We wanted to continue the rhythm of yesterday and get going with the storyboard, but realised it was just as important to attend Gareth Munden's tutorial. In the afternoon we went back downstairs for another painful story session. When I say painful, I mean that more in a frustrated sense. There are some areas of the story that have been complicated to visualise, bearing in mind the action of the characters and the overall pacing. The character Jed can never acknowledge the patient in the room - this opens many comic possibilities but makes a nightmare out of thumbnailing. You want a particular shot to work, yet often it doesn't and then you have to think around that time and time again.

We desperately wanted the rough storyboard to be completed, but we agreed we would need at least the weekend and one more day next week to work on it. Much of the beginning and ending sequences are completed, but there are a few scenes that we have consistently froze on. Our task over the weekend is to thumbnail ideas for the montage of shots up to the point where the character Ed passes out and dies.

I hope I have made some good contributions so far; creating visual gags has never been my strength, but I've tried my best in giving advice in camera angles and composition. Working with Dan and Alec on this has been a funny, but valuable experience for me. They are such a great dynamic and its been a privilege to tag along for the ride...

Today has been a Polished Off day, as we agree the story needs a lot of work. Dan, Alec and I worked in a different room than usual, to avoid any distractions. Thumbnailing ideas and shots can be a very mind boggling process, as well as a time consuming one, but also rewarding in the end. We have changed only a few shots here and there, but it makes such a difference.

How to create light in an animated world

Simon suggested this tutorial which features in the recent edition of 3D World. Its a great outline on how to create effective lighting setups for animation. Considering this article was written by a lighting artist from Pixar Studios, you can't any advice better than that. This will be incredibly helpful when approaching the lighting stage in full swing:



Thanks again Si for letting me know about this...

Been working on the model of the house in Splay for well over a week now, and its finally completed! I've tried to add as much detail into the model as possible, such as cracks and worn down edges, to make the structure look realistic. Everyone seems to be pleased with the results; I will have to make a few changes, such as add more uneven sides and detail to the entrance, but apart from that its finito...now I can move onto its textures!

While taking a break from modelling the prototype house for Splay, I felt I really wanted to focus on the character of Splay itself. I had all these images in my mind of how this little creature would translate from Phil's 2D drawings into 3D in Maya. I wanted to create a couple of concept images developing the lighting and texture style. I realise these may have been worked on in Adobe Photoshop, but it was fun to experiment with the different textures I had collected, without having to fiddle around tirelessly in Maya to achieve the same effect. That being said, I will move onto that stage as soon as possible. Phil suggested Splay would have a chalky texture to him, but still be organic, not like the stony surface of the buildings.

I have used real chalk textures for Splay, as well as my own painted brush stroke textures for the ground and other elements. I am very happy with these images, but am fully aware that I must start producing results within Maya.

Initial Texturing/Lighting tests

After a bit of a tough day at college, trying to get on with something productive, I decided to get my act together when I got home and generate a few lighting and texturing tests. These are nothing fancy, but the starting steps. I have used a basic marble texture for the ground, then applied a bump map to this, as well as incorporate the painted sky I created the other week as a backdrop. The backdrop was the tricky part, as the lighting had to be tweaked so that it looked as if it was illuminating the scene. Most of these tests are actually quite poor, but it was fun to go back and start fiddling around with light setups again.

Getting the lights into the scene

Adjusting the shadows, darkening the floor

Lightening the floor

Terrible

Softening the shadow and overall brightness

Adding a mid-ground to create perspective/depth

Not much difference

Darkening floor, changing colour of lighting

Adjusting transparency of mid-ground to blend in

Adjusting the colour slightly

Buildings with more definition (no texture as of yet..)

Occlusion render pass added in Photoshop

Inspiration

The Bridge, by ?

I have no idea who painted this image but I immediately was drawn to the colour and the lighting. The painting is rich with golds and browns and full of warmth, and the lighting gives it a subtle dreamlike quality. Phil has warned me to not to tread too closely to the colour palette of Pixar's WALL-E, but this does capture the right mood for Splay, as opposed to harsher tones of grey and brown (yet some desaturation would be needed). This image has prompted me to consider doing some research into impressionist painting when progressing onto lighting for Splay.

Influences: Jojo in the Stars

The final of the Studio AKA short film trilogy: Jojo in the Stars delivers as a heartfelt tale with fantastic visuals.

"In a bleak and desolate world, a small creature seeks out the woman of his dreams: a high-flying circus performer with a cruel and possessive ringmaster".



I wouldn't say the story is as engaging as their previous short films, but Jojo in the Stars still has many endearing qualities. It's slightly difficult to pin point the targeted audience here, as some content is quite dark and atmospheric (this should be my speciality!) but I think children of young ages could sit down and watch this; yet they would have some difficulty in understanding the story. As for the visuals, again unconventional for an animated piece (not bright or colourful), with some similarities to the tenebrous style of Varmints.

As a self-confessed film geek, there were some very nice camera angles, and the overall lighting of the piece was incredible. We should be very careful not to replicate the style of this film for Splay - there are some elements such as the monochromatic tones or the grading which would suit the film but we should aim to create something which is refreshing and not an immediate copy of another film or style.

I like the first few establishing shots - a world drowned in darkness and tormented by dust storms (setting the overall mood perfectly). The camera very slowly tracks forward and then cuts to a closer shot of the building, tracking closer once more and then for a third time to the lit entrance of the building with all these tiny dark creatures entering. The use of ambience and a kettle drum beat with each cut is also effective. Its a collection of a few shots, but opens the film nicely, emphasising just how important establishing shots can be.

More photos of clouds. I like the softness and abstract shapes:

Had what I consider a really unsuccessful week and felt I was just going backwards. That will be the last you hear of that. I'm determined to make next week totally different...

Yesterday may have got to a very good start, but ended on a bit of downer. We would've liked more thumbnails to be completed but at least some major details in the plot were discussed and developed. Today, Alec continued where I left off and helped Dan thumbnail Polished Off downstairs in the old BA room. I moved over to Splay and was given the task of modelling the tall structures that the characters live in. In all fairness, it may only be a cube in shape, but Phil has stressed that he wants imperfections and details in the surface. I did suggest a while back that the buildings could be made of metal, since in one of his original concepts they were almost rendered like that. We thought it was an interesting idea, but after mulling over it again today, it doesn't quite fit into the world of Splay. Phil described everything has having a chalky texture to it; as if you touched any object it would crumble or rub off in that way. This opens up many exciting possibilities where to take the texturing of the environment, but it will also be tricky in finding a balance between style and plausibility.

When I spoke to Dan Edgley yesterday, he was concerned with the direction Polished Off was going and wanted to start thumbnailing out his story as soon as possible. I offered to help him with this, since everyone would be busy with other things. For the first half of the day, the old BA Animation room felt like a creative hothouse as Edgley and I churned out many ideas for Polished Off and made a few important decisions as to where the action should be and when. After lunchtime it was difficult to get back into this process and thankfully Alec came to the rescue. I felt like a massive let down in the afternoon, but overall my performance has slowed down this week. I need to start going to bed at a more reasonable time so I don't feel so tired during the day.

Influences: UP

Since its been the talk of the town at the moment, I felt I had to have my say about Pixar's new release, UP. I saw Up at the cinema with Alec and Dan last Friday and was literally 'blown' away by it.

Up (2009):

"By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip".

Just to irritate the team, I've uploaded all these images, enjoy!








Although having to watch the film on a ridiculously small screen and try to listen through the cackles of adolescent girls in the row in front, this didn't spoil the ride. The opening montage with the characters Carl and Ellie was very touching, and for an animation feature film that seems a rare instance, but that's what made it even more effective. I never found myself bored by the story, which is the case for many live action films I have seen. The film relies heavily on plot and character, with the visuals secondary to this, and its this method which makes Pixar good at what they do. They plunge the audience into the adventure, and make us care about the characters; however unreal their world may be, these are still supposed to be believable for the two hours you are fixed to the cinema screen. And Carl Fredricksen, a grumpy old man is a surprising but fitting choice for a major character in an animation.

As for the visuals, they are second to none. From start to finish, the film is flooded with vibrant light and a rich colour palette, and these are very pleasing to the eye - it would be interesting to see this from a child's perspective. The visual style is breathtaking, and there is so much to absorb in each and every shot, and so one viewing is simply not enough. Some scenes in the movie could almost be photorealistic - this achieved through complex, but subtle lighting and texture. It can be risky for an animation to resemble live action at this scale, but it works.

Pixar's films progress with each new release; Up may not be its best, but its definitely 'up' there among them. Every comment I have made so far has been extremely positive - of course there are flaws since no film is perfect, but these were easy to overlook. This film is a lesson to us all that getting the story to flow is more important that anything - ultimately, we wish for the audience to walk away from our own films and remember them for the right reasons. I realise we will never match the sophistication of Pixar's visuals in our projects (and why should we?) but this should be a big nudge for the team to push the standards as high as we can. So watch this space...

Tuesday has been a long day, and not much to show for it. Phil suggested last week that a finalised concept of the buildings in Splay should be done, and today I have attempted to work on this, as well as develop my initial texture concepts for Polished Off.

Fraser MacLean, author of an upcoming book on the history of layout in animation, visited Ravensbourne today to present a lecture on colour theory, as well as provide critique on our own projects. He has had many years of experience in the animation industry, working in prestigious companies such as Walt Disney Studios, and among many more. He made a visit to the college last year and I was fortunate to attend his lecture then. I found what knowledge he had to share to be incredibly useful and inspiring, as was the same for this morning. He used example clips from a couple of animation feature films (The Emperor's New Groove and The Incredibles) and then broke these down piece by piece, analysing in detail the meaning or symbolism of the mise-en-scene, colour and composition.

It opened my eyes to just how much attention is paid to every single shot of a movie. No detail is taken for granted, and everything is put there for a reason, however subtle or striking it may be. MacLean's points are not to be ignored, as they are very much relevant to our projects. In previous years, students have made their short films without considering elements such as composition and colour carefully and this has been very noticeable. We don't want to make the same mistake, but for now I think we are going along the right track.

MacLean spoke to our group about our projects and gave some really helpful advice as to where we should develop style and colour - we will take on board what he said, it was only a shame that we didn't have more time to talk to him. He will be returning on Friday to do another lecture on layout - I don't think anyone in the team should miss this.

Apart from MacLean's visit, Monday hasn't been a very productive day for me, but definitely not as bad as last Friday! I hope to get back into the rhythm tomorrow.

After a search on google as well as www.mayang.com/textures (I recommend this website for any texturing enthusiast) here are a few examples of gritty/rock surfaces. I will experiment with these textures as well as make my own ones or take photographs of different surfaces. Texturing for Splay is in its very early stages but its important that we give it enough time to develop the look we are aiming for.

When leaving college late, you are very lucky be given the most fantastic of views from the top of the hill. Because of the almost panoramic view of the city in the distance, the sky always looks so powerful and epic, and I managed to take these couple of photos on Thursday:

(Yet, these look no way epic!)

I will attempt to take a few more in the next few days. And here are more photos of clouds I captured this afternoon at the football ground just over the road from where I live:



These will be very useful sources of reference for adding texture and form to the clouds in the sky in Splay.

The end of a very productive week for the team. We are beginning to settle into our projects more comfortably, and although we haven't been going at the same frenzied rate as we were last week, we have made an enormous amount of progress in pre-production. After consulting with Mike Smith and Dave Bull earlier in the week, Dan and Phil were made to step back and re-consider some elements in their stories - I think this is a good thing to some extent, as it will push us to better our work and get the most out of it. We should always be open to advice from tutors and lecturers but be also aware of our own creative instincts. Some revisions may need to be done with the story of both films, but now is the time to do so.

As for my own personal development, I may have not achieved as many pieces of concept artwork as I would've liked, but I think however much I had done I would've still felt the same way! However, I feel this week has allowed me to gain more confidence in using Adobe Photoshop; something that benefit me greatly in the future.

It's taken me three days to complete these concepts, but I'm pleased with how they're looking. Since consulting with Dan Dalli the other day, the team have agreed the layout of the Intensive Care room will have to be altered slightly to fit the story better and lower the amount of animation. Most of the props have not been finalised as of yet, but this is to demonstrate colour and lighting in a 3D context. I have also softened the shadowing to achieve that 'Lost and Found' look:

Once I had completed the layout with the lights turned on, Edgley asked me to make another concept of the room with the lights turned off, just before the janitor, Jed makes his entrance:


You may notice in the first image, the lights outside aren't switched on...oops my mistake

Moodboards/visual research collected for both S P L A Y and Polished Off :

Continuing on from yesterday's piece, I have made a few amendments to the Maya scene, most importantly scaling down the size of the room, as we all agreed it looked too big. I have started to add textures to the walls, referring to Alec's concept work as I go along:

Hopefully this will be completed within the next day or so..

A much more productive day for the team, I guess its a Monday thing! Everyone apart from Phil focussed on pre-production for Polished Off. My aim was to do a digital image and work on texture for the environment. I didn't feel entirely sure how to go about this in Photoshop, so created a 3D version from a combination of Edgley's and Alec's drawings, to get the more stylised look they are going for. At first I started to block out the scene, but as the day progressed I went into obsessive detail with the modelling; it was great to go back into Maya and build stuff. It was actually quite therapeutic and the first time at college I've felt comfortable sitting down and doing work, rather than at home.

I managed to complete almost all of the intensive care room, apart from the sink and adding a cushion on the bed. There are other minor details which need to be altered, but since this is only for concept, I can be more flexible with making mistakes. Once I've completed this tomorrow, Ill move onto applying colour and textures in a similar look to Lost and Found.

There seems to be an issue with Maya 2010's render settings which has prevented me from applying render passes to layers. Thankfully Nathan Wright showed me a neat method how to get around this, by simply creating an Ambient Occlusion shader in the hypershade and then applying this to the objects I wish to render. This was very handy, especially since I wanted to render everything occluded.

But there must be a solution to the render passes thing right?