Biography Guidelines

To ensure your biography is accepted, it must meet the following requirements.

• Keep your biography brief - no more than 150 - 200 words. Bios that exceed the allowed length will be returned for editing.
• Include your current position and a brief mention of work history and experience that is relevant to your session topic and audience (the focus is on brief and relevant).
• Include academic qualifications, awards, and a reference to published work, but only if applicable to the material you are presenting.

Examples of Acceptable Biographies

Eddy Xuan, AXS Biomedical Animation Studio
Eddy Xuan is a co-founder of AXS Biomedical Animation Studio, a production house that focuses on creating high-end scientific visual effects, most recently for the third season of the television series ReGenesis. He also teaches visualization methods and technology as a part-time instructor in the Biomedical Communications Masters program at the University of Toronto. Before entering the field of medical animation, Xuan worked for 10 years in film and television production. He created the visual effects for the CG feature Everyone's Hero, the first prime time CG TV series Game Over, and the popular DVD series Veggie Tales. In addition to his M.Sc.BMC from the University of Toronto, he also holds a Bachelor of Engineering in industrial design from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a postgraduate diploma in computer animation from Sheridan College. See http://www.axs3d.com and http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/bmc/faculty/xuan.html to learn more.

Marc-André Guindon, NeoReel
Marc-André Guindon is the founder of NeoReel [www.NeoReel.com] and has partnered with Autodesk on many projects, including the book series Learning Maya and many MasterClasses and DVDs about pipeline techniques. Guindon is an Autodesk Master Nominee who has established complex pipelines and developed numerous plug-ins and tools, such as Animation Layers for Maya, for a variety of projects in both the film and game industries. His latest projects

include Prey (2K Games) for the Xbox® 360, Arena Football (EA Sports), and the Outlaw Game Series (Hypnotix). He served as previz director on Journey 3-D (Walden Media), as well as technical director on Unearthed (Ambush Entertainment), XXX2: State of the Union (Revolution Studios), Scooby-Doo 2 (Warner Bros. Pictures), and Dawn of the Dead (Universal Pictures).

Class Outline Guidelines

• Include a descriptive title for your session(s). Prospective attendees should be able to get a good idea of the session from the title alone.
• Indicate the experience level your intended audience should have to benefit from your session [All Levels, Advanced or Master] (See Experience Levels for an explanation of each level.)
• Describe what will be presented. Focus on the material to be covered and the benefits to the attendees. Keep it brief - approximately 100 words.
• Identify whom the session is intended for (e.g. job titles, industries, etc.), your target audience.

Class Outline Examples

Maya techniques in Biomedical Animation
Skill Level: Beginning to intermediate

Learn about approaches to visualizing various biomedical topics. This session explores the methodology of using the Maya® particle system in rigging and animating an enveloped virus, such as HIV, as it invades a host cell. Using Maya hair capabilities in a non-traditional way, we rig and animate flagella on a bacterium, such as E. coli, in a naturalistic, dynamic, and convincing fashion. The environment that these bacteria and viruses occupy can be composed of complex, interwoven organic mesh-like fibers; modeling them by hand can be tedious and challenging. Discover ways to let a particle system dynamically generate the components of these structures. By learning these techniques, computer graphics artists can be inspired to create more accurate, compelling, and believable representations of the many worlds of biology.

This session is designed for Maya users familiar with Maya workflow and interface, as well as visual effects and computer graphics artists with basic knowledge of MEL and/ or expression writing and an interest in creating believable scientific animation or learning unique uses for Maya functionality. No previous advanced programming or biomedical knowledge is required.