Journal - working on group projects

It's finally over.. . .. ... ..SUBMISSION!

2008-06-13T19:33:00.013+01:00

*SUBMISSION TODAY!*

Wow!

Still can't believe the course has ended today. . .. .. so weird!

Jessica got most of the renders and the effects completed - even though there were still some things to do such as some changes of the soundtrack - the important thing is to hand in the whole story of the animation for submission today. At least Jess still have 2 more weeks to get some things finished for the Degree Show.

*Personal thoughts about the course*
After 3 long years - its finally over. It was a shame that my project group got canceled - but in a way it was a good thing. The reason is because I was able to work/experiment on different areas with other people's projects. For example, I got good feedback on the use of colours for the backgrounds which I really enjoyed working on; I got to work on animating - I realised that animating was more complicated than I thought. And finally, I never thought I get to work on Sound Designing - I did enjoyed that and glad that I made good progress with it.

After working/experimenting on different areas during this course and I would say I want to specialise in modeling - I find animating quite difficult so I'm planning to stick with the modeling and designing areas. I still need to work hard on my skills if I want an animation career, I would say my skills are intermediate level, but I'm not satisfied with it. I still need practice!!!

*What's next?*
For the time being, I'm going to enjoy my summer holiday and then I'll work on a new project for myself - one reason is to brush up my skills and the other to show something as my portfolio if I were to look for work experiences/ jobs.

I'm defiantly will miss the people from my BA Class.. .. .. *sniff*. LOL - but I'm sure we'll still be able to see/contact each other (most people uses Facebook anyways!) and who knows, we may be working in the same company!

Well for the people in my BA Animation Course:

"I wish everyone best of luck for the future! -
Hope we'll still be able to see each other or even work at
the same company some day!"

*HUGS*! ^_^

Soundtrack found!! Just some adjustments!

2008-06-12T16:41:00.003+01:00

Jessica decided on using Soundtrack 18.

Just some small adjustments:

Original sound - the violin plays just when the camera focuses on the little girl on the window.
Changes - move the sound a bit earlier so the violin starts early.

Original sound 2 - there's a 'eeeep' noise which starts just before the moon falls down.
Changes - the 'eeeep' noise is moved forward to when the moon falls down.

^_^

Soundtrack FOUND???

2008-06-12T02:08:00.006+01:00

Other than helping Jessica with some rendering for the past 2 days or so - I made 2 new soundtracks:

Soundtrack 17

Soundtrack 18

Jessica liked Soundtrack 18 and it looks like we'll be using it for the animation! The title of the music I've used seem to fit quite well with Jessica's animation (well to me anyways ^_^):

NAME: (二泉映月) Moon Reflected on the Erh-Chuan (Also know as: The Moon Mirrored in the Spring)
ARTIST: 俞丽拿
ALBUM: 小提琴协奏曲梁山伯与祝英台及中国小品 (The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto and Other Chinese Pieces)
GENRE: Classical

Still rendering + more echo effect

2008-06-10T13:04:00.005+01:00

I am currently still rendering!

Made another echo effect on one part of the animatic - here's the sample (used soundtrack 5):

Rendering, rendering, rendering... ...And soundeffects! :P

2008-06-09T16:39:00.005+01:00

Going to try to experiment as much soundtracks for Jess's animation as soon as possible.

I am currently helping her to render out some scenes (taken quite some time - at least 3 hours or more or each scene!) so on the safe side, I will not work on anyone else's group project.

Rendering.. .. .. Rendering.. .. .. !

Here's edit soundtrack 5 with some echo effects:

Granny playing Chess

2008-06-05T12:02:00.008+01:00

I got an email from Rachel on Tuesday and it turns out that the Old Lady/Granny that's playing Chess will still appear in various shots of the animation. So I've been asked to animate the character a bit longer (only in specific shots that could focus the granny).

Rachel sent me the shot list and she highlighted the shots which would show the granny playing chess. Here's what I've done (NOTE: The videos shown below are NOT the default cameras that would be used in the film - it's just to show the front of the granny playing chess):

From Frame 50 - 100 (would be used in Camera2) -
The right hand was a bit difficult to animate!:

Frame 200-250:

Frame 475 - 575 AND 575 - 626 combined
(2 different cameras):

Frame 775 -875:

Frame 950 - 1075:

Frame 1225-1350:

Frame 2050 - 2100:

Frame 2200 - 2225:
(Nothing Special here - just making as if the
Granny is slowly considering her next move -
its a very fast shot anyways):

Frame 2400 - 2425:

Frame 2500 - 2575:

Frame 2900 - 2975:

*The Moon's Smile* - I've also been helping Jessica with some rendering. I'm still looking for songs/music for her so hopefully we will have the music done soon!

More Soundtracks!!!

2008-06-03T10:44:00.007+01:00

I've found new music on the Internet last night, here's the weblink:

http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/chinese-music
/html/mp3.html

...and manage to edit 5 new soundtracks for Jess:

Soundtrack 12

Soundtrack 13

Soundtrack 14
(This is the first soundtrack I've included music with someone
singing - I personally like it as it got a nice touch/feel
(very traditional I thought), but it's just an experiment so
I'm not sure what other people will think!):

Soundtrack 15

Soundtrack 16

Almost forgot that I need to summit my PPD (version 2) - by this coming Friday! Need to work on that maybe tomorrow... .. ..

Almost done with the animating

2008-06-02T16:02:00.004+01:00

I've made some changes of the Old Lady/Granny watching TV:

Been slow for the past couple of days - I am aiming to get the jobs I got from the Grim Reaper project done by the end of today.

Woo Hoo! - finish animating the Old Granny playing Chess.. .. .. by herself! Weird I know! But I haven't received the Old Grandpa model so I'll see what happens. I've already sent the maya files to Rachel - just waiting for feedback.

This is Camera 8 from the animatic - I'm not sure why
there's a weird movement on the Granny's shoulders when
I first play blast this scene....

This is more better:

This is the perspective view if the camera were to
focus on the Granny's face:

Little Girl walking up the bridge................AGAIN??!!

2008-05-31T11:55:00.005+01:00

I've been animating this little girl walking up the bridge like bloody 6 TIMES now and it's freaking driving me up the wall!!!

I can't seem to get the pony tails move right/correctly!!! AAARGGGHHH!!!!!!

I'm not too sure if this is alright but I've been looking at it repeatedly as I was animating it so it's given me a bloody headache now! LOL :

Girl Walking - version 6 - perspective view

Girl Walking - Version 6 - Camera view

Hope I'm not working too slow - everyone has about 2 weeks left to get their projects finished.

Gonna try to get my role/jobs done - I am still slightly upset and annoyed that my project group got canceled on the bloody last Term of my BA year so I doubt that I'll get a good grade after this! Ok, enough moan/complain for today!

More Soundtracks and MORE

2008-05-29T10:18:00.006+01:00

I am planning to work on more soundtracks for Jessica this week - since we haven't decided which soundtrack/music to use - I'll be experimenting more music for her.

I made some new soundtracks for her:

Soundtrack 9

Soundtrack 10

Soundtrack 11

I'm still animating the little girl walking up the bridge - I am seriously bad at this!!! The movement of the little girl's hair is so hard to animate!!! I can't seem to get it right!!!! And before I thought this would be a easy scene to animate; was I wrong!!!! *_*

*Grim Reaper* - I'll be waiting for Rachel's email to animate new secondary characters for the background. For the time being, I need to make some changes for the Old Lady/Granny watching TV - needs more movement!!!

I received new maya files from Rachel; a chessboard to be included in the environment. Just need to animate the Old lady playing Chess with another old granny/grandpa.

Animated Old Granny watching TV

2008-05-27T14:33:00.007+01:00

I got a email from Rachel; I got a job to animate an Old Lady/Granny watching TV. Not a lot of movement is needed as I was told it'll be a quick camera shot of her. The group will pass more animating jobs to do later.

Old Granny Watching TV 1

I sent this one to the group at the end - I didn't really like the first one

Old Granny Watching TV 2

I am still currently editing more soundtracks for Jessica - just haven't post it up yet. Will do more during this week. I got a lot of Chinese Traditional Erhu Music that I'm planning to use for her project, just hope it fits!!!

Edited Soundtracks + more

2008-05-26T11:44:00.015+01:00

It's been a while since I helped Jessica with the soundtracks - now that I have finished the animation tasks from a different group project, I'm glad that I have time to edit some music - here's Soundtrack 3 & 4 with changes:

Soundtrack 3 (Version 2)

Soundtrack 4 (Version 2)

I made 4 new soundtracks over the weekend - thanks to Jessica's music she sent me it was easier for me to edit (The music sounds so crap on the blog!!! - but it just to give people to idea of what music I have used!!):

Soundtrack 5

Soundtrack 6

Soundtrack 7

Soundtrack 8

I also made some changes of the little girl walking up on the bridge - just some minor changes on the secondary animation such as the pony tail:

Not sure if this is alright - just waiting for feedback now.

Little Girl walking up the Bridge

2008-05-24T01:13:00.008+01:00

I got an email from Jess on Friday (or yesterday now since it's past midnight!! :P) - just needed to do some changes for her.

I didn't bother animating the legs like I did before so I just skipped it (the reason I wanted to animated the legs at first is so that I can get a sense of how the little girl should walk on the huge steps - hope that made sense!!!!). I made 2 versions for Jess - the movement of walking up the steps is the same, the slight difference is the movement of the little girl's arms:

Version 1 -
perspective view

Version 2 -
perspective view

Version 2 - some changes:

Old Granny Laughs - 3 versions

2008-05-23T14:32:00.006+01:00

I managed to animate 3 slightly different laughing granny. I'm not sure which is better so I'll let the group decide or wait for feedback to see if I need to animate more:

Laughing 1 - (movement of legs):

Laughing 2 - (giggle) - First try was a bot too slow!
Second try was much better!:

First try:

Second try:

Laughing 3 - (Giggle - but with only one hand covering the mouth):

I just sent the maya files to the group - just need to wait for feedback now.

Little Girl walking - done! Waiting for feedback

2008-05-23T01:20:00.007+01:00

Oh me gosh!!!

Can't believe it took this long to animated a little girl walking up the bridge.. .. .. I'm terrible at animating!!! Need so much more practice!!!! ^_^

One thing for sure - I'm stupid!!! As I wanted to include the movement of the legs (even tho in the shot you can't actually see the lower body at all!) - mainly cos I can understand better of how the upper body appears.

This is the camera angle shot of the scene:

This is my extra movement of the lower body (not great - need more practice!!!):

It's so late now! *SIGH!* - gonna sort out my next task as I just managed to get two animation tasks done so far!!

Old Lady/Nurse Filing Nails - complete!

2008-05-22T12:08:00.004+01:00

I'm a bit behind my personal schedule but at least I got one of the animating done today.

Old Lady/Nurse Filing Nails

Now I need to concentrate on Jessica's animation job - little girl walking up the bridge. I need to get this done by the end of the today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Started animating 'Old Lady/Nurse - filing nails'

2008-05-20T14:28:00.004+01:00

The Old Lady/Nurse in the environment:

Like many animators they recorded themselves as they act out certain movements/actions for their film. I used the same method as I recorded myself filing my nails and pretended to shudder as if something went past me - so far this has helped/guided me to position the hands:

*No way in hell will I post a video of myself!!! - it's too embarrassing!!!*

New Goals for this WEEK!

2008-05-19T10:15:00.013+01:00

I've made a new timetable for this week:

I'm planning to concentrate on animating ONLY for this week - I got 3 animating jobs:

*Grim Reaper* - I finished 'Old Lady Walk Cycle - with the Zimmerframe' and got 2 new jobs;

'Old Lady laughing'
'Old Lady/Nurse filing her nails - I'm planning to start this one first - this sequence is part of the beginning of story/animatic plus I assume its more difficult to animate so I'll start on it as soon as possible!

*The Moon's Smile* - Still working on soundtracks for Jessica. I've been asked to animate the little girl walking up the bridge.

-__-

Paris Background - detailed pattern done!!!

2008-05-19T09:48:00.007+01:00

Becca replied to me and she liked the idea of having some detail patterns on the Frames for the Paris Background.

I've done a similar pattern to Mucha's art - I'm quite happy with the results ^_^ :

(I've concentrated drawing one side or half of the frame and then just duplicated -And now my eyes hurt!! - LOL!!)

I'm not happy with the Eiffel Tower though.. .. .. I'll ask Becca to see if she has any ideas to make it look more stand out.

She suggested having a darker background - like a dark brown colour and have the Eiffel Tower lighter maybe? Here are the experiments:

Unfortunatly, the Eiffel Tower is still the main problem of the background - So I past the Photoshop file to Andrew so that he can enhance it better (Both Becca and Andrew liked the pattern boarder/lily flower and wanted to keep it - its just the Eiffel Tower that needs to be changed)

Colour examples of Paris Background

2008-05-17T19:46:00.005+01:00

Geez , my eyes hurt!!!

I can't really say that I have finished colouring the Paris background for Becca just yet as I am having some difficulties in colouring the Eiffel Tower - I tired some bright colours like orange or yellow but it just looks too weird to me! The best so far is either grey or dark blue (PLUS! - I've coloured the Lily flowers from the frame/boarder in two different colours; yellow/orange and pink - which I'll let Becca decide what shade of colour is best suited):

Also, there were some details of roots/extra plants within the frame of Mucha's artwork and I wasn't too sure if Becca wanted me to add similar patterns on her boarder.. ..

I've sent her an email to ask her - while I'm waiting I'm still experimenting the Paris background - gonna see if I can include some lights in the Eiffel Tower (similar to the glow effect for the stars).

Still Colouring.. ... ..

2008-05-15T11:51:00.006+01:00

One week of sunny days and that's it?! That's really bad! It's rainy and cold now?! *sob* Not a good day at all - feeling a bit tired and ill for some reason.. .. .. I blame the weather!!

Anyways, for today I'm trying to finish colouring the Paris Background. Done some research such as the lamp-posts (I'm researching how it glows at night):

and looked at pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night (Not sure if I want to use this brightness to colour the Eiffel Tower - Still thinking about it.. .. ):

and some research images of the flower lily (frame/boarder of the background):

I personally liked the white/pink with dark red dots Lily - but I will try out all these three different coloured types of Lily.. ..

This is so far what I've done (I'm having a bit of problem with colouring the Eiffel Tower):

I made the stars to glow a bit at the background but not too sure if its a nice touch.. .. ..

*I got an email from Rachel and she sent me new secondary animation; instead of the Nurse filing her nails its replaced by an Old Lady. So maybe after finishing animating the Old Lady Laughing I'll quickly work on that.

*I found some sound effects on the Internet and I am still looking for 'magical' effects for Jessica's film.

Recieved new animation job

2008-05-14T20:00:00.003+01:00

Jesscia asked me to animate one scene for her - little girl walk over to the bridge. She sent me a example image of which scene to animate:

I am willing to have a go at it - Since I haven't had much time to work, I'm planning to stay home and not go to College tomorrow - sent a email to Dan and Mike; just an update on what kind of jobs I got to do from different projects.

Research for Paris Background

2008-05-14T10:34:00.005+01:00

For some reason, when I heard Paris, it reminds me of Pixar's animated film: Ratatouille

To my luck, I found one similar image as the one above but had more clouds and slightly dark blue and purple sky (Since Becca's background was coloured purple - I thought I go with it before I experiment more choices for her) - both images was found on the Internet:

Starting WEEK 6

2008-05-12T09:02:00.013+01:00

*Yawn*! - So early!!

Ah well, I need to hand in my letter/form concerning my address and the registry opens on the weirdest times!!! Either between 9:00am - 10:30 am OR 3:00pm - 4:30pm. So I might as well go with the morning!

Plus I'm waiting to get Becca's new background to colour (Paris) - she had problems sending them via email and she suggested that maybe I can pick them up from her while I'm at college today.

I worked on the old lady walk cycle; adding small animated features such as the shaky hands lifting up the zimmerframe:

Just need to show this to the group and if its ok - then I can work on their next secondary animation - old lady laughing.

Becca passed me new a background to colour; Paris:

She gave me the details of how the style should be which made it much easier for me to colour (Thank you!!!!); she's looking at Alphonse Mucha's art style and also showed me a website with some of the artist's works:

http://www.muchafoundation.org/MHome.aspx

Here's an example from the website:

Jess also sent me an feedback of the soundtracks I sent to her recently - just some changes on the previous soundtracks; there were some songs she particularly liked in the videos I sent her and she asked me to experiment more for her so that we have more to choose and mix. I'll need to find more sounds/music this week ^_^ heh hee.. .. .. Also I need to find some special effects for certain scenes in the film - something magical/fantasy effects. Jess offered me if I was interested in doing some animation - I don't mind at all! But on the safe side I asked for secondary animation or possible simple animation only since I'm still learning!

I'm glad I'm making some progress for other people's group projects - I need to organize myself for this week to get as much work done as I can. Not sure if I'll come in on Thursday but will see how it goes.. ..

Changes made; Soundtrack 1 + 2 & MORE!

2008-05-10T17:07:00.009+01:00

Been a bit slow today :(

Here are the two soundtracks with small changes as Jessica suggested (To recap the changes/feedback - check post on the 3rd May!);

Soundtrack 1 (Version 2)

Soundtrack 2 (Version 2)

I'm still working on more new sound tests today so I'll upload them later!

Soundtrack 3

.....two more to do! (as I promised myself to experiment 3 new soundtracks this week)

Soundtrack 4

One more to go!!.. .. ..

Old Lady walk cycle - getting there!! & FEEDBACK

2008-05-08T10:33:00.010+01:00

Well I went in to college today - since I came in early I quickly worked on the Old Lady walk cycle.....................It's getting better I think:

I just need to show members from the 'Grims Reaper' group to see what they think. Hope it's ok -__-

*Grim Reaper* - I had a chat with Rachel as I showed her my draft animation - needs more movement with her hands as the Old Lady as she lifts the Zimmerframe (kinda show some difficulties for her to move with it). Rachel also pointed out that the way the Old Lady lifts the Zimmerframe; its a bit too fast! So I will need to slow that down. I may be able to get to do more secondary animation for this group so I will need to finish the Old Lady walk cycle soon. Also, I've been told there's been some problems with the Nurse model so I may have to wait for a bit to see what happens.

*The Stamp Collector* - Got good feedback from Becca; she was very pleased with the coloured Egypt background - I told her that if she want any changes I don't mind doing them. She will send me the Paris background later.

*The Moon's Smile* - Jessica has more songs that I can use to edit - I also found some songs to experiment. Planning to get at least 3 examples to show Jess.

First test of Old lady walk cycle

2008-05-07T17:58:00.005+01:00

This didn't took me long to animate - yesterday I was working (job) all night so I didn't had time. I still haven't recieved the original job of animating the Nurse but at least I'm helping them with secondary animation.

This took me approximately 2 hours (not including breaks) to animate (the first test - wow I'm quite slow! That's terrible!):

I tried putting more small animated motion on the Old lady - having her hands slightly shaky while walking with the zimmerframe. But I don't really like it - looks kinda weird! So I'll try to clean it up!!

I didn't like the previous tests - so I deleted it and re-animate the Old lady again, I think it's much better so far.....

Geez, I'm quite slow at animating.. .. quite disappointing! -___-

Coloured first Background

2008-05-05T19:31:00.003+01:00

Finished colouring the first background for Becca's film project - just sent her the file so right now I am waiting for her reply/comment to see if there's any changes necessary:

Gonna start animating the Old Lady for 'The Grim's Reaper' project (Still haven't received the Nurse model yet so I'll contact Rachel later on it)

-___-

Research for colouring the background & Some Progress

2008-05-04T12:44:00.009+01:00

For Becca's job - I got one background to colour: Egypt. Becca already coloured most of the background so she made it easier for me.

Luckily for me I am already quite fascinated with the topic so I had some info to help me - Here are some scanned images which will guide me to colour the blanks:

I've been collecting 'Egyptian Gods' Magazines before (Been collecting them mainly because I wanted the free statue that came with the magazine really but now I can make use them to help me!!!):

Another free gift that came with the Magazine:

Found this in the corner of my room: A souvenir from my Dad when he went to Egypt

I wanted the colour gold but since it was quite difficult to achieve that in Photoshop - I found a gold texture on the internet and used that to colour specific parts of the background:

Not sure if this is good but once I have finished I will send this off to Becca as soon as possible.

Some more research (images I found on the Internet) -On the background that I'm colouring there are some hieroglyphics and I thought I do some research to see if there's any examples/colour reference that could help:

Feedback for the Soundtracks

2008-05-03T19:32:00.004+01:00

I got an email reply/feedback from Jessica of the 2 music clips I've made so far:

"i think just continue doing what you are at the moment and keep experimenting, if its ok, i got a few suggestions from what you have already sent me:

from sound edit test 001:

after the piano solo, there is a little tinkle part at 01:07, maybe use that part for the beginning and try get the part at 01:30 to sync with moon fall?
i think maybe do not have the ending too grand

from sound edit test 002:

ending is a bit too grand for the film, (but i personally love the tune tho its nice!)
the middle part music you used starting around at 00:00:51 maybe push that forward and use it as the little girl is approaching the bridge from the back shot?"

I'll be working on more soundtracks for her (will at least produce 3 more different soundtracks and then have it sent to her) - with her feedback I am more aware with what she's looking for.

New Timetable/schedule

2008-05-03T19:07:00.007+01:00

I received an email from Dan yesterday as he suggested that I should set myself targets for the different jobs I got - set up a finishing (draft) a task for certain group projects. I've made a new timetable for myself (Just for WEEK 5 - reason being is that now that I am a part-timer, I'm not sure what kind of jobs I will receive so I'll just concentrate on the jobs I have for the time being):

So far Rachel sent me a reply about the Nurse model - they found problems and so they are working on it for the time being. She did offer me another secondary animation job - animate one of the old lady/grandma at the backgroup so I was very that she offer me something that I could actually help!

Sound Edit 2 for 'The Moon's Smile'

2008-05-01T22:11:00.004+01:00

This is the second soundtrack I made today for Jessica's film - Not too proud with this one as it has many gaps of silence in the animatic; I find it difficult to cut/edit certain musics to fit in the right scene (according to me anyways):

I'll send what I've made so far to Jessica so that she knows what I've done with the soundtracks.

Targets for the remaining 5 weeks

2008-05-01T14:54:00.003+01:00

Well I came in to College today and had a chat with Dan; talked about my situation as my original project group has been canceled. He suggested that I should try to get involved with other people's group projects so that at least I can put in more work in my 3 folders.

He also encouraged me to ask other people if they needed some help - nothing major, something like secondary animations. So I asked James/John/Rachael's group to see if I could help. Luckily there was something that I can do; they offer me to do a secondary animation of the nurse in their film . I have also received some of Becca's background concept which I can colour for her.

To sums things up - so far the jobs I have recieved:

Jessica's film: ' The Moon's Smile' = edit some soundtracks for her (so far I made one last night)
Becca's film: 'The Stamp Collector' = colour in some backgrounds for her film
James/Rachel/John: 'The Grim Reaper' = animate the Nurse (the nurse sits at the desk while filing her nails and shivers when the Reaper past by - but she can't see and just continues filing her nails again)

I will also animate the scenes that I was given from my original group as well.

Sound Edit Test for 'Moon's Smile' Project

2008-05-01T00:03:00.005+01:00

Well here's the first soundtrack test I made for Jessica's film (I had no part in help producing the animatic - I only produced soundtrack which I edited from using different musics and combined it together with the Animatic shown below) :

I'm planning to make at least 2 more different soundtracks and show all 3 of them to Jessica this week (hopefully by Friday at least)

-____-

I've been employed!!!

2008-04-30T17:38:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I got a call from Jessica D - she read the e-mail from Mike about the group I was in got cancelled and offered me a job; editing some soundtracks for her animation. I was happy that she asked me and decided to take this job. She provided some soundtracks she already had and sent them to me by email as well as her animatic.

With today I looked for some more possible music to use (as she did indicated traditional Chinese soundtracks - and luckily I found one I had in mind!) for Jessica's film; 'David Li - Sentimental Erhu (Chinese Fiddle) music' - I thought: PERFECT!!!!!

I also had a chat on MSN with Adam and it turns out that Becca is offering me a job to help her: colour-in some backgrounds for her film using Photoshop. I wasn't too sure with this role as I don't want to mess up her film but took it anyways and informed her that I'll try to get it done as soon as possible so that if she doesn't like it she can always ask someone else to do it. I did say the same thing with Jessica as well but they both seem to be alright with it.

I was very happy to know that someone wanted my help (even tho right now I'm not feeling too confident with myself at all). But anyways I will take the jobs and try my best on it.

I'm planning to do something else for myself as well - like a short showreel or something which involves the Technical sides i.e. lighting. Since I have nothing in my Technical Folder, I need to do this for myself and not rely on anyone.

"The Day That I Died" project - CANCELLED

2008-04-28T18:16:00.004+01:00

Well, Asa, Wan and myself had a meeting with Mike today to discuss the project's situation. It seems the best solution is to cancel the film.............and so it's been cancelled.

Asa and Mike did suggested to Wan and me that we could try to complete it (I didn't like the idea at first as it didn't feel right - I'm weird I know! but I'm like that!) - Wan however wanted to continue with the film - he has done a lot of work (as well as Asa) and it would be a shame to have the project completely cancelled. So Wan and I had some talking and we will do some parts of the film mainly for our portfolio - if we can do more than who knows? we might be able to complete to film for Asa. This is just what I'm assume it could happen!

Mike sent an email to everyone in the BA year informing that the "The Day That I Died" project - has been cancelled and members of the group are available to help other group projects. For the time being I'm just waiting - by Wednesday if no reply then I'll ask people or work more on "The Day That I Died" project like animating and such......

Time will tell...............

Update-2............Still animating

2008-04-25T02:54:00.006+01:00

received Wan's new improved version of the rigged model Sophie and so I quickly put her together in Scene 3 which I am still currently animating. So far I've been tweaking the movements of Bobo in the scene where he and Sophie floats in darkness (making sure all his body parts are moving and trying to make it believable that he's floating!).

I will need to do the same thing with the Sophie model - currently I have animated the basic of the movement but will work on the details and such.

Here's the clips of what I have done:

Ah, it's getting late - need some sleep!!! -____-

Update of my progress

2008-04-24T18:04:00.007+01:00

I didn't go to yesterday's lecture due to being quite depress with college work - that's a poor excuse I know but I didn't had any energy to get myself out of bed that day so I just send an apology email to Mike H - informing him that I will not be able to attend to his lecture. I still feel quite guilty about it really :S

Any-who I have been animating (just Bobo as the Sophie model has some problems) and here are my progress or tests for Scene 3:

First Progress

Progress 2

And finally.......Progress 3

I am still working on it - gonna upload more clips later!

*sigh* -__-

Need to re-texture train model

2008-04-22T14:28:00.007+01:00

Been feeling down lately with this whole BA year as I realised that my level of skills are quite low.. .. .. I'll be quite surprise if I get graduated but for now I'm not putting any high hopes. Just gonna do my job and try to finish this last Term.

Anyways, Today got an e-mail from Asa as I need to re-texture the Train model, so I need to work on that again. This just shows that I don't have enough skills to do this kind of job but ah well, practice makes perfect I guess (in my case I need a lot of practice!). I've sent an email to Alex seeking help and have also found a good website that teaches you how to creat a realistic metal texture in Photoshop and I'm just testing it out now.. .. . . .. ..

I'm still animating - been animating Scene 3 last night (just the Bobo model). But if it's from me I bet it still needs a lot of work since I know that animating can be difficult and I'm not great with animating!

Gonna be working (job) tonight so I'm not too sure if I should come in to College tomorrow for the Portfolio lecture.. .. .. .. just wait and see I guess.

-_____- *sigh*

Train Re-textured - small changes

2008-04-21T15:20:00.003+01:00

Just small changes on the roof and the carriages:

Just recieved the girl model - so I can start animating now.. .. .. .. *sigh* -__-

Animating - delayed. Working on Texturing instead

2008-04-21T12:51:00.011+01:00

Found some problems when I tried to animate our main character (Sophie)- so Asa sent the model back to get it re-done and checked. While we all are still waiting for it, I was told to re-do the train model. I realised how simple-minded I can be since the train texture I did earlier is too simple - looks too plain.

I'm still learning how to texture so I'm trying my best to get it right - Below are images of my attempt to re-texture the train and I hope it's much better. I used the bump-map technique under the colour i.e. Gold with another image:

I'm starting to get use to using the UV mapping techniques - below are screenshots of how I used different UV mapping; here I used 'Automatic Mapping', quite useful but not always works correctly. See the textures go very messy so I had to highlight the areas and then select 'Automatic Mapping' again:

BEFORE

AFTER

Like I said before the 'Automatic Mapping' is not always realitable - for the roof of the train I use 'Cylindrical Mapping' as the roof is curved:

And here's the finalised texture of the Train:

Not too sure if this is better so I'm just going to have to wait for everyone's responses - I will double check the textures of the train before I send it to Asa.

My own Schedule for Term3 - CHANGES

2008-04-18T18:33:00.005+01:00

Looks like I caused some confusions - when I put the dates of when we have I have lectures Asa thought I won't be doing anything else - So I replaced them out of what I will be doing on that day instead.

-______-

Found something strange on the Model

2008-04-18T15:43:00.005+01:00

Just to be safe, I found something strange on the Sophie Model and posted this image on the Group's blog as well:

Animating - STARTING NOW!!!

2008-04-18T14:53:00.004+01:00

I got the new rigged model of Sophie from Asa last night which was a great news as I was told that we might get it on Saturday but luckily Giles managed to get the problems fixed.

I started putting the two characters together on Maya so that I can get started with the animating:

I'm gonna animate Scene 3 where the two characters get sucked in by the dark shadowy creature. Better get on with it now!!

My own Schedule for Term3

2008-04-17T15:49:00.005+01:00

Had a formative with Dan today and realised that I need to show my own timetable as proof that I can be responsible and organise:

I may need to make some changes - I'm not too sure if it make sense plus I need to make sure the time slots of each target/task I made clash with the timetable that Asa made (plus we never know what will happen so best be prepared!)

Also, I posted a request in the Project Group Blog - asking Asa if there's anything I could do to fill up my Technician Folder for my Portfolio.

*sigh*

-__-

Texture Train - COMPLETED!!!!

2008-04-16T23:35:00.009+01:00

I finally finished texturing the Train - The first design was just my own curiosity as I wondered what happens if I used mainly Pink and Cream as well as using the colour Gold for the details. From Asa's comment on the Group's blog, I did do some of the changes she asked; changing from the 'Phong' to 'Blinn' on Maya so that texture would be more shiny:

This design would most likely be Asa's plan of how she wanted the train to appear in the Dead World - At first I thought she wanted the gold texture for the details only which is why I used different colours to experiment:

Ah well, I've sent her two of this designs (maya files) so she can pick.
Now on to my next task: ANIMATING!!!

*Sigh!* -___-

Texturing Train - Process

2008-04-15T01:38:00.004+01:00

Ok, It's not much but at least I've made some progress in texturing the Train.. ..

In the Dead World there's a lot of pale, yellowish and orangy colours and since I was told the main colour for the train is Cream - I've used dark pink so that I hope it can make the train stand out more:

I'm having trouble deciding on the gold texture (I'm terrible making decisions!!!) - I've used Asa's Gold texture and I tried experimenting on a shiny gold/yellow colour (used 'Phong' in Maya to make the texture appear shiny):

Researching colours for the Train Model.. .. ..

2008-04-14T20:47:00.007+01:00

For the first week back from Easter Break - I've been down and upset lately so I couldn't concentrate with my work for Uni (not really sure why I'm upset really :P) ...But luckily having a good, long, one day off to take my mind off work yesterday - I feel much better (but still moody :S)

I will make myself a new timetable/goal for the last TERM of this course later. As I have given the job to texture the train model I done some research which I completely forgot to post up. I was told the main colours are Cream and Gold for the details and I looked up on the Internet of different coloured trains which could help me:

The Cream and Red seems to go well in this example - the only thing missing is the gold textures for the details i.e. window fame

The possible 'look' of the inside train - wooden floor with red (or maybe a different colour) seats

...And finally more examples of different colours mostly with gold and white (or silver in this case)

Now I'm off to texture the Train model and then get on with the animating!

TERM 3 - First day back!

2008-04-09T18:36:00.005+01:00

Well first day back from the Easter Break and we immediately have a formative with Mike Smith.. .. .. well I didn't know that he would see us individually and will look at our three folders (Artist folder = drawings, design concept work, Technician folder = UV Mapping, Animation Folder = block outs and so on so on!)

Due to this I will have to see him next week instead with my work :(

Well its been postive with the group so far - we got the Sophie and Bobo Character rigged and ready to animate!

My two tasks for the next couple of weeks will be:

Texture the Train model
Animate the given scenes of the animation: Scenes 3 & 7 (see image below)

^_^

New task - texture the Train model

2008-04-06T20:07:00.005+01:00

From 'The Day That I Died' group blog, Asa asked Raphael and myself of which one of us will texture the Train model from Casper. I volunteered to take this job and I got the model from Asa today:

It looks awesome!!! Texturing is not exactly what I wanted to do during the 3rd year and especially to show as part of my portfolio work but I guess I can't be picky now.

-___-

Just an update.. .. ..

2008-04-03T19:49:00.004+01:00

Wow, its been a while since I updated my blog - with the extension on my dissertation over the Easter Break, I was not too happy at all!!

Well the Easter Break is almost over now so I better start organize myself for Term 3 (last term to complete the BA year!! - eeeppp!!!)

Anyways - I just read the Group's blog and Asa asked me to make some changes for the 3D Block-out. So I better get the changes done a.s.a.p before we have our formative and such on the Wednesday 9th (not looking forward to that!! :P)

-_____- *sigh*

Doctor model - completed texturing! (I hope!)

2008-03-17T22:38:00.005Z

Well I managed to complete texturing the Doctor model as I promised myself I should have it done by today (I hope I completed it anyways - need to see if anyone else in the project group likes it first!)

The concept drawing from Asa had the Doctor's skin to slightly grey - I had it slightly pale pink just to make it look instead as it looked kinda weird with grey in maya:

I'm not too sure with the hair either - I painted the hairs myself on Photoshop and had a bump-map as well to make it more 3D:

With this done - according to my set timetable for the Easter Break I should now concentrate on my dissertation!!

Texturing Doctor

2008-03-14T10:07:00.004Z

Last night I started texturing the Doctor model for 'The day that I died' project:

So far I managed to texture the tie and the blue shirt.. .. .. The white coat is more difficult (Since I'm not really a texturing expert/type - this will take me a while to get use to!). I'm gonna try an other solution if possible if there's any easier way to texture.

I have to go to work tonight so I will continue with this over the weekend to try to meet with my deadline (MONDAY!)

Timetable for Easter Break

2008-03-12T17:57:00.004Z

Well here's my timetable with my targets over the Easter Break:

TARGETS

2008-03-12T11:50:00.007Z

Well from Monday 12th I made a list of Scenes and Types of Cameras used and their descriptions:

Also I managed to alter the changes in the 3D blockout and sent the video file to Asa last night - due to being such a large file I had to cut it into 5 separate files!!! Here's the things I aim to do during the holidays:

I'm given the job to texture the Doctor so I will start that soon during this week
That reminds me! - I need to make a time schedule for myself for the Easter Holidays
Work on Scenes 3 and 7 and will also help Asa with other Scenes after I'm done with mine
........Anything else I've missed out!!
Other topic: I need to work on is my dissertation as I have been given an extension *SOB*

3D Block-up UPDATED 2

2008-03-06T21:04:00.004Z

Updated version of 3D Block-out; work on the changes that Asa asked me to do and here it is.

3D Blockout - Scenes 2 - 4 DONE!!!

2008-02-28T13:03:00.005Z

I've done it!!! LOL - this has been driving me crazy and now I'll just wait to see if there's any changes before we can submit this 3D blockout as a group on the Fomative. With this done and the other models finished - I can finally only concentrate on my dissertation - oh joy - _ -

Determined to get the 3D Blockout done TODAY!!!!

2008-02-27T11:23:00.006Z

After what happened on Monday 25th - (Flashback: I came in to Uni and met up with Asa as we planned to get the 3D block out today, BUT FOR SOME BLOODY reason we didn't get anything finished and I stayed from From 9am to 4PM!!! - how the hell did that happened I have no idea and still quite shocked about it!!!)

Anyways - today I am determined to get the whole 3D Block out done (NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!!) I don't care if I have to stay till 4pm again today - I am getting this thing done!!!!

I have worked on Scene 2 & 3 so I only needed to make some minor changes to it and edit some sequences in Premiere (Which I have done on Monday):

TODAY - I am working on Scene 4 and I've used Wan's old scene for the first animatic we submitted; the only changes I am doing will be replacing the 2D characters with 3D and using different camera angles:

Better get back to work (SIGH)

3D Blockout - complete 1st draft

2008-02-21T21:15:00.008Z

I am pleased with myself to finally finish the 3D Block-out of Scene 2 and 3:

It was suppose to be in yesterday but I had some issues with Maya (stupid thing!!) but I'm glad I got my part done for the group. This won't be the finalized until I show it to Asa - We're planning to meet up on Monday so we can discuss any changes for the scenes for the 3D Block-out before we pass it over to the sound guy and later to the animators.

The meeting with Mike yesterday was short and simple - Mike was really busy that day so I had to briefly explain the group's progress. He really wants to see an example/shot of one scene with the 3D characters in the 2D environment to make see if it will combine well together. :S

Made changes for the Heart Monitor - textured as well

2008-02-18T01:31:00.006Z

Well I got heart monitor machine done! - made some changes of the shape (the model was originally made by Jessica S - she was very kind to pass it to our group and so Asa asked me to make some changes of the machine):

This was the image of the Heart-monitor machine I found on the internet which I used as a guildline for the changes:

This is the rendered version :

It's late now so I'm off to bed! - night night!

Sketches of Flowers

2008-02-17T21:54:00.006Z

Sketched some flowers that could be used for the dead world (the day that i died - project):

At the moment this sketch below is my favorite:

Flower Research for the Dead World

2008-02-17T15:57:00.006Z

Got some research done - looked at different flowers that caught my attention :I've been feeling very depressed and stressed out about Uni as I am trying to balance my dissertation, project group and my own life outside Uni!! I'm planning to stay home tomorrow to sort myself out and just hope everything goes well in the week! Ah well, enough moaning for today! - I better start sketching some ideas!!

Stool,Vases - finished textured - dolls needs more time!

2008-02-15T13:37:00.005Z

Feeling ill and in a very bad mood so not exactly a great day for me :(

Anyway, I've textured the stool and the vases:

I'm having a hard time texturing the two dolls so I need more time on it! Here's the problem; it looks fine from the side, but then you rotate to see the front view the texture goes wrong!!
Especially with the horse doll - it's really pissing me off!!! *SIGH*!!- will try to get as much done today tho.

Getting more worried!

2008-02-13T12:59:00.003Z

Well the group (Asa, Wan and me) - we had a meeting with Mike. Basically we need to do A LOT of work especially with the Dead World environmnet.

I am slightly worried (Like always as I tend to worry about nearly EVERYTHING!!! lol) - I am late to get the toys modelled and textured so I am planning to get that done a.s.a.p (maybe tonight actully!) and need to do some changes on the stool as well as to texture it as well as the Vase(s).

Once I get that out of the way I can work on the 3D block out - just the hospital room for the time being as the dead world environment is not solid. Asa and Wan passed on their Maya work to me so I can get the 3D animatic scene started during the weekend or so.

Very tired! ah well - better get back to work! :s

Modelled new models and textured the toys

2008-02-11T23:24:00.002Z

Well I want to get my tasks done before Tuesday as I have to go to work (job) since I will not have any time to get any Uni work done . I must say I'm quite proud of myself to get them done!

Asa asked me to model a stool and a vase for the hospital room:

With the Vase I kind like the Orange and the Red coloured vases so I modelled both of them and let the group choose which one they like most:

The texturing didn't go quite well as I didn't really wanted to texturing anything during the group project but I tried my best - with the dolphin doll I used a pick fur but it doesn't look right :S - I'll see Asa tomorrow and she will show me how to use bump-mapping:

I didn't make much changes with the horse doll other than smoothing the whole body again since there was still edges showing before:

Its getting late so I'm off to bed! Night!

Horse Doll - textured

2008-02-11T01:53:00.001Z

Still working on the two toys

2008-02-08T13:07:00.001Z

Well I've done all the details for the horse doll - I still haven't combined the two half model together just yet since I was told that I should texture the model first before I combined the model together.

The minor changes would be the scurf - I'll work on that later; connecting the vextures later!

This is just a texture test - still wondering if I should use Maya fur....

I quickly modeled the Dolphin doll - This was much easier than the horse doll so the texturing should be fine ^_^

I have to go to work tonight so I will work on a more models for the hospital room either later tonight or tomorrow morning - I will also work on the textures too.

Research for Bobo

2008-02-07T18:56:00.002Z

I just read on the group's blogs the targets for each of us - the 1st priority is to do some changes on Bobo so that he could appear much cuter.

I quickly done some research on different dolls I found on the internet and here are some which I thought looked cute:

(forgot to say: "Happy Chinese New Year!!!")

Horse Doll - Working process

2008-02-07T08:16:00.004Z

I made most of the Horse doll model last night and it shouldn't take me long to get the other toy modeled during this week.

With the Horse Doll I still need to work on the hair and the tail (I will need to texture both toys so I am being a bit careful on how I model them!):

This is what it looks like when I smoothed the model (I haven't combined the half model together as whole just yet!)

Start working on Horse & Dophin Doll

2008-02-04T01:44:00.001Z

Well for this week I am aiming to get the two toys for the hospital room modelled. Luckily for me I already own a dophin doll so it gives me an idea of how I could model it:

This is just a rough sketch of how I want to model the dolphin doll in my version:

Originally Asa wanted to model the horse doll but I asked her if I could do it since I can't model Sophie - I'll be using the same character profile I drew last term of the horse:

Ok - better get some sleep!! Night night!!

Animatic - Scene 3 Changes

2008-02-04T01:36:00.001Z

Woo Hoo! I finally made the changes for Scene 3! - it's not final though as I need to see if everyone is ok with this.

*Unfortunately I got most of the timings too slow - but that shouldn't be a problem as I can always edit the scenes again on Adobe Primere

Scene 3 - Hospital scene

The changes are as follows:

The doctor leaving the room to leave the mum and Sophie alone
A scene between mum and Sophie face to face - Sophie hands Bobo doll to mum

Animatic: Scene 2 - changes

2008-02-03T18:45:00.001Z

For today I've been working on the animatic for Scenes 2 & 3 - I'm aiming to get it done tonight as it says on the timetable I should get it done by the end of this week (or today as it's Sunday!!)

Scene 2: Chase scene

Asa wanted this scene to have more 'tension' so the changes I've made are:

Changes of shadows appearing (adding more shadows over the layer)
A quick zoom-in of Sophie's shocked/scared face expression after seeing the shadows moving closer

I'll post the other video later tonight!!

Timetable - FINALISED!

2008-01-31T19:11:00.001Z

Well I just had a chat with Asa a min ago and we both discussed some changes for the timetable:

I hope everything will go smoothly this time!

Term - 2 Timetable - DRAFT ONLY

2008-01-31T15:29:00.001Z

The group had a chat with Mike yesterday - it wasn't too good as Mike is quite worried with our progress and if nothing is done about it - we might have to cancel making this project which would be such a shame since I really like this storyline....That means I'll have to work extra harder to get it done!!!

Just updated the Term 2 timetable for the group - its only draft at the moment so I'll have to talk to Asa before its finalized.

Putting work on hold!

2008-01-26T20:39:00.001Z

Unfortunately for me it's been too stressful for the past couple of days :(

The draft version of the dissertation is due in for next week (Formative!!) - and so I have put it as my 1st priority and so there's no choice for me but to put my group project work on hold for the time being. Of course its not just Uni work that's stressful - I have other important things as well outside Uni so its been a bit difficult :P

Hopefully everything will be alright soon!

Reseach: Toys for Sophie's hospital room

2008-01-21T14:48:00.002Z

I've been a bit behind with the Project Group work due to my dissertation stuff - As I've stated before that its my 1st priority now as I don't want to leave it for the last week or so like I did before in Term 1 due to lack of people involvement with the animatic.

Well I quickly looked back at Sophie's character profile that Asa wrote last Term and almost forgot that Sophie likes to daydream about being a Pirate or mermaid (Also says that she wants to grow up to be just like her mum but I'll focus on her childish personality side).

I really like (A) - the cute Pirate Doll and hopefully be able to model something this simple (or so i hope!) since my modeling skills ain't great :P

Here's more research:
For now I'll get as much done as I can before tomorrow's group meeting - but sometimes I feel as if I'm not good enough to be in the group and also feel unmotivated to do anything.. .. ..
Time will tell I suppose.. .. .. ..

New Aims - Need to work Harder!!

2008-01-18T10:25:00.001Z

After the group's meeting I felt a bit upset knowing that my modeling skills are not great when I showed my Sophie model to the teacher.. ... ... But I am kinda glad that I heard the truth, but at the same time very disappointed - Ah well, life goes on!!

I've been so focused on my Dissertation work that I've haven't had the time with the group's project work - Over the weekends I need to do the following:

Research Toys for the Hospital room
Complete Sophie Model (Even if it's not going be used in the animation)
Start modeling the Horse Doll from last Term (if i have the time to be honest as the dissertation work is more important to me right now as I don't want to leave my essay work to the last minute like I did before last Term!)

Hopefully I'll get most of the work done - got a work (job) tonight!!

New aim for Term 2!!

2008-01-16T09:34:00.001Z

Personally it has started slow for me ever since I came back to Uni, plus I've been worrying a lot so that didn't help at all!!

After a short lecture session/ talk with Jared on 15th Tuesday for the dissertation planning and such, I've planned out some goals to achieve for the 2nd Term.

Will post up some images/ documents later today as I have not had the chance to scan or type anything just yet!

First day back to Uni

2008-01-08T09:26:00.001Z

So far with the character model - I still need to work a bit longer with the rigging as I want to make sure that it can used/pasted on to the animator for this Term.

I'll post up some images of my progress later!

Still working on the Character Model

2008-01-03T13:06:00.001Z

It was a mistake for me in the beginning of using a Cube to start off building the character so I re-modeled the character model using Cylinders in Maya and now the body looks much better than before:

With the head there's too many vertex so I need to delete some:
I am still aiming to get the character model done before I go back to Uni - Asa also suggested to use Cloth in Maya for the character's clothes so I need to research on that.

Re-modeling Sophie

2008-01-01T11:06:00.001Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! - 2008!!!!

GOAL: complete the model of Sophie before we go back to UNI!!!

Currently I am re-modeling her as Asa pointed out that she looks a bit blocky/square-ish which I agree (oddly enough I didn't notice this before!) so that's why I am re-modeling her. It has taken me a bit longer before as I couldn't bring my Maya Book to help - it shouldn't take me long to do now tho.

I'll post up some screen-shot images later.

This has put me behind in the animatic - but I will defiantly make up for it! I am still researching more data for my dissertation but I had a clear idea of what I want to research and write about before I left to Hong Kong so that shouldn't be a problem!

Josie

GUESS WHOS BACK!!!!

2007-12-27T13:42:00.001Z

Well I'm finally back from Hong Kong (well last night anyways) and just woke up not long ago! - really miss it already and kinda wished that I don't have to come back to London!

Well during the holidays I've stared modeling Sophie for 'The day that I died' project so its a good thing I brought my Laptop with me. I am currently working on the rigging and still need to duplicate the current Sophie model as well as the rigg skeleton (Sophie with hair) which shouldn't take me long to do before we go back to Uni.

I've been using Asa's character profile as the guideline when I started modeling Sophie:

Here are some screens shot images:

Enjoy the rest of the holidays everyone!!

Going to Hong Kong over the holidays

2007-12-08T00:51:00.001Z

Well I'll be going away to Hong Kong during most of the Christmas Holidays (be going this coming SUNDAY!!) but I will still be doing some work as planned in the Christmas Holiday Timetable - modelling girl character & hopefully get it rigged perfectly for next Term. I'll be bringing my laptop over there to get the work done as well as enjoying my holiday (will most likely be shopping like mad!!) - but I may not have internet so I might not be able to post any update of my work on the blog.

I will also be working on my dissertation as well as now I have narrowed it down to what I wanted to write about - well almost anyways as I still need more research to back me up - but I'm getting there at least!!!

I won't be around over Christmas and so:

"I WISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! - ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS!!!"

Latest group schedule FOR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY

2007-12-01T23:13:00.001Z

Well its finally the holidays!! - I still have quite a bit to do tho :(
Ah well! - Here's the latest Christmas holiday timetable for the group that Asa asked me to do:

Close to getting everything done!!!

2007-11-27T15:31:00.002Z

Its been quite a rush getting everything done for the past 3 days......Finally today the group managed to get the animatic done (The day that I died' project group)

I quickly made a timetable for everyone over the Christmas holidays:

Due to the lack of time I now have (need to get an Essay done as well sorting other things out for the hand-in date) I couldn't experiment with other colours for the hospital room and below is the only one I made today (the group seems happy about it!)

I'll be going to work tonight (job) so I won't have time to do anything else until tomorrow - I'll won't be able to sleep for the next 3 days now!!!

Working Late and got one dead world sketch coloured

2007-11-26T23:15:00.001Z

At today's group meeting there was some changes that needs to be done for the animatic - I'll be working a bit late to get it done and so far I managed to get most of the changes done in Scene 3 of the hospital room!

There's still some work left for Scene 2 but Unfortunatly since I am too worried about my Essays and Presentation I may have to leave some other group work and do my essays instead such as concept work.....

I got one of the dead world environment sketched coloured yesterday:

Getting late and my eyes are starting to hurt after staring at the screen all day!! (don't understand how people can work long hours staring at their computer screens!!)

Scene 2 AND 3 of Animatic = DONE!!!

2007-11-26T09:18:00.001Z

I've spent my Saturday and Sunday getting Scene 2 and done of the animatic and finally its completed!! - Well I still need to show it to the group just in case before we can present it really....Took me a while to get it render as well!!!

I've also made a final sketch of the hospital room (All I need to do now is to colour it on Photoshop) :

I made it more spacious since I was told that in reality there should be more room around the patients' bed for doctors/nurses

Now that I've got most of the group's tasks done I can finally focus on my Essays & Presentation for the remaining week before we go off for the Christmas Break - I'll be going to Hong Kong then so I am looking forward to it!!!

So, so tired!!

2007-11-23T15:15:00.001Z

I am now seriously tired.....

I got 1 essay and presentation which I haven't completed yet as well as trying to catch up with the dissertation synopsis which I was planning to complete and send to Jared long ago but due to the project group, I am falling behind.

There are new changes of the story which I was told today by Asa when she had a chat with Mike H - and I really like the changes but we are still keeping some scenes the same.

Here's some screen shots of the animatic scene:

I'm planning to work really late tonight after work (job) as I am still aiming to finish my part of the animatic by Sunday so I can worry about other things....

Hopefully everything will go well...

New task - get the animatic done by SUNDAY!!

2007-11-23T02:45:00.001Z

Well luckily I got most of the Scene 2 of the animatic done yesterday and now I just need to do some minor changes; Asa drew some new sketches of Bobo and Sophie for the animatic so I just need to change the images:

BEFORE

AFTER

I am aiming to finish the animatic by Sunday so that I can fully concentrate my essays which I have put on hold too long now and I am now feeling scared that I could fail my grades... ... Well hopefully I'll get everything done soon!

Back to work!

A bit of reseach and working on After Effects

2007-11-21T19:16:00.001Z

For today I've just focused on working on After Effects for the scene I am suppose to do - half way there getting the scene done but I haven't done any special effects on it like fading to one shot to another (I'll do that later - the important thing is getting the scene to make sense!)

I've also tried to look at some methods of creating hair on Maya - not much luck tho since most of the tutorials I've looked at only mentioned of creating realistic, complicated hairs for the characters. I found one PDF file on the internet about hairs so hopefully its useful:

http://www.purplestatic.com/courses/maya/441/Hair.pdf

After tomorrow I am not going to do any related group project work as I am now seriously scared/worried sick about my essays & my synopsis for my dissertation - I am seriously feeling ill knowing that I have little time now...

For the group meeting tomorrow I have to have the hospital room finalised - as there was some changes so I have to re-draw the room again:

I know its not completed but I don't have the time today as I am working on Scene 2 of the animatic and I am aiming to get that done (or most of it at least) for the group meeting tomorrow!

Some sketches of the Dead World

2007-11-21T02:25:00.002Z

While I was working today (Job - wise on 20th Nov - AND when it wasn't too busy when I sketched thses!!!) and now just got home! *sob* - I manage to sketch out some ideas of what I imagine of the dead world could look like for the 'The day that I died' project:

Sketch 1

This was inspired after watching 'Josie's La La Land' where there was flowers everywhere! I will colour it eventually to show the group later!

Sketch 2

This one I had an idea of making the dead world seem surreal - the weird curved plants surrounding the main character and all - hopefully it doesn't make it look too weird!

Sketch 3

I wasn't really too sure about this one as it was quite similar to Sketch 2 - I'll leave it for now and develop it later..

Its REALLY late now so I'm going to sleep! Night night :P

some progress....

2007-11-19T21:17:00.001Z

Asa asked me to do the model sheets for the horse doll which most people liked which will be modelled later for the 'The day that I died' project (Will colour them later tho!!) :

Been working on After Effects today as well as almost completing one of the essays! (Yay almost there!!)

Staying home to work!

2007-11-19T12:47:00.001Z

Rather than going to Uni today I decided to stay home and work so hopefully I can catch up (knowing now I have less than 2 weeks to get everything done!)

I will be helping to get the animatic done - I will be working on Scene 2 (the scene where Sophie reunites with Bobo in the dead world and then gets chased by the huge shadow) - I'm not an expert of using After Effects but will give it a try to make it to a good standard.

I may not complete the model of Sophie for Week 9 as I am quite behind with everything else and for this week I may just want to concentrate on the essays only!

What I was suppose to show at today's group meeting

2007-11-15T19:26:00.001Z

Still feeling tired and stressed but much better now - Anyways! Here's the stuff I'm suppose to show everyone at today's meeting:

The Finalized Hospital room and where the extra bed should be so that Asa knows where everything is when she starts modelling :

I was suppose to show some Music today - found some musics but I can't upload it on the group's blog so instead I've sent some via email to Asa to see what she thinks. I've also looked at Thomas Newman's creations and came across some soundtracks I really like from 'The Series of Unfortunate Events'. - have a look at some samples (very long web address!! so you have to copy each 3 rows for the full address to link you to the page!) :

http://www.amazon.com/Lemony-Snickets-Unfortunate-
Events-Soundtrack/dp/B00065GII2/ref=sr_1_10?
ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195150670&sr=1-10

Especially these which I personally like (in fact after listening to some samples I am very tempted to buy the CD!!):

'The Baudelaire Orphans'
'Resilience'
'The Unpleasant Incident Involving A Train' - (a struggle scene)
'The Letter That Never Came'

Research on modeling Hair on Maya (ignore the first post I sent earlier - it was wrong! sorry!) - this is more about texturing for game characters but I dunno it could work when I start modeling Sophie:

http://www.poopinmymouth.com/process/hair_tutorial/
hair_01.htm

Well that's all for now - need to get back to more work *sigh*

Research of using Hair in Maya for the group

2007-11-15T10:50:00.001Z

Unfortunately I can't come in to Uni as I am feeling ill and tired so I cannot go to today's lecture as well as the 'The Day That I Died' group meeting :(

I was suppose to show research about using Hairs on Maya since I have the book (Mastering Maya 7) and wanted to sure the group - but since I won't be coming in today, I've took some screen shots of the website that you can go to if you open up the Maya program and select: Help -> Maya Help which will automatically take you to its website - just type in 'hair'

This is just the basics about Hair since there's so much to cover:

I'll post up more research later today to help out the group.

Group's Schedule - some changes

2007-11-15T00:30:00.001Z

Group's Schedule - Updated again

2007-11-11T14:45:00.001Z

Latest group schedule I've updated:

Canary Wharf Station Reseach

2007-11-10T15:59:00.001Z

From last group meeting (yesterday) for the 'The day that I died' group- we all had a good chat of what's needs to be done for this project.

I've told the other group 'Owl's dayout' that I will not be able to produce a lot of work for them as I've got too much to do - They were all very understanding and I'm glad for that :)

Nnamdi suggested that the Canary Wharf Station could give us inspiration for our story as we needed a station for our main character to go to.

Since it was easy for me to go to Canary Wharf I took the job in taking photos and videos for everyone to look:

*SIGH* - still got so much to do!! So tired now!.....

3 weeks left to get eveything done!! - AAAGGRRHHH!!!!

2007-11-08T10:32:00.001Z

I only have 3 weeks left to get the following done:

2 Essays;
Dissertation synopsis;
Project group - tasks that needed to be done for this term

I need to update the project group's time schedule as we are now running out of time and it doesn't seem like we're moving forward as much as Asa has hoped. So now everyone needs to get extra serious now that we have only have 3 weeks left!! From the project brief, this is a list of the things that needs to be done:

Develop idea = DONE
Script writing = DONE
Assemble team = DONE
Storyboarding = Majority done (some changes in certain scenes)
Record scratch track
Character design:

Bobo = DONE (Asa posted up the model sheet)
Girl = Asa made sketches - Almost done, need everyone's opinons!!
Mom
Doctor = Eva made some sketches & will develop more designs - needs everyone's opinons!!
Creatures = Raph will develop more sketches

Animatic (rough in Week 5) = DONE
Visual development =

Moodboards = DONE
Colour schemes = DONE, Asa made colour schemes for both the Dead World & Hospital
Hospital room = Josie made sketches - DONE (Need to do some changes)
Train Station = Asa & Animata made some sketches
The Train = Wan & Nnamdi made some sketches - needs everyone's opinions
Dead world

Plan production flow = NEEDS TO BE UPDATED!!
Breakdown scenes - tasks = (See Plan production flow a.k.a. Group's time schedule)
Model Characters
Model / Sets / Props
WEEK 9 = BLOCK OUT ANIMATIC

There's still quite a lot to cover as everyone needs to work on the 2 essays as well! Hope we'll get everything done on time!!!

Some rough sketchs of London Piccadilly

2007-11-07T20:40:00.001Z

I finally put some other work on hold to do some sketches for 'Owl's dayout' project. Thanks to Jessica's London environment moodboards I was able to use it as referance (plus I did some research as well).

I've only managed to get a bit of of London - Piccadilly sketched and coloured which I personnally find very difficult to do! Although Im a bit worried as I've made it appear 'Cartoony'.

Here's some of the very earlier sketches I did which I keep forgetting to post up!

From this photograph of Piccadilly - I've managed to colour my own version

(see the red-circled area)

One example I've found of a 60s style poster/advert which I've used for my sketch

This is my owned design and coloured version - still not completed!!

That's all for today!