Character creation 2-3

the first week was CC2 where the assignment was to make the head of the character we made with all head accessories and hair. CC3 was making the body and the prop to the character.

schedule:

CC2:

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, mapping out face loops

–Tue, 14:00-16:00, making the plain 3d

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, face

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, hat and hair

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, finishing

CC3:

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, mapping out the body

–Tue, 14:00-16:00, main body

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, clothes and belts

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, hands and prop

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, finishing

last weeks daily drawings was to draw 10 hands from different angles

the CC2 week i started with the turnaround and choped the head out, to make as image plains in maya. i used quaddraw to draw quad loops around the face, nose, eyes and mouth. i moved the edges, faces and vertices to make it look like the image plains.

after i got the head shape done, i used most time on the eyes, nose and the lips to make it like i imagining it in the turnaround. the brows, beard, mustache and hair are all one sided plains. the hat i also used quaddraw to make the general shape and quads, and then moved the vertices around where i wanted. i extruded the back of the hat out and inn to make the back side of the hat, and extruded out again to get the part that’s over the head. the feather in the hat was a plain i extruded to make the other side. the eyes where just some spheres I put in to see if it would fit, i fixed some better eyes the next week.

the CC3 week i started with cylinders to map out how the body was going to be, adding edges and moving around verts to make the general shape of the body, arms and legs. i used the next day to add more details to the body. adding knees and elbows. adding some more details to the arms and legs to look like cloths, like pants and sweater. i made the body live and used quaddraw to make the vest. i used cylinders to make the belts, the sholder belt, normal belt and the cloth belt. i needed to modify the hair and chest area of the head to make it fit the rest of the body and make sure the hair didn’t intersect the body. same as i did with the belts i used cylinders to make the peg leg, gaiter and for the bottom part of the boot i used quaddraw again to get the shape i wanted. i also unwrapped things as i made them to make the unwrapping job faster and easier. i didn’t use long time on getting the rum bottle as i wanted, so i used some time to make the strems that holds the pegleg up. after i had done most of the modeling and unwrapping i made the hands. i used most of thursday on making the hands. using mostly cylinders on making the fingers and base of the hand. and adding more and more details with edges to make the knuckles and details on the inside of the hand to make it look more lifelike.

character creation

this week we had to re-tapologise a high poly bust mesh.

schedule

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, making loops

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, filling

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, EAR

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, UV unwrapping, finishing

we got a high poly bust model, i made it live and used quad draw to draw the most important loops, like eye loops, mouth and nose. when i got most of the loops down, i started connecting them together and arranging the edges.

i used most of the Wednesday on figuring out how to make the ear. when i got a ear down i connected it to the head. i made the seams from the top of the head all the way to the bottom, around the ears, around the neck, inside the mouth, inside the nose and from the chin to the seam on the neck.

Character development 2

this week was a continuation of the character we did last week. adding details and clothing options in the silhouette. also creating different color options for this character. also drawing a turn around with the finished design.

schedule

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, clothing options, poses

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, color palettes

-Wed, 14:00-16:00,turn around

i took the silhouette i liked the most and edited it more like the character would have been standing, and added some clothing options. then i drew another pose, a crazier pose, more drunken pose. and decided to add the details and clothing i liked the most onto it.

i drew a all gray scale versjon, i used to make the color palettes. using photoshop, having a color layer over the gray scale layer to add the color.

after i got the details and color options in place i started drawing the turn around. simplifying the design and drawing it to be modeled. i added my name and the name of the character as well as the three color options i liked the most.

Character Development

this week we where to take a character template and make our own character. writing about, creating a moodboard and drawing some silhouettes.

Golden age of piracy 1650-1730
Name: Redmun Rum
Age: 40
Nationality: French
Socioeconomic level as a child: poor ish, brewers for parents.
Socioeconomic level as an adult:
Hometown: tortouga
Current residence: ship, sea, ship names:, The Morbid Howl, poseidon’s curse, disgraceful tide(sea), howl of the grail, disgraceful squid, red rambler, howling saber.
Occupation:
Talents/skills: master swords man(back in the days), can handle a gun
Relationship skills: not good, tend to yell a lot
Physical characteristics:
Height: 1,87
Weight: 80kg
Race: human
Distinguishing features:
How does he/she dress? Well dressed, classy, not shabby, some rifts here and there.
Habits: tend to wave his gun around carelessly
Health: missing a leg? Peg legged?
Hobbies: playing the piano, shooting practice, drinking
Style: pirate
Greatest flaw: holding onto grudges and revenge. Never forgets
Best quality: mercyfull, kind heart
Favourite saying: Rum fixes everything, where’s the rum, need more rum, those damn Spanish, shake the bottle wake the rum,
Intellectual/mental/personality attributes and attitudes
Educational background: high ranked in the army, military education, pushed out cause of injury.
Intelligence level: high
Character’s short-term goals in life: finding treasures, taking down ships, escaping marines
Character’s long-term goals in life: finding the ones that killed his parents, taking revenge, owning the seven seas
How does the character see himself/herself? Big, scary, great, no mercy captain that’s going to take over as much land as he can.
How self-confident is the character? Thinks his the best captain, maybe over confident in his skills.
Does the character seem to be ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Somewhat in between, maybe more about emotions. But not following his emotions blindly.
What would embarrass this character most? Showing his soft side, make people think his weak
Emotional characteristics
Strengths/weaknesses:
Introvert or extrovert? more extrovert, cares for his crew, but doesn’t care if he shoots one.
How does the character deal with:
• anger? Bluntly screams out his anger, don’t hide his anger for anything. But can hold it in some situations
• sadness? Mostly sitting inside his cabin drinking rum
• conflict? Head on, does not hesitate to face the conflict
• change? Very flexible to change.
• loss? He looks more forward and don’t think much about loss, but the loss of his loved ones he can go out in rage and anger.
What motivates this character? Gold, rum
What frightens this character?
What makes this character happy? Getting what he want, like gold, rum and respect.
Is the character judgmental of others? He can judge others based on how they look, but his crew he judges on how they work and the way they talk
Is the character generous or stingy? Generous when it comes to his crew but with his rum. No one takes his rum.
Is the character generally polite or rude? Quite rude
How the character is involved in the story
What is the character’s role in the story (Main character? Hero? Heroine? Romantic interest? Etc.) Antagonist
Where would he/she go on holiday? An deserted island on the seas where no one can find him
What is his/her favourite food? Good roasted fish or meat, with some rum on the side, or anything as long as there’s rum.
Describe his/her home. What is it like? The captains cabin, messy and tight with treasures and wonders from the whole world.
Choose an enemy
How did the character make the enemy? He is a pirate, he follows his own rules. Of coarse he makes enemies every where.
What is the one thing in the world he/she would avoid at any cost? Die before hi retches his goals and not get captured by the army.
Why? Cause when he reaches his goals he can die without any regrets, and if he ends up in jail he can’t do anything for his crew and ship.
What has he/she done already to avoid this? Made many allies, and respect from the crew. And fight to the death, rather die then end up in jail.
What would you see him/her doing in future to avoid it? Going all out, he will fight for it. Maybe going into hiding, more discreet plans.
What is the one thing in the world the character would do anything to have? All the riches, respect and freedom he can fight for.
Why? Cause with respect, riches and freedom you can do whatever you want
What has he/she done already to try and obtain it? Captured ship, plundered and gain other allies along the way.
What does he/she hope to achieve in the future? To get revenge on the ones that killed his parents, to live in freedom and peace.
Additional notes on this character:
Why do they think the way they do?
Cause when he was young some pirates killed his parents and took all they had. Leaving him with nothing, living on the streets, until a general from the army took him inn. Older he thought he could get revenge by joining the army, but in a fight with the pirates he lost his leg. cause of this and his behaviour in the fight he got suspended from the army.
Later on he got captured by some other pirates and started working for them, working his way up the pirate rangs and at last take the title captain.

What does your character think of himself?
He thinks of himself as a big and untouchable man, but inside he knows his not that good.

What do others think of him?
Other think of him as a filthy pirate, who just sails around plundering and killing.

What does he always do? Drink rum

What does he never do? wash

What makes a character interesting and unique?
Although his a pirate, killing and plundering, inside he is good and mercyfull.

Character animation, run and sneak

this week was the third assignment in the character animation weeks. this time it was a run and a sneak cycle, we could choose 2 out of these four:

Olympic runner

normal run/you choose

mad scientist sneak

female jewel thief sneak

schedule

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, finding reference

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, finding references, blocking

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, animating, sneak

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, animating, sneak and run

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, animating, finishing

drawing this week was to do what we did the other weeks, to the same pose. drawing it like: a stick figure, drawing 3d shapes, focusing on the pose.

i started looking for some run and sneak refrences from internet. i thought i wanted a more normal run and a little more cartoonie sneak. i found some different sneak and run GIFs and i drew pictures of how i wanted my sneak and run would be.

after i got the references i needed i started blocking out the poses in maya. i started thinking about timing later and focused on the poses and to get them right.

Character animation

this week was the second assignment in the character animation module. we had to choose 2 of 4 walk cycles to make:

confident man

confident woman

old man

old woman

show refrence and thumbnails, any video made yourself

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, idea development

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, finding refrences/filming

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, animating, confident walk, key poses

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, animating, confident walk, old walk

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, animating, old walk

drawing this week was to draw poses, without thinking about details. just thinking about the pose and line of actions.

i started looking for different kind of people walking and other good references. i found a  video of a guy walking through NYC, with a straight face and constantly walking. this was the kind of confident walk i wanted. i also found a video of a skeleton, a little bit stiff in the hips, but i used the skeleton mainly to get the arms swing. (links at the bottom)

when i got the references i started to get the key poses, started with the contact poses, pass, down and up poses.

(picture from Richard Williams, animator’s survival kit)

i started with more like a standard walk, but exaggerated it, and rotated him a little bit more up right. the hips and torso move like they are going to move the legs and arms. in the passing positions i made sure he would shift his weight over towards the other foot than the one he was on, and made sure the hips moved with. i moved the shoulders move up and down more on the down positions. after i got the arms movements more right i could think about the drag on the hands, since he was going to hold his hand in a fist i didn’t need to think about the fingers, but the hand would still drag.

the old walk. for the old man should not be walking at the same passe and might as the confident man. But i didn’t have enough time, so it goes to fast. the old man don’t shift his weight as he should. The arm that swings don’t swing as good as i want, it kind of hangs to long. The other hand on the hip, you can’t feel the hands weight.

the old man walk cycle also i think misses a frame at the end.

Links:

man walking through NYC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InUeOWlgebM

skeleton http://stock-clip.com/video/5415449-skeleton-walking-rage-seperated-on-green-screen

Intro to animation

this week was intro to animation 2. we was given a robotic arm, and our assignment was to rig it, animate it picking up a ball and placing it down or throw it away.

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, idea development

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, riging

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, riging

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, planing

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, animating, finishing

my idea was to make the ball roll inn and the arm throwing it away, only for the ball to come back. the robot arm would pick it up again and throw it with more force and fall over. i scratched the fall over part and made it make a nod, so it would look like it was happy with the throw.

i riged it with normal joints, 4 joints in total. one for the bottom, one for the middle, one for the palm and a end joint for the palm. i also added a control witch controls the grip of the arm, opening and closing.

when i fixed all the riging, i used the greese pencil to plan out my animation and frames. when i was happy with the timing of my animation i started posing. i posed the important frames first and after i did the breakdowns. when i got the arm how i wanted i could add the ball in. the ball was simple, i animated it rolling into scene and i used a parent constraint to make the arm pick it up. i turned the constraint off when the ball flew and on again when the arm picked it up.

i used premier pro to make the image sequence and exported it out.

(video, soon)

particles and dynamics Intro to portfolio

this weeks project was to make a intro to our portfolio, with particles and/or dynamics.

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, learning particles/dynamics

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, planing

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, setting up and working

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, working

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, finishing

daily drawings this week was to draw stick figures in different kind of poses.

we started the week by learning the particle basics and dynamic basics. i started planing how my intro. my main inspiration was a logo a friend made for me some  years ago that i made to my banner here on the blog. i wanted to have something with the color the text. i wanted something cartoon like. i used the Grinch font for the letters and made a simple star shape. when i got these i was ready to make the intro with particles and dynamics.

my idea was that the text would fall down and scatter and the star would fly by with a particle tail and “repair” the letters. i used bullet rigid active and passive body to make the letters fall down and hit a ground plain. i sat up the gravity and a little turbulence to make the letters scatter more. i also copied the text and make a “fixed” version that was going to be at the end when the star passed. the star was easy i keyed the frames where it was going to pass and after fixed the motion trail to get it more natural and not hard edges where it turns.

i made the star a particle surface emitter to emit the particles. i made the particles life span not forever but to random to make it more natural. the particles has a could shader and the colors i had in my banner, so mentalray would render them out.

when i was happy with all i baked and keyed what needed to be baked and keyed and batchrendered it our with mentalray. i added all the images in adobe premier as an image sequence and faded it out. i didn’t have time to find and add background music or noise.

(video, soon)

if i had more time i would make the video a little longer and find background music and/or music. i would practise more with particles and maybe find a way to make a rainbow pattern instead of the particles changing color over age. i would use more time to get the star a better motion and maybe a rotation.

Project 01 – Robot

Project01 – Robot
this project was our first big project. We got 2 weeks to design and make a robot and a prop. These weeks we where to use all we learned about designing, modeling, texturing, lighting and rendering.
Week1:
-Mon, 09:00-16:00, idea Development
-Tue, 09:00-16:00, idea Development
-Wed, 09:00-16:00, Modeling
-Thu, 09-16:00, modeling
-Fri, 09:00-16:00, posing
Week2:
-Mon, 09:00-16:00, Unwrapping
-Tue, 09:00-16:00, texturing
-Wed, 09:00-16:00, texturing
-Thu, 09:00-16:00, texturing, rendering
-Fri, 09:00-16:00, rendering, finishing
I started with the idea development, i drew different kind of robots before i got what i liked and used. First i wanted to make a kind of animal robot, and i changed it to a kind of police dog robot. Then i got the idea of a explorer robot.

When i found a consept i like i started drawing what it would look like, what kind of pose, what prop and what was his story.
This is the design i ended up with:

A big eyed explorer to find lost knowlage.
Now i knew what i wanted to make so i started with some basic cubes to make a refrence how i wanted the pose to be and to see how long and big i needed the legs and arms to be.
After i knew how big and how long i wanted the robot to be, i started to model the different parts. Arms, legs, torso, pelivs, head and fingers. I modeled all mostly apart so i could add leds later.
I made mostly everything from cubes, even the round leds, i used a cube and placed a smooth and deleted history, to get a quad sphere. But the rest is modeled with the vertexes, and extrudes.
When i was done with the modeling i posed the parts in the pose. When i added all in the pose i placed the leds inn between the parts. To make it looks like the parts fit together and to make him look like he can bend the ways he do.
I used a little time in the weekend to start the unwrapping, i used the whole Monday too. Some parts i didn’t need to unwrapp, i could just transfer the attributes to the other objects. Like the fingers, i unwrapped two of them, the tip part and the bottom part of the finger. Then i could transfer them over to the other fingers, since they are the same.
The texturing went well. I drew all textures in photoshop, exept a iron texture i used as an overlay to get scratches and the matalic look. We had a problem and we lost the internett, so i couldn’t use the vray materials, or render with vray. So i couldn’t see how it would look, i used the maya materials just to take some quick looks to make sure the textures looked right. The internett was back in some hours, so it was not a big drop for me at least.
I was done with the textures early on Thursday, so i used the rest of the time to make the specular maps, normal map, finishing and helping others. In the end i wanted to add a little platform to make more sense of the lighting. The idea was that he was walking in the desert and found the book, so i added a little pedestal to show a little sand. I used vray materials for almost everything, but the clay render high poly is a basic lambert.
The complete renders in HD 1080 (1920×1080).
The final render took ca four minutes.

The checker low poly took one and a half minute.

The wireframe took almost two minutes.

The clay high poly took two minutes.

The project went really well, i’m really pleased with the finishing product. I didn’t have many challanges, but i had some problem to figure out how to make the scroll. I wanted it to be cartooni but not too cartoonie or realistic.
The story of the robot is that there was a war on this planet, the book and knowlage was lost. This curious robot set out on a mission to find all the books and scrolls he can. And gather all the knowlage he can.

compositing vehicle

this weeks assignment was to learn Nuke and use last weeks renderpasses to use in our composting.

-Mon, 14:00-16:00, learning nuke

-Tue, 14:00-16:00, placing the passes together

-Wed, 14:00-16:00, finishing

-Thu, 14:00-16:00, finishing

-Fri, 14:00-16:00, free

this week all we drew was some small thumbnails.

i started by plasing all the passes in nuke and merging (plus) all together except the background, background shadow and AO.

the background is merged with and over, where all the foreground is over the background elements. after this i added the multimatt to use as a mask to get the stars to glow. i used shuffle, a blur and a glow to get the glow effect i wanted and i added it all in. i used some ramps and shuffle copies to blur the background on the right places.

and last i used a write node to render out the finishing product: