Finished this before the holidays. Horse, rider and man on foot were done as separate passes, so there are overlapping lines, but all of that will be resolved once it's colored.
Working on a shot for Shervin Etaat's upcoming masterpiece, "Bandits of the Egg". The film should be finished in early 2009, so look for it in the festival circuit.
The shot I'm working on has a lady on a horse riding towards camera. Here's a still (with onion-skinning turned on) of the horse without the tail (which I'll add later as a separate pass). Hope to get it all done in the next week. More to come.
Finally got around to making postcards for my film, which will come in hand when I want to notify people of screening dates and times. Ordered 500 of these bad boys, so if you want one, just ask! I'll have plenty to pass around.
Been meaning to post this for a while now... the model is horrible, obviously, but it's all I had to work with for this particular exercise. Anyway, the line is from Donnie Brasco. The infamous "fuggedaboutit" scene... (TURN UP YOUR SOUND FOR THIS ONE!)
Working on the final shot, as in the last shot I have left to complete the film (chronologically, it actually takes place about 2/3 of the way through the film), and all of the 3D elements are done with the exception of the "card pass". Here's the final 2D animation that will go on the card. It needs to be colored, obviously, but it's otherwise done. The woman is stumbling through the hallway, and the 3D camera that's tracking her is moving as well, particularly in the final segment, where the camera actually goes flying off the railing. It'll seem a bit confusing at this point, but you'll get it when it's integrated with the background.
I post this primarily because a lot of what, in my opinion, are the better moments in the sequence will actually be cropped out of the final shot due to the 2.35 aspect ratio of the film... so, for example, you'll lose her entire upper body in some portions of the shot, where she gets really close to the camera.
anyway... i'm not crazy about the first part of it, she's moving a bit robotically, but other than that, i'm pleased with the result. now for some coloring! anyway, enough yapping...
It took back-to-back all-nighters to fix all of the issues that arose trying to composite the 2D and 3D elements in this scene. There are still some problems, but I can't afford to spend any more time on it. In any case, it was quite the learning experience! I feel like I could fill a chapter in a book discussing the various problems and solutions. Big up to my main man, Andy "The Mad" Lyon, for his help and advice.
Just finished the animation for my second to last shot. I still need to color it and integrate it with my 3D background. I'm also going to model and animate a 3D high-heeled shoe that will spin and slide towards the camera. Andy and Ryan suggested I add the blood splatter hitting the camera lens. I'm not sure about this... could be good or could be crossing the line into ridiculous. In any case, I threw it in there for now. It'll look a lot better when it's colored properly and out of focus.
Came up with a new way to project shadows from the 2D charaters onto the 3D backgrounds for this scene. Basically, duplicated my camera and used it to projected a blackened version of the 2D onto the geometry. I'm not sure if it's the best way, but it works.
Wireframes of the wooden owl newel post that appears in a few of the final shots. I wasn't going to bother modeling this originally, figuring I could just as easily draw the owl in 2D, as I've been doing with the cat and the woman. But when I realized it was going to be visible in 4 different shots from 4 different angles, I thought it would be worthwhile. I kept many of the edges hard to give it that "carved from wood" feel. Look for it textured and lit in the upcoming shots!
A couple more scenes done over the holiday break... next week is my killer week. Classes resume and I've set myself up to complete two of the hardest scenes left. Should be interesting...
So I recently learned that my film was accepted to USC's First Look 2007 Film Festival... pretty awesome! Of course, I'm not actually finished with the film, which presents a slight complication. But it's amazing what you can accomplish when you've got a gun pointed at your head. Speaking of which, here is scene 21... (the pan is a continuation from the preceding shot... see below for a clip)
I put together a montage of some of my recent work. It's not organized very well -- or at least not in the way most industry reels are. It doesn't focus on one particular area, such as modeling or rigging or animation; it's essentially a montage of everything I've been working on. Anyway... click below to view. There's no audio.
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