Till I Reach the End

Just one more week. One more week and I can move on with my life.

This week is pre-finals in more or less every class. That means this one too. For those few of you reading this blog that aren’t actually in my class that means that you get to see the almost done version. Unfortunately since some shows require the video not available online I will not be giving public access to the actual final.

Without further ado here is the pre-final video.

https://youtu.be/3qpjUGYeobU

Now several things still need to happen:

—Opening title next re-vamp

—Fix the transition from FW to EW

—Finish coloring Pepper (EW) <I have been working on this, just takes for ever>

—Re-export Evil without boarder (EW)

—Add texture to Evil (CW)

—Add Pepper’s face (CW)

—Add corruption (CW)

—Add particles (CW)

—Add particles (MW2)

—Ending credits need re-vamp

There are probably a bunch of other little things that I just can’t think of at the moment too.

On another note I found a cool app this week that lets me turn my iPad Pro into a little mini cintiqu (aka a tablet that shows what is happening on the screen). Its an app called “Astropad” and it’s a bit pricy for an app ($25) but still way cheeper than a tablet. I was able to get all of Evil in MW2 drawn this way since the other computers where full.

Very much worth it.

(*I’m not advertising this thing, I just think its really cool*)

Since next week is the final week which also means that I will be adding onto the post the list of where the blog titles came from this semester. If you're thinking about it each week, the ‘game’ is coming to a close real soon.

Now I just have to survive until then……

Let's get Down to Business

Yeah, I didn’t get this up last night when I normally do. But by the time I realized that it was 2am (wasn’t up doing this class for once) and I didn’t feel like spending the hour I normally do to type words that only a handful of people in my class, and a few international lookers, actually read.

So I’m updating it now.

Things went really well from where I’m sitting. Yeah, I only got Pepper in CW mostly animated - but considering that I had to first learn how to rig a figure, then actually rig and animate - lot done. (Sure I’ve rigged before but that was a fish and they have completely different structures.)

And I’m quite happy with it right now. Actually I’m really happy. Animating a rigged character makes it so easy - and when I finally got it cut to the music I was so surprised how good it was looking that I forgot everything else for a bit.

Still though, a lot of things have to happen. Clean up animation for CW Pepper, color compositing, getting Evil in, getting his particles in, the environment has to get corrupt… lots to do and no time to do it.

Next week is pre-finals. That means that everything is suppose to be as close to finished as possible. ….That means that I most likely wont be sleeping.

Fun.

Miracle of Miracles

This week really is a miracle I feel simply by the amount of work I was actually able to do.

Not only did I get WW done I also got Evil drawn for it. I had planned to get the models done for CW and I did that, pulse got them all with basic texture and the cameras in with blocked animation.

That is a lot of stuff.

So here is the video of what I have so far-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8F4dTLTiHQ

There is a lot that still needs to happen:

Opening
--needs to be re-done
Main World
--background needs to be re-considered
Fantasy World
--opening wide shot camera needs something
Charcoal World
--Pepper needs to be colored
--leaf needs to be colored
--more anticipation with Evil's main entrance
Water World
--I want to add bubbles to her motions
--Evil needs his partial dust
Cliff World

--rigg Pepper

--animation needs to get done
--Evil needs to be added
--Evil needs his partials
--backgrounds need to be added
--shots need to be composited
Main World 2
--Pepper on the floor needs more shadow
--Evil needs to be added
--Evil needs his partials
Credits
--need to be re-done
General
--audio needs to be more smoothly transitioned between 2+3
--flashes need to be re-done

Total there are 3 weeks left with is one week left before pre-final. The list is long, but its do-able. Here's to hopefully surviving till then.

Under the Sea

This week has been the beginnings of Water World….and I’m wondering if it’s possible for a world that I made up to hate me.

The idea was that WW would be stop motion animation - but that isn’t going to happen exactly like I planned.

I had brought everything with me to the labs: the paper model of Pepper that took over a day to create, the tissue paper and paint for the background, tin foil and tape to make it so there was no way of the paint leaking onto the stop motion table. I got to the labs, set things up so I would do the background first and started to film the ‘water’ moving.

I was in a groove when the camera went out on me. It started flashing me several weird errors at once. I couldn’t even read what they where saying.

I tried turning off the camera and turning it back on. 

Zip.

I tried un-plugging the camera from the computer and plugging it back in.

Nada.

I tried shutting down the computer and re-starting it.

Nothing.

…

I was not impressed.

It was late at night. I didn’t have time to wait for someone and go a different day. So I went to plan B.

Basically plan B is where I take a stop motioned background and put a “stop motion” Pepper over top. In actuality Pepper is scanned paper masked into the different shapes then animated to look more hand made. The process is a bit annoying, but I was able to get something done after the - what turned out to be - 2 day set back.

For now I have 2 clips to show you.

First up the the water background. I looped the frames I was able to save and make something decent. I might re-shoot it later on it I have time.

Second we have a bit of Paper Pepper. This is NOT done. There is a lot left to do with her basic motion to make it look jittery. I also need to animate everything else that is, at the moment, not yet moving.

The plan form here is this: there are 3 weeks until the pre-final. By Saturday Paper Pepper has to be done and Water Evil put in. By next class (-1) the models of Cliff World need to be done and ready.

By -2 Cliff World needs to be fully animated and rendered.

By -3 major animation issues from the past needs to be fixed.

Then there is one more week for final final edits. Last composite stuff will be added for this week.

Any planned changes due to time? Clif World might change styles - but only if I am backed into a corner and I’m not there yet. If by Sunday I am corner - then on Sunday I’ll change the style.

For if the Dark Returns

This has been an incredibly long week. Projects to get back into, new projects to start…then getting sick and a holiday weekend……very long week.

So, what happened?

We didn’t have a full class critique last week and instead meet individually. As you saw from the previous post, I had basically all the line work done as well as the texture for Evil.

After the meeting it was determined that first thing that had to happen was the trees and their texture as this might influence a change in Evil’s texture. 

So that’s what I did. I finished the trees and tried to figure out if Evil was okay or not.

with line

without line

I took a poll around the labs and I’m going WITH the outline.

This past week I also worked on creating more fear it Evil using particles. As you can kind of see in the above images they looked kind of out of place. I worked with them a bit more, played with some textures, then got to a place I quite happy with.

And at that, here is what I have for this week:

Yeah, Pepper still needs color - but I’m going to be working on that in the background now and jump into Water World (WW). this world needs to happen, and needs to happen fast.

Side note:

Somehow, I sub-consciously based Evil’s silhouette off of Aku from Samurai Jack - a series I never watched as a kid but saw snippets of as I flipped through channels. This was totally by accident. What was on purpose was Evil’s eyes and how they look like Beast from Over the Garden Wall. When I watched it last year I though he was so creepy being most of the time just eyes - so I took it.

Seriously, if you haven't seen this show, you should watch it.

This just goes to show what can influence your own work. Normally I collect reference art before doing any type of concept drawing, but with all the different styles I was going for only a few pictures where collected and nothing was shown to you.

7 am the Usual Morning Line-Up

Like I said, last week was Spring Break, so there was no post. Now I’m back from break (so wish it was longer) and it's back to the draft board. Surprisingly I got quite a bit done for someone who actually went away.

Now, it might not look like it, but it really is a lot. All the line animation is finished, the base white layer is is for every one of Pepper, Evil is fully textured, and the trees is for the most part where they belong.

What is there still left to do?

Pepper needs her color, shadows need to be placed, the trees in S1 need to be fixed, the puzzle piece and transition to the next world need to go in, fog and dark particles are also something I want to add in - though that is more for post I think.

So here is the video of EW - and the boards still for WW since the music flows right into it. (annoyingly is was too big to just put on Blogger)

Looking ahead the first point to get done is Pepper’s color. After that I’ll feel secure enough to jump into WW and get the background done first. Shouldn’t take too long to do that since I can repeat most of the frames, but I do need a refresher course on the stop motion equipment.

Sorry to those of you that actually read these, as lately they are a bit short. But right now I just want to sleep. I'll face the fire in the morning.

So Over Due I Owe Them

Yet another post going up later than I wanted….and trust me I’m not happy about it.

Simply put, I’m a bit behind where I wanted to be this week. 

Originally Pepper was going to get done, and maybe even rough out Evil.

Yeah……no.

Instead I got her walk cycle cleaned up, a run cycle created and cleaned, and the opening shot cleaned and colored. I was also able to get this shot mostly right look-wise but I keep second guessing myself with the texture and lighting for the trees. Pepper also still needs a perspective run cycle and reach bit. You can see the 'whole' world underneath.

So why the off-put? 

Two reasons.

One: Pepper.

Coloring her in took WWAAAAAAAAAAYYY longer than I anticipated even if it was the easiest conceived pipe.

Two: Seminar.

As much as classes like to believe they are the only thing in your life I am also taking 5 other classes. Seminar has us doing big critiques this week so I’ve been a bit distracted…..not that Pepper was easy mind you. Coloring her in non-stop took about 5 hours!

Anyway, if you want more information on what Seminar/Thesis is like you can go here: http://kid-a-thesis.blogspot.com (Though it wasn’t updated last week) Vaguely interested in everything else? This one: http://andyouthoughtitwouldbeeasy.blogspot.com

Looking ahead….

Next week is Spring Break so I’m taking a few days off to de-stress and relax at home. After that though it is back to work…a lot of work.

The theory is that EW and Water World (WW) will both be finished over break….meaning that the Break will be very short indeed.

So see you all in 2 weeks people!