A Brief, Actual Scene From the Movie!

Hey everyone!

So, the script is coming along nicely. I don't see any reason why I can't shorten it to about 45 minutes, which actually is good news.  If this movie ever gets made professionally (cause life is that fair) then I will of course make it a feature film. Until then, since it's just me using as much freeware I can get, I think it's better that the movie be as short as possible while still telling the story I want to tell.

Anyway, I'm getting off the point.

While I was writing I was fighting the urge to model and film something until I couldn't fight it anymore. Writing is fun, but I needed a break.

So, I took the quickest, easiest scene I had and started modeling.

And, this is what I got...



This scene is very early in the movie. It's a quick, exterior scene setting up the scene that will show the meteor that gives Xam and Power Dog their powers being discovered.

Basically, I just wanted to have something new on the blog.

I hope you enjoyed it.  Now, I'm back to writing.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Hey guys,

Well, It's been a while since I posted on the blog. 

I'm sorry for that.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, the last 3 months of the year sees very little activity on the movie.

Still, it got me thinking about what exactly will happen coming January.  I really want to hit the ground running.

So, for the rest of the month I will be working on the dreaded script rewrite!

You see, I've been thinking of this movie for the last gazillion years now , a slight exaggeration, and the last time I read the script it really didn't fit the characters I now have in my head.  Nothing to do, I'm afraid, but rewrite the script.

Another thing I'm hoping to do is make the script shorter.  I can't remember how long it took me to write and produce my Overworld short (how soon we forget, besides, that's what I have a blog for) but that was only a 7 or 8 page script and it took me a while.  My first draft of Xam and Power Dog was a little under 90 pages, which is a feature film.  I'm beginning to fear I may never actually start making this movie.

I'm going to try to cut my movie to 30 minutes, 45 minutes max. That's not going to be easy for me since I have a tendency to ramble in my scripts.  The original Overworld script had to be cut down from 20 pages.  Once I have the script, I will decide the best way to begin filming something as soon as possible.  It's well beyond time to start seeing some footage. 

And that is my plan.  To start filming as soon as possible.

Hopefully, I will have something for you starting next month.

Talk to you then, if not before.

Later!

Able to Spend Some Time on the City Today!

Hey guys,

Well, I had some time to spend texturing the city today...

As you can see, the city sidewalks have been changed to a more realistic gray color.  The streets have finally (and painstakingly) been textured.  There is a little bit of a transition issue between the road leading to the bridge and the bridge roadway but I don't know if I'm even going to worry about it.  OK, I'll probably worry about it later, just not now.

So, what's next?  I need to build up the docks again and I'm not sure I'm going to use the stadium.  There isn't a part in the script that requires it and I really think the city needs a "Central Park".  I may decide to do that in place of the stadium.

Of course, my attention is on Halloween at the moment so I will let you know what I decide down the road.

Later!

Worked Some More on the City Today!

Hey guys,

Well, you can't really tell, but I've done a lot of work on the city today.

First off.  I started the city blocks over yesterday because they were so screwed up.  When I opened the file this morning, I saw more problems.  I know what the problem was and, unfortunately, it was something I accidentally did, but that doesn't mean it was an easy fix.  Just the opposite.  It took me an hour to get everything straightened out!

Once that was done I worked on the beach some.

I still have so much to do.  I need to texture the streets, add signage and lighting all around the town.  Thankfully, in today's day and age, I don't have to worry about phone booths!

I'm also thinking the city needs a park.  Haven't decided if I'm gong to worry about that yet because I still have to build the docks.

So, I have a lot to do and this is the time of year I have very little time to work on the movie.

But, as always, I'll keep you posted.

Later!

Had Some Movie Time Today!

Hey guys,

Sorry I've been so absent this last month.  As I mentioned below, it is a busy time at my house now that Halloween is upon us.

Still, as promised, I was able to find some time to work on the movie today.  Sadly, it's not very noticeable...

Yes, the flooded streets are gone, the docks are gone and the concrete looks green, but that's because I scrapped the city blocks and streets and started over.

Why?  Because the mesh was so screwed up.  It's funny what a few weeks away from a project will make you do.  Before, I didn't have the heart to start over.  Today, I didn't think twice about it.

So, it may not look like it, but I did work pretty hard on the movie today.

Perhaps later this week it will even be apparent.

Later!

Officially Entering the Slow Months...

Hey guys,

Yes, I'm afraid we are officially in the slow months for the movie.  :(

Why is that?

Well, frequent visitors to the blog will know that August through December is typically slow when it comes to progress on the Xam and Power Dog movie.  This is mostly due to my families passion for all things Halloween.  Then of course, after that, we hit the holiday season and like most people, I just don't have a lot of free time during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But, I will be spending some time on the movie, just not enough time to warrant my usual, weekly updates.

So, I promise, I will have updates over the next months.  They just won't be as punctual.

In the meantime, if you are really missing me, feel free to hop over to my other blog, Hollinger Hollow!

There, you will see how much my family loves Halloween.

Later!

Global Warming's Attack on Xam and Power Dog's City!

Hey guys,

I'm working on the city when I rendered this...

 

No, Xam and Power Dog don't live in Venice.  I was working on the streets of the city when I hid them to check something and forgot to un-hide them when I rendered the pic.

It was pretty funny so I thought I'd share.

Later!

Bridge... Done!

Hey guys,

The bridge is finally finished!

This was truly a labor of love.  I love modeling, and I love where the movie is going, but building this bridge was a tremendous labor.  In the end, it was all the tension lines that made this project not so much fun.

But, it's finally done and here it is...

And here it is added to the city...

All in all, moving right along.  I still have a lot to do on the city though.  I need to add street lights, signage and I need to texture the roads.

To the right of the bridge is the harbor.  This is where Xam and Power Dog's warehouse will be, right at the very end.  Consequentially, I need to make that entire pier look like a harbor.

So, I still have a lot to do.  I will, of course, keep you updated.

Later!

Yep, Still Building the Bridge...

Hey guys,

So, I'm still working on the bridge.

It was a very busy week, not movie wise, so I'm afraid I didn't get a whole lot done on the bridge.

I did, however, manage to begin the suspensions lines at the end of the bridge.  I only have the walkway left to build.

I know, it looks like I've lost parts of the bridge but don't worry about that.  I just had them hidden in the picture.  Trust me, both ends of the bride are finished.

As far as I know, I only have the suspension lines on the walkway.  Then I should be done with the bridge (famous last words).

So, I'll let you know how that goes.

Later!

Still Working on the Bridge...

Hey guys,

Man, I never, not for one second, thought it would be more difficult to build a bridge than to build an entire city... but it IS!

Here's what I have so far...

So, just when I thought I was done I realized I've still have a lot to do.

Specifically, I still have to connect the pedestrian and train bridges to the mainland, something I still don't know how I'm going to do it. Then I need to build the tension lines from the ends of the bridge to the anchors that run under the ramps.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'd rather build another city. 

Ugh, careful what you wish for.

Alright then, that it's for now.  Back to building a bridge.

Later!

Bridge Nearly Finished!

Hey everyone,

I'm getting close to being finished with the bridge!

As you can see, I finished the tension lines and I changed the colors of the bridge. I originally thought the blue would be cool but I like this version better. 

Now I need to add the ramps that lead to and from the bridge and I think I'll be done.

I'll let you know when that's done.

Later!

Bridge Update!

Hey guys,

Well, I started adding the tension lines to the bridge today...

It's starting to look like a tension bridge!  I only have the outside cables left to do.

Hopefully, I'll finish that up tomorrow.

Later!

Bridge Coming Along!

Hey everyone,

The bridge is coming along nicely...

As you can see, it will be a span bridge with separate roads consisting of two lanes in each direction.  It also allows pedestrians to walk on the top, middle level and a train track will be on the lower, middle level.

So far so good.  Hopefully, I will have more to show you tomorrow.

Later!

The Definitive Over World Clip!

Hey guys,

Got together with my brother over the weekend and showed him the Over World clip and I actually cringed.

Not that I don't like it.  It was just too long.  So much of the clip was redundant.  I don't know if I was trying to stretch the clip as long as I could or if I really just didn't notice that it needed further trimming.

Either way, I deiced to go Lucas one more time and re-cut the clip. What I ended up with was a clip that is just under 5 minutes and I feel it works better.

So, since it has changed up a little, I thought I'd put it on the blog just to explain the short delay in finishing my bridge...



Now, could this be better?  Of course.  Even watching it after editing it down I could see things I would like to change, but that's getting away from what the purpose of the project was.  I wanted to create simple characters, simple sets and a simple story all to see if I could pull off making a feature length Xam and Power Dog film and after this project I feel as though I can.

True.  Xam and Power Dog won't be Pixar or Dreamworks quality, but you've seen the character clips and it will be better than The Over World.  And since I think The Over World is decent enough to show people then I feel confident Xam and Power Dog will be just fine.

Anyway, back to building a bridge.

Talk to you all later!

City and a Bridge!

Hey guys,

Well, it's been another busy week and I thought I'd give you a quick update!

I've gotten to a  point that I'm feeling pretty good about the layout of the city...

 I thought I'd even show you a view from Main Street...

There is still a lot to do.  I have to add the texture to the street.  I need to add streetlights and mailboxes. I need to decide how wide I want the sidewalks to be and of course, I need to fill the city with people and cars!

I also grew restless this week.  I've been building a city for too long and it was starting to drive me nuts so I decided to take a break and work on the bridge that connects the island city with the mainland. It's not much, but this is what I got so far...

And that's about it.  Next week, I hope to finish up the bridge (as long as I don't run into any complications) and then it's back to the city.

Talk to you later!

It's Starting to Look Like a City!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates, but really, how many times do you want to hear me say progress is slowly moving along?

What can I say?  I'm very busy lately and sadly, it's not my movie that is taking up so much of my time.  :(

But, the city is really starting to look like a city!

As you can see, it's filling in very nicely.  It is, however, apparent that I'm going to need more than just 4 non-unique buildings to fill up my city. 

How many more?  I don't know.  I'm going to try four more and see how that looks. 

I'll let you know.

Later!

Still Building...

Hey guys,

I'm pushing forward on the city build.

It may not look like much but this is where I am at the moment...

If you look at the bigger version of the pic (which you can see by clicking on the picture above) then you can see I am working on the four building that I plan to populate throughout the city to fill it in.  I'm hoping that 4 will be enough but if it isn't then obviously I will build more.

I'll keep you posted.

Later!

Woring on Final UniqueBuilding!

Hey guys,

Had a couple of hours to start the final unique building.

STADIUM! STADIUM! STADIUM!

It's Meerkat Stadium.  Still don't have a name for the city but I do have a mascot for their football team!

Have a good weekend everyone!

City Coming Along... Slowly...

Hey everyone,

The city is taking longer than I thought.  Guess that shouldn't be too surprising at this stage in the game.

Still, it's not because the work is hard.  It's time consuming and I haven't honestly been able to dedicate a lot of time lately.

But, in the interest of keeping you guys in the loop...

As you can see, I have seven unique buildings designed.  I want to do one more unique building and then I'll start working on four basic buildings that will populate the rest of the city. 

Hopefully, by this time next week, I will be able to show you what I mean.

Later!

City Slowly Coming Along!

Hey guys,

Well, last week was incredibly busy for me and I had very little time to work on the city.

Still, I did make some progress and I thought I'd show you what I have so far...

As you can see, this is going to be a very modern city.  I hope that I at least make it interesting to look at.

Time will tell.

Later!

OK, Decided to Build a City Instead!

Hey guys,

In my last post I said I was going to start writing the new script.

Well, while thinking about the script I decided that I'm going to have to change the city in which Xam and Power Dog live.  Why? Because I just don't have it in me to try to model the entire city of New York in any accurate way.  Instead, I will just create a city with all the locations in the script.

So, what will my fictional city be called?  No idea, but I have started building it...

Above are 4 buildings I'm constructing.  It's a very low-res pic and because the sky is deep blue and the ground is grey it looks as though the building are blue and grey.  That is, however, the reflection of the environment in the glass of the buildings. In case you can't tell, the building on the far left is all glass!  :)

Now, it's taken me a week to do this much but I don't think this will be the average (one week = 4 buildings). Every city has a handful of unique buildings but the majority are boxes without any real character.  I plan on doing two more high rise towers to give my city a unique skyline, and then I will add a mess of boxy buildings to fill it out.  I'm hoping I only have another week left until my city is done.

So, that's where I am. 

I will, of course, keep you updated.

Later!

Clip of All the Character Tests!

Hey guys,

Here's a quick video of all the Xam and Power Dog test videos I've done...



I think it's nice to have them all in one place.

So, I still have quite a lot of modeling to do but (sets, props, a couple more support characters, all the people who populate the world) but I've decided to work on the script re-write.

This will probably take a couple of weeks.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Later!

Power Dog 3 Test!

Hey guys!

I have finished the Power Dog Test...



I didn't feel the need to make him speak in this one.  I was having a hard time finding a sound clip I liked so I thought I would just make him pant a little.  This gave me a chance to make sure I rigged his tongue right, which was something I didn't do in the Gibson test.

So, now all the main characters are done.  I still have a two little side characters to model.  Along with all the sets, all the other people that populate the world as well as any other thing the characters will interact with in the movie.

On top of that, I am going to re-write the script.

All this means that I have no idea what I'm going to do next.  Gonna recharge over the weekend and I'll let you know.

Later!

A New Poster!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I have been very busy this last week and I'm not sure when I'll have time to start working on a Power Dog test video.

As a means to make amends, I have created a new poster with all four main characters.

It's nothing fancy.  As I said, I've been pretty busy, but here it is.

Just click on the pic for a larger image and save to your computer.

I hope to have a Power Dog Test video very soon.

See ya!

Power Dog 3 Complete!

Hey everyone,

I've finished Power Dog 3!

And here he is...

I'll work up a test video for him and let you know what comes after that... after that.  :)

Later!

Gibson Lip Sync Test Finished!

Hey guys,

Well, I've finished the Gibson lip sync test...



And there you have it.  Sorry it took so long. I've spent the last couple days just trying to find a sound clip I wanted to use in the test.  This still wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it was getting ridiculous trying to find a clip I liked and I really needed to move forward.

Speaking of moving forward, I'm off to work on Power Dog!

See you later!

Gibson 3 Finished!

Hey guys,

Updated Gibson is complete.  Well, I say complete.  I need to look at him for the next day or so and make sure he doesn't need any final tweaks.

So, here he is...

As I said, I will look him over the next couple days and work up a lip sync test.

I will also let you now if I make any changes.

Later!

Willow Lip Sync Test!

Hey guys,

So, the Willow lip sync test is done and here it is...



And there you have it.

Now it's on to Gibson/Power Dog!

See you soon, hopefully!

Willow 3 is Done!

Hey everyone,

I finished the new Willow model and I am rendering a lip sync test even as I write this but I'm afraid it won't be done in time for me to add to the blog this morning so I'm posting a pic just to make sure I get something added this morning!

And there she is.  I really love these new updated models and I'm so glad I decided to give them one final update before getting started on the movie.

Later tonight I'll post the lip sync test.  Then, it's on to Gibson/Power Dog!

Talk to you later!

Xam Lip Sync and Major Character Update Revealed!

Hey guys,

So, I've been promising that a major character update will be revealed with the Xam lip sync test video and so this shall be the case.

And what is it? Well, let's have a look at the video first...



Alright, for those that have been frequenting the blog for the last many years, you may have picked up on the update.  For those still in the dark, the heroes will now be even more human-like as they will now be able to stand on two legs and use their front paws like hands.

This is a serious character update.  Up until now, the heroes have remained quadrupeds, but as I was working on the 3rd version of Max I decided to give them the ability to stand.  I think this will really help them seem special and help them stand out among the normal animals who never received super powers during the meteor shower. 

So, before the meteor shower they will still speak but they will only be able to talk to other animals. To humans, they will still bark or meow and walk on four legs.  After they get their powers, they will walk like humans and speak like humans. I'm not sure if they will lose their ability to speak to animals or not.  It seems like if something is gained then something should be lost but I'm still working that out and haven't completely decided.

And that is it for the moment. What's next?  I'm going to work on the Willow update and then move on to Gibson/Power Dog.

Of course, I will keep you updated.

Later!

Max Lip Sync Test!

Hey guys,

I did a quick Max lip sync test. Well, I say "quick", but it took a little over an hour and a half to render.

Still, it's finished and I think this is one of the best lip sync tests I've ever done.

***WARNING:  This has sound. No music, just a little movie quote, so adjust your speakers accordingly.***



And there you have it.  I think Max is officially done.

Now I'm off to create a Xam model and with his reveal I will show you a major character update.

I can't wait to show you.

Later!

Max 3 and Max 2 Comparison

Hey guys,

Alright, I'm finally done with the Max update!

Here is a quick look at Max 3 standing next to Max 2...

I hope it's obvious that Max 3 is the cat on the right. 

Max 3 isn't only a brighter orange, as you may be able to tell, he is completely rigged.  There is also a much bigger difference between Max 2 and Max 3 but I'm going to wait until I show you Xam 3 before exposing this major update.

Since Max is done it shouldn't take me too long to complete Xam. 

Hopefully, I'll see you soon!

Yep, I'm Gonna Do It!

Hey guys,

After much deliberation, I've decided I'm going to re-work all the other models.  After looking at the new Thomas/T-Boom models next to the others I decided Thomas looked just too different from everyone else.

So, I'm going to start with Max/Xam.  The animals are going to get a complete re-working. 

You'll see what I'm talking about after I post a pic of the new Max model sometime next week.

See you then!

Have Some Heavy Thinking To Do!

Hey guys,

Well, I started working on the Max model, rigging him up and getting him going when I decided I was running into to many problems with the model.

The truth of it is that I'm just not happy with the Max model any more.  There are too many things I want to change and I am seriously thinking about doing a Max 3.0.  This of course means I will have to do a Gibson and Willow 3.0 model and that is what is taking me so long to decide if I really want to do this or not.

See, this isn't like when I decided to update Thomas.  When I updated Thomas I worked on the existing model and made several updates.  Sure, the were major updates but I never left the existing model.  I just re-worked it. 

This time, I thinking about starting completely from scratch. 

So, I'll be kicking this idea around for the next couple of days. 

I'll let you know what I decide.

Later!

Thomas Animation Test!

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  What can I say?  The Thomas model through me for some loops.

So, what exactly was the problem.  Wow, where to start?  I don't want to go into too much detail, but his hair really gave me a lot of trouble. 

But, I have him all fixed up and ready to test. 

***WARNING: The video is a re-hashed version of the T-Boom animation test therefore it has some pretty loud music.  Make sure you're speakers are adjusted accordingly.***



And there you go. 

Now it's on to rig Xam.  Just so you know, this may take a while.  I hope it won't be too long.

Later!

Cloth Test!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I ran into a little problem while trying to do an animation test for T-Boom.

Basically, after my last post, I wanted to add some cloth simulations to the model.  I didn't want to go too crazy and try to simulate cloth on every article of his clothing.  The t-shirt and shorts are close fitting enough I wasn't worried about how they moved as long as they moved with his body, but the hoodie, I felt, needed to sway when moving or when in the wind.

 Some of you may remember I ran into this problem when I was working on my movie short.  It was concerning Huffenagle's trench coat and I wanted it to simulate cloth.  I even did a quick test (seen somewhere in an earlier post) of him rotating at the waist and you can see his trench coat fan out.  So, I thought a hoodie wasn't going to be any trouble.

The difference between my movie short and this film is, as I have said countless times, that the characters for the short were as simple as I could get them and that the characters for this movie will be more complicated.  Well, that is what was giving me so much trouble.

See, the characters in the short did not have particle hair.  Their hair was part of their mesh and simply colored.  The characters for Xam and Power Dog have particle hair, or their hair is composed of individual vertex points (strands).  It turns out that the software I am using for my movies (which I absolutely love and I am not criticizing) has a problem setting up collisions between objects and particles.  Short story, when T-Boom's hoodie would bounce of his head his hair would show through his hoodie.

Finally, after days of searching for a solution I figured out a way to make it work.  I feel it's a bit of a cheat, I'm not going to even tell you what it is, but I got it working good enough for my little film.

So, here's the T-Boom cloth test.  I even tightened up his lip syncing which was something I wasn't happy about in the previous test.  Again, there is sound so make sure your speakers are adjusted accordingly...



And there it is.  Pretty cool I think.

Now, I was going to do a great big test of the character but I really don't see the point.  I've animated enough during my short and I really just want to get on to the next part, which is to update the Thomas model.

So, that is what I'm going to do. 

I hope to have a Thomas test for you shortly.

Later!

T-Boom Test!

Hey guys,

As promised, I am working on a test animation with the newly rigged and shaped keyed T-Boom model.

This isn't a very long test.  The detail in these characters are so much greater than what I did in my movie short.  Consequentially, this 8 second clip took an hour and a half to render!

!!!WARNING: THIS CLIP HAS LOUD MUSIC SO MIND YOUR SPEAKERS!!!

So here is the quick test.  This is only a test...



And there you have it.  The lip syncing isn't the best.  I will definitely need to work on that.  I've never lip synced to music before so there was bound to be a learning curve there. 

All in all, I'm very happy with this test.  I plan on working on this some more this next week.  I want to do a 30 second clip.

So, I'll keep you posted.

Later!

Comparison Between T-Boom 2 and T-Boom 3!

Hey guys,

I've been feeling bad about the lack of updates during March despite all the work I've been doing.  So, in I was thinking I'd put a quick post up showing in better detail the differences between T-Boom 2 and T-Boom 3.

As you can see, I've removed his sunglasses to give you a better look at his face. 

Where to start?  OK.  The only original mesh to survive the update is his shoes and his sunglasses (not shown in this picture of course).  Honestly, I don't think I could have done those any better than I did in the second update so I kept them.  So, he has a new body, new shorts, new shirt and new hoodie.  His face is the only real noticeable update.  His new face is softer, not quite as pointed and that was the whole point to this update when I started.  Despite him being the bad guy in the movie, I didn't want him looking so surprised or quiet as evil.  There is a reason for not wanting that but you'll have to see the movie to know it.  :)

I also made his head a little smaller.  I've always wanted the characters to have big heads but it occurred to me that Thomas/T-Boom's head was alwas a little too big.

You will also notice his clothes fit tighter.  Again, that was deliberate.  It's easier to animate characters that wear tighter clothes.  I might get away with not needing to bake the clothing.  Baking isn't a big deal, but it slows down the rendering process a little and since this is a long movie all the time rendering starts to add up.

I also changed the stripping on the hoodie.  The brown stripe now flows down from the hood, along the zipper region and across the bottom.  You really can't see the brown stripe along the zipper area so I lightened the brown color and you still couldn't really see in front of the his black shirt.  Still, this is the lightest I wanted to go with the stripe so I left it.  I'm sure you'll see the stripe in the move though.

And that's about it.  All in all, I like T-Boom's update.  I can't wait to see him in the movie.

Now, back to setting up his shape keys.

Later...

Back From Vacation!

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  I took vacation last week and for once I honestly took a break from everything I've been working on and just decompressed.

Now I've been back for a couple of days and despite my lack of posts (March is going to look like I haven't been doing much but that is farthest from the truth) I've honestly been working hard on the movie this week.  

T-Boom has been taking up all of my time.  I started off by rigging him but that didn't go very well.  Unlike the rigs I used for my movie short, the rigs for this movie are very complex.  The complexity makes them difficult to work with.  Well, difficult for beginners I think. 

Anyway, after some research I discovered the reasons it wasn't working was because I still didn't have my model built properly.  I decided to do away with all clothing and start over again.  In the end, I ended up building all clothing separate from the main mesh and set up masks to hide the parts under the clothing (something I learned from Dr. Huffenagle and his trench coat in the movie short).

In the end, I now have tighter fitting clothes and a better hoodie, better from a construction point of view.

So, once again, here is the comparison with T-Boom mark II and T-Boom mark III...

Honestly, based on the render, the only way you could probably tell I re-worked him from a couple of weeks ago (see pic in post below) is that the pattern on his shorts is different and, as I mentioned before, his clothes fit tighter. 

But, that is not all.  I also have him completely rigged!  That's right, I can move him in any and all directions now.  All I have left to do is set up the shape keys for his facial expressions and speech. I hope to have that done in the next couple of days. After I get all that done I think I'll do a quick animation with the new T-Boom model.  Give him a test run and see how he works.  That probably won't be done until later next week.

So, if you don't hear from me for the next week or so don't worry.  I'm working very hard on the movie.

Later!

Decided To Stick with Particle Hair!

Hey guys,

Well, last time I mentioned I was in the process of deciding how to apply the knowledge I gained from working on the Over World short for Xam and Power Dog.

One of the things I was tossing around was whether or not to use the Jimmy style of modeling hair with the characters of Xam and Power Dog.  In the end, I decided to stick with my original designs and continue using particle hair.

I did this for two reasons.  One, I didn't like the idea of the animals in the movie not having real looking fur.  The second reason is in order to get the level of detail with molded hair I increased the face count of the models to extraordinary numbers and in the end, it was faster to render particle hair than molded hair.

So, once I decided on which hair/fur method I was going to use I decided to change up Thomas a little.  One of the things about the Thomas mode I was never satisfied with was his face.  It was a little to pointy for my liking.  So, I went back and softened his face up quite a bit.  I also updated his hair.  Six years ago, when I started this project, kids had relatively short hair.  If you've seen kids today, you know that's no longer the case.  So, Thomas will no longer have short, spiky hair and instead will have relatively long hair with no real attempt to style it.  You know, like kids today.  :)

Now, since I'm doing this after learning so much from my short, I decided to update T-Boom first and will update Thomas after.  Believe me, it's easier that way and that is a complete reversal from the way I used to do things.  That said, I have a comparison picture of Thomas 2 vs. Thomas 3 but because it's actually T-Boom and not Thomas his face is hidden quite a bit.  I know, I could have rendered him without the sunglasses, but T-Boom just doesn't look like T-Boom without his trademark sunglasses. 

Here's the pic...

So, what's different?  The body is still the same.  I only remodeled his head.  His new head is a little smaller and not quiet so sharp.  You'll just have to trust me on that at the moment.

What's next?  Well, I need to rig him up for movement and I need to do the shape keys for his speech and facial expressions.  It sounds like a lot but this is something I have quiet a bit of experience with lately and shouldn't take more than a day or two.

But, I'm on vacation next week and I don't know that I'll be working on the movie during that time.  I really need to recharge for a while.

So, I'll update you when I get back, unless I do work on this some next week in which case I'll update you then.

Hopefully that's not too confusing.

Later!

What's Going On?

Hey guys,

Wow, it's been a few days since my last post.

Not to worry.  I've been working on all kinds of things movie related.

First, been looking at my characters.  I have to admit, completing my 5 minute short has me completely re-thinking my models for Xam and Power Dog.  The main thing is the use of hair particles verses modeling the hair.  The truth with using particles for hair is that it makes the file so large and makes render times so long.  But, Max (Xam), Gibson (Power Dog), Willow and Jacko are all animals and I'm not sure how that will affect their design.  I got some serious thinking to do there.

The other thing I've been playing with is setting up a server to handle renders.  Some would call this a server farm, which I suppose it is, but to me, server farms are multiple servers; at least more than one!  This, as odd as it sounds considering what I do for a living, was not terribly quick to install and I still don't have it completely figured yet but I'm working on it whenever I can.  Setting up the sever, however, has taken away from my time thinking about the movie.

So, a couple of things are up in the air at the moment.

I'll keep you as up to date as much as I can.

Later!

What Did I Learn From The Over World and What Does That Mean fo Xam and Power Dog?

Forgive me ahead of time. This post is rather long...

So, I've viewed my newly completed short film several times and now it's time to look back and see what I learned.

For me, the first thing that comes to mind it is took me four months to complete the film. I spent the first month designing, building, rigging and testing the characters as well as building the set and the props. I then spent the next three months recording dialogue, learning how to put it all together and rendering a five minute film. Let me say that again. Three months to render five minutes of film!

The next thing I think about is the film itself. Let's start with what I think worked.

Character Design: It's safe to say this is up for debate, but I feel that the character design worked. Sure, Xam and Power Dog are prettier characters (in my humble opinion) but I have to admit I really enjoyed working with this laid back design approach. I wanted it simple and that is what I got. There isn't anything fancy about these characters. Their eyes don't rival that of Pixar's. I only created 10 phonemes for their speech and only 16 other shape keys for their facial expressions. Believe me when I say I could have easily doubled or tripled those numbers. Their clothing, with the exception of Dr. Huffenagle trench coat, are not separate from their mesh. Their rigging doesn't have any fancy controls or constraints. I painstakingly had to move each individual bone separately to position them and this was never more of a pain then when I had Jimmy walk or crawl. Still, when I look at the finished film I believe what I see on the screen. Sure, the walk cycle could have been cleaner. Sure, I took many shortcuts with the speech controls and facial expressions, but none of that stands out to me. None of that detracts from the overall appearance of the film.

The Set: When I envisioned Huffenagle Hill, the house and the valley below, I wasn't sure how it was going to work. Although I've done a lot of character design I had never set down to build a set. Xam and Power Dog has so many sets, interior and exterior but I never sat down to design them. One of the many reasons I chose the scene I selected was because it was a big set, set outside and at night. In the end, I think I pulled of a pretty nice, night scene. I think the set is nice to look at and fits very well within the world of the characters.

The Acting: I hate saying this because I did all the voices and had to direct myself but I think the acting isn't bad. It is very well documented on this blog that I don't like my voice and the thought of acting and putting myself in front on the camera (or behind the voices anyway) was daunting for me. Luckily, I do have a little experience in front of the camera and on stage and I was able to fall back on what very limited training I've had in the past to bring something to this part of the project. Also, thanks to some very clever software, I was able to hide enough of my voice to the point I don't really hear myself in the characters.  Overall, I don't cringe during many parts of the film.

The Script: Based on the reaction of those few who have seen my film, I'm going to say the script works.  Granted, the story is something that I've been able to flush out over the years and I, for the most part, know what is motivating every character in the film. This made writing the script incredibly easy. In the end, I genuinely believe you can't take one line out of the film without changing the context of the entire scene. That means no line is wasted and that is important to me. I've even had the occasional comment that it sucks that this is only a side project and I have no plan at this time to make this a feature film, which in my mind is exactly what this story is. I seem to have attracted some attention to this story and that could only have happen because the the script worked.

Now, let's look at what didn't work.

Character Design: Honestly, I think everything about this was good.  I have tried to find something about it that doesn't work but these characters are exactly what I envisioned when I sat down to create them.  This is one of only a couple of things about the project I am completely happy with.

The Set: One thing I did to speed up rendering time was to use back drops instead of rendering every character, building, tree and blade of grass individually.  Still, I needed it to look like the characters were actually standing in the valley so I designed a patch of grass for them to stand on and that patch of grass sat in front of the back drop. One thing that stands out in the film in some scenes is the blending of the foreground with the background.  Simply put, in some scenes you can see the line separating the foreground and the background. For the Xam and Power Dog movie I will need to make this line seamless.

The Acting: I know I said above that I think this works but the truth is that I think this works only for the most part. There are two versions of the final film on the blog and that is because I wanted to go back and work on Nathan's voice. Although I am happy with the sound in the final-final version I don't like Nathan's cadence. My plan when I recorded his dialogue was that I wanted to make him sound ghostly and that affected the cadence by maaakkkiiinnng hhhiiimmm tttaaalllkkk ssslllooowwwlllyyy.  In retrospect, I would prefer his cadence match a young boys, like Jimmy's.  Nathan's slowed down speech pattern just made some of the scene drag on a little longer than I would like. The other thing I'm not exactly happy about is Huffenagle's voice. When I finished designing Huffenagle I realised he looked a lot like Patrick Stewart! Once I noticed that I wanted him to sound like Patrick. Of course, I couldn't get Patrick Stewart although in all fairness to the man, I never reached out to him and asked. The problem is that I don't even come close to sounding like Patrick Stewart.  I can't even do a bad impression of him.  Apparently, what I can do is a very, very, very bad impression of Sean Connery (and if I'm being honest, who can't).  My wife thinks he sounds like Dr. Dugong (for all you Venture Bros. fans out there) or, more recently, kind of like Bane in the new Dark Knight Rises movie. Still, this is more of a voice thing than an acting thing so I'll move on.

The Script: Again, honestly, I'm pretty happy with the script. I can't really find anything I don't like.  Now, sure, viewers won't understand every thing they see.  It is, after all, a scene from a much larger story and therefore the viewers of this scene aren't meant to understand everything.  Hopefully, it leaves you wanting more.  :)

So, what does all of this mean for Xam and Power Dog? Actually, this means quite a lot. I now have a better idea of what exactly it will take to make Xam and Power Dog at least as good as my short. 

I've learned that if I continue to have trouble creating the advanced rig I'm trying to make work for those characters I can always fall back on the classic approach I used to rig these guys.  Sure, to do that will mean I won't get the kind of quality I'm hoping to achieve for Xam and Power Dog but perhaps I'm not meant to.  If, at the end of the day, the movement of Xam and Power Dog looks only as good as Jimmy, Nathan and Huffenagle then that will truthfully be alright with me. I could live with that.

I've also learned that I am definitely going to need to get my server farm up and running. This short was created using only a laptop and when I was rendering the scenes I was locked out from continuing any work on the rest of the movie. Also, the longest scene in the short was 14 seconds and that took the laptop 1.5 - 2 hours to render.  That's right.  1.5 - 2 hours to render 14 seconds of film!  A server farm, in my case, will be one server at first with plans to add a second down the road. This server will be beefed up to render movies which will, in design at least, speed up render times.  But, if for some reason renders aren't any faster then they are on my laptop (and I can't imagine this being the case) then at least I won't tie down my laptop when rendering and I will at least be able to continue working on the movie during renders.

The last thing I learned was that I can continue to work on my models to get them ready for filming but I won't be able to film one scene until I get all the dialogue recorded and perfected.  This means that I'm not only going to have to make sure the script is exactly how I want it but also bring the cast into the studio to lay down their dialogue tracks.

But, the most important thing in all of this is that the short is finished and now it's time to start working on Xam and Power Dog again!

Check back next week.  I'll keep you updated as always.

Later

The Rabmlings of a Man Fresh off the High of Having Completed a Goal!

Back in May of 2009 I decided to film a little movie about a group of animals, based on my dogs and cats, who have super powers bestowed upon them. It stared off as a live action film. That idea is hilarious to me now. I made costumes and even filmed some scenes before I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make that work.

Then I had the idea to animate my little movie. Mind you, I had never once tried to animate anything. I didn’t even know how or if I could, but I set out to learn and I honestly have never stopped learning.

That said, you’d think I’d be a freaking animating genius by now. Sadly, that is not the case. I’m not a kid and my tales of youth keep reaching further and further back in time. Heck, I have a son who is a sophomore in high school and a daughter who is a freshman in college. When was I going to find the time to learn how to animate a movie?

Three and a half years and 200 blog entries later and, in a lot of ways, I’m still at the starting point of making my movie. Pre-production as they call it in the biz.

Four months ago, I was ready to throw in the towel. The effort proving more herculean then I could have imagined and I was ready to post my last entry on the Xam and Power Blog. But I hate succumbing to defeat. In fact, I loath it and before I gave up completely I decided instead of clawing my way forward to go the other way and take a few steps back.

That is when I thought I’d take one of the many ideas floating around in my head and make a simple, animated short film. The film would be simple because I wouldn’t have as much invested as I do Xam and Power Dog. Simple, because the film would only be 5 (although originally I thought I’d make it 10) minutes long. Simple, because I would do all the voices and not need to schedule around other actors. Simple, because the characters would be less complicate in design and rigging. Simple, because if I couldn’t make this 5 minute short then I had no business trying to make a 90 minute film.

And that is what I did. I made my 5 minute short. And with the films completion I am renewed in my desire to tell the story of Xam and Power Dog.

So sit back and prepare to check back on this blog as often as you can for the foreseeable future. I have a feeling there are at least 200 more blog entries to come!

My 200th Post is an Update: New Over World Clip!

Hey guys,

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been working on a few updates to the Over World clip.

And, here it is...



The updates are a couple of subtle changes and one noticeable change.

The noticeable change is I've updated Nathan's voice. It was difficult at times to understand what he was saying so I tweaked it and I think this makes him more clear when he speaks.

The not-so-noticeable changes deal with the editing and the watering well the boys hide behind before confronting Huffenagle. As far as the editing goes, I quickened the cuts at the beginning of the film. I was new to editing when I started and I learned to edit tighter as I went on. Now the dialogue exchange is more consistent. For the watering well, it was pointed out to me the roof was facing the wrong way and no self respecting well would have a roof line like the original film.

So, now, no matter what, I am considering the film finished.

I will share my experience of what it was to make this film later. I'm too tired to worry about it now.

Check back in a couple of days and I'll share my experience as well as let you know what's next for Xam and Power Dog!

Later.

I Posted the Short Too Soon!

Hey guys,

I know I posted the "final" version of the short yesterday but after viewing it several times I noticed some things I missed.

Not to sound like George Lucas, but I'm just not happy with what I released yesterday.  There are a couple of things I need to fix before I'm truly pleased with it.

So, I'm going to take the next couple of days and fix some of the things I don't like.  I'll go into more detail on what those things are later.

Check back in the next couple of days to see what has been changed.


Later.

Over World: A 5 Minute Clip!

Hello everyone!

As I promised, I have finished my side project.



I will share my opinion of this project later.

In the meantime.  I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for your patience and I'll talk to you later.

Putting the Finishing Touches on the Short!

Wow, it has been a while since I posted anything.

That said, I've been moving right along on the short and I plan on having it finished later today!

It's been an amazing time working on this project.  Looking back at the blog, I see I officially announced putting Xam and Power Dog on hold to work on this side project back on October 24th of last year!  Since today is February 20th that means my brief break to work on my animation skills has taken me 4 months to complete.  I have to admit, that is twice as long as I thought it would.

Putting that aside, it occurred to me that I never really expanded on this other world I am creating.  So, what is it?

Right now, the working title of the project is The Over World.  The more I worked on it the more I realized I would need to come up with a better name.  Who knows what I will call it if I ever decide to try and make it a feature film like Xam and Power Dog.

The Over World starts in the late 1880's when something happens to block the barrier separating the living from the dead and causing everyone who dies from that point forward to continue existing among the living in ghost form.

Moving forward to the 1950's, the world has gotten used to living with ghosts and it is as common as anything else.  Ghosts exist along side the living.  They work, play and go to school in perfect harmony.  

But old, eccentric millionaire Dr. Mortimer Huffenagle remembers what it was like before the ghosts came to live among us and has vowed to put things right, to return things back to the way of the natural world.  This doesn't sit well with two young friends, Jimmy, a human and Nathan, a ghost, who stumble upon Huffenagle right as he is putting his plan into action.  When the town chooses not to listen to the boys warnings, they decide they are the only people who can stop Huffenagle, no matter the cost.

The short will be around 5 minutes long and will come toward the end of the story.  Don't worry.  It doesn't really give a lot away but does allow you to meet the three main characters.

So, hang around.  I hope to be posting it some time later today.

See ya!

Not Nearly As Far Along As I Had Hoped!

Hey guys,

I've been working hard on the short.  I'm sitting at about 3:25 minutes but I'm not nearly as far along as I anticipated this time last week.  I was hoping to be finishing up in the next day or two but now I don't feel I'll be complete until the end of this week or beginning of next.

So, hang in there for now.  I will hopefully have a video to post this time next week!

Later.

Moving into the Final Scene of the Short!

Hey guys,

Well, been working pretty hard on the short this last week and now I'm finally working on the final scene of the project.

This is exciting for me because finally, you get to meet Dr. Huffenagle.  OK, actually, you get to see him for a split second in scene two, but you really don't get introduced to him until scene four.

I figure I'll be on this for about another week.  I'm still holding off on posting any more video until I'm done, but here is a picture to hold you over until then...

Alright.  Time to get back to it. 

I'll talk to you later.

Still Working on the Short!

Hey guys,

Not much to report really, other than the short has broken the 2 minute mark. 

The short I'm filming has only 4 scenes.  I can say that I have, for the most part, filmed scenes 1 and 3.  I did those first since both scenes use the same camera angles and required very little configuring.

Now that those are done I can start on scenes 2 and 4.  This is going to be fun because those scenes introduce Dr. Huffenagle.  Up until now, I've only been working with Jimmy and Nathan.

I'm trying to hold off on posting any more footage until the short is finished.  That means the updates won't be all that interesting and for that I am sorry.

I'm working as fast as I can so hopefully I'll have the short finished in the next three to four weeks.

I'll certainly keep you updated.

Later!

Broke the One Minute Barrier!

Hey guys,

I know, I said I was gonna hold off on posting any more videos until I had something substantial to show.  Well, the short hit a milestone today, I surpassed one minute in lenght!

Alright, not that big of a deal since this is going to be a 5-7 minute short, but I think 63 seconds is a milestone that deserved being mentioned on the blog.

Now, this is in every sense a rough cut.  I think some of the pacing could be tightened up on some of the cuts but I figured "what the heck" and thought I'd post it anyway...



So, there you have it.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with it up to this point.  I still have a long way to go until I consider it finished (if I ever consider it finished) but I think I'm off to a pretty good start.

Talk to you later.

Still Working Hard on the Short!

Hey guys,

Don't let the lack of updates this last week fool you.  I've been working very hard on the short these last several days.  I just figured you'd all be pretty tired of seeing 3-4 seconds of additional film so I'm waiting until I get a large portion done before posting any video updates.

So, what has been taking so long?  Oddly, it's not the lip syncing.  I think I'm getting pretty good at that (you'll have to be the judge when this is done).

No, actually, what's taken up a lot of my time these last couple of days is fixing the first two clips I ever did, the ones that were way too dark.  I'm not really sure why those two small clips are being so difficult, but that is what I've been working on.

So, in the interest of at least posting something, here is a picture of me doing my seemingly 100th rendering of a 3 second clip...

Isn't that exciting!

I'll post another video sometime soon hopefully!

Later.

Alright... Another Update to a Recently Added Video!

I hate it when this happens.

I post a video to show my progress and I realize upon replay that I missed something than needs to be corrected.

Specifically, Nathan, seen floating up and down in the first 3 seconds of the video in my previous post, isn't floating up and down in the last 10 seconds of the video.

So, I have fixed that and here is the updated video...



Alright, now back to working on the next part of the clip.

Later.

Added Nathan to the Test Video!

Hey guys,

Well, I've added another 9 seconds to the test video, specifically, Nathan answering Jimmy's question.



Now, it may not seem like I've done much, but it is a rather lengthy process making things like lip syncing and general movement to the characters.  The last 9 seconds of the clip above took me an hour of tweaking to make it look right.  Then, it took another 45 minutes to render the output and 15 minutes to edit. 

Still, I have to admit, I'm having quite a lot of fun. 

I hope it shows.

HD Version of Latest Video!

Hey guys,

I was wondering why my videos are still so small when I suddenly noticed I wasn't rendering in HD!

So, I've managed to fix that and here is an HD version of the latest video.  Of course, you'll want to make sure your settings are set to HD or you'll get just the standard version.




So, nothing really new but I thought this was still worth updating.

Talk to you all later!

Still Working On Animating the Short!

Hey guys,

It may be difficult to tell from the 4 second clip below, but I've been working really hard on animating the short these last couple of days.

As I'm new at this, the challenges I've been facing have been pretty big to me.  I'm sure seasoned vets would have all this down by now but that is the reason for doing this side project, to get better.

So, here is a new clip, complete with dialogue, the actual dialogue that will be used in the clip.  Keep in mind, I'm not a fan of my voice, but I will be doing all the voices for this short so I'll just have to get over that.

Here you go...




I know, I know, I need to start dusting off my mantle for my Oscar, but I'll probably hold off on that for now.  Besides, just being nominated is enough of an honor.

Still, this short video does have some problems and I need to determine if it's worth fixing them before I move on to the next 4 second clip.

I'll let you know what I decide.