An archival look at the technical and artistic choices of the film.
April 1
The professor needed proper eyebrows, used transparancy to get this working.
Mar 26
One student, Brandon has taken this assignment to create proper numpad and display for the phone. So far so good.
Mar 18
One student, Chris has helped by making a futuristic phone. I thought it would be a good assignment for him since he likes phones. This is what he came up with. Brandon, another student, will help develop the graphic instead.
The final model
One of the earlier models
Feb 13 09
Walli got an upgrade for the new year. I wasn't suppose to start working on this short again but I figured, everything is ready. The classroom also got an upgrade as my trip to Malaysia inspired me to put some bounce lighting in the room. I also got over a major fix with the main character, the teacher. After seeing some great things in the Gobelins animation, I think I can come up with some awesome shots.
Nov 27 08
Pencil boy, (I know it's such a creative name) was a creation of mine back in grade 7. The original drawings are with that same teacher but I can easily recall what he looked like since I spent days designing him. Who would have thought he we reappear.
Oct 21 08
Moving right along! Inspired by teletubbies, sad to say :) Now only a few more to push out ... and we can start staging the animation!
Oct 20 08
Based on Bambi, how can any 3D animation not have talking animals. If you look through the last 10 years of 3D movies, almost all have talking animals.
Oct 19 08
Here's the final look for Ms.Bird.She is the first to be using Maya's template rig. We'll see if it works well.
Oct 13 08
A class example, I figured another robot couldn't possibly hurt.
Oct12 08
I went back to the vacation duck but I hit a mental block which is why it took so long to complete. It's probably not entirely done, as I may add a floaty to her and some sunglasses. She did change a lot. I didn't like the old shape, and tried to stay away from outlining her design contours.
Oct 9 08
Had lots of administrative stuff to do with the University so have been out for a few days. The latest creation is another prop and design inspired by Asian moms. They were bright colored clothes and obsure patterns. Because the pose looks like she's weak, I thought about making her completely black and white which would be a great contrast to the other bright characters. The vacation cartoon might have to wait.
Oct 4 08
I always label my characters based on some sort of architype. Paper man was designed to be a simple form with no volume. However with this latest character being named potato man, it can be assumed that I would design him along the same lines of the iconic toy I grew up on, Mr. Potato Head.
this is potatoman's current design. He's part monster like Stitch, but then like a Telly Tubby and also a drinking box. Ah well, who knows how he'll end up.
Oct 2 08
Finished the modeling and texturing of Paper Man. Only took a couple hours to complete and I can't be spending more time than that for an 'extra.' It will be interesting how all these characters create the environment of the film. Bringing the old with the new was this design's influence. Flat reminds me of South Park.
Final
Sept 26 08
Sheild Man needs some heavy rerigging. ahhhhh!
Sept 20 08
Finally getting the animation test of the main character completed. There's lots of little fixes that need to be done to finalize the rig though. I'm pretty happy with the facial animation. Dialogue is pretty easy but then again, I'm sure I'll realize its problems after the film is done.
Sept 17 08
I feel like I'm a character factory ... the latest character to hit the big screen: cute mute!
Sept 13 08
I called this character after it's creator Walli, who was also one of my students. I changed him a bit to give him more of a smash brothers type of look. This character will likely just be a stand in for a quick cut sequence. He might end up being a girl too, dressed in pink. .
Sept 10 08
Poncho was done a couple weeks ago but I decided to give it a gender and texture update. I might end up doing this to some of the other characters too.
BEFORE
AFTER
Sept9 08
Moving along with the supporting cast. 6 of the 14 are almost completed. I upgraded the robot monkey, a model I did in class. Another robot will also debut but since I don't have Maya 2008 on my personal machine and I did the demo of this robot in the lab with 2008, well .... you get the idea ....
Sept7 08
I wanted to have a flying robot type thing in this short. It was to be inspired by the film WallE as well as the short film Burning Safari. This was what I came up with after a long day. Reference images came from those 2 sources and a couple different helicopter propellers. Its name is HeliBox.
Sept3 08
The robot monkey goes through some small animation tests and overall, is working. After some thought, it came clear to meet to make his personality like a tough guy with a girl's voice. I also opted then to make him more like a transformer, rather than a cartoon toy. Will the missles have references to the USA?
Sept1
"DuD" is completed. Will be a extra in the classroom. Still working out the color of this character but one gets a good idea what type of personality it will have. It reminds me a bit like Mr. Potatohead.
Aug24
Main character is currently going through his first animation test. Lots of changes which will not be too exhaustive. First is getting the wheels on his wheelchair to move automatically.
Apr27 08
Note to self! Make all necesarry changes to characters before rigging and adding blendshapes! Do no freeze and reset transformations on blendshapes either! Or else you must reset the transformations on the original coordinates! BOOO!
Apr25
Been playing around with HDR and MR renders to see what different looks we can make. Students will likely be doing assignments related to this to see what types of different renders that can be created in MR and After Effects.
Apr21 08
Dr. Lee has been given a makeover. He looks too much like Geri from Geri's Game by Pixar. I had to rebuild his blend shapes and am about to experiment with dialogue. His rig is pretty simple so we'll see if he can pull off some of the animation I am imagining. If this doesn't work, I might just have the character speak gibberish and have captions like you'd see in a comic strip. We'll see ...
Apr12 08
The setting is going to be set in a place like Harajuku or Shinjuku of Tokyo. Lots of lights and lots of color, a perfect scene for cute cartoon characters.
Apr2 08
More research on cartoon characters, this time going to Japan's very rich cartoon culture. Some influences and the final design.
March08
Another classroom has been developed to replace the other one. This classroom has a more unifying feel rather than the cold and stark old classroom. Since it's based in the future, there's no sense of gravity.
Feb08
Researching new character designs and beginning the modeling process of additional characters. Finding references in all sorts of places but especially in graphic design in Paul Frank.
Jan08
Four were pumped out in 1 night. Primitive but all have very interesting sillouttes and personality. Quirky and cute would be the right word. Just have to add textures.
April07
Classroom is done. Lacks personality or any other cultural reference.
March07
Rigging is going smoothly since the main character is in a wheelchair. I think the blendshape pipeline would be easier in Zbrush. Something to consider next time or test with other characters.
Feb07
Got through what I could with the limited technical resources. Modeling has commenced. I am a NURBS modeler by trade so modeling in polygons is a new thing for me. So far so good though.
Jan 07
I don't have the financial funds to support this project. Even the labs at the University I teach at is a general lab for all Brock students.