Justin Miller with some of the coke droplet characters he helped "bring to life" for the recent Monkeylab TVC advert for Coke

Within 12 months, Justin went from someone wondering how to break into the professional CG industry to recently being involved in high end high profile CG projects that seemed a world away.

After graduating from the 3d Character Animators course in 2006, Justin secured a number of contracts within the demanding broadcast industry in Sydney with well know high profile studios such as MonkeyLab and Promotion Studios, working on fully animated CG television commercials and corporate projects involving high end 3d and VFX shots.

Justin's most notable projects that you may have seen or heard about are the currently airing(Mar2007) coke TVC "Endless Summer" adverts and the spectacular 2006 Asian Games opening animation sequence in Korea, that was telecast throughout asia and the world in December 2006.

For more about Justin visit his website here >

Q’s Justin Miller: monkeylab Coca Cola TVC:

What is the team like at monkeylab? Are they all new to the industry or are there veterans as well?
Most of them are ex Animal Logic crew from as far back as Farscape, Cartoon Network and the recent Happy Feet movie.

Did you work with any other mad academy graduates on this or other projects? What was that experience like?
Yes. I worked with a fellow 2006 Mad grad, Nino Thaphavong. It was thanks to him that I managed to get a foot in the door, so it just goes to show how important networking is, even with your peers!

What does working on such a project mean for you in terms of what you learned along the way or for your confidence in your future career in the 3D industry?
Well, Coke is such a big company and a bonus to have on your resume and the monkeylab team are cool to work with. I've been fortunate to meet some very talented people and I've learnt heaps along the way.

Can you give us a brief breakdown of the Coke TVC project as a whole, and also detail some of the tasks that you performed within the 3D team that worked on it?
It's a 30sec TVC called, 'Endless Summer' and it's about these little Coke droplet characters that want the sun to stay up so they can party on at the beach. With the characters being made of Coke, we had to tackle things like reflection, refraction and giving them fluid like movement. There also had to be a method developed to hide the characters' faces for when they had their backs turned to the camera. My tasks involved creating up to 40 morph targets for each character, modelling the sun, lighting the planet shot and assisting in preparing multiple render passes for compositing.

How did you feel being involved in such a major 3D project so soon after leaving mad academy*?
Pretty good! It's satisfying going from wondering how people manage to get these jobs to actually being a part of it myself.

Were you happy with the work you achieved on this project, what might you do differently next time?
I've been happy working with a good team and I'm going to continue to absorb as much knowledge about 3d as possible.

Do you feel confident that you are a 3D artist now?
No, I'm at the beginning of what will hopefully be a long career. I feel confident with my work, but fully fledged professional? Maybe a few more years down the track.

How would you advise trainees to progress from starting out and training to a 3D production environment?
Be prepared for some long hours, hard work and be open to constructive criticism.

Q’s Justin Miller: On-going production work.

What kind of projects and tasks are you presently involved in?
Another project at monkeylab. Currently I'm doing some R&D, lighting, modelling and rendering.

Since working in some demanding commercial project environments, how would you say your (3D) skills have developed?
I've found that I'm able to get an end result quicker. For example, taking an idea or concept and actually creating it. And I have a much better grasp of Vray render settings and materials now.

Apart from technical skills what kinds of things would you now say an artist new to the industry has to learn to get on in VFX and 3D?
It's definitely a good thing to be able to draw as a means of visual communication. It's a plus if you know a bit of colour theory and you've got to have attention to detail.

Within the training environment at mad academy in what ways were you prepared and ‘readied’ for the demands of a pressure production studio?
Doing tutorials and learning keyboard shortcuts is one thing, but proper training can definitely teach you technique. At Mad you get taught by industry pros, which is a big plus, you get to drill them with heaps of questions and take advantage of their knowledge and experiences.

Do you have any other reflections about your learning process thus far and entry into the 3D workforce, based on your past career directions and ambitions, and do you have any words of wisdom for anyone out there considering getting into 3D / VFX as a career?
Reflections? I have come from a hospitality / customer service / retail background... 3D / VFX is so much better.

Words of wisdom?
Don’t be disheartened if you get knocked back, if it’s the career you want, stick to your guns and keep at it. Sending new examples of work to studios you have previously sent applications to shows how keen you are.