Project Q - Concept Design

So the beginning of a new project; Project Q

On this project I'm working together with Sandra (http://sandranandersen.blogspot.com/) designing a 4 legged creature, later on I will model, texture and rig it and then Sandra will take over making a 5 sec. animation that I will then have to composite into a background image.

This first week was concept design with Florian Satzieger (http://paperwalker.blogspot.com/) and Willie(http://williereal.blogspot.com/)

Our first idea for this project was combining the anatomy of a wolf or lion with some dinosaur or lizard features - one of the reasons, for me to avoid having to deal with fur:)

so instead of trying to do something "cool" we went in a completely different direction and ended up doing something cute and cuddly - a small sketch I did of a deep sea "dumbo squid" ended up being the base for the final design.

We named our creature Elliot (the Magnificent) and it is the idea that in the 5 sec. he is on "stage" he will blow a soap bubble and then drift away, on top of that he is supposed to be somewhat transparent so we'll be able to see some of his inner organs...let's hope it'll work out.

- the first approach to the project Q, this sketch is made by Sandra -

- my little doodle that was used as a base for the final concept -

- the final concept turn around -

Week 50

Matchmoving with Leigh Russel

working with autodesk match mover, the week was used to give a basic overview on match moving, we also learned some about HDRI and lighting without lights.

The assignment for the week was to track a small piece of footage and then add a character. For the character I decided to use the rubber chicken I did in the spring so I added a quick rig so that I would be able to animate it just a little bit, and with this awesome result - who needs animators;)

- what is lurking in the hospital basement? a slightly deranged rubber chicken,

if you ever meet him - RUN! as if you life depends on it -

- a screen shot from one of the smaller assignments in match mover -

Trailer Project

- the final result of the trailer project -

- not really a part of the trailer project, but I decided to do a little turn around of my character -

Week 47-49

Light, render and composit with Max Böhm

So the final three weeks of the trailer project. The first two weeks we worked closed together with the animators. Attending dailies and basically acting as directors, while at the same time fixing our rigs when they broke down or making small adjustments to them when needed.

While the animators worked on bringing our characters to life we started finishing up the final textures, matte paintings and what ever still needed to be done.

As the different shots where finished we could get started lighting them, and get started on rendering, on this project we had access to a renderfarm, it worked quite nicely and it definitely made life easier for us.

Just after finishing the trailer, early Friday morning, watching the final result for the first time - it was already obvious to us that there where things that could have been better, but as Max said you will never reach a 100% on any given project and we where out of time.

Still I'm really pleased with the final result - it turned out great.

some work in progres

just some random stuff from the trailer project - it should all be over very soon, and it is looking good. The animators have now done their part and so we "only" need to light, render and composit everything - no biggy....

- we needed a picture for the bedroom scene so here they are; the nipple twisting gals -

- a watercolor sketch I did that is used as a mattePainting -

- some test renders done while lighting the scenes -

- the title that is used in the end of the "movie", since it is supposed

to be an action trailer the style of thefont needed to reflect that -

Week 44-46

Rigging with Nico Sangrajka

Almost three weeks of rigging. It started out fine, and I felt like all was going well, as more and more where added to the rig I slowly felt I like I lost sight of what I was doing and why.

2½ week weren't really enough and I could easily have spent more time adjusting the rig, painting better skin weights and adding even more blend shapes, giving the animators a wider range of possible expressions.

- a couple of screen shots of the rig -

1.& 2. of November

Film Analysis with Stig Kulset

We where treated to a couple of different films starting out with "Blue Velvet" followed by "The Piano", "The New World" and finally first episode of "The Singing Detective".

This was all films I had never seen before and it is always nice getting new experiences, I especially liked "Blue Velvet", the best out of the four. By showing us "The New World" Stig was playing a mean trick on us - that movie is simply awful, the worst part about it was that he knew this - and still made us endure almost 2½ hours of movie hell.

But all things aside it was actually quite nice with a little break from the trailer project.

Week 43

Environment modelling with Jericho Green

This week we started modelling the final props, settings and environment - replacing all the blocks with the finished and much more detailed models, getting even closer to how everything should look in the end.

We also looked at what had to be done in 3D due to paralax, and what could be done in 2D - like mattepaintings.

I spent a lot of my time this week on one asset, the car that I've modelled and UV'ed - I would have liked it to be even better but my modelling skills are still improving and I didn't have more time since we had to move on to other stuff - so maybe I'll refine the model later. For now this will have to do - and since we do not see that much of the car in close up I think it'll be just fine...

The car is modelled after a VW beetle, since all the characters are insects.

- a screenshot of the car i did-