Sixteenth Post

Well production is steeming along at a good pace, i need to pick it up the next few weeks mind you but I’ve got about 35 seconds of animation done so far.

I’m quite happy with it, the only problem I’ve had so far is that the glass texture I was using turned out to be unsuitable with the render settings (ie/ was taking forever to render and wasn’t feasable) which I’ve changed so it now works.

That’s a video of an updated version of my animation which is half animation, half animatic.

Fifteenth Post

Production

Well I’m into production, as it stands everything is pretty much modeled and I just need to get into the animating side of it. Here’s a few pictures to give you an idea of where I’m at.

Fourteenth Post

After drawing my storyboard I had a tutorial with my narrative tutor where she went over my storyboard and gave feedback on it. Although she was aware it would be easier to get across in 3D she made me aware that I need to be very detailed in my animatic by adding more frames and more colour but with my animatic I will need to do some work in photoshop as well as premier. Some of my camera shots were a bit off and also need going over aswell as some of the movement arrows but will be easier to get across in an animatic where I can move things around to show where they are going.

As I have a week to complete this I need to be spending more time on it than I did on my previous storyboard which I admit I did not spend as much time as I’d wanted on.

Thirteenth Post

With Pre-Production coming to an end this week I need to start summing up my research for this part of the journal. With characters being reletivly simple the bulk needs to go on the general story and the environment including the house its self.

The chair was originally going to be a generic wooden chair but found that it wouldn’t have looked as fragile as I’d have wanted it to, so redecided on plastic but keeping the colours reletivly earthy to keep with the colour of a fawn that the chair’s movements will be based on. As with the other characters I wanted the chair to have some kind of physical fawn quality and so wanted it to have deer like feet. However upon speaking to my motion tutor I decided to keep the furniture as inanimate looking as possible and so am going to leave the furniture as furniture rather than making them look like their animal counterparts.

The table I have kept as it was at the beginning, I wanted it to be a glass topped table with tentacle like legs so kept them thin and long. The patterned top is still up for debate but I think I will add it just to give the table something more than just glass and chrome.

The books, I was originally going to put patterns on each, but again under advise from my motion tutor I decided to make them look like real books and have decided to make one a book on nature based tattoo design, one on natural photography and one on nature based painting and 2D work. All with titles and barcodes which will be done in Adobe Photoshop.

The environment however I wanted to make different from the initial design I built in 3DS Max, I want it to be more slanted and modern while keeping with the natural theme, sugarcube shape with a glass slant like conservatry will create more sides but make it look more like I wanted. I do need to keep with the shipping container theme which will be what the sugar cube shape of the building will be based on. The roof will be slanted in a way that it can fold up in two parts, an upper piece for the 2nd story and a lower piece for the first floor. Detail wise I wanted it to have wooden or stone cladding on certain areas such as entrances and exits as well as around the patio area.

As for the lighting, I did a few lighting tests with other pieces of work and have found a nice out door lighting style I can use for this piece as well as some closer interior lighting for later Show reel renders.

Twelfth Post

I had a tutorial with my Motion tutor Matt yesterday, he advised me to keep the furniture as just furniture rather than adding anything else to them that relates them to the animal they resemble. Not only does this make my modeling easier but also means I can spend more time on the animating which is now what matters a lot. I need to get across the animal exactly and so really need to get some more motion research done. Unfortunately due to my total lack of funds and transport I can’t get to marwell zoo easily before pre-production is over so am having to resort to Youtube and National Geographic for all my motion research. It’s not too bad but would be nice to add something I’ve filmed myself.

Never mind.

Eleventh Post

Well, but of a way since my last update but here it is I suppose.

I’ve been doing a lot of research in the form of photography, video (found not made) and drawing towards my self elected as seen in the relevant sections of my sketchbook.

Places I’ve visited so far:
- Blue Reef Aquarium, Portsmouth.

- Natural History Museum, London.

I have achieved some sketches, mainly for the fawn Chair but I need to do some more work on the Covers for my Book Butterflies and some repeating patterns for the Squid Table.

Hmm.. To Do List time I think:

- Book Cover Designs

- Table Top Pattern Designs

- Character Sheets for all three characters

- STORYBOARD

- Video DVD

- Sound Design

Tenth Post

Well, been doing some on/off work this weekend and early week. Not really achieved much as my printer is currently out of ink (Waiting on a delivery of a new one) so got to work on some modelling. Got a short animation test of a book bird/butterfly going:

But does need some more research into butterfly movement for this to look effective. Also need some research into how squid/octopi move for a table I’ve modelled.

Nineth Post

Right, been doing a bit over the past couple of days and forgot to write about it. I’m having a dilemma as to how the building will grow, whether it folds together like the first cardboard box test, whether it rises out of the ground like the previous post’s test or whether it squishes and grows like so:

I’m liking the rising and folding but I’m not sure on the squish test, I’m worried that how the building grows will either make use of the furniture or make it redundant and thus turning the animation into just an architectural spin around which I really do not want. At the moment I’m building the building it’s self to give my tutors and myself some idea of what the final thing will look like, and possibly incorperate some furniture into the scene later before I render to show how it would sit.

Without the furniture I did achieve a squash test with the entire building (Building not yet totally complete by the way).

I do however need to get to doing some furniture designs for the animation in my sketchbook and get some more work down on paper rather than electronically, I really need the sketchbook to be excellent quality for this project.

To Do List Update:

- Redesign of current buildings

- Eco Housing

- Images of Royal Mail Advert.

- E4 Esting images.

- Beauty and the Beast Images.

- Animation tests with chairs

- Rough idea of animation layout including possibly 3D models of furniture or building in it’s early stages or a sketch/painting of the environment and objects.

- Redesign of furniture and objects

- Films/current animations featuring this topic

- Sketches and photographs of furniture and objects

- Storyboard and possible animatic with timings and music

- Practice with Partical Flow to create disturbed soil like floor for the furniture to grow out of

- Animation tests with furniture climbing out of the ground

Eighth Post

Spent last night trying a different way of the building rising up out of the ground, was tempted to have it grow the same way the furniture does and so:

That emerged after a couple of hours work. I quite like the effect but it needs to be a bit more spectacular if I’m going to get it to work. Maybe have the walls build up and the glass but have items and details grow outof the building it’s self?

Seventh Post

Did some more work this morning and popped out another test for the moving table:

Going to do some more sketchbook work today as well as try and get out another render today possibly of a moving chair or maybe a three legged stool or something like that.

The consideration to do some book birds has crossed my mind but I don’t know if I’ll have time, it’s something to consider anyway as an addition. Although today I really need to decide what the actual building is going to look like, what period or style and do some drawings and some research. Maybe a collage?

<Post Edit>

Have spent today not doing sketchbook work, will definatly do some tomorrow but am now getting the hang of animating four legged skeletons and did a little animation of a red plastic chair dancing to the music that my animation is based on:

Enjoy.