I recently posted about the titles for the short film. Well now they are completed. The style of graphics are not refined as request of the client. :) I think this has defiantly being an experience and we have learned a lot from it. Every project we accomplish is another learning experience and another opportunity to get better.
This project we had less than 2 weeks to work on in the end, which was a tight deadline on top of everything else, but we got it done. Yay and a day before deadline. High five!!!
The client wanted rough graphics, a journey of driving and rough animation. Using 3d planes and simple animation a along with simple particles and motion blur is how I got the result. The style was hard to pull together since generally I am use to refining animation and look a lot. But he wanted it to be more child like, than refined and prefect.I think we achieved that :)
Check it out, not bad for a week and a half work. :)
I would of liked to add some motion blur to the shot itself not just the car, but after effects just couldn't handle it so I had to cut back. Its unfortunate, but sometimes to save time and to save your computer you have to make a sacrifice.
Now onto working on my short animation, which is coming a long well. I have almost finished rigging the character, but because of the late nights over the titles I have had to push it back a little, but it is tomorrows job. I need to at least have some blocked in animation done by the end of next week, so next
thing on the list to do, work on my short. :) I am quite proud of myself for working hard at the moment. Things are finally progressing.
I don't know if you remember my robot animation from a little while back. But I have finally finished it. YAY!!! :) So check it out.
Also I have being working on Titles for an film short called Mum. Its a part of an assessment for a TAFE project. The assessment is in teams and I am working with an amazing artist called Caitlin (her blog http://animatedthinking.blogspot.com.au/ ). We were lucky that we got put together since we work really well together. :) When we had our first meetings we decided to split the load a bit and since the group we pitched our ideas too like Caitlin's graphics and my idea we agreed on her doing the graphics and me working on the animation.
We worked on the first storyboard ideas together and from that I took the graphics she made and put them into a quick animatic (since at the time we had a real tight deadline)
We got feed back from the group and they decided that they wanted to make a heap of changes on the layout and style. They essentially wanted the city first and then a forestry area later and to take out a lot of the stary bits. They also wanted to swap around the driving of the car. Taking their remarks I made the quick changes. :)
This is what the second version looked like.
I cheated to saved time and flipped the whole comp around and then reversed the words. There was a couple of issues with the new version, it was looking odd. So we convinced them to swap it back. The other issue was the last shot (the pan to the stars). It wasn't fitting the first shot of their film, so that ended getting cut. Also The gut in between was odd.
While I was making the changes Caitlin, got the approval of the graphics. She then sent them to me and I laid them out. I found that there was another problem with our titles. They were looking flat and lacking any depth. So I changed the setting in after-effects and went with using a camera and playing with the depth.
This is our current progression. The timing needs to be faster paced and the car animation needs to have a major fix but the graphics are in and it is looking pretty cool.
This just shows the importance of development and trying out lots of different things. :)
Oh yes you did read it correctly. I have finished Abagail. After having a short deadline to complete her in (a week to be exact) I have gone from this mutant from planet mars...........
to this :)
I was dreading doing Abagail, because the last time i did any sought of character modeling I was so bad at it. I think gaining a better understanding of topology and anatomy have really helped me in my modelling. That and also spending a lot of time doing research and finding reference. Next step for me is RIGGING!! I can see now how big a year has made for me. This time last year I couldn't even model a block of wood (slight dramatisation). I hope to carry on and get better and quicker at this. Hopefully I can cut the time in half next time I model characters.
After I have completed the rigging I am going to start blocking in the animation and last of all texturing. I have pushed texturing back due to time limit and having to produce something for the sound students. I realise now that I won't be able to achieve as much as I has wished to do, but I want to accomplish a few scenes at least.
This is going to be my side project for a bit after I finished TAFE. I do want to be able to finish it at some point and show people that I am capable of producing a short. But obviously time is of the essence and it has being a crazy year.
Hay all in the internet's world. Did you miss me??? ha ha ha of course you did.
Now after a hectic amount of weeks at TAFE and hitting those nasty deadlines I finally have some spare moments to write on this blog. So over the past 5 weeks we have done a bunch of work.
First I have started to work on my extensions for the film and TV students project The Distant Future. Firstly I took the shots into photoshop and drew up my storyboard concepts and style guide.
I want to get a very clean an isolated feel to the shots I create as per my style guide.
The shots were all taken on green screen which I then took into Nuke and have keyed them in nuke and tracked them in syntheyes. I exported the track and imported the script in max, to make my background shots. Some of the non-tracked shots I just drew the background up instead of modelling them, to give a better idea of how the background is going to look. Its not a magical masterpiece of work, But it is just to demonstrate the concept and layout more.
Shot 1: I stabilised this shot in nuke and removed the green screen. Thu guy still looks a little odd in the scene since he seems to be moving around the shot, but he is in fact just leaning in the shot. I still need to clean up the green screen keying work, make the background and remove the green from him (some grading).
Shot 2: This shot has the same changes too make with the first one with the keying of the green screening and the colour grading. The thing that I will need to concentrate on this is the particle effect in the comer. There is going to be a hologram thing on the table, which I want to play around with particle effects to create.
Shot 3: This shot has to have some changes to the green screen and the colour, but also I need to work on making the clothes changer. I will need to work on making the machine on separate layers to integrate the scene into the footage. because the machine is made of glass and has a cylinder coming down when he changes clothes. I also want a flash of light, so I will have to work on some lighting effects.
Shot 4: Not only do I have to key the green screen, but there are a few problems with this shot. The biggest problem is there is parts in the scene where one of the characters arm hangs off the green screen. I have to roto that bit out. Also there is a little problem with tracking it can't pick up the depth. so as a fix the for ground element the chair. I am going to render separately, place on a card and track in the scene.
The second project I have being working on is rigging and skinning a character. I have had some issues with this project, since at first I just did a standard foot, but then was told to work on a reverse foot set-up. Then with doing the rigging I fixed it placed set driven keys on it and then found the knee out alignment due to an issue with the IK handle. So after a bit of frustration I fixed to to work properly. On the plus side I did get a lot of practice of set driven keys.
So here after a bit of messing around I have a completed skinned rig. hurrah.
The Completed rig.
The Bones and controllers
Heel roll using set driven keys
Toe Pivot using set driven keys
Toe roll using set driven keys
Crouching
Hip movement
Back rotation
a
head and neck movement
The arms Bending
Making a fist using set driven keys.
I am happy the way he has turned out.
Also over the last 5 weeks as you may already know I have being working on my animated short. I have updated recently about it and in the last 2 weeks haven't done much but I have added a fence and started to form the paths a little more. I have also started playing with the path a little more and moving the pedals around. In the next week I hope to complete this and my character. Also I am getting some really awesome sounds from the sound students. This animation is going to be awesome!!!
Lastly I have started work on this robot animation and after running up and down a chair for afternoon and looking like an idiot I got reference footage. The reference has really helped me make the animation look more believable. I am happy the way it is going. This is some of the blocked in animation.
He is dragging an invisible chair!!! at the moment I am just blocking the animation first and then I am going to add a constraint to the chair so It locks into position with his hands this way I can have it in the location that it would be in and then can change the positioning later.
Also as a last note, I have currently seen the work that the film students have created and it looks amazing. Caitlin (my team mate) and I are currently working on the storyboards and animatic for it. So we should have something soon to show.
Also EXPO prep has being under way. Being a mentor for it has proven an interesting task, but currently am collecting work for a showreel, which is going to be edited together for the website and some other places.
Oh and I am hoping to have a website up soon, in prep for expo and also for jobs later, I haven't built one before but it is going to be an interesting experience and something extra to learn. So fingers crossed I hope it goes well.
Sorry for the long blog, but hope you find it interesting
So a little of progression of yesterdays afternoons work. After a look over from my lecturer there were some changes in the scene. I was looking for cobblestone textures nothing seemed to be working it was looking too flat, so I modelled them. they look a lot better now. I am still playing around with them a bit. Also The lecture suggested that perhaps I should add some walls, paths and grass. So I have being placing around some mock wall placements at the moment, to see where I would like to put my walls and also put some grass in. Using the hair and fur modifier tool, I wanted a stylised looking grass so I played with the settings and I think that came out well. I also pushed my houses back a bit more in camera to make more path space, but I am thinking about moving the camera over a bit more to cut out more of the road and show more of the houses. I think this is looking good.
I have gotten reference for what I want my wall to look like, I think that these looked awesome, so I want to model them. :)
That is going to be one of tomorrows jobs. Also I have being working more on my character, after getting an analysis of my topology of my Abagail model I have had to revisit parts of it but it is working out better, and easier to model, I understand the importance of the topology more now.
I have gotten a little behind schedule on this now since, I have being getting more suggestions for environment and technical problems (my computer is being evil Satan has possessed it), but I am looking to get on track in the next week or two, crossing my fingers on that one :)
So she comes into creation from the embryo of my mind to now coming into the world and growing from a small polygon, to bigger things. Oh sigh to see my baby grow up to be a big girl. oh the tears.
soon she will become her own person and there is only the time to teach her the lessons of her life and let her be on her way.
So I have made my first shot and it has the cam movement locked off. This is the establishing sequence to my short. I have created it in 3ds max and have used some of the max trees.
collectively this scene took me 2-3 days to model. It has everything from rubbish bins, to a fire hydrant in it.
next step is to start texturing the scene and the lighting of the scene. Its going to have a very English feel and is going to be all in black and white. I am hoping to finish this guy here this week so hopefully I should have it fully textured for you guys to see this week.
Also I have made my production guide, so far it looks like its keeping on track. Its looking bright and as long as I keep at it in the next few weeks hopefully I should have my main character modeled, the non main grey guys and the next scene done ready for the animation next term.
Oh the long journey of no sleep and pale skin (paler in my case), from lack of sun is ahead. It will all be worth it for this epic adventure. So good bye light and the outside world. I shall see you on the other end.
pretty happy with this since it only took less than 3hrs. I made a fire hydrant because I can :P This bad boy here is going to be put into my set for my animation. I am just adding things to the set to make it seem more interesting and realistic.
So I have finally had the chance to start modelling, oh my hands are shaking in excitement, clam the mouse down. At the moment I have being putting in just the props and playing with the layout of everything, in my pre-viz everything seemed really crowded so now I am giving me the dancing space. Check out some of the progression of this mornings work, oh I feel the excitement.
Just playing with some ideas here to see how i want to layout everything. this shot is a pan down so I want a slight reveal too. Also its English inspired, yes me and the English form of inspiration. I have cheated by playing with the symmetry and sizing on the houses to give an idea of it being a different house without me having to make a hundred models, but this is only going to take me so far, to extend my buildings and away. Yay!!!
So I have finished my pre-viz. So check it out. Nothing amazing yet not till I get my hands into doing some good old modelling.
Now with cameras and settings mocked up I can now work on modelling, which is super exciting this is my favourite part of making animations, the modelling. I don't know what it is but I love it. Looking forward to the next bit. For now I have to work on other projects until my work on animation day Friday. Friday is now my new favourite day and not because of the weekend. Yay onto bigger and better things I say for-war-d. Hurrah
Here is a refined animatic this is to give a better idea of the environments shots and the animation. currently I am working on the pre-viz, then onto the modeling. :)
This is my final update for the pre-production of my short, I have got all my character designs, environments scripts and everything else worked out. Have a look see into this amazing mind of mine :P
script
Abagail
(brings joy)
By Alana Williamson
Script v 2
EXT. MAIN STREET, REAL LIFE -- DAY
Street full of silhouettes of people walking down the
street.
Abagail in bright clothes and rainbow socks as she is walking
along the street as silhouette pass her by.
ABAGAIL
(CHIRPY)
Dah, dah, dah dah dah.
Abagail has a bright smile on her face happy. Looking oblivious to her surroundings. She walks with
a light bounce in her step as she hums.
In the reflection of her eyes you can see the bright
reflection of something she is seeing.
CAMERA SWIVELS AROUND TO REVEAL:
EXT. MAIN SREET, ABAGAIL’S IMAGINATION – DAY
There are bouncing houses and sunflowers as she continues
her traveling down the street. There seems to be less people around or none.
ABAGAIL (CONT’D)
Abagail continues her walk down the street. Her pigtails
bouncing.
Abagail looks towards some sunflowers that lay in a flower
bed. The sunflowers look up gleaming at her.
FLOWERS
Boing boing boing
A house slightly warps to reveal a small smile.
Abagail Continues her journey along the road.
MONSTER (DOG)
Growllll!!! Yip!!!
Abagail hears a noise from a dark alleyway.
She stops and listens to the growling noise, growing
increasingly more nervous.
MONSTER (DOG)
(GAINING IN VOLUME)
Growwwllll Yip!!!
A shadow appears on the wall in front of Abagail. Abagail
looks at the shadow shocked and unable to move.
The shadow gets bigger on the wall.
MONSTER (DOG)
(ALMOST A SHOUT)
Growwwlll!!!! Yiiiipppp!!
The noise echoes as it comes out of the alleyway.
Abagail finding the sudden strength to move runs in the
other direction away from the alleyway.
The shadow on the wall disappears and from out of the alleyway appears a cute
little poodle.
MONSTER (DOG)
Yip!!! Yip!!!!
The monster (dog) smiles as Abagail runs further off into
the distance.
CUTS TO:
EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND – DAY
Abagail runs down the street running past the school gates
to a pole.
Out of breath Abagail collapses on a pole
ABAGAIL
(PANTING)
Puff puff.
Abagail finally gets the strength to pull herself off the
pole. Her cheeks flushed from the running, she pans the school playground.
Abagail spots tow kids a girl and a boy, her friends talking
next to the play equipment.
Abagail runs up to the two children. Falling on top of the
girl, she stops to catch her breath.
ABAGAIL
(PANTING)
Puff puff puff.
Abagail starts to tell her story of the monster to the two
kids. Getting really animated and wide eyed she shows them about the almighty
big monster.
ABAGAIL
(GRUFF)
Grooowwwwllll!!!
Abagail’s friend both turn to look at each other. They both
start to smirk at each other until neither of them can hold it in any longer.
The friends both burst out in laughter at Abagail.
Abagail gets angry about her friends laughing at her so she
stomps off. Her friends start making fun of her as she leaves. As Abagail stomps of she starts to cry just a
little. Then she get sad.
FADE OF COLOUR, CUT TO:
EXT. MAIN STREET, REAL LIFE – DAY
Abagail walks up the main street again. This time it’s full
of all the people again. They are like blurs to her. One of the people in a
hurry knocks Abagail over and she falls to the ground.
Abagail starts to cry, she has given up hope.
A tear falls from Abagail’s eye, it hits the ground and this
monster appears.
Abagail oblivious to the little pocket sized monster
continues to cry. The monster happily walks over to Abagail’s hand and touches
his little paw on it. Abagail looks around, looking for a person, but doesn’t
see any one.
Abagail looks down and see the little monster gleaming up at
her a big goofy smile on his face. Abagail picks him up with her two fingers
and holds him in her hand up to her face.
She smiles at the little monster and cuddles him into her
chest. Abagail, then pulls him up to her
face and he hugs her cheek.
CUT TO:
INT. LOUNGE ROOM --
DAY
Abagail and the monster have a little tea part together. The
monster is way to small for the chair though. The monster beams up at Abagail.
CUT TO:
EXT: MAIN STREET, REAL LIFE -- DAY
Abagail is walking down the street with the little monster
sitting on her shoulder.
CUT TO
EXT: GRASSY FIELD
Abagail is looking for the monster as he hides in the bushes
giggling.
The monster surrenders to Abagail’s mighty blade (a pin).
Abagail and the monster lay in the grass after a fun filled
day both resting under a tree and looking up at the sky. They are both smiling
and pointing to the clouds.
A dark shadow appears above them and Abagail shots off. The
monster then falls to the ground in the grass.
There is a dark shadow above them. It’s of a boy.
The boy smiles down at Abagail and holds out his hand for
her. She grabs it and he oulls her up out of the grass. Abagail, smiles back at
the boy. The boy lead Abagail away.
The monster still in the grass smiles as Abagail and the boy
walk off together. Abagail turns back and looks at the little monster and
smiles at him as she walks away.
The monster not moving from his spot still continues to
smile. Slowly she starts to fall over till his head hits the ground. It reveals
the tag attached to his bottom :MADE IN CHINA .
Fin
Storyboarding
Character concepts
Background concepts
I even finished the building for the reality.
Mood boards
pre-viz
Phew and that was a lot of copy an pasting. I hope it gives you an view of what I am planing to do. I am so excited for this project I already want to start.!!!
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