"My Fish People" is a creation of Gary Jesch, based on characters designed by illustrator Steve Gray and 3D animator Tom Knight.

We started working on it in the Fall of 2007 and have created web episodes which are appearing on YouTube and other animation sites. At the present moment, we are doing this in an improv format, much of it really fun and amazing as we discover just what makes these lovable fish characters tick.

Morphie

On the Reef - Morphie, Genus and Stickler

Where the people are like fish and the fish are like people - "My Fish People" is a story still yet to be written - so come back again and see just exactly where this creation by three unusual artists is headed. Will it be a TV show or a web video hit? Will Morphe, Genus, Delta and Stickler find an audience somewhere?

There are more questions than answers and still the whole thing seems just right. With a debut in Orlando at the fall conference of IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) behind us, there is suspense and excitement as we continue to work on the show. We've watched the characters come to life in our studio, and the process has been amazing.

Here's the first episode we made, with Morphie and Genus, completed in around an hour -

Here's our latest episode - "Counting" - which features Morphie and her sidekick Delta, in a video background provided by "Brown Sugar," a dive videography company from the Philippines -

Using two laptops connected together via a single wire, Digital Puppeteers Gary Jesch and Dana Stamos ad-lib their way through a few takes in rehearsal mode, and preview those. The takes are recorded directly in Premiere on a computer set up for video recording and processing. The script - well - no script - instead, Gary and Dana just ham it up a little bit, testing animation moves as they go along.

Morphie as a "galfish" in the video, is the same 3D design, only with a different paint job, called a texture map, prepared by Steve Gray. Gray designed the style for Morphie, and then adapted it to create the other variations.

The My Fish People" story is an educational one, teaching young people about their responsibility to the oceans, the reefs, and helping them learn about a world they have yet to visit. With the support of underwater videographers, we'll take our audience to incredible places under the sea where they can meet many of the diverse characters that populate both the fresh water and sea water worlds.

3D artwork is done in 3D Studio Max by Tom Knight , who builds the mesh for the models and then creates all the expressions, animations and functional elements of the characters, which are animated in the real-time animation software called "ToonMX." ToonMX is our newest software for doing live animation of characters. It is simple to learn, effective and does nice lip sync by making the lips move via phonetics, the sounds of the actors' voices.

For more information about ToonMX, visit our site at ToonMXUSA.com

All artwork and titles are copyright 2008 - CHOPS & Assoc. Live Animation. All rights reserved.