Progress Blog
Wander Thesis Film
This blog records my personal progress and contribution to the capstone project, Wander, created during the classes ANIM 408-08, 448-04, & 488-01 at the Savannah College of Art and Design 2018-19.
(For best quality, view on a desktop. Or you can view some of my work from Wander in my Current Projects Gallery.
Awards & Honors
Conclusion
As Wander has been completed and my time at SCAD ended, I've been thinking about what, if anything, will happen to this blog. For now, I've come to the conclusion to keep it posted here on my website to record my contribution to Wander's production pipeline. I will also be posting updates about Wander as we submit it to festivals and contests.
For the first update, I'm excited to announce that my personal work for Wander has been added to the Draft Selection for the Rookie Awards 2019. to view my entry page, click here.
Wander has also been given the Excellence Award for the Rookie Awards 2019.
6/7/19
Week 39: Post Production
It is official! Wander is finally done! I am beyond excited and proud of my film crew and all their hard work. This past week has been a lot of late nights and long hours. I worked on paint overs for a lot of the shots where some phasing happened to occur around Nia's jacket, backpack, or romper. I also handled preparing our Electronic Press Kit. This kit will be sent along with the film to any film festivals we intend on submitting it to. I am extremely excited to see how far this films goes, with the first screening being at the SCAD Animation Showcase! I've also included our trailer in this post. I'm hoping to create a reel showing some breakdowns of my animations from the film and will also include that here when it is ready.
5/27/19
Week 36 & 37: Post Production
Combining last week's post and this week's into one because we've been crazy busy! There's also not a lot of actually "media" that I'll be attaching to this post, since we've mostly been working on rendering out shots. The film is due within the next several days, so some of our crew-mates have also been working on compositing shots. I have personally rendered 7-8 full shots and helped on around 6 other crew-member's shots if they needed re-renders or fixes. I've also helped in compositing by setting up files in Nuke to be composited.
As the film is being finaled, we also have to start thinking about submitting it to film festivals and preparing all the information and materials for doing so. I've personally started working on our Press Package, which holds information on our story, crew, process, etc. This will also be due several days from now, but most of the information has already been made for our Art of Wander book, so it shouldn't take me to long to re-organize the information.
5/13/19 & 5/20/19
Week 35: Post Production
This past week has been a lot of late-night-crew-bonding-and-rendering sessions! I've been doing a little bit of everything recently. I finished lighting SEQ500 Shots 30 and 40. As a crew we divided up around 6-8 shots to render each. This past week I rendered five of my six. I will most likely pick up more shots once I finish my last one. My finaled shots include SEQ300 Shot 30, SEQ500 Shots 30 and 40, SEQ700 Shots 10 and 20. (As of right now I'm refraining from posting completely final shots.)
I helped out on our Spring Poster for this quarter. Part of the poster didn't finish rendering so I painted over part of it to save time. I also edited it in Photoshop for the final look.
I also added the animation of the backpack in SEQ100 Shot 20.
For the next few weeks left of the quarter we will be rendering like CRAZY to get this film done!
5/6/19
Week 34: Post Production
It is officially Week 6 of the quarter, which means we are cracking down on getting out final renders for the film.
This past weekend the network we work on completely went down, along with our building's air conditioning. The render farm was down, so some of our renders had to be put on hold, but we are working hard now to get everything in on time.
The art book was due today as well. I had a lot of fun compiling all of our hard work behind this film. Looking forward to seeing the final print.
As of right now I'm working on lighting my last two shots and rendering all of the shots that I have lit. We're all pushing hard on these last few weeks of finishing the film!
4/29/19
Week 33: Post Production
This past week I've been working a lot on finishing the Art of Wander book. I've been writing and editing the book and layout as well as the material I've asked some of my other crew members to obtain for me. So far the book is 90 pages long. The text portions along account for 12 pages of writing. My next step for the art book is to work with some of our crew members to compile, light, and render the front and back covers.
I've also been working on lighting, rendering, and set dressing. You can see the shots and the progress I've made on them. I have 3-4 shots still assigned for me to light, so I will be working on those within the next couple weeks.
4/22/19
Week 32: Post Production
This past week I've been working on set dressing, lighting and rendering some individual shots and sequences. I set dressed, lit and rendered SEQ700 Shot 10. I've been rending it out fine except for the shadow of her hair which has been giving me problems. I did the same for Shot 20 of that sequence and should have final renders soon. Other than that I've been set dressing the environment more with several cameras to make sure it is all working in multiple shots.
I've also been continuing to compile things for the art book. Working on renders and writing more descriptions and our process has been my focus recently.
4/15/19
Week 31: Post Production
This past week I worked on a lot of assets for the Art Book. I set up and compiled assets to be rendered. I also worked on extending some of my concept illustrations to fit the dimensions of the art book. I created some images to break up the sections in the art book as well.
I also started working on Nia and the Ducklings' pose for the front an back covers of the art book. I'll most likely be helping compile those assets as well once we get the raincoat simmed to her pose. The front cover of the art book will also be our poster for this quarter, which isn't due until Week 6, so we're ahead of the game! The art book is due the Monday of Week 4, so the deadline is coming up quick.
I haven't been able to light shots like I originally hoped since the art book is taking more time than originally expected. But once it is submitted I'll go back to helping light, compile, and set dress any scenes that need it!
4/8/19
Week 30: Post Production
This week I spent most of my time compiling assets into Houdini and preparing them to be ready for rendering. I compiled all of SEQ100 and 700 with the assets available. I also added Nia's backpack to my shots in SEQ100. We waited to add the backpack in those shots so that cloth sim would have one less thing to worry about. Once the sim was done I simply constrained the backpack to Nia and animated the straps over the already simmed raincoat.
I also updated some animation on SEQ300 Shot 20. It was a last minute request from our director and producer to slow down Nia's hand as she opens the lunchbox. We were worried about how the sim would react to the speed of her hand and it was a quick fix overall.
I've also been working on the Art Book throughout the week. I set a deadline to have the crew bio's done this past Sunday and compiled them all together once I received them. I also set a due date for a "self portrait" from each crew member. These will be due next Sunday and will also be featured with their bio. I went ahead and finished my bio and self portrait this past weekend.
As far as the actual layout for the book goes, we have been updated with new dimensions. The book will be 7x9 inches. We're still waiting on a final template, but once we have that it will be a simple process to transfer the layouts I already have in blurb.com over to a new InDesign document.
4/1/19
Week 29: Post Production
We are officially in post production and it is the first class of our Spring Quarter! Films are due Week 6 so we are working hard and fast to get all the shots compiled, lit, and rendered. For our first class this quarter we were assigned to make a demo reel with a compilation of last quarter's work. So I just compiled all the shots I animated last quarter.
For this quarter we already have a schedule planned. I will be compiling some shots in SEQ 700 that still need it. I will also be adding Nia's backpack to some shots where the raincoat sim is done. After that I have been assigned to light some more of the simpler shots since it will be my first time lighting in Houdini.
The Art of Wander book is due Week 4, so I will also be working on that throughout the next weeks. I currently have a layout compiled of 76 pages with images and text gathered for a little less than half the book. I will be getting assets from other members of the crew and will compile everything together.
3/25/19
Week 28: Spring Break
Over my Spring Break I worked on the Art of book. I'm using blurb.com and their word press application for the layout.
3/18/19
Week 27: Production
That's a wrap! Winter Quarter is officially over this week. The Wander crew made a lot of great progress over these past ten weeks. On my end, we got the whole film animated and will be starting lighting and rendering next quarter! Nia, the Ducklings, and Momma Duck are all look dev'ed as well as many of our major props and other assets.
This past week I finaled my last two shots, SEQ 300 Shots 10 and 20. These were prop HEAVY shots, and fairly long when it comes to frame count, so it was a great challenge for me.
We also had a set dressing day again this past weekend, where we all worked together on the environment. I personally worked on getting hair, cloth, and animation assets into a compiled hipnc. file in Houdini and checking to make sure all the connections from the alembics and shaders were connected. It was a bit tricky at first since I'm still learning the program, but I was eventually able to problem solve some of my own road blocks along the way.
I've also started planning our "Art of" book for Wander. This is mostly being requested by the animation department at SCAD and I believe the goal is to have all the films create an art book that will be printed and given to the SCAD Jen Library for future students to reference! I'm excited to be putting it together. I'll be starting to gather materials and writing excerpts over Spring Break. I won't be updating the blog over break, but I will keep it up next quarter!
3/11/19 & 3/13/19
Week 26: Production
This week I was able to final a couple shots and also went back into some old shots to update. The crew decided that there was a continuety issue between SEQ500 Shots 20 and 50. Since they had two shots between them, it had kinda slipped under the radar for all of us, but I simple adjusted Shot 50 to make the movement of her turning on the rock flow a bit more. I also finaled Shot 20 and 30 of that sequence. We also decided as acrew we could cut some frames off Shot 30 which is why Momma Duck doesn't do her wing flaps that I originally had.
My final two shots are SEQ300 Shots 10 and 20 of Nia running to the lake as she first sees the ducks. Shot 10 has been edited A LOT. The camera move has been updated and changed several times since pre-vis, but towards the beginning of this quarter we changed it and got it to a place we liked. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of my blocking had to be re-done. I shot new reference and my deadline for a "polished" first blocking pass was this Monday. However, over the weekend I was able to spend almost a whole day re-doing the blocking and was able to get it into a rough spline for Monday. I was also able to re-block Shot 20 so that the action of the run will flow into that shot. I'll be working on these two shots for the rest of the quarter, but hoping to finish them as early as possible to hand off to sim since they're going to be challenging shots for them.
3/4/19
Week 25: Production
This past weekend was the 2019 SCAD Career Fair. With less time to dedicate to my shots, I've only gotten one to "where I want it to be" for Monday's class. I've gotten SEQ500 Shot 30 into a first pass and plan on polishing it while also splining SEQ500 Shot 20 further. I'm still cleaning up Momma Duck in SQ 500 Shot 10, but it shouldn't take me too long to get her to final. Additionally, I'm hoping to start working on SEQ300 Shot 10, one of my harder shots. I'd like to get this done soon because I know it's going to be a tough one for sim, but I am planning on taking the last couple of weeks of the quarter to finish it.
I also did a quick pose of Nia for our Look Dev. artist to test her shaders on a turn-table.
2/25/19
Week 24: Production
This week involved some planning, polishing, finaling and starting on shots for the next coming weeks. I finaled my shot schedule since our sim artists have started working on siming the raincoat and Nia's hair. I cleaned up SEQ100 Shot 50 more, smoothing out her head movement after she ducks under the branch. I also finaled SEQ500 Shots 40 and 50. I'm currently working on finishing SEQ500 Shot 10 and SEQ300 Shot 30. For SEQ500 Shot 10 I worked with our director in editing the camera move, something we normally don't want to be doing this late in the game, but I really think it helped the shot overall. Now we focus more on Nia's facial acting rather than seeing a larger portion of her whole body.
I also rigged some of the crackers we use in our shots, just adding controls to avoid animating on the geometry.
After I final these shots, I'll only have four shots left for the remaining three weeks of the quarter. I know one shot will take me a majority of the time, but I'm hoping to finish the others quickly and clean-up any old shots that I personally think need some extra time.
2/18/19
Week 23: Production
For this week I worked I worked on further polishing SEQ100 Shot 50 and SEQ700 Shot 10. I started splining SEQ500 Shot 10 and Shot 50. These are still in progress.
I also did some draw overs for our modeler on the environment trees. Overall looking for the flow and silhouette more from my original concept pieces.
2/11/19
Week 22: Production
For this week I'm focusing on getting SEQ100 Shot 50 and SEQ700 Shot 10 to a polished version. I'm slowly realizing as the weeks go that I really don't finish this until the end of the assigned week. Simply because I'm still cleaning up past shots. So those two shots are still a work in progress on this post, if that makes sense.
I also updated SEQ300 Shots 40 and 50. Wanted to get the ducks as final as possible because we have our water sim artist starting on their simulations. However, Momma Duck's facial rig is still in the works, so hoping to be able to go back and edit her expressions. I also updated SEQ100 Shot 30 and 40 so that our cloth and hair sim artists could work on Nia in this shot.
This past weekend was our "Set Dressing" weekend. We didn't get the entire environment dressed, but we got a lot of work and planning done. We split up the environment into three sections A-B based on which sequence takes place where. Section A includes all of SEQ100 which is the intro and snail shots. Section B includes all of SEQ200 which is the frog shots. Section C includes all of the sequences after that, mostly revolving around our hero rock and the pond. I contributed to set dressing Section A with some of our plants, flowers, and rocks in Houdini. (I'm slowly learning the program at the same time.)
2/4/19
Week 21: Production
It is finally presentation week! So even though we are not meeting up in class this week, we are still meeting deadlines and keeping in touch over slack. We were able to present our film today with the demo reel I have posted here with my shot updates.
This week I worked on getting Shots 40 and 50 of SEQ 300 spline. I will be continuing to polish these into the end of this week. I was also able to update SEQ 700 Shot 20 for the presentation. Even added a couple chirp sound effects!
For the rest of the demo reel I am responsible for the Duckling and Mother Duck walk cycles. We have received some updates on Momma Duck's rig, so I plan on updating her walk cycle soon too. That way once her look dev. is ready for testing we can attach it to the walk cycle.
1/28/19
Week 20: Production
(Since Monday was MLK Day, SCAD was closed. So our normal presenting to our class has been moved to Wed.)
For Week Three of the quarter I worked on getting three shots to a good, polished version. Those of us animating have realized that some of our shots may not be able to be considered "final" for the weeks we have them due, simply because some of the assets aren't completely done. So we as animators have a schedule to get them polished as much as possible and then the shots can be "finaled" when everything in the scene is finaled. This is simply because due to our short timeline, we have been doing many parts of the pipeline at the same time.
I have worked on SEQ 100 Shots 30 and 40 along with SEQ 700 Shot 20. They will be fully polished by Friday. (I'm currently having some trouble constraining the Snail to Nai's hand in SEQ 100 Shot 40 and will be solving the problem in class.) The next shots I will be working on for Week 4 polished deadline are SEQ 300 Shots 40 and 50.
For SEQ 100, I worked on creating a simple rig for the snail with some help from our rigger in getting correct joint orientation. Although the snail was not originally planned to be a "rigged character" it was important to me that he still create a believable performance.
Week Four is coming quickly and that means the department wide presentation is as well. I worked on updating the duckling walk cycle with the new rig and made sure it was ready to have the groom added to it so that it will be fully rendered for presentation.
1/23/19
Week 19: Production
For Week 2 of the quarter I worked out a schedule for my animations. The goal is to final about 2-3 a week. The big thing I'm working around is rig edits since some of our characters are not yet fully rigged or skin weighted.
For this week I simply assigned myself some final blocking work on a couple of the shots I started towards the end of Winter Break. However, I have also started getting Shot 20 from SEQ 700 into spline since it will be one of our fully rendered shots in the department wide presentation. This presentation has been changed to Week 4 of this quarter. Shots 30 and 40 from SEQ 100 will be my next priority for the presentation so I added some more blocking to Shot 30. I also experimented with a lattice deformer to simulate the Snail's sluggish movement in his lower body. I'm also looking into using line deformers for his eyes and body since this model is not rigged.
As for the rest of these shots, I've updated blocking on them to prepare them better to put into spline.
I also worked on some sketches for our hair artist working on Nia's groom.
1/14/19
Week 18: Production
This Monday was our first class of Senior II for Winter Quarter! For this quarter we will be presenting progress every Monday, so my posts will be made for Monday as well.
For this first class we showed our full animatic which now has blocking for every shot. I also finalized these walk cycles for the Duckling and Momma Duck (however I would like to spend some more time on Momma Duck whenever her rig and feather layouts are final). The rest of the shots posted here are from the animatic. I added minimal facial blocking once I was back at school and not traveling.
From here on out I'll be finalizing some more aspects of my blocking and then work on getting certain shots into spline animation. Our big, film presentation will be Week 4 of the quarter. I plan on getting some hero shots of the Duckling and Nia finaled for that presentation so that we can hopefully have some fully rendered shots.
Now that I'm back at school and able to use my computer (rather than my laptop) I will also be going back through my shots with the larger Nia rig to add more defined facial blocking.
1/7/19
Week 16 & 17: Production
Our crew skipped check-in for Week 16 due to the Holidays. We met this past Wednesday for Week 17. I was able to get blocking on all my shots these past few weeks. (The only shot not shown here is SEQ500 Shot 20. It is a close-up of Nia which uses a heavier rig. The file keeps crashing on me even on restarting with the original version. I believe it's my laptop, so once I'm back at school on my desktop, I hope that will solve the problem.) I haven't been able to go back and work on some older shots (other than SEQ700 which has been updated with some critique), but now that I have blocking, the rest of the beginning of Winter Quarter will be cleaning up the animation into spline.
I also started working on an animation test to push Nia's expressions. This was requested by our lighting and texture artists to make sure her textures deformed properly. (Will post progress of this in future posts.)
Our first class for Senior II is this coming Monday, January 7th. Before our first day of class I'm going to go back to the rough walk cycles of Momma Duck and the Duckling. I plan on bringing in our newest rigs with the new skin weights and finishing the cycles.
1/2/19
12/25/18 & 12/28/18
Week 15: Production
For this week I've been working on nothing but animation! I got father along with some shots I already started and started some new ones. I have currently started blocking on eight of my fifteen shots total.
Blocking for Shots 40 and 50 of Sequence 300 are reaching their final stages of stepped blocking. I'm waiting to spline them until after I have all of my assigned shots blocked. Sequence 500 Shot 10 is one of the newer shots I have started. I began with some rough blocking for Nia and will be adding in Momma Duck's waddle back to the lunch box after attacking Nia. For Shot 30 of that same sequence I was given critique this week to add more wing flap at the beginning and a couple pecks of the lunchbox at the end.
As for the Sequence 700 shots, these are my newest shots. I received some critique on our Duckling and will be continuing to block these more. I also began working on a skip cycle for Nia to be used in 300 Shot 10, but after talking with the cew during this past check-in we decided it should be a run. This shot is when Nia finally races towards the ducks and we want her to look really excited, so I'll go with a run.
We will not be having an online check-in again until January 2nd since this upcoming week is Christmas. We will however be working whenever we can and posting on our Slack channel any updates. I will be posting here as well.
12/18/18 & 12/21/18
Week 14: Production
During the week of Dec. 10th and 14th I was out of state on vacation with my family. The work in this post is the amount I was able to complete the few days before I left. While on vacation I was I didn't have access to a computer, so I will be catching up for next week's post as soon as possible.
My goal for the rest of this break is to get all of my shots blocked, while getting these first five shots (including the lunch box shot from last week) into spline.
As a crew we have made a lot of progress over the break and I look forward to returning to SCAD for the Winter Quarter to be able to collaborate in person again.
12/10/18 & 12/14/18
Week 13: Production
For this Tuesday I have updated my blocking for Shots 40 and 50 in sequence 300 with the notes from our last check-in. I worked on giving our hero Duckling some movements that would draw the audiences eye. I also tried to animate the ducklings body in a more believable way when floating in water. I began blocking out key poses for Shots 30 and 40of sequence 500 as well.
I also did some rig test for Nia by putting her into some believable poses to find areas to be tweaked by riggers.
12/4/18
After critique from our last check-in this week I worked on updating my blocking for animation. We also have the first pass of Nia's rig that is ready for animation. Her facial rig is still in progress. I also worked on some concept for the pond/shore line to figure out how we would populate plants, rocks, and pebbles around the water.
I have also begun watching tutorials on the basics of Houdini. I have never worked in this program before, but since we will be using it more as rendering comes around I need to be able to know some of the ins and outs if help is needed.
12/7/18
Week 12: Pre-Production/Production
For our first meeting tis Tuesday we discussed the best way to communicate with all of our crew members (since some are even international). We tested out using Google Hangout and found that video chatting worked fairly well. Not all of our members were able to make the meeting, but we did update each other using our Slack on our progress.
I was able to finish up some of the final concept work from this past quarter. For Friday I will begin blocking out my shots for animation. Our Nia rig is currently still in progress, so all of my blocking at this point will be with just the Duckling and Momma Duck rigs.
11/27/18
This Friday our crew was able to connect for a check-in. We reviewed our current work including my rough blocking for shots 040 and 050 of sequence 300. I got critique to make the swimming of the ducks more motivated. I'll be working on these shots in stepped blocking more as well. I am working on these shots first because they require water sim.
11/30/18
Week 11: Pre-Production/Production
The Fall Quarter has officially come to an end. In ten weeks my crew and I were able to finalize a 3D animatic with basic timing, final all three of our main models, model our side characters (Snail and Frog), rig our umbrella and lunchbox asset, rig our Momma Duck and Duckling models, start look dev. on our Duckling and umbrella assets, create a teaser poster, and start on animation tests for our Duckling and Momma Duck.
At the end of the quarter we each made a schedule for the work that we were planning on doing over our Winter Break. We will have six weeks off from school before we head back. We were given a short list of items to have complete by the time Winter Quarter begins since every film will be presenting a demo reel/group update on their film around Week 2 of Winter Quarter. However, our crew decided that we will each be working beyond this list over the break in an attempt to work ahead and stay on top of our due dates.
For this first week I will be wrapping up any and all "Concept" pieces that were not done over this past quarter. I will also begin planning out Anim blocking/reference for the most upcoming shots I plan on animating over break. (We are currently still working on Nia's rig, so my first shots will be duck heavy shots).
Our crew is planning on having check-ins/due dates every Tuesday and Friday of break, so those will most likely be the dates I post on. My posts will still be once a week. There are no check-ins this week due to Thanksgiving.
11/20/18
Week 10: Pre-Production/Production
For the beginning of this week our riggers updated the Duckling Rig and skin weights. Due to some changes in control orientation I had to redo the walk cycle on the new Duckling rig.
I was also able to finish Nia's second page of expressions for our rigger to reference when creating blend shapes. We also created a schedule for what we are each doing over Winter Break. I'll be finishing up some concept work and animating for the majority of the break.
11/12/18
Next I start researching reference and blocking out Momma Duck's walk cycle. I'm still planning on working on her blocking test more. The rig currently has no facial/head controls and has temporary skin weights. I plan on updating this walk when I get a newer rig.
Lastly I took our final Momma Duck model and did another pass at how her feathers/fur will look in profile. We want to keep her sleek, but also have some tuffs of hair that stick out similar to the duckling. The wings/feathers section is a bit TBA since I'll have to work with the riggers to figure out how the wings and feathers will be folded together. For the Duckling our riggers created a blend shape that we could leave on for his general, folded poses. We may end up doing the same with Momma Duck to allow all the feathers to lay flat.
11/14/18
Week 9: Pre-Production/Production
This week has been interesting to say the least. I began working on a walk cycle for Momma Duck at the beginning of this week. (I'm currently waiting to finish the duckling walk cycle after the skin weights have been developed further). However, early in the week I experienced a corruption of my USB. I did lose some work, but was able to recover some files. I plan on having a stepped version of the Momma Duck walk cycle after this weekend.
I was able to present the expression charts that I had been working on for Nia's Blend Shapes. I received some critique to further push the expressions and to create a couple extra on another sheet.
11/5/18
During our second class of the week I worked on creating draw overs on our frog model and the wings for Momma Duck. For the frog I'm working with our modeler to go more stylized with the model. I will continue working with the riggers to accomplish our desired layout for the feathers on Momma Duck's wings.
11/7/18
Week 8: Pre-Production/Production
For the first class of this week I had created a sort of system for creating our trees that could be a flexible starting point for our modelers. I created a simple tree model in Maya to help me visualize how the roots and branches would create interesting shapes in a 360 degree view. However, after critique from my crew we decided that we would rather get the shape language of the trees finale first. The system initial system I created was making the trees too uniform and we really wanted to play with some stylistic elements of these trees.
After receiving that critique I began gesturing some expressive shapes for our trees in a similar but unique style. I also tried to show the twist and merging of the bark in the trees as requested from the crew. I was also able to finish a second concept piece for the film.
10/29/18
For our next class I worked on our first animation test, the duckling walk cycle. This allowed me to be able to test all of the components of our current rig and recommend some new controls to add. Our current facial rig is still in production which is why I focused on the legs and gait of the duckling for this test. Our riggers are currently working on getting better skin weights and blend shapes for the rig. I plan on getting more critique on this walk and editing this animation as more aspects of the rig become available. I would also like to do other tests, like run and jump cycles in the future.
10/31/18
Week 7: Pre-Production
For this week I focused some continuation of certain pre-existing designs and concepts. I took the Nia character model created by Erin and created a set of possible color scripts for Nia. I will continue to do some of the versions with less saturation, as well as adding a collar to the rain jacket.
After discussing the poster designs from last week with my crew we finalized our top three poster designs. Each quarter of this school year we will have a differ poster made for the film. For this quarter, we decided to do a teaser poster that gave the least amount of information about our film as possible to the viewer, while still hinting the overall feeling and aesthetic of the film. So we went with the poster featuring the umbrella and duck topper. We plan on rendering out the umbrella while I do a digital painting for the background. (Back-up plan: this poster would be completely digitally painted, with our upcoming posters being fully rendered.)
For Winter Quarter we plan on using the poster featuring the Ducklings in a row next to Nia's rain boots. And finally, Spring Quarter will be our final, official poster featuring Nia with our hero Duckling perched on her head framed by her umbrella.
I also continued working on concepts for the trees in our environment. At this time I am working with our modelers to find the best procedure for creating the tree models. If needed I will be doing model sheets for some of our hero trees. I have also been working on the color concept for the snail. This is the current WIP and will be finalized for next week.
And finally, I continued work on the fur/feather patterns for the Ducklings.In doing so I slimmed down his original silhouette with the fur as well. You can see this when compared with our up to date model of the Duckling.
10/22/18 & 10/24/18
Week 6: Pre-Production
For the first class this week I did some draw overs to further explore the Duckling's range of motion for blend shapes. Our rigger is using these and my original expressions for the Duckling to create the blend shapes. We also presented our 3D Animatic in class. Now that we have it in 3D it is much easier to edit camera moves and shot setup.
Between classes I worked on coloring my poster concepts. My crew voted on their top six and top three. By the end of the quarter I will have one poster design fully colored and rendered as a digital illustration. I also received some critique on the fur and feather flow on the Momma Duck and will be editing that for next class.
10/15/18
I edited the cheek/neck/shoulders areas on the Mother Duck for a more sleek silhouette. I also started work on creating some options for the patterns on the baby ducklings. I have received critique on these as well and will be doing some more versions that have similarities, while making our main hero Duckling stand out as well.
This weekend I plan on creating some color variations for the snail and for Nia. I will also be working on creating some more realistic tree designs, while taking reference of the silhouette from the concepts I have already created.
10/17/18
Week 5: Pre-Production
For Monday I was able to present a conceptual art piece I had been working on over the weekend inspired by our opening shot of Nia taking the winding path down the forest. I plan on creating two more concept pieces for main locations in the forest, but due to prioritizing they are on the back burner at the moment. We had a crew meeting over the weekend where I was able to do some draw-overs of the current Nia head. I also sketched out some planning for how we want the teeth and tongue to be inside the jaw.
Since then I have been working on expression charts for Nia. I also created a chart inspired by my expression chart to show Nia's emotional range throughout our film. Once the face model is finale I will be doing draw-overs of her expressions to show the range of blend shapes we will need in the rig.
10/8/2018
For the last class in this week I worked on some fur/feather planning for the Momma Duck, similarly to the Duckling. However, the fur has less of a "flow" in the Momma Duck and follows a pattern more by where her feathers are clumped, demonstrated in the top illustrations of Momma and Duckling. I plan on working on more blend shapes over the weekend.
10/10/18
Week 4: Pre-Production
For this week I focused on some new designs/silhouettes for trees that are in the process of being modeled. I created a lot of hero trees that could be simplified in their form for trees further in the distance in our scenes. I also began planning designs for the film's poster. We are planning on having a couple 2D posters along with 3D posters once the film has been fully rendered out. I also got my crew's opinion on which designs best fit our story and overall aesthetic.
I continued my designs on the snail, working closely with the modeler to get the right shape of the shell and body. I also began planning color patterns for the snail, requested by its modeler. Finally, I did a couple more quick silhouette draw-overs for the shapes of the other ducklings. In the end we won't see much of the sibling ducklings' bodies, so we will need to differentiate them by their hair and fur color/patterns on the head and back.
10/1/2018 & 10/3/2018
Week 3: Pre-Production
For Class 5 we presented our progress to the class and received critique from our professor and classmates. At this point we have models for the Momma Duck and Duckling almost complete. We also have the beginning of our Nia model. We also have finalized our lunchbox and umbrella models and rigs. Our backpack model and rig are in the process of being finished. We have an animatic and will be adding sounds and temporary score by next class.
I presented some frog and snail character designs. The frog design was requested and inspired by a sketch from the storyboards. After further discussion, this style is a bit too "cartoony" when compared to our Momma Duck and Duckling. I will be making some edits to the design to keep it in the same world as the other models. As for the snail I worked with our modelers to nail down a couple designs to further explore. I will also be doing color scripts for these character designs.
9/24/2018
For Class 6 we presented our animatic and received critique to simplify some of the drawings and camera moves. I showed my draw-overs for the fur designs and received positive feedback. During class I continued experimenting with expressions for the Duckling. I will also be doing action poses and expressions for the Momma Duck.
9/26/2018
Week 2: Pre-Production
For Class 3 and 4 we continued to give dailies along with the class. For this week I finalized the Momma Duck's model sheets. Adding color to these and the Duckling's poses was also helpful to plan how they will need to be modeled. I also researched more about the layout of the feathers on the Momma Duck's wings and how they fold in relation to each other. I created color coded diagrams and a diagram with realistic color. I also added the Duckling to these diagrams for size.
Since we also began modeling the Mother Duck and continued modeling the Duckling this week, I also assisted in doing draw-overs for the modelers. Through this we are better able to hone in on the exact style of the film. We also made some changes to the models after viewing them in 3D, but were sure to keep the personality and feel of the characters created in 2D.
9/17/2018 & 9/19/2018
Week 1: Pre-Production
During the first class the members of our film met and evaluated all of our current work. Rough beat boards and concept designs had already been created by the film's creator. Our story is about a young girl who learns a greater respect for nature through her encounter with a family of ducks.
Certain aspects of Pre-Production had begun over the Summer via online communication. We created a Pinterest board to assist in artistic research and inspiration. The style and cinematic atmosphere are inspired by the Overwatch Animated Short "The Last Bastion".
Over the Summer I was able to explore the characters through rough sketches and gesture drawings. I am currently working on finalizing the model sheets for the Baby Duck, Momma Duck, and Nia. This will be finished within the first week of classes.
9/10/2018
For Class 2 we began by meeting with our crew and assessing any progress made since Monday. Since last class I mostly focused on getting a full turn around for the Duckling since we are beginning modeling on this character first. I created a ten pose turn around for this class and received critique. I will be editing the wings in the turn around to show how they are connected and fold better to the body. I will also be showing some of the fuzz and feathers more so that they can be partially sculpted on and partially part of the fur simulation.
For modeling and rigging purposes I was also asked to create a model sheet for a top view of the Duckling with wings spread. I have also been working on finalizing some aspects of Nia's character design, but since she will be the last to be modeled and rigged I will be making her model sheet last.
During class I was able to complete some research and planning for demonstrating how the wing anatomy will work for our Duckling. I found reference online of a real duckling's skeletal system and will be using that for inspiration. I was also able to begin some character exploration for the Mother Duck. Thus far I have mostly been researching and gesturing more realistic ducks. I will now be creating some stylized action poses and a model sheet with a turn around for the Mother Duck as well.
9/12/2018
