December 7 2004
The DVDs are on their way to my house and will be ready to ship out Monday Dec 13th 2004.

November 27 2004
Due to the enormous amount of hits this site has been taking, I have upgraded my server. Please be patient while I move everything over. I hope to not have any downtime at all, but if this site seems sluggish, it should be a momentary problem and clear up in a minute or two.

November 21 2004
Here it is, the new website. I'm still building many of the pages, so all is not complete, yet, so please consider this site to be in a testing phase.

LOR DVDs are now for sale... They will ship on or about Dec 10th 2004. Please read all about it on the store page.
Both Volume Two and a newly remastered reprint of Volume One are coming to you in full surround sound and in color.

November 18 2004
Done!!!
I just ate my celebration burrito. LOR Volumes One and Two are off to the printers. As soon as I get the OK from the replication house that every thing is a go, the new website goes online and I will begin to accept pre-orders. The estimated delivery date to my house is Dec 9 2004. Then I ship it to you and you and you. Joyness!

November 11 2004
Something wonderful happened today, I finished the LOR Volume Two DVD. Now I only have to sit back and watch it to make sure all is well. If everything goes according to plan, it should be in your hands by December 1 2004.
The LOR animation is 14 minutes long and the tutorials add up to just over 96 minutes. I'm headed for NYC for a wedding and when I get back I'll send it off to the printers for the first 1000 copies. Then I will re-master LOR Volume One for reprinting.
Happy Happy Happy
Stay tuned.

October 23 2004
LOR Volume 2 is complete.
Now I am finishing the animation tutorials, finishing the new website and and working on the movie compressions. Soon it will all be done.

October 14 2004
SpiderMusic
Here is an MP3 of one of many new LOR music queues. In the movie, this will blend between two other little songs and be battling for attention with a flock of other sound effects, but I liked it all by itself, so I would thought I would share it with you. More to come.

September 1 2004
Picture is locked and animation is done for LOR Volume 2. 16 days and 1 minute 30 seconds of new animation in new environments, it's been fun and now that is done. On to finish music and sound effects then a couple of more tutorials and we are go.
Thanks to all those who wrote me with moral support. It really helps.

August 26 2004
I'm standing at the tip of the edge of the end of the ending of the new animation work for Volume Two. I am very pleased with the results of the new ending for this sequence. Here is a still from the new stuff. I am very tired. Up till 5 am for a month now. Have seen the sun come up more then a few times. Running out of money. Very excited. Please send me an email if you are listening... I need moral support. Please include the word "LOR" in your email to help get through my spam trap.

August 15 2004
Ok, So I said I was done with the animation for LOR volume 2. That was then and now I almost really mean it. I was not satisfied with the ending so I had to go in and add an entirely new sequence of shots that take us a little further into story. I think I just ran out of steam and when I start finishing up the music I felt I had to leave it off in a better place. Now I'm very happy with the ending of this installment. I think you will be as well. The tutorials are almost done, just a few more to do. Please be patient, a big giant update is coming soon and a whole new website design to go with it.

June17 2004
The animation for LOR Volume 2 DVD is complete. Now I am finishing off the last bit of sound effects and and music. I am also beginning work on the tutorials. Very soon I'll have it all done and all will be well. Please stay tuned for upcoming release dates.
Also, check out my new puppy

May 19 2004
It's been a long time since a news update as been posted. Much has happened to me over the past 6 months. I got married, went on a honeymoon and bought a house with my wife Holly, and then moved into the new house. All this took a great deal of planning and backbreaking work. I have finally got the new Lots of Robots studio all set up and running in the new location, sitting on Liberty Hill overlooking the Castro in San Francisco. My life has changed... for the better.
During this time I have worked many contract animation jobs to help pay for all this busyness and still managed to almost complete the next LOR sequences for volume 2. Also, I have been working on a complete overhaul of the website. Now, I can finally put LOR on the top of my list of things to do.
Please stay tuned for the new LOR animation, a reprint of the LOR Volume One DVD and the release of the LOR Volume TWO DVD.

Swell News: September 9 2003
Years ago I was trying to make my way as a recording engineer. Making a living this way is mighty PITA to put it nicely. It's a nasty business and many will suffer or go insane. Imagine trying to get your paycheck from someone who thinks themselves a rockstar, but ain't.
But, I was fortunate enough to work with a few artists that transcended all that muddle. One of them was David Freel of Swell. I first met David in 1987 when I was just starting up my position at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. Working at the studio gave me a great deal of access to a very nice recording studio, and during the downtime and midnight hours David and I would work on his tunes as I learned the trade. David would record most of the basic tracks at home and then bring them in for vocals, guitars, mixing and whatnot. I also had the opportunity to play bass on a few tracks which is why I was so excited when David told me that he had resurrected a few of those songs from the late 80s for the 7th Swell album "Whenever Your Ready".
As I make my own creations I listen to lots of music and Swell is always on my playlist. I won't bore you with a critic's review, but I will tell you that Swell puts me in the mood for making animation, and I highly recommend buying the entire collection of Swell albums.
You can find it all at Beggars Banquet, Amazon,
or at your local record store.

July 27 2003 
I have just completed a new demo reel of my game cinematic work. Yes, I work for a living. Here you can see what I have been doing with all my time.

July 7 2003
I'm in the process of upgrading the lotsofrobots.com server to a new 60gb machine. Now I'll be ready to put up a lot of new images and movies.

June 28 2003
If you are planning to attend Siggraph this year, I'll be teaching a class for Discreet's 3dsMax. I hope to see some of you there. Here is the class info

Monday, July 28, 2003
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
3D Animation and Rigging with 3ds max
Instructor: Andy Murdock
Use IK controllers, reactor, wire parameters, custom attributes, and maxscript to rig a complex character. This will be a case study of a robot arm from LOR (Lots of Robots): the movie. Learn how to use each of these methods to streamline the animation process and quickly create complex animation effects.

Also, I'm hard at work on the next LOR DVD Volume 2. It will have new a new LOR sequence and more tutorials, scene files and scripts. I think I'll focus on character rigging and advanced facial animation techniques for the tutorials.

June 13 2003
I have added a test animation of the pod baby Beauzin to the
LOR3 preview page.

April 26 2003
Will you be in Finland May 9-10? I will. Catch my lecture/workshop at the Clone Film Festival.
Yes, I have been working on the installment of LOR. But, I also work for a living. I'm currently working on an E3 animation for the next version of Battlefield 1942. If you are going to E3, you can see it on the big EA screen. Then I start work on the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King playstation2 game. That should keep me busy trough the summer and set me up with enough money to spend more time getting the next LOR DVD out. Stay tuned.

January 27, 2003
Sundance is done. I had a wonderful time walking up and down Main Street looking for movie stars and fine foods. LOR apparently came in a close second as far as viewers votes goes. Thank you all who took the time to vote. The Sundance Online Film Festival folks were really nice and helped to bring a good deal of exposure.
    There was an interview on Wired.com about LOR... big thanks to Jason Silverman.
    Now it's finally time to get back to working on the next LOR sequence. More robot mischief and mayhem on the way.

January 16, 2003
Have a look at the new LOR poster
and the giant version at 5megs and the Humming Bird
and the little walking balls

January 4, 2003
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers EA video game trailer TV spot is online. I worked on this with Marco, Goose and Eric.

January 2, 2003   Happy New Year!!!
"LOR" is now playing at the Sundance Online Film Festival.
It sure could sure use your help. If I could get you all to go online and watch the "LOR" movie and give me a big fat 5 star rating, great things may happen.

The "LOR" page at the film festival is...
http://www.sundanceonlinefilmfestival.org/animation01_07.html

Sundance Online Film Festival Front Page is...
http://www.sundanceonlinefilmfestival.org/

Please take a look at all the animations at Sundance, and if you like "LOR" the best, then I could really use your vote (5 stars). To vote you will need to go the Sundance LOR page, click on one of the movie formats and when the movie window pops up you will see 5 rating stars. You must view the entire movie from the Sundance page in order to have your vote count. This will really help "LOR" some great exposure and make folks take a second look. I really appreciate your help and please please tell your friends.
I will be at Sundance in Park City, Utah January 20 - 23 to help promote "LOR" and give a screening, and do a Q&A session.

****LOR DVD News I have already sold over 340 copies of the DVD in just a month and a half. I have sent the disc to animators and fans all over the
world, including Istanbul, Mozambique, and the Dominican Republic. So far everyone has been very satisfied with their purchase and speedy delivery.
You can read the DVD reviews clicking on the "Store" page and then click on "Read the Reviews".
If you haven't purchased a DVD yet, I still have some left, but at this rate they should be all gone in a few months, and I may just move on to volume two which will have a different set of tutorials.

November 24, 2002
The LOR DVD seems to be a success. I had just over 100 orders the very first day, and another 63 over the weekend. I've sent orders to Mozambique, Istanbul and just down the street... this really is a global village. A big thanks to all those who took the time buy one.

November 21, 2002
A very big day, the LOR Volume One DVD is now up for sale. It's only been up for less then an hour and I already have 14 sales. Thank you kind people of Earth.

November 19, 2002
LOR has been accepted to the Sundance Film Festival.

Nov 4 2002
This is my favorite time of year. I have finished my money jobs and the DVD and now I get to work on the next installment of LOR. I have already created about 1000 frames of new animation, although this was easiest part of the new animation, it sure feels good to see it happening. I have created a new preview page for LOR3 here. Here you will see a few bits of things to come. Not much to see just yet.

Oct 18 2002
After recompressing all the assets a forth time and testing the DVD in every DVD player I could find, I have finally sent it out the door for duplication. I should get 1000 copies back in 12 days. The LOR store is almost ready as well.
I also just finished another round of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers video game trailer work for EA. This spot will be seen on film in theatres in Europe and on TV in the USA.

Sept 30 2002
I have finished the LOR Volume 1 DVD, and am now in the process of setting up an online store. I'm sending the master off for duplication today, so it should be just a few weeks until folks can purchase it online. Lots of Robots is now an official business with documents and bank accounts. It's my brother's birthday.

August 2002
I am currently working very much like a dog to get the LOR DVD out the door. I am very pleased with it so far. Not only will it have all the animations I can legally use, but also an hour and a half worth of animation tutorials. Many 3dsmax secrets laid open for your enjoyment and education.
I also worked on game cinematics for James Bond-EA

July 2002
I created the opening cinematic for the game Summoner 2

June 2002
I went to Maui.

May and June 2002
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
Andy Murdock and Marco Bertoldo created an animatedtrailer for the LOTR Playstation 2 video game. It played on the giant EA screen at the E3 show in LA.

April 7, 2002.
The popular demand of LOR 2.0 causes my web-server to totally freak out. My email was down for the better part of four days. If you sent me something during the last few days, I may not have received.
I've uploaded 3 new versions of LOR 2.01. I fixed a scaling issue with video that was causing the movies to look slightly pixilated. I also added a few sound effects at the end of the movie. It's all much better now.

March 30 2002
LOR version 2.0 is up. Yeah!!! Work will begin on version 3.0 very soon.

Feb 6 2002
I have added a new page of animations. Some really old and some very new animations including the most recent Sun Microsystems job.
Hey, check this picture of my studio… um apartment with all my guitars and toys laid out like Ummagumma.

Dec 10 2001
I have just finished working on a really big animation and music job for Sun Microsystems. This one minute all 3d animation and music gig was designed and directed by Drew Takahashi and produced by Jana Canellos. This was a dream job. It went so smooth, I guess because of the small team. Now it’s all done and I can get back to working on LOR.
I finally have the 5.1 surround mixing studio all finished, and the new LOR mixes are big and movie like. I may even go back and re-mix Rocket Pants in 5.1. These 5.1 surround mixes will be avalible on DVD sometime in early 2002.

August 13 2001
As the completion of LOR episode 2 approaches, I've redesigned the site a little, added space to the server for more movies and different movies sizes, and made a trailer for the new work.
Lots of Robots is starting to get some really good contracts… all smiles.

Join the Lots of Robots Delphi forum, and discuss the art of making a 3d animated short with other animators from around the world.

May 10, 2001
   A music page has been added to the gallery section. Here you can listen to mp3s versions of some of the songs and animation soundtracks created right here in the Lots of Robots studio.
   A link was added on the gallery page to a short 3d animation that I worked on while at Mondo Media entitled "Gone Bad". This a zombie-spaghetti horror classic that as been seen at the Sundance Film Festival, ResFest as well as a few other Festivals. "Gone Bad" was created and directed by my long time friend and colleague Marco Bertoldo.

May 1, 2001
   A link to Lots of Robots was found on the front page of CGChannel. In the next ten days, this helped to bring over 20,000 viewers to see "LOR" and "Rocket Pants". Thanks CGChannel.
April 6, 2001 After seven years at Mondo Media, I get laid off, I decide to go public with my art and animation. Lots of Robots is born.

contact Andy Murdock