June 23rd, 2006 Ahmad Al-Mahir
Wow! It’s 9 weeks in and almost 1 month after my last decent “Wait, Mister!” update! Where has the time gone eh? Anyways, so I’ve finished rigging up both Mr. Knox and Kid, and straight after managed to quickly come up with some possible poses they might adopt to flush out any major kinks in the rigs. So far so good. As far as I can tell there’s nothing I can’t fix within specific shots if need be. I’m banking on that being faster than my struggling to get the absolute perfect rig from the outset. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to get into walk cycles or more detailed character studies. It’s definitely something worth working on at a later date (likely post-submission). And don’t get me started on the cloth tests! Alright enough of that, here’s a quick sample of what I did.
Download Mr. Knox and Kid rig test.
I’ve also fiddled around with Final Gathering for a bit just to see how the characters might possibly look in their environment. You might notice some more colours on Knox and Kid but still no textures on anything else. At this stage, I must admit to still toying with ideas for the exact look and amount of details in the background, but I’m definitely keeping it simple for the best effect. The lighting is also not entirely finalised but at least it’s a decent start right?
As you can see, there’s still a ton of work to be done!
I’ve also managed to set up the basic necessary face shapes for Mr. Knox. Here are a few choice expressions:
I’m presently working on Kid’s face shapes. Initially I thought Kid would have less facial expressions with Knox being on camera more, but I’ve realised he’s much more expressive and requires a few additional face shapes. Regardless, I really hope to finish them by the end of the week. After that I’ll finally tackle modeling the environment and all props, as well as completing all the textures. That should take me through the short 2-week break (what break?) at least. If I stick to the plan, I should be focusing entirely on animating the shots once the final term begins. I’ve also gotten a sound designer on board so that’s another item settled. I’ll have to find someone to be the voice of Knox though. I’d have liked to get some visual references during the recordings too if possible. I doubt I’ll have a problem casting Kid. It’ll most likely be my son Adib doing his voice. And with two young boys running around, I don’t think I’ll have a problem with visual references!
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May 27th, 2006 Ahmad Al-Mahir
We had our mid-term crit session on Thursday to showcase our progress and obtain feedback. I presented the character designs, 2d animatic, 3d block test, Mr. Knox’s and Kid’s 3d models, and a short rig cum cloth test for Kid. As I expected, most in the audience weren’t too impressed with how Kid’s model turned out. After reviewing my original designs and taking into account a couple of suggestions, I dived back into XSI and started tweaking. I created a newer, simpler set of hair, enlarged the head and eyes, and adjusted his overall proportions to make him look younger.I believe it’s a significant improvement over the old model. What do you think?
I’ll quickly re-do the rig and cloth test on him and I’ll post up a clip soon. I’m hoping the next set of tasks (rigging Mr. Knox) will be an easier affair. Unfortunately, this weekend will mostly be taken up by the research project. I’m scheduled to deliver a presentation to an audience of tutors and fellow students on Thursday. Wish me luck!
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May 21st, 2006 Ahmad Al-Mahir
I’ve almost finished Kid’s 3d model. I used Mr. Knox’s base models and tweaked them considerably to get the final result. I figured it might be easier and more consistent than starting from scratch. Again I’m not focusing on the textures at this stage. I haven’t even decided on the eye colour (although I did get some nods for this shade of blue on him so maybe I’ll give Knox a different set of eyes). I’m also considering whether to use cloth simulation for his shirt or just hand animate it if at all. Might be more hassle than it’s worth. We’ll see when I get round to doing some tests on it.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve done so far:
Gotta find some time now for my other project - the personal research presentation. It’s due in a couple of weeks!
See ya!
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May 18th, 2006 Ahmad Al-Mahir
I was slogging over the animatic and the block test over the past couple of weeks which caused the delay in my update. I’ve managed to refine the previous animatic and began work on the block test last Thursday. That took me about 3 days to complete. I also continued working on Mr. Knox’s head and body which were expected at this week’s tutorial session. I cut down the animation further (it’s now 1 minute 20 seconds in duration) and apart from a couple of shots that needed changing, the block test went over quite well with my tutor. Here’s a shot from the animatic and corresponding block test:
I pulled the camera back slightly because I felt the longer shot made for a better composition. At the very least it looked more balanced to me. There’s quite a few of these tweaks that you only find out when you go from 2d panels to 3d space in the blocking stage. Anyway, I’m putting off refining the block test for the moment while I focus on getting both my characters modelled, rigged and animation tested. That should take up the next few weeks.
Here is Mr. Knox fully modelled without textures:
I’m off to start work on the kid next. There’s a mid-term presentation scheduled for next Thursday for us to show our progress so far and I need to get both characters ready by then. In fact, according to my planned schedule, I should be rigging either Mr. Knox or Kid next week! Expect some sleepless nights for me!
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May 7th, 2006 Ahmad Al-Mahir
I’ve managed to piece together a 2d animatic from the storyboards and after some suggestions from my supervisor, managed to cut the animation down from almost 2 minutes to 1 minute 30seconds. Of course this is a rough estimate. I’ll have a better idea when I get round to the 3d block test. In the meantime, some shuffling around of shots and changes in camera angles and pacing are in order.
I’ve more or less finalised the design of my characters (the kid proved especially difficult) and came up with a basic colour palette for the scene, and tests for Mr. Knox and Kid:
I noticed quite a number of my fellow students have already started modelling their characters, so I decided it’s time to brush up my extremely rusty modelling skills. I’ve been practicing for the past couple of days on Mr. Knox’s head. I’ve drafted up a simple action plan (schedule of tasks) which I’ll be presenting at this coming tutorial session. The next version of the animatic should also be ready then. Hopefully I’ll be able to move on to the block test right after. And I’ll probably continue working on Mr. Knox.
See ya soon!
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