Early Power Dog Render!

Hey guys,

I've only had a couple of hours to work on the Power Dog model today and, like I suspected, I had to delete the old model and start over.

Still, I got a lot done today and I wanted to share. As you can see, the costume has the logo and the mask! Yes, the characters in the animated movie will have their masks!

I still need to finish the mask and add PD's cape, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek!

Final Rendered Gibson Pics!

Alright!

For the time being, it looks like I've finished the animated model for Gibson the Dog!

I say "for the moment" because if there's one thing I've learned through this modeling process it is that I'm never really finished. Still, I can't think of anything else I need to do to him so that is why I think I'm done. I still have to actually animate him so if I missed anything I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough.

You would think that because Gibson is done that I should be done with Power Dog. That, however, is not the case. When I started working on the PD model I still hadn't mapped his spots (see my first pic of Gibson and compare it with these and you'll see he didn't have his spots), so that means I have to map PD's spots and still finish his cape. I have no idea how long that will take but I'm guessing another couple days.

Once I have the PD model finished I will try a test animation. I have a feeling I'm a couple of weeks away from having that complete. The good news is that all this time working on Gibson/Power Dog means I should be able to do the other characters that much faster. I'm crossing my fingers!

So, for now, here's the final rendered pics of Gibson. More to follow soon! (Hopefully)

Early Test Render of Gibson!

Hey guys,

Well, I mentioned last week that I'm working on a new approach to the movie and I'm so excited I can't wait to show what I've been working on until it's completely finished.

So, that being said, here is what I'm working on. I'm going to try to animate the movie instead of filming it live.

I know, I know. Can I even do that? Truthfully, I have no idea. That is why I've been so quite about it all these months but I think I'm getting to a point where I can at least tell you all what has been taking so long.

I currently have two models built. One of Gibson and one of Power Dog. I'm still putting the finishing touches on Power Dog. Right now, his cape and logo on the costume are giving me a hard time but I think I'm a week away from figuring all that out.

So, why did I start with Gibson and not Max? Simple, Power Dog has a cape and I knew that would be a mother to animate so I wanted to start with something difficult first.

Once I have Power Dog done I will move on to Max and Xam. Then the fun will begin as I then build models for Thomas and T-Boom, the only human in the movie. That will have it's own challenges I'm sure.

After Thomas/T-Boom I'll build a model for Jacko the Dog and then I'll have to figure out the sets. I'm hoping I can use the ones I've already built with SketchUp but I'll have to see how that works. If it doesn't, I'll have to build them with my modeling software (which I will tell you more about later).

Until then, here is an early rendering of Gibson.

Still Alive and Still Working on the Movie!

Hey there from the great beyond!

No, I'm not dead. I'm still working like a dog (pun intended) on this movie. I've decided, however, to take a different direction.

All I'm gonna say for the moment is that filming this live was going to take so much more time then I ever expected. That said, I'm looking into other options.

Now, these other options won't be any easier. In fact, initially, it will be much harder, but once I get a few things behind me it should go faster and it will allow me to do everything in my script without any compromises.

So, for now, this is all I have to report. I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks I will be able to give you all a glimpse of what is to come.

Until then....

Still No Usable Footage!

Hey guys,

Just a quick note. It's been over a week and I still don't have any usable footage. I'm going to take the week off and see if I can come up with a new plan.

I'll let you know what I come up with.

Hang in there. I haven't given up!

Time is Flying but the Moive Isn't!

Sorry guys,

I feel like I've let the movie down this last month. Filming has proven to be considerably more difficult than I originally thought. All the test filming went smoothly but now that the camera is actually rolling I'm learning why the #1 rule to film making is never work with animals or kids.

To be fair to Thomas, I haven't started filming his parts yet. I've basically been focusing on the star of the movie, Max. He is proving to be quite reluctant in front of the camera. He doesn't like wearing his costume and he pretty much lays down the whole time he has it on. That's a little difficult to work with since his character is a self centered, loud mouthed speedster!

So, as of today, I'm starting a new approach. I'm going to start filming Power Dog's shots, then Thomas, then Willow (she doesn't wear a costume so she's pretty easy to work with) and then Max. At this point, I'm hoping the others will be easier to film. If they're not, then I don't know if this movie will ever get made.

So, stay tuned. I'm near my breaking point but I haven't given up! Hopefully, I'll have something to post very soon.

Hit A Personal Snag!

Well, it's been a rough week.

I try to keep this blog on track by only talking about things that relate to the movie. I have often said I would like more time to work on this project. What's that old saying? Be careful of what you wish?

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail. All I will say is the one thing that has been keeping me from working on this movie on anything resembling a regular basis is no longer an issue. I, like so many in this economy, seem to have an average of an extra 60 hours a week to kill.

So, as idle hands are the work of the director, I hope to start filming the movie this week. I will start with the scene I mentioned in my earlier post (I haven't started it yet, sadly) and will see where it goes. With any luck, I will have something to show by this time next week.

See you all later!

Haven't Been Able to Do Much These Last Few Weeks!

Hey guys,

Well, what can I say? I haven't been able to do much of anything on the movie these last couple of weeks.

I was gearing up to film the first scene of the movie when my computer crashed. If that wasn't bad enough, a freak snow storm delivered 10-12 inches of snow here in Dallas and that pretty much put the rest of the city out of action. Everything has been on hold the last couple of days and it has really put a crimp on the movie.

A tech is suppose to come out and replace the mother board, cpu, heat sinks and memory on the computer tomorrow. If that happens, I should be able to start filming next weekend.

Now, when I say I'm filming the first scene, I don't mean the first scene of the movie. I mean it is my first scene. I want to start things off with a BANG so I'm gonna film the first meeting between Xam, Power Dog and T-Boom! It's got everything. All the characters, big action and a little humor. I'm hoping that by starting with that scene I will really get the filming ball rolling and not let it stop until I've filmed everything.

So, don't lose heart. I haven't given up. Once I have the first scene filmed I will edit it to see if everything lines up with my vision. If it does, I will think about posting the scene here on the blog. It was never my intention to put anything of the actual movie online, but I'm curious what kind of reaction I will receive. Like I said, though, I'm only thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind if I will.

I promis to try to keep posting on a more regular basis. That is, once my movie computer is back online!

Later!

Scene 1 Storyboard!

Alright, I've been pretty busy these last couple of weeks doing a storyboard for the first scene.

Truthfully, this was a lot of hard work and I am questioning the importance of doing it for the rest of the movie. At first I thought it would help me plan out my shots and prepare me better for shooting the scene, but really, when all was said and done, all I did was put what was already in my head in the storyboard. In the end, I don't think this helped me visualize the movie any better than what I had already worked out ahead of time in my mind.

That said, since I spent the last two weeks working on it I may as well post it on the blog.

Again, like all the other voice work posted on the blog, this is my voice you will hear and it isn't the actual voices of the characters you will hear in the final cut of the film. I just recorded it myself to save time. As I've mentioned before, I have a terrible voice for film. Heck, I didn't even bother to direct myself (as is obvious from all the reading mistakes I made and didn't bother to re-record myself). I just read the script and a little before half way thorough it I even gave up on trying to alter my voice for the different characters (not that I tried all that hard to begin with).

So, here is the first (and probably only) storyboard for the movie. It is the first scene of the film and gives nothing away on the plot, other than introducing all the characters of the film.

Enjoy.

New Power Dog Costume!

Alright, new in the fact that I made another one.

It's been done for a couple of days now. I mentioned in my last post that I would probably spend my last few days of 2009 making the costume, which is exactly what I've done.

I thought it would be fun to show the anatomy of making the costume. This was something I didn't do with the last costumes and it gives me something new to post, since I didn't do any filming this weekend (very busy doing family stuff).

These pics show some of the patterns used to make the costume. I designed them myself and made tweeks to them as I gained more experience. As you can tell, I used PD Pattern 3.0 to make this costume. The hardest part, as always, is making the insignia which is actually cut out from the cardboard of a Coke box (to give it that much needed 3D look that all super hero costumes must have now adays) and then I glue fabric over the top and sew it onto the costume. Getting it centered right is almost as time consuming as making the thing. The entire process is even more challenging because, as you can see, Max and Willow really enjoy helping which only slows me down because they are constantly in the way.

The final picture shows the two Power Dog costumes that will be used in the movie. I actually made three costumes but the first one was way too small to fit Gibson (it is only a little big on Max) and simply cannot be used in the movie. I have two costumes because Power Dog, although only having one in the movie, gets his ripped up quite a bit in the final battle with T-Boom and I need one costume which will be worn throughout most of the movie and one that I can burn and shred while filming the final battle scene. Xam has three costumes but that is because he isn't super strong like Gibson and his costume takes more damage throughout the course of the film.

All in all, this costume only took me about 4 hours to make. That may sound like a lot until you consider the fact the first one took me about 8 hours total. I can honestly say that I think I'm getting pretty good at making these things. Who knows, perhaps I will be able to cut it down to 2 hours when I make the sequel! :)