Still Rigging Thomas...No Walk Cycle Yet!

Hey guys,

Well, it's been a pretty busy week, and with Halloween getting closer (a very important holiday in my family with a huge, elaborate front yard cemetery that requires considerable building every year) it is only going to get busier.

Still, I will not stop working on the movie but may slow down a bit, as was the case this week. I'm still not working on a walk cycle yet because I'm ironing out the rough spots in the Thomas model rigging. This is very time consuming but once I get it finished it will be easier to position and pose the models.

I mentioned last week that by doing this I was able to improve upon the models. One of the things I mentioned is that I will be able to get rid of the "shoulder pads" on the models and below is an example of what I was talking about...




As you can see in the second picture, Thomas' shoulders look much more relaxed and natural. I was also able to fix his hands, which is something I was never happy with and was able to fix with the Rocky model. The hands in the second pic come from a separate model I created for the Rocky model and imported them into the Thomas model, then beefed them up to look like a boy's hands. A huge improvement in my opinion.

All I have left to finish rigging is his legs and feet and once I complete that I will finally be able to work on the walk cycle.

As soon as I have that finished I will post it.

Later!

So Far... So Good!

Well, I had a pretty productive day today.

I was able to fix the Thomas model by rebuilding his arms so they stick out in a "T" shape. Check out the before and after...

(Before)


(After)


As you can see, I was even able to redo the UV Textures which gives him his color. If you look closely you will see the pattern on his pants is a little different.

The other thing you will notice is that he no longer looks like he's wearing shoulder pads. This will be more noticeable after I rig him and put his arms down by his sides (something I will show you after I rig him) but for now, if you use your imagination, you will see what I'm talking about.

So, not bad for a days work. It actually only took me a couple of hours. The big thing will be rigging him, which I will hopefully be able to spend some time on tomorrow. I say "hopefully" because this weekend is going to be very busy and I'm not entirely sure I will have the time until next week.

As always, I will keep you posted.

Back to the Drawing Board on the Human Characters!

Well, I mentioned last week that I was certain I would find problems with the models when I started to animate them and I did...at least as far as the human models go.

To make a long story short, when I was building the human models I didn't have their arms out to the side (so when you look at them from front or behind they look like a "T").

Why is this a problem? Well, because they are wearing shirts and when I move the arms the shirt sleeves become deformed.

It's all pretty complicated if you're not familiar with the rigging process so I won't beat you down with the details. The bottom line is I have to rebuild the human models with their arms out, which will completely wipe out the color maps I've done taking me back at least another week to fix all three human models (Thomas, T-Boom and Rocky).

And I was in such a good mood last week.

The good news is that I believe this will only be a problem with the human models. As you know, Max and Gibson are wearing costumes when they are Xam and Power Dog, but because I built them standing on all four limbs they should be alright. At least I'm crossing my fingers that will be the case.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means if my estimation of a one week delay is accurate then it will be a couple of weeks until we see T-Boom in a walk cycle.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Having Fun Rigging the T-Boom Model!

Hey guys!

Well, I still have a lot of work to do before I feel I'm done with rigging the T-Boom model, but I did have some fun working on posing him and thought I'd share.

First, Here is what it looks like to work with the rigging and then to render the image...



Second, I decided to have some fun with the rendered image and stick T-Boom on a statue of a Charging Bull that sits somewhere in NY City (where the movie is set)..



I plan on adding the rest of the characters to this pic as I finish them.

That said, I'm still not done with T-Boom. I'm going to try to animate him in a walk cycle to make sure I have everything right. I already can tell there are things still wrong with what I've done so far so I have no idea how long this will take. I suspect it will be another week until I have the walk cycle finished.

As always, I'll let you know how that goes!

Started Rigging T-Boom!

Hey guys!

Well, I said it would be a learning experience and I wasn't kidding.

I decided last week to scrap everything I've rigged on Power Dog and start over. That said, I didn't find a lot of rigging tutorials for dogs but I found a fantastic tutorial for rigging a person so, after a week of research, I've finally started rigging T-Boom today!

Rigging looks pretty funny when editing and positioning. Here is what it looks like (click on the image for a larger pic)...



As you can see, T-Boom has little yellow bones and the dots represent his joints. This took me about an hour to do and it has it's challenges but so far it is really moving along.

Next I have to assign what bones move what part of the body. I think that is going to go fairly quickly but I am completely exhausted and think I will stop here for the day. It's gonna be a pretty busy day tomorrow, but I'll try to work on it some more in the evening and hopefully I'll have something new to post then.

For now, I'm pretty excited and I can't wait to work on this some more.

As always, I'll post if there's anything new to report!

What's New?

What's new? To tell the truth, nothing.

I've been a little under the weather this last week and haven't touched the movie.

Not to worry, next week I'll start it up again. I've decided to start over with the character rigging. I'm going to scrap what I've done so far and begin researching the process anew.

I'm doing this because if there's one thing I've learned from all the work I've done on the movie is that I can always do it better and more efficiently.

So, next week I'll start my research and I'll update you on how it's going.

See you then!

Rocky is "Finished"!

Well, I had a little time to work on the movie this evening and darned if I didn't get Rocky colored...





So, I now declare the Rocky model "finished"!

Of course, I put "finished" in quotes because I'm always tweaking the models a little here and there and because the only model that is rigged is the Power Dog model so really, none of the models are truly finished.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, "rigging" is basically giving the models bones so I can move and position them in various poses. It is essentially the thing that gives them life and movement and it is going to take me a while to figure that out.

So, what's next? Well, I need to experiment with the rigging of the models and see what I can do with them. It is what I was working on with Power Dog before I decided to take a break and make the rest of the models. Now I have the models done so it's back to where I was a couple of months ago...working on the animation of the characters.

Once I get that done I'll be able to work on the backgrounds. Once I get the hang of merging the backgrounds with the models then it will finally be time to start making the movie.

I still have a long way to go before that day arrives. As always, I will keep you posted. :)

Rocky Is Almost Finished!

Alright!

It's been another crazy, busy week. I promised to have the Rocky model finished by today and almost made it!

Here is what I've got so far...



As you can see, the model is arguably done. As far as the character design, she is finished. Now all she needs is a little color, which I will try to get to this weekend.

It's the last weekend of summer so it's gonna be pretty busy around here as we get the kiddo's settled for the new school year.

The bad news is the kids summer is coming to an end and I'm gonna miss having them around. The good news is that starting Monday I will be able to dedicate a lot more time to the movie. I know that's hard to believe. July was a busy month for the movie but August has been a nightmare. Now with a little more free time, I will be able to get back to making my vision a reality.

As soon as Rocky is completely done I will let you know!

Still Working on Rocky Model!

Hey everyone,

I have only spent about 30 minutes on the Rocky model this week. I'm really trying to get some things done around the house (things I've been putting off so I can work on the movie) and it is leaving me with little time to work on the movie.

Still, I feel the need to post what little progress I've done on the model...



As you can see, Rocky is doing a Venus de Milo impression (one with a top at least). Don't worry! I'm still working on the model and promise to have it done by this time next week.

I'll keep you posted!

Been Really Busy but Managed to do Some More Work!

Hey guys,

Well, I mentioned last week that I didn't think I'd have a whole lot of time this week to work on the model and that has been the case.

I did find a couple of hours to work on the Rocky model today and although it doesn't look like I've done much I really did get a lot accomplished.

The problem with this particular model is the hair. Thomas' hair was short and spikey and that was fairly easy to animate but because Rocky's hair is long and straight it was giving me some trouble.

The other thing throwing me for a loop was the eyelashes. Thomas doesn't have any because he's a boy but it looked weird not having them on Rocky. As you can see below, I have added eyelashes. I'm not sure that I'm done with them but at least they're there for now.

So, here's the pic of what I've done today.



Later this week I'm going to start working on her body. I'm sorry this is takng so long but I'm really trying to get some things done around the house (projects I've been putting off for far too long) and I have family in town this week (Hi Mom!) and I'm trying to spend time with them as well.

So for now, this is what I've got done. I'll keep you posted!