Animation is Kicking My Butt!

Hey guys,

Well, what can I say? Animation is a lot harder than you would think!

In my opinion, building the model is not even half the battle. Heck, that is the easy part.

Don't worry, I'm not giving up, but I need to focus on something other than trying to animate Power Dog. That said, I think I'm gonna take a break and begin the Max/Xam model. He is, after all, the star and I'm hoping that having the two models (really four because then I will have Gibson/Power Dog and Max/Xam models) to work with and put in scenes together will get me back into the mood to animate them.

I'll have some pics of the Max model sometime next week.

See you then.

Still Working On Animation!

Hey!

Well, it's been kinda time consuming. Remember when I said I was sure I'd figure out everything that is wrong with the models when I set out to animate them?

Well, I was right. There were a couple of things wrong with the Gibson/Power Dog models. After a couple of days I think I have them resolved and I am finally starting to work with the animation. The first thing I decided to work on was Power Dog's cape. I set it up to blow in the wind and this is what I got....



It looked so funny to me I thought I'd mess around with it some more. This isn't what the movie is going to look like (because the background is an actual image of a Chrystler Building Gargoyle and not a set I built) but I think it looks pretty good!



Alright. Now that I'm done messing around it's time to get back to what I originally set out to do... make Power Dog run and jump into the air.

I'll let you know how that goes!

A Couple of New Rendered Pics!

Hey guys,

Still working on the test animation. So far I haven't made much progress because I forgot one thing. I failed to put a tongue in both models. Now, that may not be that big of a deal for the cat models, but a dog without his tongue sticking out is like Superman without the "S" on his chest. It just looks weird.

So, I thought I'd quickly add a tongue to the models when I discovered the inside of Gibson/Power Dog's mouth was completely messed up. It took me a couple of hours, one for each model, to fix that problem and then adding the tongue was easy.

So, since I spent some time doing this, I thought I'd add it on the blog. Here are a couple of pics, each with a tongue.

I think he looks more dog-like now. :)

Rendered Power Dog Pics!

Alright!

I finally got the Power Dog model done! It took me a day longer than planned because right as I finished the first PD model the file became corrupt and I had to completely start over. The good news is that I think I did a considerably better job the second time.

So, now I need to do a test animation to see if it works. If all goes well I'll post the video on the blog. I have no idea how long it will take but I'm betting on at least a couple of weeks as I have never done anything like this before and I'll need to figure it out.

Until then, here are some sample pics of the Power Dog model.

Enjoy!

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.