Of course it's never this linear but that's the general idea. Often times, there are feedback loops where a shot is sent back to the beginning of the pipeline if something needs to be fixed or modified. It's an endless vicious cycle. You almost have to be a little schizophrenic to do a project like this yourself.
Q: What was the most challenging aspect of the project?
A: The most challenging part (and also most time-consuming) was by far character setup. This is the step where a character is not only modeled, but rigged up to a virtual skeleton which controls all the organic deformation as well as designing and setting up all the UI associated with controling each custom animation parameter.
For example, to make "Spaz" the cat simply grimace or sneer, no less than 5 sliders would have to be set up to control the sneering muscles of the face along with the deformation and closing of the eyelids, and etc. The list goes on. Setting all this up for a total of 7 unique characters, all with very different body types, required re-engineering the rigging of each character from scratch each time. There was very little recycling of body parts unfortunately except for the bulbous ping-pong ball eyes. However, "Spaz" the cat did have its own eye design since the pupil of a cat is more elliptical than round. Ultimately, the character setup phase of the project alone took up over 50% of the whole production schedule. Animation was easy and fast in comparison.Q: What inspirations did "Cat Ciao's" tone and characters draw from?
A: I didn't want to make more cutesy, warm and cuddly characters that appealed only to little kids. The last thing the world needs is another Garfield-like character :) But instead, I wanted to create characters with an edge to them. Characters that have flaws but are ultimately endearing in their own ways. I think of Spaz as the epitome of the little bratty cousin we all have that perhaps should be on Ritlin :) He's rambunctious and rascally, but he's really only looking for his next meal so you can't blame him.
As far as inspirations, I've been a huge fan of Pixar's work ever since the "Andre and Wally B." pre-LuxoJr days. Their films have only gotten better and better since. So I think of Cat Ciao as inspired by Pixar meets Bill-the-Cat meets Wild E. Coyote meets Tom and Jerry.Q: What's up with showing the cat getting eaten by the big bad birdie? Isn't that a bit harsh? ..not to mention, disturbing?
A: Yeah. So what's the question?Q: Are you a cat hater? Or an animal torturer?
A: On the contrary, I really like cats and watch nature shows religiously. I wanted to be a zoologist or an oceanographer when I was younger. So no, I'm not a cat hater.Q: Where did you get the gruesome sounds of pigeon bones getting crushed and crunching?
A: Hate to divulge this but it's actually the sound of nuts being chewed by someone from a stock soundeffects CD. Just goes to show how much of the effect comes from the wild imagination of the audience doesn't it?Q: Rumor has it that there are some hidden "easter eggs" inside jokes in "Cat Ciao." Is this true? And if so, where and what are they?
A: In the tradition of Pixar films, I thought it'd be fun to add some easter eggs of my own in Cat Ciao. So if you look at the fireplace area of the house in Act 1, you'll notice a picture of a bulbous gourd-like character in a picture frame above the mantle. This is "Piccolo" from my previous short film entitled "Piccolo's Encore."
Also, if you look carefully, sitting on top of the fireplace mantle is none other than the famous "Utah Teapot" which is a running joke that computer graphics people have perpetuated for the last 3 or 4 decades. This is the very same teapot that Buzz Lightyear was holding in Toy Story 1 when he was dressed up like Mrs. Nesbitt, while "sucking down Darjeeling with Marie Antoinette and her little sister." I was lucky enough to find a Maya-friendly model of this very specific looking teapot on the internet. Notice the teapot has a chrome environment texture mapped on its surface. This is "cafe.rgb" yet another piece of significance in computer graphics history [for you geeks out there :)] If anyone finds anymore easter eggs in Cat Ciao, please let me know.Q: So where can we buy "Cat Ciao" mugs, T-shirts, posters, and boxer shorts?
A: Er.. hmmm... I'm not sure but that sounds like a great idea. Any volunteers out there?Q: Where can we see "Cat Ciao" on the big screen?
A: It was shown at this past summer's Animation Theaters at Siggraph2000 in New Orleans along with various other film festivals in California. Its status is pending for a few other festivals around the country and a couple in Japan. Stay tuned for news on that.Q: What about home video or such?
A: "Cat Ciao" is slated to appear on DVD distributed by the popular Odyssey3D Mind's Eye series of computer animation collection which you'll be able to purchase from places such as Tower Records, Virgin MegaStores, and Amazon.com. This is slated for sometime in 2001. So stay tuned for that as well.Q: Will there be a "Cat Ciao 2" movie?
A: "Spaz" the cat explicitly told me that he's reluctant to be typecast so early in his promising career. So he'll have to discuss this possibility with his agent and get back with me on this. So you'll know when I know.
if you have questions about "Cat Ciao," please don't hesitate to fire off an email or sign the GuestBook and I'll be sure to give you a snappy answer as soon as I mortally can.
