Location, location: Still Render's

Here are four of my Still Render's that I have taken from my scene: 

Still 1

Still 2

Still 3

Still 4

Location, location: 500 Word Evaluation

The new brief I was set was called, ‘Location, location’ for this project I had to design, model, texture, light and render a sixty second walkthrough of my chosen location, which is based on a published story or script from a different time period. The interior location had to be set either in a room in a residence or monumental space i.e. church, factory or historical building. I would also have to include all the visual elements such as the furniture and objects that described within the story. The reason behind this project is to design a location, as it is important to support the story and the characters. Whilst undergoing this project it was essential for me to consider the architectural period, genre, dramatic atmosphere and mood, colour and lighting conditions of the location.

For this project I chose, ‘Crooks’ Bunkhouse’ from the book ‘Of Mice and Men’ as the location I would model. The reason I chose this book was because we never learn much from the character himself but we do from the description within the novel and the object’s that can be found. There are many objects within the scene such a hame, an alarm clock, boots and medicine bottles etc. From the description I imagined the room to be made from wooden panels, have an angled roof with dusty light shining through the cracks and the window. I also imagined the room to be quite dark with the objects scattered across the room but neatly placed.

I found this project extremely enjoyable to do as I love making the object’s look realistic to bring the room to life, making it look old, used, cold and lonely. I feel my modeling skills have dramatically improved from the beginning of the last year and the last ‘Still Life’ project helped me to achieve this, making this project seem somewhat easier. Problems that I had last encountered during the last project were ones I wanted to work upon and improve this time, such as the lighting and layout. I feel I have managed to achieve this by adding the volume effect to a directional light, which gives the illusion of dust particles being caught within the lights path. I felt that I managed to create a dark scene that shows what I set out to achieve, which was a ‘lonely, old negro’ who has many possessions.

Overall, I enjoyed this project, I learnt a number of skills but one mistake a did learn from was to always backup your work as early in the project I saved everything directly onto my hard drive and in the end I lost everything and had to restart the project. I feel that this mistake has taught me some valuable lessons but in the end I felt that my second attempt was better than my first, which is something I am proud off. This project will help me with my future career as it has taught me that the atmosphere and design of the room is important as it is vital to support a characters mood, environment and personality. Therefore when I design characters in the future now, I will also think about the environment that they will live in and how the modeling lighting and texturing will affect the way character is portrayed.

Location, location: Final Render (With Sound)

I have now added sound to my animation, I used one of the soundtracks that can be found on one of the films. Here is my finished walkthrough:

Location, location: First Render (Without Sound)

Here is my first render, I have added the lighting and placed and textured all of the object's within the scene. Below is the first render without sound:

Location, location: Object's

The next stage was to start modelling the object's, So far I have modelled the alarm clock, Hand Riveter, Shotgun, Knife. Below are a few images of these objects: 

Alarm Clock

Hand Riveter

Single Barrelled Shotgun

Knife

Location, location: Started Modelling

This week I finally started modelling the basic layout of the room I will be using, I have made individual panels so that the like can shine through the cracks. I have given it a slanted roof as the the passage specifies that Crooks' bunkhouse leans off of the side of the barn. I have also textured the wood a lightish grey wood as I feel that it gives it a worn and old feel. Below are a few images from my progress so far:

Crooks Bunkhouse 1

Crooks Bunkhouse 2

Silent Comedy: 500 Word Evaluation

This was the fifth project I have been set this year and by far the most challenging. The brief I was given was to design, build and animate a Character that can apparently think, decide, pick something up, drop something, walk, climb, trip, slip and fall. At most two characters may be involved in the piece, and the primary focus will be the Character Animation itself. It is suggested than only a limited "set" be designed for the film, as the majority of the artist's time should be spent on the development of the character(s), making them into believable on-screen entities.

At the beginning of the project I found the idea of having to build a character and rig it quite daunting as I thought it would be a major struggle and a very time consuming process. However I did find it quite easy especially the building as I developed my skills dramatically with the software since the beginning of the year. The process was still time consuming but I found this to be a positive aspect of the process as it meant my design would be a perfect as I could make it.  One I had designed the character I found the toughest part of the process was the UVW Unwrapping it took me a while to get it done but it all paid off in the end and this was the same for the rigging too.

The next step was to design the environment the character would act in. As the brief suggests, we should stick to a simple environment and focus on the character and so this is what I did, I made a simple room with one window and then used an omni light to add light and shading within my scene. I found this to be effective as it kept all the attention on the character and his actions. Although the storyline wasn’t very strong I think it keeps the audience interested and from the people I have shown the clip to, they have all laughed at the end, which is a good sign for any comedy.

Overall I am pleased with my final outcome and the new skills I have learnt as well as the ones I have developed. I now know how to build, unwrap, rig and animate a character effectively. There as a few changes I would of liked to of changed if I had more time such as the sound’s I have added, although some are very effective, other’s just don’t seem to fit as nicely as I would of liked them to. The overall outcome is something I am pleased with and is an animation I could develop and improve. This particular project is perfect to help me with my future career choice as I character animation is the field I wish to progress into as it excited me the most. I feel like I can now continue to produce more character’s and build a larger portfolio for myself. 

Silent Comedy : Final Render (With Sound)

Silent Comedy : First Render (No Sound)

My first render, whcih needs a few changes and sound adding, but on the whole I am reasonably happy with this animation.

Silent Comedy : Character Walking

Here is the intro to my animation. I have keyframed his walk and constrained the ladder and toolbox to his hands. I am pleased with my first walk cycle I hope you enjoy it too!

Silent Comedy : UVW Unwrap Template

Teh first image is my UVW Unwrap Template that I produced by cutting up my character to be able to lay him on a flat page so that I can paint him using photoshop or Autodesk Mudbox. Below the first image is my coloured template which I will then apply to my character, I touched it up in photoshop to get a better quality image but I mainly used Mudbox to paint the chracter.

 UWV Template before being painted

 

UVW Template Coloured