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Dan Whiting of Blue Sky Studios in New York, is a 3d animator on Ice Age. If you haven’t seen the trailer with the sabre-tooth squirrel trying to bury an acorn in snow, all the while dodging deadly glacier chunks, then you haven’t been to the movies in some time.

Movie buzz? Yeah, it’s generated enough hype to power California for years.

So do you think he wants to tell us about his role as an animator in the sure-to-be hit movie? Or maybe his contribution to Bunny, the Oscar-winning animated short by Chris Wedge?

No, all that takes a back seat to the real news around Blue Sky: Softball! That's right, sweaty, sexy, co-ed - Softball.

As coach of Blue Sky's softball team, Dan Whiting, with co-coach Kevin Thomason, led Blue Sky to a 10-2 record, their best ever, and on through the playoffs until they won their league Championship. It was in a heart-breaking loss, in extra innings no less, that they were eliminated from League B Champions (The leagues are arranged in order of difficulty and sponsorship, League A being the most difficult, seems to be mostly stocked with minor league baseball players waiting for a phone call). Nevertheless, the team walked away proud, and looking forward to the beer and chicken wings that traditionally followed their games. So while the movie is coming along well, and Bunny was cool but too bad it took 10 years to make and all, things are going OK at Blue Sky. It's raining outside today, Dan says, but you can bet he's already thinking of those sunny days on the softball field next spring.

So after requesting more information about his life aside from softball, he has this to say:

Dan's background and interests were always art-related. Oh... except for those 4 years he did in the Air Force working on nuclear missiles. That's a little more Republican than it is black-jeans wearing art liberal. He went to Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida, and it's too bloody hot to wear black down there.

All in all, he says it was a great period in his life. After graduating college in 1995, he got work right away at a small 3D animation company in Manhattan. Dan worked with some great people and tried to experience the greatest city in the world. He says NYC probably can't be experienced in one lifetime, but that it's fun to try.

After a year, he was raided by Blue Sky and has been there ever since, doing mostly character animation until shifting to FX animation for Ice Age. Socially it's probably a step down, but those character animator types get a little uppity sometimes anyway.

Dan's thoughts on production:
Thoughts may vary on a daily basis.
One day my only thought might be how frustrating Maya collision detection is. Other days I wonder in amazement at the seemingly odd decisions made by people that are 20 levels of responsibility above me. Again, this seems so negative. Often I'm thinking about traditional animation and broad film-making principles. This helps me to better handle my shot and how to make it work best.

Most of the victories are small, and you are lucky if they even get noticed by the guy in the next cube. But I like to think my contribution is making this a better film. I can go home and know that I am part of a solution and not part of a problem. Try to work that way. Almost everything, whether it's a game or a ride or a film, has the potential to do something cool.

Of course, maybe I'm part of the problem to the publicity people who never come by my desk anymore when they take a group of investors on a tour through the studio...

For more of Dan's thoughts on production, be sure to visit our featured article: A view from Within.

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