Animation - Multimedia - Rendering
About JAB
John A Burnham
John A Burnham (JAB)
My name is John Albert Burnham, I am a Detroit native who has had a professional career in computer graphics for over 27 years. I have also been a rock musician my entire life. I have four adult children from two different marriages, with my first ex-wife being one of my best friends. I attended broadcasting school in 1987 and quickly began my career doing 3D animation and multimedia in general. Although I do not consider myself to be a an "Artist" perse' (I do not title myself as one) I have accomplished countless visual pieces for many significant companies over the years. My natural born talent as a singing drummer (among other instruments) which in itself is considered an art form by some has brought me a lifetime of joy. I've concluded that my musical talent must translate to visual art. In the field, what I lack as an "artist" I make up for in technical skill and ability.
Personally, I am an easy-going guy who has a great sense of humor. I am a team player with a goal for success. I am a sponge for learning anything that continues to increase my knowledge and inspires me to be an essential asset for any company that includes me on their team.
Knowledge and Experience
My first graphics only related employer was in 1989, I had consistent employment after that for the next 27 years. Due to personal reasons and Covid-19, I took a 5-year hiatus from the field of all thing's multimedia. Today, in 2023, I am ready to begin the next phase of my professional life.
Learn more about my previous employers!
Please click the link below to download my current resume.
Software Experience
Graphics
Animation 2D/3D
3D Rendering
Compositing
Video Editing
Audio
JAB Employment History
How it all began...
After my graduation of the Specs Howard School of Broadcasting in the fall of 1987, I interestingly fell into the field of animated computer graphics. While shooting and editing wedding videos for one company, I was also working part time as a grunt at another company called Digital Animation Corporation. The bonus of working there was that I was given 24/7 access to the office. On open evenings, I would go to the office, and I would make an aggressive attempt to learn at least two of the three computer systems they had. The Dubner Painter, the Dubner CBGII and a "high-end" system called the Cubicomp. The Cubicomp (at the time) appeared way too complicated (for my fresh virgin mind) to bother with, so I set my sights on the Dubner systems. Much the same then as it is today, I was determined to learn the systems the best I could to become sufficient enough to be employable. As luck would have it, a few months after I began my quest, the actual operator of the CBGII system quit in the middle of a hot project, and all eyes turned to me. When asked if I thought I could finish the job, my newfound professional attitude of "CAN DO" allowed me to respond to my employer with a confident positive affirmation. I had to admit, I had no idea how to use the 1" video tape machine or the router, but I eventually got it all figured out. I successfully completed and delivered the job pleasing the client (GM) and my employer.
I was subsequently offered a full-time job from my efforts , and the rest as they say, is history.
Dubner's version of the Quantel Paintbox - 1988
Dubner's CGBII (16bit) 3D animation system
(keyboard and transform monitor on far left)
JAB Employment History
- Sterling Sound 1987 - 1988
- Digital Animation 1988 - 1990
- Ross Roy Group. 1991 - 1994
- Bustamante group. 1994 - 1995
- Word Pictures, Inc. 1995 - 2005
- Raytheon Professional Services 2005 - 2010
- Team Detroit (The Park) 2011 - 2012
- Nissan Automotive 2012 - 2016
- XMCO 2018 - 2018
- JAB Media Services (freelance)
TBA
JAB 2023
3D DEMO REEL
Please enjoy this embedded YouTube video of my 2016 reel.
My 2023 demo reel is coming soon!
Technical Illustration
Experience
I have been an "illustrator" since the early 90's. The majority of art I've made has been black and white "user manual" type support pieces. I've created many works for the Chevy Corvette collision dept at the GM Tech Center for Word Pictures, Inc. Additionally, in 2018 I held a job at a company called XMCO creating military artwork for technical manuals for TACOM using both Illustrator and CorelDraw!. I found CoralDraw! lacking in efficiency in many ways. Simple things such as "saving a file" were needlessly tedious to me, so I fixed the problem by writing Macro scripts.
Skillsets
The vector path tools of Adobe Illustrator are the same as in Photoshop and After Effects. I've made countless profile illustrations over the years for 3D modeling purposes. I've also made full color logo pieces for local musical bands.
Sometimes a client will request an illustration made by exporting 3D CAD data.
I've done this with several CAD applications, including Maya, Deep exploration and IDEAS.
Utilized Software
Adobe - Illustrator
Coral - CorelDraw!
Creo Parametric is also a widely used program to obtain 3D illustration art through export. Although I've never used it professionally, I do have a demo version of it. The 3D manipulation and export procedures are the same as any other program. Given a solid reason to embrace yet another program, I would learn Creo Parametric, as well as any other program that maybe required for professional use.
Click the image for a PDF file of example 1
Click the image for a PDF file of example 2
Art for example 1
Art for example 2
The Benefit of Render Passes / AOV's
Render Pass Examples
Beauty Pass
A pass that is identical to a normal master output render. When the other passes are combined and adjusted, the output result would essentially look exactly like the beauty pass.
Diffused Pass
A pass used to control the scenes color information.
Reflection Pass
A pass used to control the scenes specular highlight information. Typically, the most adjusted pass of all of them.
Ambiant Occlusion Pass
A pass used to enhance a fake global illumination effect by emphasizing the dark areas of corners and hidden areas. Using a multiply blending mode, the white areas disappear while black areas remain visible to be adjusted to taste.
Maya / Arnold and AOV's
Render Passes
In the 3D world, a typical 3D render can involve hundreds, sometimes thousands of individual visual frames that are compressed together in a compositing program such as After Effects. Any major visual changes that an artist may desire to "tweek" would require that person to re-render the entire sequence again to see that change. A very time consuming and lengthy process. Luckily, there is a feature called Render Passes!
This wonderful option allows the rendering software to extract and save certain visual data individually for use inside compositing software. Each pass file is imported and layered on top of each other giving the artist complete control of their values. This method allows immediate adjustment of anything the final image may need, eliminating the need to re-render the entire project for every tweek desired.
Typical render passes used are:
- Beauty
- Reflection
- Refraction
- Ambiant Occlusion
- Shadow Matte
Over a dozen additional pass option are available.
AOV's (Arbitrary Output Variables)
AOV's are yet another method of rendering specific aspects of an animation project. You can create countless AOV's. They can be used to isolate and render specific objects in a scene, as well choosing a desired camera, change render settings, matte out any target objects and many other choices.
AOV's are a powerful rendering asset and are available in all Autodesk 3D based software's after 2016.
I have a comprehensive understanding of render passes and AOV's, as well as how to productively use them.
Art Gallery
Images rendered with
Maya w Arnold, KeyShot
3DS Max w Corona or VRED
Graphics on Display
2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit
During the 2010 North American Auto Show in the heart of Detroit, the Chevy Corvette division had an impressive display assembled to promote it's new Z06. Along with the actual car, the presentation included a kiosk video display which highlighted many of the car's special features. One of these features was the new LS9 "Blue Devil" engine and it's unique oil sump system (the same concept that airplanes use to avoid oil starvation during high G-force scenarios).
While I was employed at Raytheon (RPS), General Motors requested a 3D animation of the LS9 engine and the sump oil flow path months before the autoshow for a non-related training video. I was tasked with the request and completed the job.
The entire project was GM CAD data, prepped, animated and rendered in Maya with Mental Ray.
Months later, much to my delight, GM chose to use the same animated piece as part of the Z06 kiosk sequence of LS9 engine oil sump presentation video.
Pointing to the kiosk displaying an animation I created for GM at the 2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit. (Employer: Raytheon RPS)
Photo Realism
Is it real, or is it Memorex?
FLA 2.0 Engine - Rendering in KeyShot
Hummer SUT - Rendering in Maya w/Arnold
Is it really necessary?
From the beginning of my career, the focus and production requirements for the majority of the 3D projects I worked on, for any employer pre 2011 were about successfully conveying the producer's/ SME's vision. It was not about photo realism.
Required, or Desired?
As time went on and rendering engines became more advanced, achieving photorealism was accomplished with much less effort and allowed much more artistic freedom.
It's the Norm
Today, with Arnold, KeyShot and countless other rendering engines providing a producer with photorealistic images and animation's is not such a tall or time-consuming order anymore.
Lincoln MKZ - Rendering in VRED
CMAX - Rendering in 3DS Max
