Thursday, 31 March 2011

Finished sequence 27 where the clock appears large in front of Darren. The sequence works well and I decided to go for making the materials turn invisible slowly in the scene rather in composition, therefore being able to see reflection in the surface of the clock etc. However when rendering it comes apparent that because of the hair opacity and the gradient opacity of the whole sequence it takes way to long to render and therefore have decided to go for the second option of making the opacity blend in composition. This also makes setting up the zdepth much easier.


I don’t think I mentioned it before but I have stopped using reference videos of myself now and prefer acting out the actions then replaying them in the scene. Its just a little easier and makes me less self conscious. Of course if I come up to a brick wall in the scenes will record myself instead. But for now I am quite happy with the results I am getting with the animation. I have tried not to over exaggerate to much with the animation. Trying for a more realistic and subtle approach.

Monday, 28 March 2011

Re rendered scene 53 the cave sequence and added z-depth blur. It’s hard trying to get the blur right in this sequence, with all the character talking at different levels, but I think its ok. I also noticed that the fly may have to much Specular when it moves. So will re render that section of the animation with a toned down specular map.
Now I am up to shot 27. The last of the clock shots of the week. I am just wondering the best method to create the sequence, where the office disappears, and just leaves Darren, and the large clock in front. I could do this with composition, it would be by far the easiest method. However it would miss the nice reflections in the clock I could get. Also I am unsure of what the background would be in the larger clock. Possibly either a bright white or a brick wall. I think in the end I will use a brick wall, as the small clock would be hung on. Now its just trying to get all the materials to slowly turn invisible at the same time.

Monday, 28 March 2011

Rendered off sequence 57 the last 2 days due to a problem with his hat and the lip sync. This should be finalised by tonight, and then just the zdepth layer to work on before moving back onto sequence 87. Not sure exactly how to edit the cowl without disturbing the animation. I am thinking adding a edit mesh over the top of the skin wrap in the stack may work, however it may also cause a crash and cause everything to slow even more down.. I will try that latter anyway, I m just trying tog et a bit more ahead by doing all the clock shots. These are all the close ups of the clock. I have made sure the characters are still performing and in place just in case they are visible in the reflection. They may be subtly , but I think its worth that extra half hr setup just to make sure all the character are in the place they should be at that time. Making sure the continuity is right.
The clock is pretty easy to set up now since I rigged it so that u move each hand and the rest follow in turn exactly how they would. So if u move the second hand around a minute the minute hand will also move a minute and the hr hand as well. Therefore I can work out the time it would be after 9 on each shot of the clocks and add that time. So the clock will never be out, unless of course any other shots may be required latter.

Friday, 25 March 2011

Rendered off a few more sequence and finished the next scene. I am quiet happy with it at the moment, however I need to re render off sequence 87 where the light falls down and tames the moth, because Georges cowl was intersecting his body. Hopefully there will be a quick fix for it tomorrow and I can render off again over the weekend.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Ran into a big problem with the rendering today, where the opacity maps show the full polygons through the fog. If this latter become a problem with George elm beard etc, then I can render it off without fog, and use a zdepth as the alpha with a white layer underneath to create the fog. Here’s a summary of the problem online anyway

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-74208.html

I am going to try this effect now with the ear lashes of Darren, and if it doesn’t work I can always delete the lashes in the troublesome shots.
Luckily the work around worked. I may need to use this latter in some shots if any more cause troubles, but for now everything seems to be going ok.

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Still working on the same sequence, its tough going trying to get the movements believable, and I have run into some problems with the rig, and how the arms move on Audrey’s rig. But I am getting there slowly. I may stay up tonight and work through to try and get a lot of work done. Quiet behind at the moment to be honest.
I rendered of sequence 68-79 and discovered some faults in the disappearing helmet again. Its alright with the background, as before it showed a silhouette, but when it moves over leaves, that are using sss, its cause again a problem. I believe this is to do with the fog more than anything. A quick and dirty way round this is to re render the sequences up until his hat changes, and removed the invisible hat. Which I will do next.

Saturday, 19 March 2011

Finished the start sequence with the entry into the factory and began the next sequences also. I have been ill the last few month or so and therefore fell behind in my work, but beginning to catch up again now. At the moment I am taking two sequences combined and working on them and should be finished hopefully in a few more days. At present I am 3 weeks behind, but really working hard to catch back up. no renders at present just a lot of elbow grease.

Friday, 04 March 2011

Finished the last sequence now with the Elmies and Darren looking at each other.




Everything seems to be working alright. It was a technically difficult scene, but as with the last scene of the Elmies and the factory together it eventually worked. The lighting seems to fit and even though they are completely different sequences and sizes it gels well together. I maybe could use putting a small flare onto the actual light. Of the elm. But its something to think about latter.

I am now onto the next sequence which is the first sequence of the camera panning into the factory. Its actually two shots with the camera moving through the door and then the second shot with Darren sitting down with Audrey next to him. It has two walk cycles, Darren sitting, and the background characters. I am going to try adding a bit more personality into the walks. Anyways onwards!

A really nice look at Blur studios and autodesk facial animation setup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wh5Fn4WEs&feature=feedrec_grec_index_more

Wednesday, 02 March 2011

Created the first sequence with the background characters. I am really not happy with the unmoving characters but really it’s the quickest and best method. So will just have to go with it. Hopefully it will just look like the characters are thinking or sleeping, or just lost in own worlds!!

Tuesday, 01 March 2011 (little latter)

Here’s a render from that sequence testing if all the character render in the same world (thankfully they do)!!!

Tuesday, 01 March 2011

Currently working on the next sequence 111. Where the Elmy flies across Darren’s face. Again this will be done in composition, and I therefore have created a object to replace the Elmies for now, so I can create the animation of Darren’s face in awe, disbelief, realisation, as he sees himself as the elm in reality.
Anyway I was a little confused on what expression he should exhibit. And decided a very slight eye opening and mouth drop would suit best, and show the slight realisation. Which I am currently working towards.
The last shot came out well with the Elmies flying of at the end, yet there may be some lighting issues that I will deal with in post. Currently it is set up with all the lights the same as the factory exterior, yet I dunno how this will look with the two different sized objects. This will become more of a problem with the next sequence, where the interior lighting is setup to light darn and the elms. And since its interior and cant rescale anything, it may not look right with the Elmies, since they will be about the same size as half the factory floor. Therefore the lighting will be completely different. I figure the best way to work on this is a still render from the sequences before rendering and compose them, and adjust the to suit.
Also I discovered yesterday I have far to many models in my scene for the factory. With background characters its way to much for the system to handle and crashes. A few way rounds this, such as animating a few at a time and composing them after. But I decided a quicker way is to animate just a few of the background characters, and hopefully the ones that are just as edit meshes wont be noticeable.