Huzzah! It is done at last and......it's quite good actually, considering I did 90% of the work on this. I expected it to come together in a far worse state, to be honest. But there you go, take it for what it is, I think it's a work of searing genius. Enjoy:
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Project Review
It has been a long eight months or so, but this project has come together to create something truly inspiring. Few problems presented themselves over the weeks, and they were resolved with minimal sacrifice to the finished product. One such issue early on was the fact that this animation could not exceed one minute. This meant cutting out roughly one half of the story I intended to create. Gone was the sub plot with the greedy walrus and the robot looking over an icy hill to admire the aurora Borealis, recovering his memory in the process. Such exposition was mercilessly trimmed for the one minute limit. The irony being that even with the trim, the final animation clocks in at just over two minutes. This was the only real problem from the pre-production segment of the project, as naturally the majority of woes came from the production stage.
At the beginning of the production phase, I was hit with glandular fever. This played havoc with the animation. Despite this setback, I did not stop working on it. I managed to model my set and fully rig and texture the robot within a week. While this still put me behind, I wasn't under the impression I was in any serious peril of not finishing in time. With assistance from Chris, Li and Jack over various conflicts that came up, I quickly caught up with everyone else. What was first a plan to cut down on the visual aspect of the project to meet the deadline, became a promising looking animation in its own right. My choices to hide a lot of the action and have minimal sound was helpful in allowing me to concentrate on more important issues. Lighting, for example plagued my mind as a difficult hump to overcome as I was completely inexperienced in that aspect of Maya. Regardless, the lighting was completed much sooner than expected - within minutes, in fact. At this point production was about finished and post-production began.
Perhaps the less stressful point of the animation. The relaxed nature of the post-production phase, due to my knowledge in all of the required software, allowed me time to assist Steve in his post as well. In addition to voice acting for both Steve and Marcus, I was able to mix the sound, edit and burn the dvds for both of their projects. All that time, still working on my own project and making excellent strides along the way. My comp work, for example, was completed within a few hours, with assistance from Darren. At this point, the project was just about complete and I felt less compelled to worry if anything were to go wrong.
And now, after a long year, the major animation is now complete. Suffice to say, it wasn't nearly the hell I expected it to be. I learned so much in this time that any would-be problems that may have occurred would have posed little problem to me. It was a great project to work on, as was Steve's and Marcus'. My only hope now is that the masses will enjoy it as much as I have producing it.
At the beginning of the production phase, I was hit with glandular fever. This played havoc with the animation. Despite this setback, I did not stop working on it. I managed to model my set and fully rig and texture the robot within a week. While this still put me behind, I wasn't under the impression I was in any serious peril of not finishing in time. With assistance from Chris, Li and Jack over various conflicts that came up, I quickly caught up with everyone else. What was first a plan to cut down on the visual aspect of the project to meet the deadline, became a promising looking animation in its own right. My choices to hide a lot of the action and have minimal sound was helpful in allowing me to concentrate on more important issues. Lighting, for example plagued my mind as a difficult hump to overcome as I was completely inexperienced in that aspect of Maya. Regardless, the lighting was completed much sooner than expected - within minutes, in fact. At this point production was about finished and post-production began.
Perhaps the less stressful point of the animation. The relaxed nature of the post-production phase, due to my knowledge in all of the required software, allowed me time to assist Steve in his post as well. In addition to voice acting for both Steve and Marcus, I was able to mix the sound, edit and burn the dvds for both of their projects. All that time, still working on my own project and making excellent strides along the way. My comp work, for example, was completed within a few hours, with assistance from Darren. At this point, the project was just about complete and I felt less compelled to worry if anything were to go wrong.
And now, after a long year, the major animation is now complete. Suffice to say, it wasn't nearly the hell I expected it to be. I learned so much in this time that any would-be problems that may have occurred would have posed little problem to me. It was a great project to work on, as was Steve's and Marcus'. My only hope now is that the masses will enjoy it as much as I have producing it.
Semester 2 - Week 14
Well, not so much the nightmare I thought it would be this late in the piece. What was looking like a few weeks of stress has come together well. The lighting issues, comp work and sound editing were all completed within days and now all that remains to be done is render one last shot, edit everything in Premiere and burn to dvd.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Semester 2 - Week 13
*Yes, I'm aware my entry numbering system is messed up. I've counted them, they're all there so I'm not sure what's going on. >_< *
Week 13 is over, thankfully better than expected. What was going to be a moderately stressful week, likely ending in a mad blur during the weekend in an attempt to finish my lighting, has ended with two of the three most complex shots of the animation rendered and finished. From here on out it's possible to have the rest of the animation rendered and finished within a week or two. I've also improved on the penguin's walk, with assistance from Jack, who also advised using my background as a light source to give off a coloured light effect with minimal effort. At this point, I'm well on the way to finishing this animation.
Hoorah for renders:
Week 13 is over, thankfully better than expected. What was going to be a moderately stressful week, likely ending in a mad blur during the weekend in an attempt to finish my lighting, has ended with two of the three most complex shots of the animation rendered and finished. From here on out it's possible to have the rest of the animation rendered and finished within a week or two. I've also improved on the penguin's walk, with assistance from Jack, who also advised using my background as a light source to give off a coloured light effect with minimal effort. At this point, I'm well on the way to finishing this animation.
Hoorah for renders:
Monday, October 18, 2010
Semester 2 - Week 9
This week I'm delighted to have finished that blasted walk cycle. It was a lot easier breaking it down as I did, in order to take variance in terrain into account. I've shifted the first shot of my animation into top priority since it's the only shot to have any compositing work to be done, and I'll likely need Darren's help on that. Aside from that, all I need now is a quick trip to the Mac lab to grab some extra sound that needs replacing, then it's rendering time. Hopefully I'll have this all edited and completed within the next few weeks.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Semester 2 - Week 8
A short entry, as little has changed from last week in terms of what needs to be done. I still need to lock off lighting, hopefully the coming Tuesday I can make a decent start on that. Hopefully I can get that done by the end of next week. Aside from that, I need only a few textures here and there, replace one sound that's bothering me and hopefully I can move into post-production proper.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Mid-Semester Break
Suffice to say, I spent the majority on the two week break on animation. The robot's animations are completed, but numerous shots of the penguin require work still. I've taken onboard Jack's advice on having the penguin's hips constantly moving as he anchors himself to the ground. For the most part, he's looking better and I'll likely playblast a few examples and upload them over the week. This coming week, I intend to get some advice on lighting, as that is one of my week ten milestones and I have yet to get any decent lighting going. Hopefully I'll have that satisfactory by the end of next week so I can spend this time doing something productive. I still need a few more decent textures and a fish as well, best I not forget those; and sound might require some polishing up a bit. Everything seems to be going well, never thought I'd say that.
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