Shane Acker's 9

I just saw the finished theatrical release of "9". I had the honor of working on it last year in the Layout department at Starz. I had to go to the movie website for these photos. I hope they don't mind. One thing I found amusing was that pictured here with Shane Acker is Dave Baas. On the site where these photos are from, Dave is labelled as "George Kraychyk" I have no idea why!
Dave is a master of Maya and he taught me a lot of what I know. Anyway, that's Dave on the left, in the blue shirt, and Shane on the right.

This film is a beautiful piece of artwork! The designs are excellent and original and the lighting and surfacing departments outdid themselves!

These still images don't do justice to the atmosphere and beauty of the actual film.

Here's the "cat beast" one of my favorite designs in the film. This creature is awesome in that it's so creepy and nightmarish, yet so beautifully put together. A masterpiece of biomechanical engineering!

The "machine" is also a phenomenal design! It was rigged beautifully also!

Here are two of my favorite characters, 3 and 4, also referred to as "the twins". Their mannerisms are cute and comical, everything done in pantomime because they don't talk.
Their designs and body language are great! I want toys of them!

Here's another shot of the "machine". It had to be anthropomorphized of course so the audience could tell what it was "thinking". It's more like an evil beast than a machine.

Now here's the creepiest creature of all! The "Seamstress"! She was very difficult to work because of all of her many parts. Her rigging was a bit awkward, but by the time she got to animation, I'm sure they had figured her out. I worked on quite a few scenes with her and as time went on, I started to get to know my way around her controls.

Using CG models is not unlike puppetry. I am always impressed with what the modellers at Starz are able to create. That studio is full of top notch talent and I was so thrilled to be able to work among them! This project was one to be proud of for sure!