Retardo 08/12/09

How do?

My apologies first and foremost that it has been three months since posting anything! My work (Junior CG Artist @ the National Space Centre) has been taking up the majority of my time, also I have been finding it hard getting used to the whole waking-up-and-going-to-work stuff, and so when I get home i just want to collapse.

However! Now I think I have been able to get used to it all, and so am actually willing to come home from work where I have been working away in 3Ds Max to work for a while in Maya. I have done a little more animation, but have fully lit the first two scenes, which I have test rendered out to see if any mistakes need to be ammended before full-on Rendering.

As you can probably see (or maybe not) there are a couple of small things I need to sort out before moving on to the proper render, so I will do that some time soon... other things that I need to sort out are MUH's cape (turns out that cloth is far easier in Max) which through my own stupidity means that I have to replicate it for each scene, finish off the final section of animaton which shouldnt be too bad, organise the scenes for different render layers and then leave my computer on for an entire month whilst it all renders!

Tonight I will be looking at another small animation for the piece - this one is about a child who gets hit by a car, and I think will be done in a more basic, child-like style. thats what I think now, anyway! may change my mind by the end of the night...

anyway, more stuff to come later!

Oz

Retardo 04/09/09

Ok, guys, just something quick... i have been doing some more animation, but wanted to know what it all looks like edited together. Its goin quite well if you ask me!

I have been working on the introduction of MUH, chopped in nicely at the end of this edit. I must apologise for the change from textured models to non-textured, and the shot from behind MUH at the end will be smoother, and not look like half of her butt is tearing through her costume. The times may have to change depending on how fast the actress wants to speak, but that shouldnt be too bad... The next scene is going to have the first of the proper fighting in it; Leroy going for MUH, but being totalled by a powerful kick.

Animating the fight scenes should be fun ^-^

oz

Retardo 26/08/09

How do!

Ive done a bit more animating, and I think the second scene of the five is looking alright now. I may have to re-visit some aspects of the animation, re-think some timing and re-animate some parts. This scene has been interesting in the sense that there are five characters, and so a lot of moments when we see the initial action and some secondary characters in the background. Animating people looking around waiting for their next big movement isn't easy. Also in this section of the story Danny is getting beaten up... so that was fun trying to animate. I mean you can refference a walk easily, you can act out someone picking up a heavy object in your room, but you cant throw your self about and pretend to be kneed in the stomach as easily.

... note to self - Watch more Jackie Chan movies... for research, obviously!

Cheers guys, hope you like the second part!

Retardo 18/08/09

Good day!

Well I've been doing a little bit of animation recently, and I think I have pretty much finished the first section of the Retardo animation - Danny trying to run away. I am happy with the way it has turned out, though I have found that the Danny rig is actually quite hard to animate with... But I think I have been able to create some good looking movement out of him!

So here it is, the first look of the Retardo Animation!! (done as a playblast, not final render - hence the low quality)



Cheers,

Oz

Retardo 10/08/09

How do,

just a quick one with rendered shots of the dark and dirty alley... really basic, repeated shapes and bump-mapping. the lighting isn't right at the moment, thats gonna be sorted shot by shot after the animation is completed.

I think its got a good feel to it, i wanted something really quite dark, so the characters will stand out, but also wanted some really high specular to define the main shapes.

Oz

Retardo 05/08/09

It is now Wednesday. A minute ago it was Tuesday. I need some sleep.


Haha, I have just been through all of the Retardo characters (that are now fully rigged) and posed them for a couple of simple renders to show off. Well here they are... MUH is supposed to have a cape, but thats gonna be added later. I think you can click for a larger view.

The next step is to actually build, texture and light the set, Then I believe it'll be time to start the animating!

I hope you all like the renders... the way I see things - Danny is gonna be fun to animate, MUH is gonna be a pain to animate, and Vinny is looking to be the scariest of the thugs...

Oz

Retardo 25/07/09

Just a quick one today.

Danny, the main character, is finally designed and modelled. Quite happy with this one :) I just need to texture, blendshape and rig him, then I'll be onto building and texturing the set... and soon animation will begin!


We have decided upon the clean cut version, and will be chaning the t-shirt to the yellow Brazil shirt.

Here's the model as of yet. Click to enlarge!

Cheers,

Oz

Retardo 23/07/09

Well then... This here is the animatic for the Retardo piece. This is the second revision (first one wasnt quite right at all!) but still, some of the movements, timings and angles are off, but at least I have something to aim for now.

I have to admit, I'm really looking forward to animating this, it looks like a fun piece. Just have to finalise the Danny character design, model, texture and rig it, and then build the set, and all should be fine and ready to go!

Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

Oz
www.animalloz.com

Retardo 27/06/09

Ok, so this month i have been working on blendshapes. Fun times. at the moment I have just created blendshapes for the four thugs, but there are enough of them, i asure you.

We have -
LeftBrowHigh
RightBrowHigh
LeftBrowLow
RightBrowLow
LeftBrowArch
RightBrowArch
LeftEyeBlink
RightEyeBlink
LeftEyeSquint
RightEyeSquint
NoseWrinkle
MouthHigh
MouthLow
MouthOoo
MouthErr
MouthGnarl
MouthLeftGnarl
MouthRightGnarl
MouthShout
MouthLeftSmile
MouthRightSmile
MouthGrin

Here I have a couple of playblasted tests going through each blend, and some shots to see how they could be used.

Retardo 09/06/09

Another quick update, have a lot of stuff on at the moment, so have only just been able to start blendshapes for these five characters.

Here are the turn arounds, so you can see how i have turned the single Thug into four.




Here are the textures used for the Thugs, painted in Photoshop.



Cheers,

Oz

PS, Degree show is comming up, This Friday till next Thursday! Shall be good! Please Check the site! - http://www.dmuanimation.com/

Retardo 14/05.09

Just a quick update, have modelled the main thug body and haid. The idea is to duplicate this body four times and make the differences for each character - muscle sizes and add whatever is needed to create the different characters. Now the joy of texturing and Mudboxing. Then the joy of rigging.

Here a turn around of MUH, Thug and a quick cloth test to see how nCloth can make me a decent cape. need to work more on that though.

Retardo - 13/5.09

How do!

Ok, after a number of different designs and emails between myself and the client, I've been able to pretty much finalise the thug designs, and I like them, which is always a plus! these are pretty much agressive Psycheatric Nurses who, in the lead character's mind, are thugs who try to mug him. They needed to be big, muscular, but also with a hint or 'street rat'.

Here are the (pretty much) final designs.


so Ive been able to get into Maya today aswell. the way I am doing this is by modelling each muscle set (kindof) seperately (as can be seen in the multi-coloured image) and then later putting all the components together. This is cool because i can simply alter the shapes of the individual pieces to create the different chatacter shapes, then model the detail later! and i've actually enjoyed this, i have been worrying about modelling large characters, but i have really enjoyed it! woop woop! haha.




Anyway, plenty more work to be getting on with!

Retardo - 01/05/09

How do? sorry its been a while, been getting on with some things for the Uni Degree Show, and went on holiday, so that was nice, and now im back and feeling ready to go. All i have for us today is an image of MUH with costume and basic textures, and some designs of the thugs.

MUH in Maya

MUH in Mudbox, may give this another try...

MUH - well, ive been playing round with somethings that dont seem to want to work for me, and at the moment im not too sure why. I was hoping to sculpt into is a little bit in Mudbox and then import it as a normal map, and no matter how much i try, it just doent work, infact it looks really stupid, so i've decided i have spent too much time on that and need to move on to the thugs.

Thugs - Here are a few priliminary designs. In the script, it says that it should be quite naive, Scooby Doo-esqe. But im thinking, slightly darker. My prefered designs are the ones down at the bottom, really harsh, quite nightmareish figures with jagged edges, eyes that glow black, and scribbles all over the place. Im also thinking of having four characters, two 'Goon' style, big and braun looking, then two skinier, one ratlike, the other 'computer hacker' looking.

Retardo - 14/04/09

Ok, so with an idea of what MUH is going to look like, I did some orthographic images, and got into maya.Im going to build the body first, and then add the clothes over the top. this is partially because i didn't have a final design for the costume in my head.



so in maya i started to build. I decided to try out a new method found in the book Game Character Development in Maya. I had never modeled a woman (well... a realistic one) before so i want sure how to achieve what i needed. The book came in handy with one pair of breasts, but took me some time trying to get my head round three! anyway, i like what i have done, hope you do too.

Oz

Retardo - 11/04/09

How do?

Today has been spent sat in front of photoshop all day designing different elements for MUH's costume. still not 100% sure what we want, and thought this would be a good way to find out - create as many elements as you want all on different layers, and then swap around till you find something you like. good fun times!

So lets talk about the actual design for the costume. Pretty much she need some big, thigh-high high-heeled boots, a red corset/catsuit, a butterfly mask and big-volume-barbarella-style hair. I added some elements - fishnets and gloves. oh yeah, and they are three sets of breasts - not my idea, lol!

Soon will have an idea of what we want, and will be able to start building in maya. good fun times!

Retardo - 08/04/09

How do?

I have recently got a small job working with Nick Brown, a playwrite in London. The job is to create a short animation for the play, in which a lady super hero rescues a guy being beaten up. I figured i might aswell start a blog to chart progress through this project. At the moment we are still in the stages of design. The super lady - code name MUH, is quite difficult to design - She has 6 boobs, and i don't know how that would look. Anyway, i think i have some decent sketches for the body shape, she will be wearing a corset sort of thing, thigh high boot a cape and butterfly mask. here are some early designs. The ones i prefer are circled. The next step is to draw up orthographic views so i can start modelling.

For more of my work visit http://animalloz.deviantart.com/ http://www.youtube.com/animalloz

For more info on Nick Brown visit http://www.playwrightwhore.com/