Minor Project - Set Model Update

I haven't shown my progress with the minor project in a while so here it is. I've been busy modelling the living room/kitchen set including all the main furniture. I've also begun to set up the hallway set and the two upstairs rooms, the bathroom and the baby room. The UV's were finished for the main room set last night and I am about to begin texturing the set. The kitchen and living room set is not yet finished as none of the many small objects/props have been added yet. All of the loose furniture are sitting completely straight currently and are not in their final positions.

Kitchen Shot 01 (Grey)

Kitchen Shot 01 (UV Texture)

Kitchen Shot 02 (Grey)

Kitchen Shot 02 (UV Texture)

Living Room Shot 01 (Grey)

Living Room Shot 01 (UV Texture)

Living Room Shot 02 (Grey)

Living Room Shot 02 (UV Texture)

Setup Progress Shot 01

Setup Progress Shot 02

Minor Project - Additional Room Concepts

(Upstairs) Bathroom Concept

(Upstairs) Baby's Room

(Downstairs) Hallway

As I am now moving onto modelling the environments, I needed to create a few more concept pieces to work out the smaller details of the main rooms.

Minor Project - Living Room Environment Concept

In preparation for modelling the living room and kitchen set, I have completed the concept piece for the living room.

Minor Project - Contraption UV'ed and Rigged (Mostly)

I have laid out the UV's and completed all of the rigging except for the reel rotation on the reel-to-reel. That requires more complex work that I still need to figure out.

Minor Project - Contraption Model Completed

Complete Model

Complete Model (with side window geometry removed)

It has taken longer than anticipated to complete this model but it has been worth the extra time. Once I have completed the final skinning and rigging for my character I will be moving on to UV and rig this model.

Minor Project - Contraption Orthographic

In preparation for modelling the sound collector's sound collecting contraption, briefcase and clipboard, I've made an orthographic for the contraption as it is going to have very complex geometry. I will likely make orthographics for the briefcase and clipboard as well. They both have a much simpler overall shape, but there are some smaller details that may need to be planned out.

I also haven't uploaded the final version of the contraption concept separate to the interim crit presentation so I will show it here with the orthographic.

Minor Project - Sound Collector Modeled and UV'ed

After getting help from Alan I was able to fix geometry problems with the chin and add more detail to the ear which makes it look a lot more natural.

I've added a shirt sleeve underneath the jacket sleeve which was an unfortunate oversight in the model in Adaptation B.

Skeleton Set-up

Model UV'ed

Minor Project - The Sound Collector Head Model Changes

The Sound Collector Head Model (For Adaptation B)

Changed Geometry for Minor Project

Since working on a newer concept for 'The Sound Collector' I have needed to reflect those changes in my model for the character. The main change due to the new concept has been the chin and jaw geometry. I have also altered some geometry on the nose and the ear in order to make his features a little more natural.

Minor Project - Kettle Texture Testing Continued

In the previous set of renders I found that the textures using the thinnest lines were the most successful. I have now added a bump map to complete the illusion of the object being made out of paper. I already feel that the 'Low Bump Map' row is the right level to use but I have shown versions with a 'High Bump Map' and 'No Bump Map' for comparison.

Minor Project - Kettle Texture Testing

So that I can work out the best way to texture my scene, I have experimented with different techniques in Photoshop. I have also created an incomplete model of the tea kettle in order to properly preview my textures.

Minor Project - First Texture Testing

This is quite a rough test and there are some glaring issues to work on, but overall this is starting look like a pencil drawn sketch. I intend to test real pencil cross hatching that is then scanned in next. Creating a fully modeled asset and testing the textures on that will likely give a better impression of the final look too.

Minor Project - Interim Crit and Animatic Version 4

Minor Project - Kitchen Environment Concept and Improved Character Concept

This concept took longer than expected to get to a good enough standard, but overall I am very happy with the result. This concept has been designed to look like a 1970's British kitchen.

After Alan's suggestions I have tried to add a little more depth to the skin of the character, in order to accentuate the important details of the face that weren't as clear before.

Minor Project - Sound Collector Animatic v3 (With Sound Effects)

I've tweaked some of the timings of the frames and altered the title sequence after Alan's suggestion. I've also finally added sound effects for most of the animation.

Minor Project - Sound Collector Animatic v3 (No Sound Effects)

Many of the shots in the animatic have now changed after working through my previous storyboard with Alan. In this version the credits are very simple but the current plan is to have still shots of many individual objects fading away piece by piece as the credits show adjacent to them. This will likely be shown in a more refined version soon when the main sound effects are worked into the animatic.

Minor Project - Sound Collector Animatic v2 (No Sound Effects)

After receiving feedback on the previous version, I've shortened the length of most shorts in order to preserve the flow of the poem.

Minor Project - Sound Collector Animatic (No Sound Effects)

This is the first version of the animatic for 'The Sound Collector'. It does not yet have sound effects but the voiceover of the poem is in place.

Minor Project - House Layout Version 2 and Storyboard

Minor Project - Sound Collector Style Development

After looking at the artist Phil showed to me, I worked on my previous design, making his skin pastier and sketching in much finer detail. I've also looked at some small possible changes to the character which may aid in accentuating his dullness. I am overall very happy with this version of the character. I am mostly drawn to version 1 and 3, they both look much better than the previous versions of this character whereas the added details in versions 2 and 4 seem quite obstructive.

Minor Project - House Layout Version 1

It has taken me a little while to figure out a house layout that fits well with the poem but I am happy with this as a base design.

@Phil - Minor Project - Sound Collector Style Direction

As I am continuing on with 'The Sound Collector' from my Adaptation B project. One of the things I wanted to explore further was the style of my character. As such I've been looking at different ways of illustrating the sound collector.

I feel that this is my most successful exploration so far, it is still very rough but I believe there is some potential in this direction. I am drawn to sharper and more geometric features/lines as well as more emphasized facial features.

If you have any suggestions regarding this direction Phil, I would love to hear what you think.

Maya Tutorial - NHair Dynamic Rigging Part 1

Maya Tutorial - Pose Space Corrective Blend Shapes

Maya Tutorial - IK/FK Switch

Maya Tutorial - Conditional Squash & Stretch

Maya Tutorial - Basic Squash, Stretch, & Volume Preservation

Minor Project - Story ideas

For my minor and major project I intend to continue with my adaptation of 'The Sound Collector' poem by Roger McGough. I wish to create an animated short with a story focused on the character of the sound collector. There are a few story concepts I have that I feel are quite strong contenders to take forward into the minor project.

Story Concept 1:
As a child he had a love/obsession with sound. As he grew up the obsession only grew until he got a job at a company that collects unique sounds for research/other. The job itself turns out to be unbearably mundane and tedious, it is littered with paperwork and endless routines, focused on filing sounds precisely and clean efficient work. After years of the job it wears him down and he loses his passion for sound. He finds an old toy/item in his apartment from when he was a child that makes him realize how the job has changed him.

Story Concept 2:
The protagonist has an obsession with sound and objects that create unique sounds. He pretends to be a 'Sound Collector'. He uses this alias to 'collect' objects from peoples homes. He uses some of them to create bizarre sound contraptions. For example, an elaborate alarm clock made of different objects that almost fills his bedroom. Later, he realizes that people are missing the things he has taken.

Story Concept 3:
'The Sound Collector' is a story told like a children's bed time story. Possible inspiration from children's literature available in the 1950's. Eg The Velveteen Rabbit (1992), Dr Seuss books (1950's-1960's), Charlottes Web (1952). The sound collector would likely be the villain in the story, perhaps the story is a warning to children about the sound collector.

YPGTTO Speed Paint Challenge 14 : The Percussion City

I went for a more graphical approach with the percussion speed paint. Hope this isn't too late!

Adaptation A - Infographic Repost

Maya Tutorials Term 2 Final Submission

Pipeline 2: Modelling

Low Resolution

UV Layout

High Resolution

Pipeline 2: Baking Maps

Base Normal Maps

Rope Normal Map

Ambient Occlusion Maps

Pipeline 2: Diffuse Maps

Base Diffuse Maps

Diffuse Maps - Stone Base

Diffuse Maps - Stone Pillars

Diffuse Maps - Rope

Diffuse Maps - Wood & Metal

Diffuse Maps - Fabric Flag

Normal Maps Using Xnormal & Photoshop - Shield

Using Viewport 2.0 for Look Development & Rendering

Pipeline 2: Shader FX

Intro to Shader FX Networks

Displacement

Lighting

Transparency

Reflection

UV's & Animation

Dynamics 1: Legacy Particles

Sketching Particles

Particle Grids

Omni Emitters

Directional Emitters

Volume Emitters

Emit From Curve

Per Point Emission

Surface Emission

Curve Flow

Emit From Particles

Collision Events

Instancing Objects

Instance Rotations

Animated Instances

Goal Weights

Conditional Goal Weights

Sprites

Lighting & R 2: Mental Ray

Samples & Quality Control

Final Gather

Physical Sun & Sky

Portal Lights

Mia Material X Shader

High Dynamic Ranger (HDR) Lighting

Displacement Maps (Incomplete)

Ambient Occlusion

Motion Blur

Mental Ray Proxies

Film Reviews

Mary and Max
Paprika
Sita Sings the Blues
Waltz with Bashir
Persepolis
Belleville Rendez-vous
When the Wind Blows

Maya Tutorial - Mental Ray Displacement Maps (Incomplete)

I had some significant problems when loading the openEXR files into the displacement node. It would not load it correctly no matter what I did or how ever many times I restarted the tutorial. As such I was not able to complete the tutorial in my own scene.

Maya Tutorial - Mental Ray Proxies

Maya Tutorial - Mental Ray Motion Blur