3D Modeling

I thought I would take some time to write about my 3D Modeling class. I'm excited to learn about modeling and rigging and broaden my understanding of CG production. Modeling is going alright. We practiced polygon modeling:














And nurbs modeling:














Now we are combining the two and creating our own characters which we will be rigging later in the semester. I am creating Cluckles the featherless chicken. He's Jenn idea, but I thought he was such a fun character that I had to made him! Although he is giving me problems. I've had to pretty much restart 3 times already BUT I am finally feeling like I am actually making progress! I will soon be caught up to where I should be which is having his body done so we can work on heads next week.

Stop Motion Fun

I had a really fun time in my Stop Motion Animation class today. Opposed to watching dailies for most of the class, we worked the whole 5 hours. We got together in groups of 3 and worked on an abstract, experimental piece. Shell's inspiration for this assignment was Blu's animation Muto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

It was neat to work with our work spaces directly and just go crazy. He encouraged constant movement of everything including the camera to really give the pieces some life. It's a totally different way of working than what I am used too; very intuitive and abstract. It was very freeing as it didn't involve much planning or accurate movements; very spontaneous. A nice change of pace. Probably the most hands on fun I've had in a class so far!

Short Film Animatic

We get to do a short film for the Stop Motion animation class. After much thinking, I decided to animate a story Sam and I came up with freshman year in high school. We came up with a character named Wiggles, who is a penguin rat. She is shunned by the other penguins because she is different. She goes up on the edge a cliff to cry and then one of the 'normal' penguins push her over the edge. They all celebrate. This is where the story original ends, but I added on to the ending. As the penguins celebrate, they hear a honk, turn around, and see Wiggles flying up above them. Their beaks hang open in astonishment. My prof had a funny idea where Wiggles beckons them to join her and they do and fall off the cliff. I think I'll just leave it with the penguins in shock; let the audience make a conclusion themselves... unless I have extra time. :)

Here's my color study and animatic:

Expressions

Yesterday I finished up my stop motion assignment. Animating a clay head is not an easy task! It is such a slow process as well compared to other types of animation. We had to do a change of expression, so I did wishful longing to disappointment. I created an old man with a mustache and as he changes expressions, I tried to make him wiggle his mustache. Didn't work out the greatest, but I'm happy I at least tried! The animation itself is alright. Don't know entirely how I feel about it. As a first attempt at facial animation in stop motion, I'd say it went fairly well. We'll see how crit goes on Wednesday!

Coraline

I saw Coraline today. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The animation was amazing for a stop motion film. It was very smooth and expressive! Good inspiration for my current stop motion project which is to animate an expression change. The goal was to get my stop motion done tonight so it was done and out of the way.... that didn't happen. I finished making my clay head model. Started setting up to animate, but then I couldn't get the face to cooperate; couldn't get the right expression. Plus someone was in the studio taking photos of objects so the lighting wasn't ideal and kept changing. In the end, I decided to just call it quits for the night and try again tomorrow. It was good to get the model done and start playing around with the face. Now I know what kind of things to expect and try to figure out the best way to animate.

Tomorrow I also have to work on my nurbs model for 3D Modeling. Nurbs modeling is more powerful than polygon, but also more complicated. Hopefully I won't have many problems.

Lots of work to be done! 

Web Work

I'm working on my online portfolio design. I am slowly solidifying my design. It is fairly simple as to not take away from my work. The goal is the make it look professional and be easy to navigate. I think I can accomplish that! I only have two weeks left in the workshop, so it will be up and running soon! It'll house my best pieces whereas this blog will house everything as I make it; a good process blog. I'm enjoying the web design process.

I have to make sure I set aside time to finish up my Pixar Undergraduate Program application! Time keeps getting way from me now that school is picking up pace. I don't have much left to do. Just finalize my cover letter and resume, assemble my portfolio of non 3D work, and put together my demo reel. I have all the pieces. Just have to put together everything and then I can send it out and hope Pixar sees my potential!

Stop Motion Walk

Today we had a critique on our walks in Stop Motion. It was interesting seeing all the stop motion walks, which aren't as nice and smooth as 2D or CG walks. Some were still pretty neat though. I was one of that last to get critiqued and my professor looked at it once through and said, "This is horrible. What were you thinking." He was being sarcastic though and had lots of nice compliments for my piece. It definitely gave me a boost of confidence as I wasn't (still not quite sure) how I will handle stop motion. Straight ahead is a little scary for me since I'm used to Pose to Pose animation, but it is quite freeing. I'm excited for the next assignment. We're creating clay heads and will be animating a change of expression. Will be a fun challenge!