Pre Production Continues

Hi all. Its been quite busy on my front for the past few weeks. We have been focusing on particles and fluids for the past few weeks and recently touched on soft bodies. All different techniques I hope to explore in my final animation assignment. Below you can see the final result of my particle project. Overall I was happy with this but there are many things that I would change and be cautious of in the future. I really needed to focus more on the planes and their movements. At times they become a bit too jerky. I was really excited for the explosion collision, since it was a new territory with the collision event editor. Also gave me the opportunity to explore the hypershade more. Enjoyable stuff!



I have made some updates to the character design of my robot and I hope to share that with you this week. For now, this is one of the main items the main character will be holding.




Im really trying to push texturing on this one since I have some time to focus on it. Im not 100% thrilled on this right now but it is getting there. I still would like to get a more brushed texture look, which I got rid of my attempts for this render. Hope to discuss it, in modeling class tomorrow to see where I can go with this next.

Other than that, I have been hard at work gathering inspiration and sketch ideas for the setting of the animation project. My goal is to start modeling things tomorrow and to get the "set" done by the weekend/early next week. I would like to start texturing next week. We will see if I can hit those goals. Until then, lets have mother nature stop the snow!

Updated Robot Design

After reviewing the last sketch I really didn't like the overall vibe and sense of feeling he was creating. Im trying to go for a serious tone with my story and I want to make sure I reflect that in the design. Therefore I made quite a few adjustments to the design. I also added some more elements that will hopefully help in the actual rigging of the character by putting essentially ball joints where the movement will be taking place. Also due to limited time in the process I wanted to make sure I felt like I could handle the animation load. Therefore the main emotional connection will be coming from the characters eyes and Im going to do a test to see if I can work with the flatness of the grin and the eyes to convey it. We will see how it goes. Hopefully everything will be approved thursday, so I can start modeling.

Dynamics Ahoy! Pre Production Ahoy!

Already two weeks into the term and I feel like things are kicking into high gear! Im thoroughly enjoying all my classes and Im having a blast jumping into the subject matter. One of the first assignments was to approach dynamics in Maya. Let me tell you that it was quite an experience. I learned quite a bit about how certain things can effect the overall picture and trying to get things to act in the correct manner. The first video I have here was a "Little Big Planet" approach to the subject matter.

I ran into a few issues trying to convey that and overall really wanted to go back into the assignment. After the class critique I decided to head back and focus on cleaning up the actual cause and effect of some things. I apologize for the dead space thats in the project but after cleaning it up, I ended up with a decent amount of it. I needed to speed up certain aspects to help convey weight and speed. Overall I was happy with it but alas I needed to move onto the next project.
We are currently learning the basics of particles and how we can apply them throughout our animations. Looking forward to exploring them this next week.

Below I also have some rough sketches of my robotic character for my final animation 2 project. Im currently waiting for story approval but I wanted to get started on preproduction. I can adjust if alterations need to be made. This will at least get ideas down. As always, would love feedback. Have a great day everyone!

Crazy few weeks!

Well the past few weeks have been slightly interesting to say the least. I have been working on a reviewing a couple different concepts and trying to experiment with a few projects. I wish I could say I got the skeleton to work on the model from below but I ran into some issues. I also ran into some issues with my project that I was trying to experiment with in Houdini. Failures can only lead to success right! So I ended up spending a good amount of time reading up on subjects. I enjoyed some video tutorials on an introduction to particles, read up on animation movements, and reviewed an introduction to renderman. I really look forward to exploring renderman a bit further this term with my modeling class and animation 2.

About two weeks ago I ran into a few issues that set me back a bit. First and foremost I was held back by 36" of snow that decided to hit the east coast. That was a blast! We spent a few days shoveling and also just trying to get out. Lets just say a lovely public works contract dispute held us from getting out for several days. It was a blast. After an enjoyable New Years Eve I ended up getting sick when I returned to school this past week. I'm still trying to kick the cold but I'm hoping it's on its way out in the next day or two!



As stated above, I started my second semester at Drexel this past week and I can not wait to dive back in! This term I will be taking Animation 2, CG Modeling, and a Flash Vector Development course focusing on Action Script 3. All these courses are going to be a great opportunity to explore things that I have learned in the past a bit further. I'm also looking forward to have my feet on the ground this time with the programs. I plan on taking some challenges and risks to really push my animation and modeling experience a bit further.

On that note, I'm off to take a shot of Robitussin and get some sleep to hopefully kick this cold and share some new stuff over the next two weeks!

Some Winter Break Fun

Hello everyone!
Winter break has been treating me well. I have been spending time enjoying sleeping in and also catching up on a lot of freelance work. I have also been spending time focusing on catching up on some subject matter that we learned briefly at the end of our first term. I reviewed a basic particle tutorial and an introduction to renderman thus far. Also, I wanted to spend some time focusing on the basics of rigging a character. So I figure what a better model to use than an artist wooden mannequin. I did a quick model this evening. It was actually refreshing to do a quick model and see how things turn out. So after this Im going to play around with rigging the character and doing some basic animation movements. Should be fun!

Final Animation Project

Sorry I have been gone for the past five weeks. Things have been a little crazy with my final project and pulling things together. I learned quite a bit of information over the past few weeks and I can truly say that I really love learning this medium. There is so much that can be done to add to several storytelling factors. First off, I created a rough cut and pulled some of the motions and timing together. That can be seen below.



After the rough cut I decided to work on a couple camera angles and the timing of some of the actions of the main characters. There are several things I need to work on over the break before I begin Animation 2. One of the main things that I need to focus on is lighting. It is such a crazy art form in itself. I look forward to my CG modeling class this winter to explore those facets. Also, I would like to focus on procedural textures. I believe this will help with my render times big time.

So with that. Below is my final animation project. I look forward to sharing with you some of the project over break and also getting ready for animation 2 in January. Have a great holiday and a happy new year!

Environment/Lighting Update

Hola all. Lack of sleep here! And loving it! :) Below are updated environments and lighting. Still some slight tweeks I want to do with the light but need to get moving towards the animation. Hope you enjoy and as always would love feedback!