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Kiel Figgins Animator www.3dFiggins.com 
::Transcript:: A grand battle is raging in space. Rebel soldiers are gathering to fight an invading race of xenophobic aliens bent on galactic domination. This war in space, cyber-space that is, unites players of the new massive multi-player online game, Tabula Rasa, in their quest to save a galaxy. Tabula Rasa is the kind of game that many animators dream about. Combining first-person shooter capabilities, and the social aspects of role-playing, Tabula Rasa is a strange brew of extraordinary creatures, monsters, and even a giant snake-like plant complete with slithering tentacles and a razor sharp beak. In order to create characters that incite fear and awe in their enemies, and move with the agility of warriors, the creators of “Tabula Rasa” have compiled a team of animation professionals ready to take on the job. Behind all the action is Full Sail Computer Animation grad, Kiel Figgins. His job as a Creature Animator with the Austin, Texas branch of NCsoft allows him to get up close and personal with creatures you’d hope to never see in real life. Kiel explains, “I came on as part of their Creature Team, so I do animation, riggings, skinning, scripting - all kinds of stuff.” While he enjoys animating all of the unique characters in the game, it is the “Maw” the creepy snake-like plant, which tops the list as his favorite. “That was so much fun to do,” Kiel says. “It has six tentacle arms and a huge beak made out of solid bone. It traps characters with its roots and simply tears them up if they get too close.” With a title meaning “blank slate” in Latin, more and more new players are being drawn to Tabula Rasa as the in-game characters start off simply changing, evolving and becoming more complex as you progress through the story. Offering a lot of character variety is a huge selling point for gamers, but also requires a lot more work at the hands of the animators. For Kiel, that also translates to more fun. “We get to animate such a wide variety of actions and movement,” he says. “We have a huge breadth of creatures that are pretty detailed and complex for games. Once we get the finer details animated, they really bring out the personality in a character and make them that much more believable and entertaining.” Early on, the animation and cinematics of the original animated series Aeon Flux, Jurassic Park and Warcraft 2 inspired Kiel toward a career in computer animation. His passion and talent propelled him though Full Sail’s degree program and even before his September 2004 graduation, his work had reached the radar of some very important people in the field of gaming animation. TKO software, a now closed gaming company in Dallas, Texas, noticed Kiel’s animation work on his professional website which was being featured on the popular computer graphics forum, CG Talk. He jumped at the chance to work for TKO, where he became an Animator for their various console, PC and hand-held titles. Once TKO shut down, Kiel’s website once again attracted the right attention. “After TKO, I put some of my latest animations on CG Talk and they made it onto the front page, and that’s pretty much how NCsoft found me.” Though games are his main focus, Kiel as also broadened and honed his skills by animating for national television. Through various freelance opportunities with Shilo Design, Kiel as worked on several Toyota Scion commercials and the 100th Anniversary Planters Peanut commercial. Currently at NCsoft in Austin, Kiel has found a perfect balance in the flexible, character-driven world of online gaming. “I had always planned on going into games,” Kiel says. “There is so much you get to do in terms of how many characters you get to animate [and] how much difference there is between one to the next. In the past two and a half years, I’ve gotten the chance to animate characters ranging from Miss Pac-man, Leisure Suit Larry, and now creatures in Tabula Rasa.” Although he eventually intends on breaking into cinematics, which focus more on storytelling, Kiel is currently thrilled to be creating three-legged, fire spewing aliens. “I’m really not the kind of person that likes to animate furry little creatures telling jokes,” he says. “I much rather prefer monsters, insects and big guns. Just having the chance to bring these creatures to life and see them all come together in a final product is inspiring on a daily basis.” Related Links: - Kiel's Website - Tabula Rasa's Website - Shilo Design's Website |