Meet Up

The group met up today. 

Settled storyboards, like the ending part. 

Decided on the style on our animation. 

We're gonna have clean lines, but not too clean. 

Still sticking to 2 toned colouring. 

And everything else besides the characters

and the things the characters touch will be in 3D. 

By the way guys, I found this video. haha.

no relevance to our project. 

But I thought it was kinda cool! hahaha. 

http://beta.stinkdigital.tv/work/carousel

Byee. 

2D-3D Tests

I was having the same fear as Angie - the 2D characters may not match with the 3D backgrounds. So, since Angie decided on characters which should only have two tonal values, I tried mimicking that look in 3D. Here's the result with a simple ball in a box:

The scene has one spotlight aiming at the ball and is able to cast shadows. The outline color can be changed, so can the tonal values. I think this technique could be explored much further and probably the integration of 2D characters in this 2D-3D world could be much better handled.

Day 04

SOMETHING I TOOK DOWN IN CLASS

PRESENTATION

CHARACTERS

- They don't match

- Decide on a style

- The old lady looks like she's wearing winter wear

STORYBOARDS

- Too many close ups

- Unnecessary shots like the picking up basket part

- More interaction between characters

CLASS DEADLINES

MONDAY

Consultation

- What we want to do next

THURSDAY

PROOF OF CONCEPT

Show whatever is done

- What was tried, and how we managed success

- How we found tutorials

Who is in charge of what

Clear designated roles

Compositing

Background

Lighting

How we gonna do cell shading

AUDIO

Cut animation time

Music

TEAM DEADLINES

MONDAY

-Model car

-Settle characters

-Storyboards

-Exterior set

STUFF

- I have to redesign the characters. 

- Amanda said i have to decide a style for the characters

i was kind of thinking we should just leave it sketchy

it'll save us time cause we won't have to clean up

the lines and it's sort of a style of it's own.

For this production, i'm just really worried that we can't finish on time

and the 2d and 3d might not fit. Also, from the three different characters 

done by 3 different people, there's a distinct difference. And it's so sad.

Greg did the boy.

Kevin did the grandmother.

I did the cashier cause.. i admit i'm kind of biased. Hahha. cause i'm more

comfortable with drawing girls and stuff... so.. gotta change that! hahah. 

that's all for now. 

Interim Assessment

Today went kinda alright in my point of view. I think everyone put in quite a lot of effort for today. All the characters were entirely designed by Angie; Greg and Kevin helped to color them. For me, I was in charge of the set design. So that's what I did:

The exterior Set. This is NOT a moodboard :) Just a shot showing the framing and composition

The Death Valley sign - implying that this is the last gas station before the next 80 miles or so.

The interior floor plan designed with the lighting set up in mind'

So right now at the moment, Angie would be re-designing the characters, Greg would be modeling the mini cooper for the opening shot, Kevin would be working on the storyboards, I will be working on the 3D aspects and Dion would be supervising all of us.

Lots to do...

Day 3

Kevin here, my first post XP

Day 3 just ended with Interim 1. It went pretty sour in my point of view.

• characters don't match
• mood boards weren't etiquette
• too much shots, may not be able to finish

but Amanda did say that she was satisfied with what we've done, still gotta ask Angie to redesign the Characters though.

this here is our main character. the guy who helps an old lady but gets conned in the end. drawn by Angie, coloured by Greg.

This here is the old lady, critics given back were that she looked like an eskimo, so i suggested to ditch the hat and use the shawl to cover her head instead (was really important that the head be covered)

good thing we're still in the development stage.

Our cashier. she was designed to be sleazy and slutty, not really giving a care except for her pay check at the end of the month.

well gotta keep moving forward, for now i'll be re-editing the storyboards.

Day 02

Today, we were supposed to have completed our first storyboards for the story we had chosen, SUPERMARKET. Then present to each other and choose the best. For me, i did not do too much for this storyboard, not because its not graded. Its because I really couldnt visualise and draw it out properly. So i did a very rough one, but it was horrible. haha, so i did another better one. Apart from doing the storyboard, i was quite eager to do something in maya. So i went into maya, and tried to model a trolley, hoping that it could be used in this animation short film. Otherwise, it would be just another item in my portfolio. Above are the images of it, still not done yet. Modeling halfway.

Things i learned today:

1. When we can draw on computer using a tablet, we can definitely do it on paper. SO, DONT GIVE UP RAJ! =D

2. Raj is very good in cloth simulation, he can do a plastic cover for a microphone he modeled in a very short period of time.

First Day

Hello everyone,

Today is my first post here. We basically got our story laid out and decided on the treatment - a mixture of 2D and 3D animation, the characters being in 2D and the sets being in 3D. Since Thursday is submission, we also got things assigned to do as Dion has mentioned. I am in charge of the set design and layout.

Basically, it's supposed to be a supermarket, but I wanted something different, hence I came up with the idea of a mini mart at a gas station on an American highway. Why American? Because it's personal to me - I've been there before and I just love the way gas stations are built there. While researching on various gas stations, I came up with the idea of doing the film in a much older timeline - something like the 20's or 50's. This would make the film much more interesting in my opinion. But I've yet to hear what the others have to say about this :)

So anyway, I'd like to share something I did here. I'm kinda proud of it although it's mere two frames :D Well, at least I drew. Heh..

This was my initial idea of composing an establishing shot showing a mall at the start of the film. Sorry if the proportions are a little off :)

Well, things I learned/reflected upon today:

• importance of pacing of story, eg continuity, styling
• I can draw sensible drawings provided I have a tablet and it doesn't involve characters :D
• my contribution in this project in terms of art direction instead of just handling technicalities

Well, shall blog more later :)

Day 02

We went through each others storyboards and picked out things that we like. Got some comments from Amanda and decided on the main components in the story.

Things to do today, :

• Storyboards (more or less final) [Angie]
  
• Character Design [Greg and Kevin]
• Set layout/Rough mood boards [Raj]

Stuff I learned today, :

• Apparently I was appointed group leader
• The black bars do drop down creating tension in western film, however we never really notice them
• Raj can model a microphone in less than 30 seconds

That's pretty much it, if you guys (members) are reading this today, I suggest we meet at 11am tomorrow in school.

-Dion

Day 01

First day of class. 

There isn't really much to blog about. 

The group members are:

Angeline

Dion

Gregory

Kevin

Raj 

The topic we have chosen is SUPERMARKET. 

We kind of decided on 2D and 3D animation.

So, we'll just have to see each others' storyboards tomorrow. 

Yay.

- Angeline