Diary & Rational...

Well here we are, end of the first term and I have managed to get my work finished and handed in. So this is meant to describe what I now know about the industry and where I feel I fit in amongst it all. So here goes. I have realised that in the 3D industry you normally have only one job, be that rigging or texturing or something along those lines, and doing it all by yourself can lead you to a mental breakdown. But I feel that the part that I would fit into best is the modelling part, creating the Creatures, buildings, vehicles etc, that go into the final product. The reason behind my thinking are thus; Modelling is what I find most enjoyable. Creating something that looks intricate and impressive is what I like doing. As far as texturing and rigging go they aren't really my cup of tea as it were. I mean I am pleased with how many of the textures came out on my final gather, and if pushed to do so I would gladly do the textures, but if I had to choose I would stick to the modelling. Rigging, and thus the act of animating the models was the part I found the hardest. This is partly due, obviously, to the fact that this is my first time at doing any, and given time I could probably develop at least a decent ability to produce short animations, but on a large scale it is simply mind boggling to me.

Within my animation my pride and joy has to be my Robot, Norm. The model itself is based off the one we got taught in our seminar, at least the arms and legs are, the body, crotch plate, spine and head are all of my own design. I feel that the way I have modelled him really brings across his sadness and his misfortune, mostly conveyed by his downward slanting eyes. This was a concious decision of mine right from the start, that he would look a tragic figure, thus making the audience feel at least a little sorry for him. The other character, the mouse, was part of my original story line, however his role changed slightly from revenge seeker to just plain mischief maker, and this I feel is very fitting for what is, after all, vermin.
The environment is something else that I am rather pleased with. Although not massively complex it serves its purpose. I especially like the fact that you can see the street reflected in all the windows, adding masses of depth to the whole affair.

All in all I am happy with what I have produced, especially as it is my first foray into the animation side of 3D. Given more time there is certainly plenty I would change, however as it is I am pleased with the outcome.

So here it is...

Like it?

A lonely Street

Due to a very last minute change of mind I have started (and nearly finished) modelling a new environment for my "Of Bots and Bananas" Sketch. This is essentially a lonely street in an undesirable part of town. The shops are all based on those shops that just look cheap and nasty, the ones you would never normally go into. But among these shops I want to have a very shiny and bright "Liqueur Store". This is now the main focus of my narrative as I will explain in a later post.

Why so sad keanu...

Right let me start by saying that I have not, I repeat not, called my robot Keanu. However the pose he is in kind of reminded me of those sad Keanu pictures, hence the title. But in all seriousness I created my robot to look sad and downtrodden. He is meant to be based on the idea of Charlie Chaplin, the "Happy Hobo" style as it were, however minus the happy in my robots case. I wanted him to pull on the heartstrings of my audience, I wanted them to feel sorry for him as he is such a tragic figure who is having a bad time of it. This also means that when the "Gag" happens to him there is both a mixture of humour and the "awww" feeling.

Introducing....

Introducing....

Now that he has colour...

Has been a while, but here we go...

So I know it has been a while since I added anything to my blog. There is a very simple reason for this, I did nothing that would of been of interest to anybody. For the past couple of weeks I had been working on my essay, which I think we can all agree does not make for interesting viewing. However I now have a new screenshot of my "bot" as it stands at the moment. The rigging is complete and I hope to have a video of him in full motion soon enough. Also he currently looks too "smart". I intend to work with the polygons to cover him in dents and such, so that he is more in keeping with the hobo effect I was going for. I have also created him to be hunched over, a result of his life not going to plan and the weight of worry upon his shoulders so to speak. His face has also been designed to convey a sense of sadness and depression, with downward slanting eyes and a "bot beard" look to his lower jaw. I have yet to decide whether I want to add a mouth to my robot. so as it stands he currently does not have one.

So here be some arms

So in Andy's seminar this week we learnt how to do basic rigging, and here is my attempt at it. I have made the hands do a series of poses just to get my head round creating motion and using the keys on the time line. So basically this is what I have come up with. A lot of the movements, although slow, do appear to be a bit more human than robotic, but I think this adds to the whole thing, giving my robot a more human feel makes it easier to relate to him.