Floradore!

Update on Animated Short - Environment Development

The past couple of days were spent putting together all the assets and beginning to layout the film.

Although I thought all assets were built to scale, they were not. I forgot to make sure that after exporting the assets and importing them into Maya that they were the right heights. Most assets were simply to make to scale. Those who had SSS in their shaders required adjusted. The most difficult to scale were the character rigs, but that is on its way.

The lighting is a draft, as is the layout. I have used a script called Debris Maker to create rocks, crystals, and other environmental assets that will fill in the emptiness of the scene.

First layout composition


Layout with some shaders and highlights (post-resize)


Positioning of objects, picking a camera angle, shaders (pre-resize)


With scale readjustment: SSS in flower petals is not accurate

Animated Short - Shader Development

Focused on creating a shader for the rubber thumb. The SSS has a very small radius since the characters are very small, and rubber thumbs are small to begin with (characters are around 13 cm in height - in proportion to real sized toy characters - the entire film is scaled according to the flower and telescope and could potentially exist in real life). The image with the orange rubber thumb is a real photograph and to the right is the progress I took to create the shader. I started from the root of the object after adding a base diffuse color and focused on what made up it's center, which is a rubbery, thin material that has SSS, just like skin. Then I added a rough reflection as it appeared to be in the reference image. I went back to tweak the SSS to get a large value just like in the reference, below the white reflection.

I also spent some time experimenting with different colour schemes for Vladimir. I think I prefer the green as it makes him feel less... Blue. ;)

Final Film - Finalizing Models and Working on Shaders

I spent my time during the holidays working on textures, shaders, and character rigs.

The Arnold aiStandard or SSS shaders will be layered using Maya's Layered Shader. For the aiStandard, I noted that tweaking the opacity setting in the shader's parameters was required if I wanted to add a gloss over a matted paint layer on metal. A map could be used to add rust or dust, or any other added details. For the SSS in the plant, I followed the tutorial found on Arnold's support suggested to me by a coworker.

Here are some quick renders I saved during the time I worked.



It's a work in progress and there are still many things that require fixing and polishing. There are no textures on the characters as of yet, and I will need to make time to do some, though time is ticking and I need to move onto other steps and assure I do the best I can in all the different areas of the film!

Alas, An Update on the Film!

There have been a lot of changes, and there will continue to be a lot of changes. I need to make sure that I can meet the final deadline, and I truly believe I will (I BETTER>:C).

 I'll put things here in the order that they were created (from oldest to newest).

Here are some layout shots that were done near the end of November. I find the layout stage really easy and really ugly.

So, we can see that a base model has been set for the environment, characters, and props. The light shaft lies right above the flower and isn't in the shot.

Here I explored how to create an "organic" looking flower. I'm still unsure about some of this but that's how it is with everything and me, so it'll do for now. 

Started with a sphere, sliced, turbosmooth (above all modifiers), tweaked low base mesh of sphere, added FFD modifier above all. I ended up using a free flower head that was quite beautiful (from here) but kept the mid level leaves I created (below head but at top of stem... (confusing)) and the two bottom leaves I created. 

Began texturing. *spazzes*

I love texturing. Reaching a realistic look is quite challenging though results can be quite beautiful if done right. I will aspire to do so. 

Mmm, checker pattern.

SHADERS!!! <3 And no, I didn't add the stem texture from above. I lied about the order, I actually played with shaders and lighting before doing the texture... And the refined stem/leaves model.

Arnold renderer, you make anything look great. *spazzes again*

She had her proportions changed slightly. Her hands encountered some difficulty when being rigged. I designed them badly so they don't work well. Her shoulders as well. :(

This is the new Vladimir. A robot, whut? He's supposed to be a robot so he could mesh better with the other character. Problem is, they still look like they're from completely different worlds. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

-_-

SO MANY THINGS TO FIX.

fin.

Biweekly Progress on Final Film

What are these things? WHO KNOWS. I have no idea.

Her head looks like she's wearing a swimming cap -_- meant to look like flower she takes care of. It's ok, will require fixing.

Biweekly Progress on Animated Short

Update on character models:

I've got a first animatic draft though I've just received some feedback so I'm going to work on that before posting it on here. :)

Biweekly Progress on Film

The past two weeks were busy!

Here's a quick summary!

I messaged sales support at Solid Angle asking if I could use Arnold to render my film, and they were extremely friendly. Jorge Bazaco is the one who replied (on the day that I sent the message... On Thanksgiving weekend, haha). I'm excited to say that I will be able to use Arnold for my film. (SO EXCITED OGMOGMOGMG)

Credits: As an assignment for one of my classes, we had to create closing credits for our films. I believed it was odd at first (to create a draft of the credits sequence before the film is done), though, once completed I could see that while deciding what they should look like, it also helped me decide what I wanted the theme and genre of my animation/film to be.

CHARACTER MODELS
The base mesh for my male character model is complete.
Time to zbrush details righhhht in to finish it off.
The female model is undergoing re-works with new a new image and new references, but she's progressing. THANKFULLY...

STORY DEVELOPMENT
I am quoting myself here (yes, it is weird, but I'm doing it),
"It is going to be a comedic, slapstick, fun animated short of 1 minute.
In short, the story is about a guy who tries to get a girl's attention. She is taking care of a very important plant (it is the last one surviving on the planet). When he finally distracts her, the plant is put in harms way and is in danger. They work together to save the plant!" -myself

ANIMATIC is a WIP

By the next blog post I anticipate having completed my animatic which is a BIG step in progress, which, to be honest, seems unlikely but I wont have a choice to at least have a draft set up!

Here's a gif for how classmates and myself feel.


EVERY DAY IS A NEW CHALLENGE.

It's okay. We'll keep swimming. :) **PICTURES TO COME**

Biweekly Progress on Final Film

This week I cleaned up and reorganized my production schedule according to due dates and reviews. I'm sure there will be more changes to this schedule but it's nice to see it all laid out.



Characters models are still progressing slowly but surely.



Looking for different ground types and environments that work for the base layer of the cave ground. I'll likely pick something that combines the two ground types put together (Arizona, US and the MOON!)



I've also begun an animatic now that my story is finally coming together! :)

WIP - Final Film

More preprod. WIP.

I think what's most exciting and motivating in all of this is seeing things come together and having this idea that has been thrown around in my head slowly turn into real assets and a concrete story.


Additional Ref. Imgs


Environment, Character, & Prop Concept Dev.


First Models & Low-Quality Test Renders