Keith McVeen featured in IAAPA's <i>Fun World</i>

Right on, Keith. You're living the dream. I can totally identify with the whole science vs. creative thing. It's awesome to be able to settle into something where you can do both.

Nice. :)

Great story, amazing work, cool stuff - congrats on making something you love to do your job Keith, that's a pretty rare thing it seems!

Way to go, Keith. Time to repress my jealousy some more.

Keith, you're such a cool guy I can't even bother being jealous, I'm just happy for you... :)

I've admired your work since I first saw your recreation of the Crystal Beach Cyclone some... what six years ago now? AMAZING work Keith, I am very happy you've found your true niche!

-Escher

Hell yeah! Tomoko says wow too, Keith. Congrats. We're stoked for you. :):)

Is Joe jealous yet? ;)

You can't even compare Keith's work to other animations done for parks. The ride is the next best thing to being real, the landscape with the surounding rides added are amazing, and one some don't notice at first are the people who are very lifelike. It's rare to see animations have people doing what people do in their work (it's usually no people or stills of people). I enjoy every animation he's done since his early Millennium Force video on Badnitrus. Great job and keep it up!
*** This post was edited by gomez 3/2/2006 3:54:43 PM ***

Very cool, dude. I too identify with the "engineering meets art" thing. Now if only I could find my niche. :)

He's only 24? Wow. What blew me away with the El Toro trailer (the one shown in the preview center) was watching the other rides running at their 'correct' speeds. The Mine Train is slowly chugging along and you've got the train from Kingda Ka running at warp speed over top of the bunny hill. Of course, Rolling Thunder is in there as well. The trailer was really well done, and I watched it like five times before heading home. I loved hearing the reactions of other park guests. Me and another gentleman both gasped the first time we saw that one really sharp drop-off.

There aren't a lot of people in the world that truly look forward to going to work every day. I am guessing Keith is one of them! Great job Keith!

^Yeah it's sure a far walk from upstairs to the home office downstairs...I mean there are like 15 steps! ;)

Good Job Keifington! :)

JC

What a great story. It's nice to see someone who does such quality (and cool!) work recognized.

I have a somewhat technical question...the article mentions that Keith uses 3D Studio Max. Does anyone have any pro/con input on 3D Studio vs. Maya?

The only thing I can offer, since I haven't used either of them, is the comments of my friends who HAVE. The biggest pro fro 3D? You can do just about anything you can possibly think of using it. That and I haven't really heard much about Maya, but I always hear good things about 3D.

-Escher

Thanks for the input, Escher.

From what I've read, it sounds like both applications have die-hard loyalist user groups. Interestingly, the company that owns 3DS (AutoDesk) bought the company that owns Maya a while back. They say they're still going to support and develop both apps, but you know how that goes...

Keith is the man! Great article! Congrats, man! Your animations are better than porn. ;-)

I am so happy for ya!

-Tina

*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 3/9/2006 10:00:08 AM ***