Cat... in progress!

Make no mistake about it, I am not gods gift to character modelling on any 3D platform. I may be able to draw them, design them, possibly even sculpt them in some physical form, but when it comes to modelling them in the great world of Cinema 4D then its like trying to throw a pot wearing boxing gloves and sunglasses!

But perhaps the problem is that I'm wokring towards becoming an animator not a model maker, still its very hard to animate with out something to... well, animate!! So in an effort to keep my hand in here's my latest character model.

This cat (just incase you couldn't work it out) was crafted in Cinema 4D by my own fair hand. I went for a stylized look with cartoon feel to it. Soon I hope to animate the little digital fuzzball but first, with the models real life counter part sat purring on my lap, I am going to journey in to the mirky world of rigging and add a digital armature of bones and joints to the model or as the unfortunate 3D lingo would have it to "bone" the character!!

Constant Craving...

You've already seen some of the original art I produced for dark fantasy book 'Craving' by young adults author E.F Morris. Now we're starting on an internet trailor to help promote the book. Have been working on 3D models before I look to animate, but here's the first still from it.

More to follow!! The finished trailor will also appear on our production website http://www.hungryscavengers.wordpress.com/

To find out more about E.F Morris' book 'Craving' visit her blog at http://www.theredpendofdoom.wordpress.com/

Maya, Blender and Flash!

Summer holidays are great and though it is wonderful to a brief spell away from the endless parade of deadlines that university inevitably entails, not more then a few weeks in to this uber break and I am already missing having a curriculum to work to. Perhaps I am inherently a planner but I like to have a project to think about, and so over the course of this summer break I have devised a few to keep me occupied, and here they are:

Flash, ah- hah!

I'm going to create a short Flash animation for a website that should be launching shortly. Ironically this will be another foray in to the previously unfriendly world of motion graphics, but hopefully unlike the previous attempt this will be more enjoyable.

Treasure of the Maya

Autodesk has almost managed to monopolise the 3D software industry, with 3Ds Max and Maya being used through out the professional world of animation and visual effects. Maya was the program used to create the SFX for such mega-movies as Lord Of The Rings and Avatar. It is a behemoth of a program with immense power and infinite challenges and instils a mixture of fear and wonder in to the uninitiated. It is what we will use at university next year and if I can get ahead start on it before the start of term I intend to!

Pop it in the Blender

OK, so how many 3D types of 3D software do you need to know? Yes, I am aware that I already have delved in to Cinema 4D and Zbrush and have just stated an intention to learn Maya but frankly in this industry who can afford to specialise! However, learning Blender has other appeal rather then just introducing an air of diversity to my CV/portfolio. Blender is open source software, free to any and all who feel they can handle it, a sort of Sword In The Stone of 3D software options. But don't think that open source means second rate, just as Open Office can give its Microsoft counter part a run for its money, so Blender can stand up and be counted with the big boys of animation, if you doubt me check out Blender creation “Big Buck Bunny”.

In some ways that little manifesto doesn't seem all that much and in others it seems daunting. Still I've put it out there now. Its public. I have thrown down the gauntlet for myself and now its time to stop waffling and get on with meeting the challenge!

Key to my Heart

Well, since the end of term, and in fact the end of my academic year, have now past taking their deadlines, their stress and their course work with them I can now concentrate on my own projects again! So, no sooner had I turned my end of year assessments in at uni then I got home and turned on Cinema 4D and began... they have a word for people like me, it's "addict"!

And here is the result of my addiction...

This is the followup to the heart picture I posted earlier for the book "Craving". This is the untextured key, which I was quite pleased with, it took a while to get the design for the 'key to the heart but I thought this looked quite good. I've added the key to the banner image with the heart and text. I'm not entirely happy with the texture yet, but I thought I'd mock up the banner with it anyway (see above).

Sound Advice

Is sound the unsung hero of animation?

Sound is important across the film industry, and I'm not just talking dialogue, from the bellowing roar of Jurassic Parks T-Rex to the gentle vocal score that accompanies Gladiators grand finale, it is the sound that can make or break a good film. If you don't believe me then just then just, for a moment, pretend you are swinging a lightsaber... did you make the Vwoom-vwoom sound? Of course in the world of animated film this becomes a lot more important because unlike live action for a animation the whole sonic world needs to be created from scratch.

A good sound track can be the thing that makes or breaks a good animation, the right sound can be the thing that brings it too life and the wrong thing will make it sounds like a joke. Audio ques are a big part of the audience experience and though they are expected - we knew that Monsters vs Aliens Insectosaurus should sound big and the acoustics on Carl's porch in Up should sound very different in flight to when its on the ground - but they can also heighten the emotional experience of a viewer... or put another way, get the sound right and you can play your audience's heart strings like a fiddle!!

Just think of how you felt when Toothless, as Hiccup stands over him with the dagger, makes that pitiful, low, rumbling moan, or how comical the little noise of the Terrible Terror sounded and that was no accident as sound designers Randy Thom, Jonathon Null and Al Nelson told designingsound.org about their time making How To Train Your Dragon. Alternatively think about the world that WALL-E inhabited sounded, with it's swirling sand storms, and how different the world aboard the Axiom. These sonic worlds were created by sound design legend, Ben Burtt - remember the lightsabers, vwoom-vwoom sound? That was his handy work! - who has become known as the father of modern sound design, check out the WALL-E special feature on sound to find out more. Sound tells us who to like, where we are and what to feel - it is as vital as texturing to any animated landscape or character design.

And all this without even touching on the musical score, the masters of which like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Powell and James Horner have played us all for years, their iconic themes making as jump, laugh and cry.

And yet sound design seems the last consideration, I am currently fighting to research sound production for animation for a university project and its tough, so far I have found only one book that has proved any real help - that's Robin Bauchamp's "Designing Sound For Animation", just so you know - and compare that to the amount of "Art of... insert film name here" or How To guides for ZBrush, Maya or 3DsMax! So my fellow animation students, it may not be what you focus on, but don't forget sound either, it has too much power to be ignored!!

The Heart Of The Matter

Well, I've been asked to 3D up a banner for a friends blog. The banner is to based on the art for her book "Craving". The book's a totally awesome dark fantasy novel, so the art has to be sort of gothic but without being overly macabre or too gruesome, so as to appeal to the more squeamish of the genres clientele as well as those hardened Steven King aficionados who are holidaying in paranormal romance land for awhile!!

Anyway, the concept for this is a locked heart, and this is what I've got so far.

I've tried to keep the shapes simple, the heart's shape for example, is more symbol then anything that would inhabit the human body, and I've been testing out textures to try and make it feel more like something that is living tissue... and hopefully hitting gothic rather then gory! For those of you more interested in the techie side, I'm using my beloved Cinema 4D and each of the textures I've used have a bump map, expect the lock itself which has displacement instead as it just wasn't looking authentic enough without.

Its only a work in progress but still I thought I'd share! If you would like to learn more about Craving then check out the blog here ... http://theredpenofdoom.wordpress.com/

What's with all the remakes?

I deal in creativity; where a cake maker can make delectable treats out of flour and eggs and sugar or a potter can transform unwieldy lumps of slimy clay in to beautiful vases or sculptures, I use ideas. Some of these ideas I may formulate with a pencil and others I may sculpt with a computer, but even now, as a student, doing my course and dabbling in web design to make ends meet, I know the sweetness and value of a fresh original idea.

And I'm not alone, a lot of people I know possess wonderful creative minds. I have colleagues who can create astounding things in Adobe Illustrator, friends who can conjure whole new worlds through the written world, a husband who wields a stills camera as an artist wields a brush and a mother who can construct whole carnival floats using paper and glue! And wonderful and talented as my friends and family (and hopefully myself) are, my elite little circle can not be unique! So why, with the whole kaleidoscope of imagination at their feet, do the studios insist in making remake after remake?

Now I'm not talking about adaptations here, How To Train Your Dragon, Harry Potter and Iron Man are all adaptations from other formats, and I don't take issue at reworking something for the big screen. I can even tolerate the long parade of sequels due to hit the screen this year - Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After - but surely Gus Van San's 'Psycho' and this years 'Clash Of The Titans' should serve as a warning that remaking the classics isn't always the best idea? And yet a just as last year made us witness an updated Fame and Last House On The Left, so this will show us a new look Freddy Kruger and Karate Kid, as well as a 21st century take on Short Circuit, Westworld and Footloose.

I did not set out to use this blog as my soap box, I do not want to rant but I have to say this here... LEAVE THEM ALONE!! There has to be wonderful, talented, creative people who can come up with new and exciting ways to thrill and entertain audiences with their original ideas. So come on Mr Producer Man in your Studio office, take the risk and bit the bullet, leave the classics alone, and, to borrow from Sainsbury's ad campaign for a moment, "try something new today!"