Wednesday 27 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Final Front Skeletons

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (26/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows the final frontal proportion skeletons. I animated these in After Effects after pre-compositing them making the joints and giving them control. The next step is just to add clothes and form!

 
EXTRACT

"The image above shows the skeletons in motion. As my previous skeleton tests this is just to show the skeletons in motion demonstrating activity within the proportion. I did this as an extra step, the walk cycles on there are the moment do not reflect the future movement of the character. I did this mainly so we could get a real idea of how the proportions function together. I cleaned up each skeleton with ink and colour using the colour pallet's Sammy suggested on her sketchy faces image. I added the hat as another indicator of scale - the same  size hat fits all and even looks slightly bigger on the kids."

Read the full article here >>

Sunday 24 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Polydoodle Pictures Day 1

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (24/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The video below shows our very first discussions for Sammy's Year 1 Unit 4 Project "& Son" which was filmed back in september (23/09/13). The discussion is by Story Director Sammy Butler, Art Director Chrissie Peters & Technical Director David John Vandepeer.


EXTRACT

"The video above is the very first activity I recorded from the Uni. You will have to excuse my introduction which had me filming my legs before noting the work ha-ha. The initial conversations we were having were actually about art style and the characters primary and secondary. We had not actually been long out of the briefing when we sat to have that conversation as you can see the nerves were kind of high. The only videos that pre-date this one are the discussions we had over the summer break, which are being edited by Chrissie, cant wait to see them..."

Check out the full article here >>

Unit 10: Minor Project - Barnabas Form Anatomy

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (24/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows a Barnabas doing a couple of minor movement exercises. This form is based on a 7 head Barnabas ruling which is the equivalent of 10.5 Benjamin heads.

 
EXTRACT

"The images above show a couple of the animated skeleton tests I conducted... This time I just had fun with the form which I ended up creating. There was such a huge amount of adjustment that I figured I'd just show the girls how this form looks when moving in various ways. The arms are a little longer now just to bring it closer to the reference but fundamentally that's the form I ended up relying on. I could not resist adding the hat here, it was essential to figuring out Barnabas to Benjamin's head space. You may have to click the images to see it in its glory, Barnabas is significantly taller then Benjamin."

Read the full article here >>

Sunday 17 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Bernard Costume Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (18/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows 10 of my costume tests for "& Son's" character Bernard Badgersworth. These are a couple of alternate costume ideas.
 
EXTRACT

"The image above shows the little costume wardrobe animation that I have been accustomed to making for this Unit. The costumes are made from 4 variant costumes which are broken into parts and then reassembled to create different variants. I use this to create 10 additional variants from the primary 4. This allows me to explore the idea of what Bernard could be wearing and what colour combinations may or may not work. These costumes are all tested on a Bernard's early dummy form which was chosen by the Polydoodle Team to base him on at a structural level."

Read the full article here >>

Thursday 14 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Benjamin Form Anatomy

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (14/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows a basic form walk cycle derived from a flat turnaround skeleton. The form is based on our earlier chosen 3D dummy - Form 16. This is an exploration post!

 
EXTRACT

"From my experiments I conducted a few basic movement tests using Benjamin's skeleton (images above). The image to the far left is based on the realistic proportions of a 5 year old with Benjamin's head. The image in the middle is an adaptation suggested by Sammy - that being shorter chest and longer legs. Last but not least the image to the far right is actually based from my dummy 3D pose tests. It was bugging me that we were not using the proportions of my form tests even though it appeared we were more or less adhering more towards them without our knowledge."

Read the full article here >>

Monday 11 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - The Interim Presentation

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (12/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The video below shows our Interim for Polydoodle Pictures "& Son" which was filmed last Friday (08/11/13). Presented by team Polydoodle Chrissie Peters Samantha Butler and David John Vandepeer.


EXTRACT

"The video above shows the entire 22 minute duration of our presentation to our CG Arts class. I was feeling a bit crap on the day so there were not many words from me. Our show runner Samantha Butler lead the presentation and myself and Chrissie Peters tried to jump in where we could. The presentation was largely about the Animatic just to see what peoples impressions were of the story at this stage. We didn't exactly get feedback from everyone in the class but Alan and Phil gave us some much needed input which will hopefully shape its outcome further."

Check out the full article here >>

Unit 10: Minor Project - Young Barnabas Costume Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (11/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows 10 of my costume tests for "& Son's" character Young Barnabas Badgersworth. These are rough tests for costume ideas.
 
EXTRACT

"The image above shows the randomised costume variants available (which I kept limited to 10 once again). I could have sat down and picked out my favourite but I always think its better to post randomly here. After all the girls can always say to me I like that hat but I don't like that it has a paintbrush in it, etc. I also want to make my mark on the character, something which is solely my influence but I figured I'd get that opportunity in the modelling process. I just want to make sure that I have explored the earlier steps fully before going into 3D."

Read the full article here >>

Thursday 7 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Barnabas Costume Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (07/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows 10 of my costume tests for "& Son's" character Barnabas Badgersworth. These will help finalize the clothing options!
 
EXTRACT

"The animation is made from 4 costume variants mixed and matched to make 10 alternative designs using interchangeable parts. The dummy itself was chosen in the earlier weeks from a massive selection of forms. All 3 of us came to agreement on how it looked but it has since changed a little from what it was. The final turnarounds will feature some of the characteristics of this dummy but may not be exact. The arms are a little too long and the back is arched a bit too far back. All of this is crude for the costume tests, refinement is the next step."

Read the full article here >>

Monday 4 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Benjamin Costume Tests

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (05/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows 10 of my costume tests for "& Son's" character Benjamin Badgersworth. It's a mini wardrobe animation as I like to call it ha-ha.
 
EXTRACT

"I created this from 4 full costume variants, I interchanged certain elements of the image to get 10 alternate costumes from my initial 4 (e.g. mixing a hat with another costume or a different bow tie with shoes, etc). What I got was a variety of different styles which certainly cheered me up only having 4 colour variants (I wish there was time for more but I have to get cracking on the others). For now though I think this really gives a good selection and if anything is preferred we can address it at a later date... From what I know the suits are pretty much decided... I mainly wanted to play with size and colour..."

Read the full article here >>

Sunday 3 November 2013

Unit 10: Minor Project - Hat Design for Final Logo

Hello Everyone,

Here is a sample extract from my latest contribution (03/11/13) direct from Polydoodle Pictures Studio Blog. The image below shows the final rendition of a Composited hat design I made in ZBrush using render layers... In case you were curious the hat belongs to "Benjamin Badgersworth.

 
EXTRACT

"The image above is the final hat on its lonesome... This of course was tweaked and adjusted from a number of render layers allowing me to slightly tweak certain aspects including light colour and opacity, material, depth strength, colour raw/Photoshop & reflectivity. I could even use the FX controls to adjust hues of shadow and light or drop slight shadows behind the hat itself. The control by doing compositing (or Weta) is certainly astounding I love it. The hat design itself is slightly elongated. In case there was any question this is Benjamin's hat..."

Read the full article here >>

Saturday 2 November 2013

Unit 9: Adaptation - Driver Poses for Phil

Hello Everyone,

I have a few posts to get out of the way today with the first being based on work from my prior unit (Adaptation). Phil asked me to dig out a prior image from my Adaptation project from last term. Usually doing this task would not take long and would thus not require a post to commemorate it... Of course this is me we are talking about here. The image of my Driver Phil liked was from an level 3 concept I made, a concept which I rendered at a low level and thus all the composited passes. I tried up-scaling it but it just looked a bit blurry in areas.

So I set out to recreate the image and also try my hand once again at compositing Weta concepts using my high polygon Driver model. This meant I had to render out everything again and play with blending modes within Photoshop to achieve a desired result. I tried my best to recreate the image in an A4 template which slowed my ability to move about in ZBrush a little. Anyway I did manage to create some awesome outcomes, so good that I thought damn I should post those on my blog. Phil if you are reading this please let me know which you would like to have!

Anyway the images below were made entirely from Multi-pass Rendering in ZBrush which were then composited in Photoshop.


The image above shows a close up render which I built from render layers and a little bit of colour work in Photoshop. Phil said that the images maybe required on a white background but I preferred the black/textured when creating the design. Still I provided the alternative option in case black was a complete no go. I added the warmer reds in the face from Photoshop. I even added a slight inner blue shadow to illustrate the cool zones of the face. The jacket was completely pale so I had to warm that up. The eyes were the final correction... adding a slight glint.


After completing the first image I thought as I have the pose here why not try my hand at multi-passing this too. Contrary to everything this is my favourite pose for Driver. It has that come and get some kind of look. Anyway the warmer colours particularly the blues and reds were added why splotches of paint and the colour dodge blending mode. I remember adding subtle blues and reds to Driver when I was doing the last concept... It was my way of simulating the flashing lights of a cop car, guess I forgot that this was set in the 1930s.


Last but not least is the pose Phil said he wanted, as I said probably the only thing that is different is the lighting here. The key light gives the form its depth which is why you are not seeing a great amount of light rays. What also doesn't help here is the angle. Phil if this is not okay please let me know. I am still coming to terms with the lighting options within ZBrush but as this is like my 4th attempt at multi pass rendering from ZBrush I think I'm doing okay. Anyway yeah I could not resist but to get my hands dirty if I was going back into this character for one last outing.

I thought I would put this up not just so Phil can decide which (if any) of these he prefers. Mainly though I thought this would be another opportunity to look into compositing and Weta Design. I really am loving it for character design. It will defiantly help in the future with other conceptual pieces. I will even try to do it for "& Son" if possible. It's actually quite fun once you start playing with the individual layers of an image. You can tweak the shadows, the light, the colours, the borders, the depth, it completely unpacks the image for easy use... Everyone should try it!

Phil let me know if there's any of these you'd like Ill send you over the A4 PSD's!

Anyway that's it for this post, its been emotional...
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

xXStItChXx