blind alley blog

Moving on,

2009-03-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok last pass on this shot got to move on to, the next one. Claened it all up pushed th eposes a bit further in places and lossened up that right arm . might be to loose ? slightly tweaked that final pose just to make it look less flat.

" You wernt looking "next pass

2009-03-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

Ok tightened up the beginning still think it could do with something? Cleaned up most of everything else . Ive added in more time for some of the poses as I had some space left over from cleaning up the begining. think it feels considerable better for it.

Oh thrown some secondary action in on the hair.... :) just for the fun of it

you wernt looking

2009-03-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

ok just polishing this shot , not to happy with the last pose its a tricky one, think its a bit slow at the begining but ill fix those in the morning or later on as the case is

First Shot Update

2009-03-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

As he's the arragant charcter of the piece everythings over the top so im really trying to push the poses for this character.

Loosed up his right arm, and tryed to add more weight into his follow through . its a bit snappy without any motion blur.
Also tryed to make him reach that last pose in a comfortable manner.

Work in progress Shots

2009-03-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

Couple of shots ive been working on in the process of doing claening them up

expo tees poster

2009-03-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

2009-03-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

ok so some texture and then a desaturated but higher renderversion, ive been playing around with my final look but still not set n it i had thoughtto tey and get that 1970s cinema bleached light look but its all still work in progress , so my 1950s look will have to stay. smudged nearly enough.

1950's

renders out of max

2009-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

ok some really low quality animation stuff .last shots still work iin progress but kinda gets the idea across. oh and a big thank you to Barry and Mark Austing for the sound stuff. Ive got a rough draft that im working with thats pretty sweet so im dyinfg to hear how they put the final draft together.

ok so this sequence is a little psyc-up montage , its kinda getting there

2009-03-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

ok some quick renders of the texturing ive been pulling together over the weekend.
I was aiming to have my background quite desaturated compared to the characters but it seems the tables have turned.

Any who so im just going back and dropping there levels at the minute. But since its been so long since my last post i had to put something up.

animation to come also. ;)

tortez facial test

2009-02-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

Gum's need a bit of work. eems to do the basics and still need to set up the eyes. any who so just another boring test. Real things on the way

Another test

2009-02-11T10:34:00.001-08:00

Few tweeks to the rig here, then quickly tryed adding a bit of something to the actual motion , not much just made it a bit more expressive

Rough Facial test

2009-02-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

Just a quick test of the facial rig general expressions some im still working on it,

Big Week Big Changes

2009-02-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Right so

Big week, And the beging of big changes.

Had a fantastic Critique from Ed Hooks this week , which made me look at my project from outside of the box way again . Been so caught up it trying to get it done i had lost sight of the big picture. The Story!!

So its not quite back to the drawing board but its defianetly made me rethink alot of things.
So ill go straight into blocking with previews. Should save time in the overall run of the project.

Another rig Test

2009-01-31T04:58:00.000-08:00

Proxy meshes againso bare with the blank expression.
Same deal as the last post, motion test for the Dela hare Rig.
Found it quite tricky with certain aspects, mistakes in bone positioning and stuff.
So went back and think ive got it all fixed up . Was a really good excercise

Set Tests

2009-01-22T13:04:00.000-08:00

Just some lighting shots just to see what the lighting will be like.
Think over all i'll make it a bit brighter, ill be looking at textures and colours in my next tests.

Rig test

2009-01-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

As ive said, Ive been bogged down with rigging, so heres a rig test i did today. just a walk cycle still in progress but as this blogs all about documenting progress, heres a little. Some bits left to do with the rig , still needs to be enveloped, theres a facial rig in there so that will be visable when ive done that. Im still not happy with the glasses i have been discussing with my supervisor other approaches, so ill get back with some tests.

Promo Stuff

2009-01-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

Some promotionial images ive put together for the short
Riggs nearly finished just some minor tweeks to finish . So ill start my Blocked out version of my short using all the new stuff.

2009-01-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hay guys thought id post a bit of a project report bit now in the new year.

Im still rigging away just trying to get it right before i move on, should be an intense couple of months. im also working on a project booklet to have for a prject exibition we have here in teeside in late february and march. So there should be the opurtunity for some nice visuals from thethat ill post up here. and what ever rigg test i put together in the next couple of weeks.

Hope its in some way intresting for anyone who passes buy and feel free to leave a comment its always really nice to get a bit of motivation or critisim.

Some more boring T poses

2008-11-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

Ill have him in a decent pose in a while still in the depths of rigging.

More concept stuff

2008-11-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

You can never have to many heads

Its nice to get away from the computer for a while and do some good old fashioned drawing

Stylised Set Test

2008-11-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

A Tim Burton, cartoony, maquette like render. was suggested that i muck around with the set by an esteamed colleage ( Big it up Nick). Think it looks really intresting might try toning it down a bit and getting a more aesthetic flow through the shapes. ill have a go painting over this for one of my next posts.

Final arm model

2008-11-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

I havent as yet painted the texture or bunmp and dirt maps
In the middle of putting all the final touches on the models.

Contrasting image

2008-11-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

A image to contrast the gray of that layout stuff

Opening shot (Layout pass)

2008-11-07T11:45:00.001-08:00

Just the opening shot figured that would be a good
shot to document the development process.

So basically this is my rough opening establishing shot.

using this rough process has really help me make some
decisions already. From the following shot ive decided
to get rid of the first layer of pillars. Also to adjust the scales
of the objects in the set to create a better mise en scene
through out the piece, ive also adjusted to a more cinematic
aspect ration.

Project update

2008-11-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

Starting the detailed rigging today then while im doing that ill use the proxy rigs i built to build each of the shots.

I figure this will help me visualise better the retiming and pacing of each shot and what the camera will be doing.

texturing tests

2008-10-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

Think ill keep the rest of this one under my hat,
still working on it.

Following up

2008-10-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Mr T (shorter Character)

Mr H( The taller Character)

Just to follow up my colour dylemma ive generated some contrasting colour palettes using image refernec that ive built up during the course of this projects then jamming them together using a big painting brush. some intresting sections apeared, so ill atempt to incorperate these into my next few pieces of concet art.

quick colour pass

2008-10-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Not happy with this one seems very washy.
Im going to have do some intense research
on materials and textures with in the bowling
alley. generally there very flattly light so ill
have to figure out a way orf dramatizing it.

Short proxy test

2008-10-29T13:49:00.001-07:00

Just doing the same test on the smaller character 2 keys
Just to see limbs and joints move, ill do some proper
motion tests when ive got there final rigs done.

proxy test

2008-10-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Just done a loose rigging test, using a proxy mesh.
Found this very handy to test out the limb lenghts
joint positions....etc. this has perticularly pointed
out the elbow position needs to further down
towards the wrist. His shoulders need to be pulled
in a bit. The shoulderjoint pulled down as well.
Also the neck seems to large so ill reduce that.
Just going to use this very quick rig for some
pre vis but already its really helped.

He does exist

2008-10-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

Just figured i show the other chracter as well
prove that he does exist and im not just working
on the one character . Having perticular trouble
converting this character from 2d to 3d alot of
tricky ratios

Taken for a bit of a spin

2008-10-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just did a test rotation see what the character
will look like in 3 dimensions. Going to make some
key changes adding some detail and editing the
structure of the hands.

The nightmare continues

2008-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Just beginning to rough out the body and topology
Going to make some serious ajustments i think .

2nd head pass

2008-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

i think this has alot more of the character i wanted ,
noise still looks like a party hat gone wrong but ihope thats
some of the character to it. tepted to take in into zbrush
and really sculpt those edges,

Plain Old Bag

2008-10-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

Layout

2008-10-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Mark Bryne for those
layout classes back in the day,
holla at you balleyfermot!!!

Some Atmosperic lighting tests

2008-10-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Mental Ray 3Ds Max

just some rendering tests playing around with settings,
figuring out render time....etc

Topology Nightmare

2008-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Finding it hard to successfully caricature within
a 3d package. Just seems off at the minute.

Play Doughs Fun

2008-10-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

Light and Colour

2008-10-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Head modeling/rigging

2008-10-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just some rough working notes

Silhouettes Concepts

2008-10-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Concept options

2008-10-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

So It Begins

2008-10-11T15:35:00.001-07:00

Ok so here we go,

First of Brief description of what ill be doing here. Im going to document concert art work animation tests, modelling, rigging, and composting that ill will be doing on my final year project.

The project will hopefully be an animated short approximately two and a half minutes long. With the restrictions of two characters, one set and no dialogue.

Basically every thing i can post up here i will with out giving to much away.
Well that's the aim any way.

So there will be some variation of stuff.

Note: Hope you find some of it intresting