Monthly Archive for November, 2009

AVE: Test shoot

Published
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Andreas Nor
on November 30, 2009
in advanced visual effects, teesside university and works
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Last week Mark helped me plan the shooting of the footage for my AVE assignment. Michael helped me set up things and switched between being cameraman and actor. Later on Bjørne, Erlend and Andreas came and helped me out with the more complex shots. Bjørne became my actor, Erlend and Michael swithced between being cameramen and holding a lamp. Andreas controlled the flickering of the light. Mark shot the last shot as it required the use of a lift.

Here I'm directing Bjørne, while Michael is holding the lamp. Mark is the camerman.

PP60: Modeling the characters

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 27, 2009
in 3d, practical project (60 credits), teesside university and works
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I’ve started modeling the characters in 3D Studio Max, and I still struggle with the head.

The model is being made with facial animation in mind, which means I have to get nice edge loops. This have proven far more difficult than I anticipated, but it seems like I’m back on track now.

DC3: T for Team

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 24, 2009
in comics, digital painting, drawing and composition 3, drawings, teesside university and works
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Update (26. November 2009): I made this in Photoshop, but after a presentation/tutorial by Nigel Dobbyn at the University, I’ve decided to continue this style in the superior (for inking) Illustrator.

This is an experiment. I went away from my sketchy/painty style and went for some comic book-ish style for this piece.

It just started as a doodle, but I kept working on it. The composition is not good at all, but this is one layer, so I can’t move things around easily. Note to self: Start with composition next time.

I could remove the guy to the right and cut away a tiny bit of the backgrond, then it would be solved, but it wouldn’t be a team anymore.

And yes, Mike Mignola is awesome…

AVE: Visual Effects Animatic Draft #1

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 23, 2009
in advanced visual effects, animation, digital painting, drawings, sketches, storyboards, teesside university and works
. 0 Comments

I’ve been busy with other things this week, but managed to put together an animatic for the AVE assignment.

I took the storyboard pictures, cut them out and imported them in Adobe Premiere. Then the shots we’re put together in the timeline and timed.

Added an animated cloud layer over the exterior shots and a fume layer over the interior shots. They are hard to see in the render I did, but will hopefully be fixed.

I added a piece of music that I intend to use in the final product. Sound effects are yet to be put in.

Here is the animatic:

AVE: Starting with the animatic

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 16, 2009
in advanced visual effects and teesside university
. 0 Comments

My idea for the vfx project is approved. I have cut out the frames from the storyboard, and am about to assemble them into an animatic, which I will upload at a later point. I’ve also acquired some epic music, fitting for a vfx segment like the one I’m going to make, as well as footage of moving skies, for the matte paintings.

After the animatic is finished, I will start to make a simple previz and get ready to shoot some green screen footage.

In fact I’m going down to the green screen room right now to get familiar with the equipment.

PP60: Project Specification

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 13, 2009
in practical project (60 credits), teesside university and works
. 0 Comments

(Updated 29/11/2009)

Practical Project (60 credits) – Project Specification

Project: Clockwork Heart – A short animation

The goal of the project is to create about 1 minute of a 2-3 min long animated short film, from the first stages of story development, to the final editing and post-production. The intention of the project is to show 1 minute of strong animation and visual storytelling, but also to pre-produce the rest of the film.

The main focus will be to create convincing animation, which includes detailed face model morphs. Detailed textures and good compositing comes second. Other elements, like sound and modeling, will be less detailed. A secondary goal is to create the animation in a more serious tone, as opposed to slapstick comedy, adding more diversity to a showreel.

3D Studio Max, Photoshop, Premiere and Nuke will be used for this project.

The story is about an inventor in his late thirties, whose wife just recently passed away. He creates an automaton replica of his wife, which is just finished when the film starts. She awakens, curious, but soon realizes what she is. She panics, the inventor tries to calm her down, but is electrocuted by defect wires connected to her heart. Falls dead to the ground. Automaton crouches by inventors side and flips off her heart switch.

The visuals will be gritty, set in a steampunk world. An establishing shot of a cityscape, camera zooming in on a house, will be done in a stylized manner. Possibly in 2.5D and/or as projected matte paintings, to give it a stylized look and to save time. As of now there are no plans to include voice acting, but to tell a story with body language and props. The inventor will be fully skinned, but the female automaton will have limbs linked together instead of being skinned. Both characters will have morph targets for facial expressions.

The story will be written as a treatment, then made into a storyboard. Concept art of the two characters and environment will be painted/drawn. An animatic and a previz will be made to plan the shots. Characters will then be modeled, rigged, skinned, textured, animated, lit and rendered in 3D Studio Max. Textures will be made in Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. All rendered passes and the cityscape will then be composited in Nuke. Composited footage is then imported into Premiere, where it will be edited together with sound, music and titles.

The report size will be 6000 words.

Schedule:

Week 1 (19.Oct - 25.Oct): Story planning & Treatment
Week 2 (26.Oct - 1.Nov): Story planning & Treatment
Week 3 (2.Nov - 8.Nov): Research & Concept Art
Week 4 (9.Nov - 15.Nov): Storyboard
Week 5 (16.Nov - 22.Nov): Storyboard
Week 6 (23.Nov - 29.Nov): Modeling of the two characters
Week 7 (30.Nov - 6.Dec): Modeling & texturing of the two characters & Animatic
Week 8 (7.Dec - 13.Dec): Rigging/Skinning(envelopes) of the two characters & Previz
Week 9 (14.Dec - 20.Dec): Modeling & Texturing of the scene and props
Week 10 (21.Dec - 27.Dec): Lighting the scene & Animation
Week 11 (28.Dec - 3.Jan): Animation
Week 12 (4.Jan - 10.Jan): Animation
Week 13 (11.Jan - 17.Jan): Animation
Week 14 (18.Jan - 24.Jan): Animation
Week 15 (25.Jan - 31.Jan): Animation
Week 16 (1.Feb - 7.Feb): Animation
Week 17 (8.Feb - 14.Feb): Animation
Week 18 (15.Feb - 21.Feb): Animation
Week 19 (22.Feb - 28.Feb): Matte painting, Rendering & Sound creation/gathering
Week 20 (1.Mar - 7.Mar): Editing, Compositing, Rendering & Sound creation/gathering
Week 21 (8.Mar - 14.Mar): Editing & Compositing
Week 22 (15.Mar - 21.Mar): Editing & Foley
Week 23 (22.Mar - 28.Mar): Reviewing the film & Finishing the report
Week 24 (29.Mar - 6.Apr): Finishing/printing the report & DVD creation

PP60: Starting with the Practical Project (60 credits)

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 13, 2009
in animation, practical project (60 credits), sketches, storyboards, teesside university and works
. 0 Comments

This is a rushed WIP storyboard (I changed the character design and age after page 2), for the short animation I plan to make for the Practical Project module, and a crude piece of concept art for one of the characters.

Project Specification to follow.

Continue reading ‘PP60: Starting with the Practical Project (60 credits)’

DC3: (WIP) H for Hunter

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 10, 2009
in digital painting, drawing and composition 3 and works
. 1 Comment

I was looking through my sketch folder and found this, which I apparently did 22. October…

…Which I played around with until I got this:

Now I just have to finish the thing.

The balance of the character is of course wrong, but I will fix this later, when I continue working on it.

I will give him/it some weapon and maybe decorate him with skulls and bones, to make him/it become ‘H’ for ‘Hunter’.

AVE: (WIP) Storyboard/moodboard

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 9, 2009
in advanced visual effects, digital painting, storyboards, teesside university and works
. 0 Comments

AVE: Choosing a setting for the Advanced Visual Effects ICA

Published
by
Andreas Nor
on November 2, 2009
in advanced visual effects, sketches, teesside university and works
. 0 Comments

I have been thinking about what kind of environment I want to do for the Advanced Visual Effects ICA.

First I had no ideas at all, but I had thumbnailed an environment for my DC3 assignment, which I chose to set this short visual effects demonstration in.

I did a quick paint over to set the mood.

This one has warmer colours:

But this one looks (in my opinion) better, as volcanic rocks tend to look colder and blueish:

I’ll probably scrap the one to the bottom left. Maybe I’ll just keep the one to the top right, and make another one for the interior, saving me lots and lots of time.

The way I’m going to solve this is to camera project matte paintings over 3D architecture, and make the interior solely 3D (no matte paintings): I don’t know yet.

I have also been thinking about moving it away from a volcano, and make it inside a “regular” mountain. I will have the same architecture as above, but with different colours, and no volcano elements.

The interior should have a blueish green glow, and maybe have some candles on an altar in the middle of the room. Minas Morgul from The Lord of the Rings is my inspiration for that glow.