Update and Conclusion of Project:

I think me and Kanika are going to be extremely relieved when this project is over. We started extremely well, but situations at home for both of us really spiralled out of control which made getting on with the project pretty hard. so, unfortunately we haven't been able to update regulary on our blog either :( We managed to salvage what we started in the last week to really concentrate on what we personalyl wanted to get out of the project and in all hoensty... it relaly helped! Like Kanika has stated already, She focussed on animation and i focused on the concept stuff. Although it's perhaps not our best pieces of work, it still gave us the final opportunity to learn skills from this project.

And although we don't haev our initial idea produced, but instead 'portions' of that bigger idea, we still feel like we did an alright job of things, considering the problems were were trying to deal with at the same time. Hopefully the next project we'll have a better chance at completing our work properly.
Here are jus ta few images i've taken of the character concept work i've been producing recently. Like i've said, not my best work, but i did quite enjoy working on it nonetheless.

Conclusion for zoo project 06/03/08

I learnt alot about my skills within animation in this project. Although I would really love being a modeller and rigger and be able to make the characters that I have designed, I have realised that I am really not blessed with those kind of skills and need to develop them alot more. I have never really seen myself as an animator however I am strongly reconsidering that pathway. I started to really enjoy animating when I had a rig that worked well, there was so much you could do with it. My only regret was not thinking of the idea sooner to use pre- set rig to really go for the animation side of things with more time I believe I could of developed my skills even more.

At the beginning Jeff and I had decided that we were going to focus on building up skills that we were not necessarily comfortable with but also incorporate ones that we liked. So the two main factors we picked were 2D concept and animation. We ended up doing to a certain extent all four areas because to get to the end sequence we would need to model and rig our characters.

I think that we started of quite well in the project but as the project went along our focus was forced elsewhere with factors concerning other parts of our lives. However were able to bring it back towards the end of the project. I think another problem we had was really leaving hardly anytime for error! I think next time there should be a week dedicated to any mistakes to see if we can fix them in time.

I always enjoy working with Jeff and this time was no different, he has a way of keeping factors more realistic and never panics!!!

Here are a few screen shots of one of the short animation tests.

Pre set character rig

This is the character rig which I have decided to use to portray willie to the best of my ability. I picked this character rig because I believed it fitted in well with the look of Jeff's character. It also had the main foundations that I wanted to use on my character.

The rig is very well done, not only does it have squash and stretch incorporated in the rig but it also has fully functional facial expressions.

Rigging and model probs..... 25/02/08

Ok so I have been using a rigging tutorial that Jeff found on the internet. Its a very good tutorial, simple to use and easy to understand. However I got to a certain point when I realised that I wouldnt be able to use this rig for my particular model. I smooth binded it a couple of times to see how it was working and it just doesnt work with the model. I feel there is to many technical problems with both the rig and the model that I have made, and at this point it is to late to start again. So what I think the best thing to do is to use a pre set rig for the purposes of the outcome of this brief and then in my own time start this character again and develop it in my own time.

pokey is nearly done.. better start the bug now :(

i'm having major problems with the eyes atm kanika so i hope your ones turn out ok? Let me know. I'm gonna have to talk to alex on monday to sort it out. I;m trying to have make an influence for the eyes... i.e. so the eyes turn and point at what i want, but for some reason the eyes keep revolving out of the head and i dunno how to fix it

Rigging.... >_<

Here is little screenshot of how my rigging is coming along. Not too bad really. Hard work though. There seems to be a glitch every now and then but it seems to sort it self out...

bug...nearly done too

Just trying to figure out the wings. I've tried putting joints in them which seem to work pretty well.

He he... this pose makes me laugh. I can imagine the finger of doom coming towards him... "*high pitch* AAAaaarrggghhhhh" he he. *squish* As always, the textures are temporary til i sort out the bump map for the finger prints. blendshapes are also done for this. Well, not all of them, enough to get us strarted.

Willie......getting there 30/01/08

Below is screen shots of my model at the moment. I was having e few problems with the head, I had to do it separately to the body and build it up from planes.

Pokey holding Book 30/01/08

draft_rigging 30/01/08

I put a temporary rig in, cos i want to spend bit more time on it. The model itself is going to be brilliant to weight. It bends in places so nicely. Here's showing a walking pose to see what you think- how far are you from this stage Kanika?

pokey's blendshapes

I've made a start to my characters blendshape. The bug character won't need much- mostly just facial expressions.

I've done the mouth shapes for this character but will do a few expressions too. I think i might leave the eyebrows and eyelids to just joints and curves- as opposed to blendshapes... let me know how you're gettin on with blendshapes kanika.

For some reason, one of the blendshapes is saying error... I have no idea why, so may have to do that one again.... :(

Bug_modelled 28/01/08

The bugs are pretty much finished- please let me know what you think of them. If they need changing or that? I went for the simple wings in the end, as opposed to the big sheel. Just so that viewers could see the extra arms and hopefully know its a bug straight away. :) The colours aren't final, they're just there so it isn't lambert grey lol It hasn't got a skeleton yet... I was thinking Kanika, why don't we tal kto matt how he did blend shapes?? He probs has the most experience? lol
Oh I haven't made the spears, shields or torches for them yet ok. If you have time, feel free to do them, give me text though if you doing them cos otherwise i will just assume you are carrying on with Willie.

Design ideas for creepy crawlies (heads) 28/01/08

Scene atm. 27/01/08

Hey Kanika, these are the stills i got for the storyboard. I'm going to do a 2d/ 3d animatic tonight hopefully. It won't be brilliant but it will give us something to look at and use.
I re-posted the storyboards to give you an idea of how the camera angle is working. Let me know what you think ok. :)

Schedule!!! AHHHHHH 25/01/08

HEY JEFF!! I think we were being at bit ambitious with what we wanted done by monday, however acorrding to our schedule we are right on track with what we needed to do. I think our extra time will come in rigging because I think I allocated to much time to rigging in the schedule and we can use that extra time to concerntrate on either the weighting or the animation. Also are we having the characters all one colour?

Let me know what you think!

nearly finished Pokey 25/01/08

Well Kanika, here she is...well nearly. I've really tried to run with the plasticine look- I'm going to talk to alex or jamie about how to push it even further. But i've read a few tips on forums on how we should go about it. The general response is to make it extremely organic looking i.e. smooth, no sharp edges. I've also added 'morph' to our title for bit of inspiration. lol let me know what you think of the character and we discuss is all monday- hopefully you will read this before the weekend is finished.

modelling Pocahontas 23/01/08

Here are some of the initial modelling stages of Pocahontas ( i'm thinking of shortening her name cause it's annoyingly long... Pokey will do i think)

anyhoo- here they are:

The purple ones have a slight glow to them- I'm trying to find a guide to maek them look like plasticine models, Is it the texture othe bump map??? Mayeb get fingerprints on the bump map woudl look nice. Trying to make it look really organic- hence the smooth shapes etc...

wee_eck mcglone drawings 23/01/08

These are liekly not to be used now but i thought i post them for your entertainment Kanika. may you look at the and laugh .

storyboard 23/01/08

Here are the initial storyboards at the moment- i shall try n knock u pa animatic on premiere or something. maybe even maya and have the images of plains? might be wquite interesting. get a feel for the camera angles better. anyways, i will upload it on here asap.

It's in no particular order as they were key scenes i drew to see if it would work- let me know if it works still.

Basic storyline of aniamtion: Pocahontas and willie are visiting the zoo. Pocahontas is dying to visit the apes and is annoyed when they get lost. Willie, however, seems ot be in world of his own trying to find creppy crawlies to hunt down and kill. Pocahontas is aware her brother is running around but too keen and focussed on finding the gorillas. By the time she locates it on her map, willie is no-where to be seen. CUT. Scene of Willie being caught by creppy crawlies as a consequence of torruring bugs.

When written down, it makes no sense, but i think it still appeals to our sense of humour so i like it :)

final pocahontas 23/01/08

This is the final(ish) model of pocahontas. I know shes naked- but i think it may be really cool if they were coloured purple n blue- bit more like purple and brown sort of stuff and also morph. Tell me what u think of the pics I put on blog later to see what u think... modelling clothes won't be too hard if not- but clothes look so crap when you don't animate them too.. and it will make weighting bit trickier too... have think over it as i know u have started modelling character. concentrate on the head for bit if you are thinking about it and then we come back to the body.