Hey guys,
Just a quick update. I wanted to let you know that I've spent the last couple of days recording the dailogue for the short. I have to admit, it has actually been fun.
Still, I'm not really sure how it's going to turn out. If you've paid attention to the blog, you'll know I'm not exactly a fan of my voice. In fact, for Xam and Power Dog I will not be doing the voices for any of the main characters. I really don't want my voice in it at all, but I fear I may have to make a cameo or two. But, for the short, I will be doing all the voices. It's just easier for me to do them but be warned now, they're gonna suck. :)
Right now, I've got all of Jimmy's lines recorded and I plan on doing Nathan's and Dr. Huffenagles lines today.
I'll keep you informed.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Holidays Keeping Me Busy!
Hey guys,
Merry Christmas everyone!
The holidays have been keeping me busy but I wanted to drop you all a note.
I haven't been working on any animation. I really haven't had that kind of time. I have, however, re-written the short scene with Jimmy, Nathan and Dr. Huffenagle.
Basically, I wasn't very happy with it and that was becoming more and more obvious to me as I was recording the dialogue for the film. I had re-worked it a couple of times but even after several draft changes I decided it was better just to scrap the whole thing and start over. I find that a useful tactic from time to time and since it is only 8 pages long it literally was nothing to start over again.
I don't know how it is for other writers, and I'm not even certain I can count myself in that category, but sometimes I get bound by what is written on the page. Even if I remove entire sections of something I still feel limited by what comes before and after. That is when I find it better to start with an empty sheet of paper and start over.
So, I did that, and I have to say I like this script better. It's funny, because I was still working off the same outline, and a lot of what was there to begin with still exists but I still managed to get something that is way different from what I had originally. That isn't going to change the animation all that much but there are some differences.
The biggest difference is that Dr. Huffenagle has far fewer lines than he had originally. That really is OK. He has the same impact and now I think he comes off more mysterious. Time will tell I guess.
So, that's all that's been happening these last couple of days.
I'll keep you posted, probably after New Years!
Happy New Years everyone!
Merry Christmas everyone!
The holidays have been keeping me busy but I wanted to drop you all a note.
I haven't been working on any animation. I really haven't had that kind of time. I have, however, re-written the short scene with Jimmy, Nathan and Dr. Huffenagle.
Basically, I wasn't very happy with it and that was becoming more and more obvious to me as I was recording the dialogue for the film. I had re-worked it a couple of times but even after several draft changes I decided it was better just to scrap the whole thing and start over. I find that a useful tactic from time to time and since it is only 8 pages long it literally was nothing to start over again.
I don't know how it is for other writers, and I'm not even certain I can count myself in that category, but sometimes I get bound by what is written on the page. Even if I remove entire sections of something I still feel limited by what comes before and after. That is when I find it better to start with an empty sheet of paper and start over.
So, I did that, and I have to say I like this script better. It's funny, because I was still working off the same outline, and a lot of what was there to begin with still exists but I still managed to get something that is way different from what I had originally. That isn't going to change the animation all that much but there are some differences.
The biggest difference is that Dr. Huffenagle has far fewer lines than he had originally. That really is OK. He has the same impact and now I think he comes off more mysterious. Time will tell I guess.
So, that's all that's been happening these last couple of days.
I'll keep you posted, probably after New Years!
Happy New Years everyone!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Starting to Aminate the Short!
Hey guys,
Man, I can't believe it's been a week since my last post.
I have quite literally been working non-stop on trying to animate my short movie. I have run into so many problems.
First off, when I first tried animating a 10 second video the rendering of it was going to take over 2 hours! That was because I was trying to render the characters as well as the entire set all at once. I quickly learned that is not the way to go. What I was having trouble with was figuring out the many different ways to work around this, such a rendering in separate layers and using backdrops.
Rendering in different layers proved to be way over my head at this point. Although I believe I understand the concept I still can't quite figure out how it's done.
So, I decided to use backdrops but, I had spent so much time building the set for the shoot I didn't want to throw all of that away. The solution was to create the backdrops of the set from the camera's point of view. That sounded easy enough but I had to enter the world of using Nodes and although I don't want to get into what that means I will say that it is something I have avoided pretty much since I started animating 3 years ago.
Finally, after a week of trying to figure all this out, I finally have a test video that is 10 seconds long. Ugh...
Still, the video does have two camera angles as well as some sound. It's not perfect, but I'm actually excited. I actually feel as though I'm animating!
Again, that probably was too terribly exciting, but I have to admit that I am pretty happy so far. Sure, it has some problems, but it is a start. I'm finally starting to animate something!
I also loaded this video on a popular video sharing website (if you think only a little it's probably the one you immediately think of) as apposed to loading it directly on the blog. I'm hoping the video quality is better than what I've had in the past. It at least will offer some HD quality this way. Believe it or not, the videos I make look far better on my computer than they do on the blog and I'm hoping this resolves that. Still, this particular video is way dark, it's my first night scene, so you may not be able to notice.
I know this isn't Xam and Power Dog, but believe me, this little side project is only going to help when it comes time to animating them.
Stay tuned for more...
Man, I can't believe it's been a week since my last post.
I have quite literally been working non-stop on trying to animate my short movie. I have run into so many problems.
First off, when I first tried animating a 10 second video the rendering of it was going to take over 2 hours! That was because I was trying to render the characters as well as the entire set all at once. I quickly learned that is not the way to go. What I was having trouble with was figuring out the many different ways to work around this, such a rendering in separate layers and using backdrops.
Rendering in different layers proved to be way over my head at this point. Although I believe I understand the concept I still can't quite figure out how it's done.
So, I decided to use backdrops but, I had spent so much time building the set for the shoot I didn't want to throw all of that away. The solution was to create the backdrops of the set from the camera's point of view. That sounded easy enough but I had to enter the world of using Nodes and although I don't want to get into what that means I will say that it is something I have avoided pretty much since I started animating 3 years ago.
Finally, after a week of trying to figure all this out, I finally have a test video that is 10 seconds long. Ugh...
Still, the video does have two camera angles as well as some sound. It's not perfect, but I'm actually excited. I actually feel as though I'm animating!
Again, that probably was too terribly exciting, but I have to admit that I am pretty happy so far. Sure, it has some problems, but it is a start. I'm finally starting to animate something!
I also loaded this video on a popular video sharing website (if you think only a little it's probably the one you immediately think of) as apposed to loading it directly on the blog. I'm hoping the video quality is better than what I've had in the past. It at least will offer some HD quality this way. Believe it or not, the videos I make look far better on my computer than they do on the blog and I'm hoping this resolves that. Still, this particular video is way dark, it's my first night scene, so you may not be able to notice.
I know this isn't Xam and Power Dog, but believe me, this little side project is only going to help when it comes time to animating them.
Stay tuned for more...
Thursday, December 13, 2012
A Test Pic!
Hey guys,
So, I've been plugging away at my short film. Basically, what I've spent the last week doing is putting the finishing touches on the characters, building a few extra props and bringing it all together into one scene.
For the short, there are two scenes with most of the filming occurring on the valley floor next to an old, watering well. So, basically, I wanted to set up a test image that incorporates all aspects of filming in order to test the lighting.
Here is what I got...
As you can see, the action is taking place on the valley floor next to the well. Dr. Huffenagle has a couple pieces of his equipment and Jimmy and Nathan have "sneaked" their way to the well where the good doctor has discovered them.
This image will not actually be in the short. It really was setup just to test the lighting, which by the way, is done just like a real movie set. It took four separate lights to get this shot, a moon light, a spot on the characters, a spot on the house in the background and a spot in the well to produce the red light which comes out of the well itself and ties directly into the story (even though it's not really explained in this scene).
So, basically, I think I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm sure I'll have some more tweaks that I need to do but I feel confident enough to say I'm ready to start animating.
Of course, I say that while knowing I need to record the dialogue for the film first and, to tell the truth, I have no idea how I'm going to do that just yet. But, I can't animate without at least knowing the timing of the dialogue.
OK. That's really only true during the parts where the characters speak. There are parts of the film where there is action without dialogue. I suppose if I run into trouble recording dialogue I could always animate the non speaking parts.
I'll let you know how it goes.
So, I've been plugging away at my short film. Basically, what I've spent the last week doing is putting the finishing touches on the characters, building a few extra props and bringing it all together into one scene.
For the short, there are two scenes with most of the filming occurring on the valley floor next to an old, watering well. So, basically, I wanted to set up a test image that incorporates all aspects of filming in order to test the lighting.
Here is what I got...
As you can see, the action is taking place on the valley floor next to the well. Dr. Huffenagle has a couple pieces of his equipment and Jimmy and Nathan have "sneaked" their way to the well where the good doctor has discovered them.
This image will not actually be in the short. It really was setup just to test the lighting, which by the way, is done just like a real movie set. It took four separate lights to get this shot, a moon light, a spot on the characters, a spot on the house in the background and a spot in the well to produce the red light which comes out of the well itself and ties directly into the story (even though it's not really explained in this scene).
So, basically, I think I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm sure I'll have some more tweaks that I need to do but I feel confident enough to say I'm ready to start animating.
Of course, I say that while knowing I need to record the dialogue for the film first and, to tell the truth, I have no idea how I'm going to do that just yet. But, I can't animate without at least knowing the timing of the dialogue.
OK. That's really only true during the parts where the characters speak. There are parts of the film where there is action without dialogue. I suppose if I run into trouble recording dialogue I could always animate the non speaking parts.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Got The Script Done For The Side Project!
Hey guys,
Well, I banged out the script for my little side project yesterday. I was originally shooting for a 10 minutes scene but as I sat down to write it I thought 10 minutes was probably a little excessive.
This little project is meant to give me some experience animating less complicated characters than Xam and Power Dog. I designed the characters easily enough but then got bogged down in rigging them for animation. That was frustrating but it taught me techniques I hadn't considered for Xam and Power Dog and now I think I will be able to model them better!
Still, I originally thought I would only spend a couple of months on this side project and I'm probably at around four or five weeks working on it. I really only consider myself 1/3 of the way through so that is going to push my time frame for this project back quite a ways. I know, big shock.
So, in the interest of moving along, I decided that I needed to shorten my movie short and writing a 5 minute scene seemed to make more sense than writing a 10 minute scene. Less script means less animation which means less time to complete this project. :)
As is, however, and this is seemingly always the case with me, the things I have mapped out in my head turn out a little different on paper. I think it's because, for me, writing it out helps me focus what I'm thinking.
The trouble is, as it was with Xam and Power Dog, once it's on paper you realize all the other little things you need to do. In the case of the side project, I have a few more props I need to build.
The good news is that props are static! I don't have to rig them! Well, in this case I don't have to rig them since they don't have any moving parts. OK. That's not entirely true. One of the props has moving parts. Shoot. It's alright. It shouldn't be complicated. Ugh. Famous last words.
Alright then. I need to build a few new props and rig one just a little bit.
I'll let you know how that goes.
Well, I banged out the script for my little side project yesterday. I was originally shooting for a 10 minutes scene but as I sat down to write it I thought 10 minutes was probably a little excessive.
This little project is meant to give me some experience animating less complicated characters than Xam and Power Dog. I designed the characters easily enough but then got bogged down in rigging them for animation. That was frustrating but it taught me techniques I hadn't considered for Xam and Power Dog and now I think I will be able to model them better!
Still, I originally thought I would only spend a couple of months on this side project and I'm probably at around four or five weeks working on it. I really only consider myself 1/3 of the way through so that is going to push my time frame for this project back quite a ways. I know, big shock.
So, in the interest of moving along, I decided that I needed to shorten my movie short and writing a 5 minute scene seemed to make more sense than writing a 10 minute scene. Less script means less animation which means less time to complete this project. :)
As is, however, and this is seemingly always the case with me, the things I have mapped out in my head turn out a little different on paper. I think it's because, for me, writing it out helps me focus what I'm thinking.
The trouble is, as it was with Xam and Power Dog, once it's on paper you realize all the other little things you need to do. In the case of the side project, I have a few more props I need to build.
The good news is that props are static! I don't have to rig them! Well, in this case I don't have to rig them since they don't have any moving parts. OK. That's not entirely true. One of the props has moving parts. Shoot. It's alright. It shouldn't be complicated. Ugh. Famous last words.
Alright then. I need to build a few new props and rig one just a little bit.
I'll let you know how that goes.
Monday, December 3, 2012
One Final Test For The Good Doctor!
Hey guys,
I know, it's been a while since my last post. A post I pretty much thought meant I was at the end of my modeling for the short and marked the point at which I could begin animating the scene.
Well, I was putting some final touches on the Doctor Huffenagle model when I realized there was a problem. Yes, his trench coat moved beautifully in the wind but when you turned him in a twisting motion at the waist his trench coat passed through is protruding legs!
Now, I know I'm trying to build simple models to in order to do a 10 minute scene to improve my animating "skills" but I guess I really screwed that up by designing a character with a TRENCH COAT!!!
Alright, oh well. I decided to just remove his trench coat and move on. There was a small problem with that approach though. Simply put, I didn't like the way he looked without the trench coat.
So, the trench coat had to stay and I needed to figure this out. Turns out, the problem wasn't the coat. I just hadn't baked it right before I animated it. Yes, that wasn't a typo. You have to bake it. I really won't go into it, just trust me and look what happens when you do it...
And, as you can see, the coat moves around his legs.
So, now I really, truly, honestly believe I am finished with the good Doctor.
Oh, also, I changed his trench coat colors. It used to be dull gray with a red liner. Now it's brown with a deep, blue liner. I have to admit, my calling him the good Doctor all this time made me think of the great Doctor, Doctor Who, so I chose to honor the 10th Doctor by giving my doctor his coat. :)
Now, what's next? Funnily enough, I know the scene I want to do and I've built the setting and characters to animate it but I don't have a script.
That's right. I need to write the script for the 10 minute scene. The good news is that it should be relatively easy. I already have it mapped out in my head and it doesn't matter if it makes any sense to the viewer since you, the good people who follow my blog, really won't have any context of the scene since you'll just be jumping right in. All I have to do is type it.
So, I'm off to write it.
I'll let you know when I'm done...
I know, it's been a while since my last post. A post I pretty much thought meant I was at the end of my modeling for the short and marked the point at which I could begin animating the scene.
Well, I was putting some final touches on the Doctor Huffenagle model when I realized there was a problem. Yes, his trench coat moved beautifully in the wind but when you turned him in a twisting motion at the waist his trench coat passed through is protruding legs!
Now, I know I'm trying to build simple models to in order to do a 10 minute scene to improve my animating "skills" but I guess I really screwed that up by designing a character with a TRENCH COAT!!!
Alright, oh well. I decided to just remove his trench coat and move on. There was a small problem with that approach though. Simply put, I didn't like the way he looked without the trench coat.
So, the trench coat had to stay and I needed to figure this out. Turns out, the problem wasn't the coat. I just hadn't baked it right before I animated it. Yes, that wasn't a typo. You have to bake it. I really won't go into it, just trust me and look what happens when you do it...
And, as you can see, the coat moves around his legs.
So, now I really, truly, honestly believe I am finished with the good Doctor.
Oh, also, I changed his trench coat colors. It used to be dull gray with a red liner. Now it's brown with a deep, blue liner. I have to admit, my calling him the good Doctor all this time made me think of the great Doctor, Doctor Who, so I chose to honor the 10th Doctor by giving my doctor his coat. :)
Now, what's next? Funnily enough, I know the scene I want to do and I've built the setting and characters to animate it but I don't have a script.
That's right. I need to write the script for the 10 minute scene. The good news is that it should be relatively easy. I already have it mapped out in my head and it doesn't matter if it makes any sense to the viewer since you, the good people who follow my blog, really won't have any context of the scene since you'll just be jumping right in. All I have to do is type it.
So, I'm off to write it.
I'll let you know when I'm done...
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