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!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
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...
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...
Friday, March 22, 2013
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!
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!
Friday, March 8, 2013
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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!
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!
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