STORYBOARD

I drafted up my storyboard ready for filming on Tuesday and it just flowed, i'm really happy with it and it didn't take me long at all. I have a near solid idea of what shots i want completely and how long there going to be. I'm gonna re-draw my storyboard up neatly when i have time so i can make an animatic with it, this will make editing together the film and animation much easier when it needs to be done. I need to remember about time in this module, i don't want to be creating something much longer than a minute, which i think is going to be hard with the idea i have in my head but i'm sure i will find things to cut out etc.

Modeling the environment :)

So from the beginning i knew that i had to focus more on the visual effects and after effects because thats what the module was about so i only wanted a simple enviornment where Jeff could fit into. As it was a band a stage would be appropriate and the storyboard stated this anyway. So all i needed to do whas create the stage/ band equpitment and the outer interior.

I'm pleased with what i've got so far, just need to add the professional lights, maybe some more speakers and the language sign.

To save time i'm going to texture an already made soccer shape from the maya shapes. and turn it inside out. I think that the hexagon look of each part will make the walls look more ship like. It will also save time as i wont have to really unfold the uv map or anything i can just paint on straight away. I'm going to use metal and ship like textures as a lot of the walls will be in darkness though because of the lighting etc. Easy stuff :)

As you can see it looks a lot like the concept art. 

Floor plans/ Technical drawings and elevations

One thing i really thought about before modelling this time was size and measurements  I know from the last module that re-sizing takes up a lot of time you dont have, i know that were not using unity this time so that wont be much of a problem but i dont want to start modelling until i know exactly what measurements i need to be modelling too. To make sure of this i'm going to use a piece of live footage i shoot of Jeff on Tuesday and insert it into maya so i know how big my environment needs to be around her and how big my bears should be in comparison. At the moment i want my bears to be the size of actual bears so we will see how it all turns out with the live footage and go from there.

I've made a few draft floor plans for filming on Tuesday too so i know where to ask Jeff to stand, where she will walk and where everything virtual will be. Doing all this pre-stuff is really helping me this time compared to our last module where we rushed in and didn't work things out.

modelling begins! - My plobear

Whilst modelling i find it easier if i have a lot of image references to look at as well as my image planes, i find this work process works best for me and gives me a better idea of the bears shape. I think what i'm also going to do is print out an picture of my image planes and break them down into shapes just before i start. 

-PUT BREAK DOWN OF SHAPES HERE

I made this mood board to remind myself of details and to try get in as much facial expressions as i can. 

I also went to the library and found some books on polar bears which have really helped me too reference wise. -PUT LIBRARY SCANS OF BOOKS HERE

not finished at this point, but yeah it's going good :)

thinking ahead - if i can't make fur my bear will look stupid - so just incase i can't do it - i'll make a cartoon one instead

I like this mood board alot, theres some great ideas on it and the styles in which the different bears are drawn variey alot and have a big cartoony effect to them. I may model my bear on a cartoon version as back up if i find that i am struggling with a 'real' modelled bear. I'm also worried about the fur as i've never tried to make fur before, if i can't i may toon shade my bears or add some sort of cartoony texture to them.

Environment Ideas

Because of the lighting in my animation i don't need to do much environment wise which is unlike me as i love environments but as christmas has gone and realistically with the idea i'm thinking of i need to be focusing more on the camera shots, the bears, after effects etc. The module is to do with visual effects and making it blend in with the live footage so i need to remember this and focus more on these things rather than get distracted making a pretty environment. Plus if i want to get fur on the bears i need to set aside time for that as well.
I'm thinking of a simple stage, the inside should look like the outside of the ship textured wise and place a few amps, lights, mics, band stuff here and there.

-SCANS OF DRAWINGS HERE

Ship Ideas & Finished Concept Art

For my plo bears ship i just want something simple and fast to make as most of my time is going to be going into the bears and everything else. I put together this mood board of images of ships i found which show simple shapes and look.

As you can see i literally just want an absolute simple ship.

Some wings, a cockpit, a few buttons here and there and a good old texture to make it look more space ship like. I think i may draw the textures myself in photoshop as i enjoy doing it. 

I found a picture of a nice textured corridor as you can see above, all different shades of silver, i like the look of it a lot. 

So next thing i'm going to do is draw up a few mocks of my space ship then get down to some technical drawings which i can then turn into image planes and use them to model from. 

Finished Technical Drawings

Finished Concept Art

Again i think i'm getting a little better at drawing, i added in a screenshoted grid from maya and layered it in photoshop, i think it gives the finished piece a nice touch. Again i used the fur tool to experiment with at the bottom.

Power to the Pixels exhibition

Our exhibition was a great little experience :) although very hard to find i felt proud to have our group work on display and it be open to the public. It was rewarding to get feed back from other students and parents and see how proud they were of our work. From this i'm going to look out for free places that host exhibition days for anyone as it's essential you get your work out there. Yes the internet is mostly used but there's something more interesting and different to go and see something with your eyes and network with other people. I thought as a team we all worked well together and everyone had each others backs. It's nice to be able to depend on people and see that we all came together to create this event. I hope our end of year show will be as successful and organised and i look forward to sharing my work and helping others :)
Here's some pictures from the exhibition -

Starting to open up more portals in the social networking thingy

I know i have to do this and i have been lagging a little with it but i'm starting to open up more and sign up to new things to talk to new people and see peoples work. I quite like tumblr but hate twitter still. It's all that hashtag crap, can't stand it. Any who i will continue to hate it but go on it more and more...

opened up a deviant art account for when i have work i want to put up.

One thing i did do right is networking on facebook i was going to an event in Leeds called GameCityNights and i joined there page and started talking to a guy that was going too. Turns out we talked for hours about interests and work and met on the day, he was lovely and i took his business card and he told me to keep in touch. We still talk now and he has put my blog on his website for people to view as i dont have a proper website for work yet. 

The best thing to come out of it was him helping me look for an internship, he gave a great list of places and website to search through which got me in touch with some people. Really nice guy :)

helping me with internships-