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A timelapse for the modelling process and part of the rigging process for Pointy from my forthcoming cartoon “A moment in the sun”. The video is unedited, complete with questionable decisions and short pauses when I get stuck – but there’s a text box to show you what’s up to an extent.

This character’s only ever meant to be seen side-on, hence the weird geometry.

In this video you can see:

  • skinning/binding the rig to a mesh (lots of skinning)
  • driven shape corrections
  • testing rigging and skinning/binding using simple animation
  • how to rig a hacky set of “cup” eyelids
  • skinning/binding a rig to curves using hooks and bone parenting
  • building a (crappy) FK/IK switched arm rig
  • skinning a hand and fingers

Blender 2.71 test version in the hizzouse. Release candidate should be out later this week. 🙂

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Spent some more time building Pointy today. Timelapse video to follow.

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A timelapse for the modelling process and part of the rigging process for Pointy from my forthcoming cartoon “A moment in the sun”. The video is unedited, complete with questionable decisions and short pauses when I get stuck – apologies for silence.

This character’s only ever meant to be seen side-on, hence the weird geometry.

In this video you can catch a glimpse of:

  • modelling with subdivided meshes and curves
  • using the Edge Crease tool (Shift-E in edit mode) to tell the Subdivision Surface modifier where not to get involved (various)
  • using Vertex Groups in combination with Shape Keys to non-desctructively model an eyelid 5:44
  • how not to model a hand if you know what’s good for you 6:25
  • how to make things circular using the Looptools add-on 9:04
  • how not to taper your curves
  • how to taper your curves using Taper Object 13:51
  • how to fix mistakes (too many instances of this to pinpoint)
  • how to build a basic rig
  • how to skin a rig so it looks horrid (right at the end)

Lots more to do, then. I’ll remember to hit “record” for part two. 🙂

Made in Blender 2.71 test build. Not using any specific new features though.

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It begins. Tonight I started modelling and rigging Pointy. Keep an eye on Twitter for a link to the video capture, or you can wait for me to post it. 🙂

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The only focussed stuff for “A Moment In The Sun” that I did this week was on Wednesday 28 May, when I storyboarded for a few hours and knocked over a few more shots. I’ve got the final shot to do definitely, plus perhaps one or two shots to storyboard in the middle of the film. The unstoryboarded shots I can fairly safely make up as I go once I’m underway.

I’m doing everything on this toon, so I can give myself a bit more freedom to improvise when it comes time. No need to wait for a sound design department to provide something that fits the part – I am all the departments already.

Other than that I worked on two modules of The Architecture Academy, took many photographs at Perth Zoo and Caversham Wildlife Park, and crossed seven movies off Martin Scorsese’s list after rediscovering that video libraries, moribund as they seem to be, can still be really useful for tracking down hard-to-find movies – good video libraries can anyway, not crappy generic franchises. (Big ups to the one and only Planet Video down on Beaufort Street.)

The old winter creative slowdown is definitely kicking in, but I’m still writing and drawing random stuff at least a little bit every day. I’ve done a couple of sheets of designs for Pointy which I’ll turn into something I can model off of, then we’ll see about getting him up and walking around. Shouldn’t be a hugely difficult build. Gronky, on the other hand, is wide open. The Gronkies I’ve drawn so far in storyboards were always intended to be placeholders, never a final character design. He doesn’t have to be too much more complicated, just more fun to look at. It’s proving a tough nut to crack.