Modelling Phase: 2

I have been tinkering with the models geometry on phase 2 for a while now figuring out the right paths for the facial curves to react correctly in relation to my previous body study. Understanding the topology for the animals are taking much longer then anticipated, again its something new and challenging which I’d like to get right however they follow the same topology structure as the human head model in the past, so I do have some experience with the issues I’m facing. I’m not looking for high end models just the beneficial outlines which define my shadows.

Next I’ll look to tackle the legs for all the models and come back to the fine tuning, once happy with the fully resolved states of the models. The images shown here depict the main body with the head.

Bear

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Bird

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Hound

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This weeks tutorial session

Tuesday’s tutorial was an interesting one unfortunately Phil wasn’t in to see my procession and speak about the project so the recent thoughts where taken into the discussion with Alan, I didn’t have many technical questions however this gave me a chance to speak about a comment left on my blog an idea where I could really improve the appeal of my animation.

The idea is to master my surroundings as magician masters his tricks so in other words I have to act as the main conductor to the success as well as bringing influences from other sources for my scene becoming the magician so to speak. Constructing my shadows in a form of illusion is a key consideration showing things like anticipation, grabbing the attention of the viewer whilst something else is occurring in the scene in a subtle manner. Inevitably if performed correctly this will evoke reactions such as ‘did that just move?’ I want to raise questions in the audiences mind and play with there inner thoughts.

I came across these billboard illustrations which follow along similar lines of the idea I’ll express in my animation. You as the spectator can see that the illusion in front of the projected scene however you’re not quite sure what is happening behind the billboard. Starts to raise questions…

 http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/504
Red-Cross Optical illusion billboards

Modelling Phase: 1

Okay, I’m glad to say the production is now official underway, what I’d like to do is tackle the challenges of the character models as I feel this is the stage in which will be the most time consuming, it will require six different models two for each character. These models once finessed will be rigged as well skinned.

The majority of my time has been spent modelling the basic structure of the characters body as phase 1, there not quite finished still in need of some refinement however capture the shape and size I’m looking for, the next stage will be to create the head and legs plus any additional features such as the tails claws and so forth.

Bear Model

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Bird Model

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 Hound Model

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Final Character Concepts and Turnarounds

Final Concepts

Bear

Bird

Hound

Character Turnarounds

Experimental concepts

My Creature Anatomy

Creatures Anatomy

I’ve taken some brief time out to study the anatomy of the characters of my project, for purposes of developing a secure understanding. I have undergone some research into key feature of my specific animals and also looked at the anatomy, the knowledge obtained should increase the visual appeal/the basic structures they contain when animating. One of the main ideas for the characteristics the animals emit partially will be based around the nature inhabitants as I’d like to portray there wild personality. So this should give me a foreground into a gratifying realistic movement.

Even though my characters will be projected as shadows its important I see them through to the end as this will be a stepping stone and a learning curve, It will enable me to not only brush up on the rigging but skinning as well. 

The whole process of constructing a character really interests me knowing how they move/interact, behave ect is something that I like looking in depth, it allow you to get the best possible result for a character and give off a more realistic view as well as pushing the boundries to a bliebeabouty extent.

All my characters are based on predatory mammals but they don’t really acquire a specific animal characteristic, up until now the main supervisions are around grizzly/polar(bear), gray wolf/pit-bull(hound), eagle/vulture(bird).

  These sketches display the inter bone structure for my mammals, they give me a sense of the structure for my rig.http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/topics/mammal_anatomy/index.html

Bear

 Bird

Hound

grizzly bear from Analu Cole on Vimeo.

 Feasting eagle from zook on Vimeo.



The Wolf's Eyes from David Blakemore on

Vimeo.

Direct observational clips have been located as well as perspective from others to insure I’m on the right lines when piecing together the movements for the characters.

Character Influence Boards

The next task was to generate influence maps for the character’s and have now narrowed down specific animals within the boundaries of the creature descriptions of the poem. I have assigned two ranges of influences for each character just so I can break the mould of generic looking designs.

Character sketches update

Over the past week or so I’ve been catching up on other pieces of work that is slightly lacking, that said the recent developments include research based around my characters and art work, at this stage of the post-production for the unit its important the relationship for my character and the intricate processes of them are carried out correctly so therefore I haven’t rushed into getting them finished.
 Some of the artwork shown here has been developed prior to the understanding of the exact mammal influence I’ll be referring to.

Pre-Visualization

I have just assessed my video recording in which there was fifty two various shots, these are now narrowed down to the most defined and specific to the overall outlook of my animatic. The recording attempts most clear visually have been kept as they will help in the tracking events.

The Pre-Visualization is mainly based on the areas in which the camera is positioned which were taken from the storyboard discussed earlier, what I have gained from the structuring of the pre-viz is an important sense of timing with my shots, for instance where the most effective areas are in relation to the characters movement and a sense of logic in relation to my characters scale. This is something I can engage with when animating as there isn’t a rule book for my characters as such, they move and transform freely because they represent shadows which come in all diverse forms shapes and sizes/volume.

The target for the scene 1 is approximately between 1:00- 1:20 minutes, this will be judged on effective spots as I want to get the best out of the character. The next scene I’ll aim for around 2 minutes allowing the other characters described the poem to express themselves, this stage is quite delicate so I will be cautious when compositing the shots. In terms of the viewer’s perspective I don’t want to loose my audience interest. The first bear character will be introduced to the animation setting the bench mark for the others and bringing filmic language and research into play.

 Within the pre-viz the characters do not have a defined form they are indicated as coloured sphere's showing position of there interaction with scene.

Basic structure render 1

 Basic structure render 2

Outside window landing render

Collection of scene shots

Presented on the Pre-Visualization renders is a snap shot of the corresponding recorded footage.