Creating DVD

I have started working on DVD studio pro, and to be honest, i dont like it one bit. its fairly easy to use but i just find that u have limited options, i think iDVD is much better, and a lot easier to use.

i have had problems loading work as it constantly crashes on me! its getting really annoying and its slowing my work flow down.

Breadbeard and Guard

i have now got the two remaing rigs, now i can start to animate my remaining shots.
i have been playing with the two rigs and find that they are a lot of fun to mess around with. the captine has been created with a jiggle diformer on its beard and its quite interesting watching how its moves around while you animate.
i have also noticed that the rig has a few problems, when the legs are moved into positions the belt moves into his belly and its quite noticeable. althought its quite annoying its not a big issue and i hope to get around it for the final animation.


the Guard comes on a scooter, lookwise it looks really cool and you can tell a lot of work has gone into it, however, the model does not come as a whole and its really hard to move it around without the bones and clusters moving away from the mesh. i couldnt find a way to fix this problems so i had to move everything else insted of the model, it wasnt the best of solutions but it worked.


here are some shots of the rigs




the picture above shows the position i will start one of my shots in, i believe this is shot 60, in this shot the ship is about to crash into them and they are about to brace themselves for impact.

Patches

here is a test of my animation for shot 40 with patches. in this shot he's about to be fired out the cannon and he doesn't notice straight away, my challenge here is to be able to show the three stages of the scene, the first scene where he doesn't yet know what's going on, when he finds out, and when he gives up due to no choice. i think i have done quite well here, i will try to improve the part where he gives up as its a little too sudden.

Client contact

for the this project i have to keep in contact with my client through either meeting or email, i have been in contact since I've been accepted into the team. we have had regular meetings to discus things like shot breakdowns and the sort of animation they want. other meets have supplied us with rigs, ideas and deadlines. so far i have had all my questions answered and i have a good idea of what they want from us.

here are some of the emails that i had replies to when contacting Lewing, our team leader,

showreel modeling!

I have now started modeling and Ive been trying a number of different ways to model, Ive used polygons and nurbs, Ive learned a lot of different new techniques and short cuts which will allow me to speed up my work flow. i have used tutorials online to create non organic structures and object.

here are some of the projects Ive worked on so far,



here is the beginning of my plane, as you can see ive been using reference to get a good model. i have used subdiv proxy here which allows me to work on half the model in low settings while having the other mirrored half in high quality, this is very useful as you always know what your model looks like.




here is a smoothed half finished version of my model





I have added colour to my plane, although its not textured yet I am pretty happy with the result so far!

I modeled a pair of headphones using a tutorial on the internet, I managed to use some of my new skills learnt in plane project, for example i used the proxy here too to get an idea of what the model would look like when smoothed out when finished. I also experimented with adding a bend to the centre piece once i finished it.







here is my final model!



here is a model which I got from a book, i was very happy with the result.



i would like to have more to show in my showreel, i have done other models but i dont i feel like they are good enough to go on the showreel.

here is something i modeled but im still questioning whether or not i will put it on my dvd.

confirmation of work :D

I am now an official member of the Pirate team! i really liked this movie way above the rest, i found that the story was very well put together, it was really funny and creative. the characters where exactly how they have pictured them to us, i really like how dynamic each character is. i also managed to get a rough idea of who will also be working in this project and i can easily say that it looks like it will be done in time! the second year students working in the projects have show real motivation in the past and i can see that we will be of great help to the third year!

here are the characters in the movie!



this is breadbeard, the captain of the ship



this is snooty, the second in command and a slightly posh talking pirate



here is patches, he is the worker on the ship, the guy who gets pushed around, he gets pushed around so much that he's fired out a cannon in the movie! :D


we were all sent a rig to animate so we could show our skills, for some reason i wasnt able to use it and i had to use moom once again, i saved myself the trouble to animate something new so i just polished some of my old work, Lewis seem to like it so i was let off :P

here it is


the reason i have chosen this animation to show to the third years is that i believe i was able to capture realistic movements for both the body language and the lipsyncing! i am mostly proud of how well i managed to get the right movements in the mouth and how smoth it is!

Showreel ideas

for the last term of our second year we have to prepare a DVD show reel. i have chosen to concentrate on modeling and some texturing. i have modeled a lot more than I've done anything else, and i feel comfortable doing it. i have models which i could polish up and add to my show reel, these models are more based upon structures and no-organic things. i would like to have some character modeling to show as well, i will try to get more modeling done for my show reel in the next few weeks. i have already started working on a few projects but these are far from finished.

i will be using DVD studio PRO to make my DVD show reel, although i will have to learn how to first :)

tthe obvious advantage of having this done by the end of the year is that i can apply for work experience and hopefully get my name around a little more. it will take a lot of time to perfect it, (if i can perfect it in time) but it will be worth the hours. i will upload my modeling presses as i go along.

My Project

From having a look at the brief i have decided to work with the third year animation students, i believe that as they will need a lot of animation I can do help them and also help myself. there are a total of 73 shots to be animate, obviously there are harder ones than others. i hope that i will be able to participate in the more challenging shots. some of the shots will also have more than one character at a time, allowing the animator to experiment with different walk cycles and body behavior.

I also hope to be able to gain some more experience with working with others in a group, i found that the last project where team work was required i was able to learn loads of others and return the favor by sharing what i knew. when it comes to working with the third years i believe that i can experience this again but in a more professional level, reasons for this is that i will in a way, be working for a client, and the fact that they have more experience in animations than i do and i hope i can learn from them.

Another important reason i would like to work with the third year students is that when the movie is finally finished it will be exhibited at the end of the year, this will allow others to see my work and hopefully get a little recognition. I've never really had the chance to show my fellow students my work, hopefully this will allow them to get an idea of where my skills lay.


from my understanding there will be no walk cycles in the movie, i would have liked to polish up my stills a little more in that area. however, as there are no walk cycles there are a lot more expressional behavior than usual, there is a scene where a gourd is electrocuted and shakes all over the place, i can imagine that this would be a lot harder to animate then a walk cycle. the team chose not to have walk cycles as there isn't enough time to perfect them, i see this as a very realistic choice.

Industry exercises

For this project I will hopefully be working with the BA students in their animation, I have chosen to work with the group 'Pirates of The Produce Aisle'. For this projects I will be looking at doing animations, lighting, texturing UV mapping and possibly some rigging.
I chose to work with this group as I found them to have a strong story which will be fun to work in. I will also take this opportunity to develop my skills in areas where I lack, areas such as texturing and rigging. By putting all these aspects together I believe that I will have plenty to add to my show reel.

Here is my project brief

This unit builds directly on the Industry Exercises 1 and Industry Exercises 2 units, allowing students to use their portfolio of animation skills to develop finished broadcast animation pieces (in small teams) to be shown during Rave on Air, and to generate an individual show-reel to promote those skills to employers. Students also develop more advanced planning and organisational skills necessary to manage team productions.

This unit has the potential to allow inter-faculty collaboration through the use of animation to promote the work of other courses in the creation of animated advertisements for Rave on Air (product design for example). Intra-faculty collaboration is also possible through the use of other disciplines such as post production and sound design that naturally complement the animation industry. These collaborations will be negotiated on a per team basis.

Aims of the Unit

To enable students to initiate, plan, and complete complex team projects.
To enable students to work to broadcast standards of quality.
To provide experience of establishing and developing team project schedules and tracking progress towards project completion.
To enable students to demonstrate and promote the range and quality of their animation skills through the production of a show-reel.

The emphasis for this brief is upon fitness for broadcast purposes, if you read the learning outcomes and assessment criteria that follow this section then you will see that one of the main areas for your assessment is upon how well you meet technical parameters to enable your work to be broadcast.

You will be required to work in small teams, ideally, two, or three people per team.

You will be required to submit three pieces of work for assessment.

· An individual reflective journal (Blog)
· An individual interactive DVD showreel
· A group film fit for broadcast

Journal
This should focus on your plans for this project, your brief, your project schedule, and your performance as a team member. These can be supplemented by a group journal to help communication with team members, but the primary concern is your individual reflective account. These should be hosted on Blogspot, or Wordpress and the URLs submitted to your tutor.

Showreel
Your showreel will take the form of a menu driven interactive DVD where users will be able to select which of your work they view. You will be expected to assemble a reel that demonstrates the breadth of your capability, and the diversity of your style as an animator. As such, you may use work from any point in your studies, or from outside your time at college. You may also consider generating new work this term to supplement perceived gaps in your portfolio. The main drivers for assessment here are NOT the quality of the individual pieces of work, but the way in which you choose to present them and to promote yourself…

Movie
This is where the majority of your effort will be directed for this project. You will have to choose a team first of all, ideally a small one of two or three individuals. Then you will have to negotiate a brief for your project. There are three main ways that you can fulfill this part of the brief, but all will depend upon you having a real client, and it is up to YOU to get information from your client to define your brief. This information should include a list of deliverable items, and a set of deadlines.

Way 1
Work as a junior on a BA film project.
Identify the film you want to work on, agree a role, agree deliverables, and then deliver them. It will not be possible to do much in the way of concept or modeling work for these films given the advanced state of their development, but it should be possible to do large amounts of UV mapping and texturing, lighting, rigging and animating.

Way 2
Work towards Rave Live.
This will involve you either working towards doing one of the six channel idents, in which case you will have to contact the graphics students responsible, or towards generating programme content in which case you will have to contact broadcast content creation students to find out their requirements. Be aware that work will need to be ready much in advance of May 19th, so it should be viable within a reduced time frame. Remember the panic that you had at the end of last term? That is a luxury that you do not have this term. It would probably be a good idea to attend all possible meetings about Rave Live, such as the one this Friday (26th) read your email, and look for posters…

The 3rd Way
Find an external client.You may source a client for your project beyond the confines of college. The same conditions apply, you will negotiate a brief, and whatever work you produce must be produced in a form that is technically suitable for broadcast purposes. Other than that, the subject matter or content are entirely down to you and your client. This is possibly the most challenging of the three ways you can fulfill this project…