Minor Project - Altered Contraption Turnaround

In the video I submitted for the minor project, the window in the side of the contraption was completely opaque. As such I have uploaded a new version with a translucent window to correctly preview what the contraption will look like in the animation.

Minor Project - Reflective Statement

When looking back at the complete minor project, I am content that I managed the project well overall. There are however two incidents I experienced during the project that highlight weaknesses I have yet to overcome.

The first of these incidents was at the very beginning of this project. I had continued this project on from my Adaptation B project, where I had designed and created an animation ready character model and an animatic adapted from a poem. At the start of the minor project I knew I wanted to improve upon the character model I had last year. While I was happy with the overall model, there were parts that I knew I needed to change. It took longer than it should have to figure out the things I wanted to change about the character. I didn't get off to a running start with the project, despite having the resources of another project behind me to drive me forwards. Slow starts have been a problem for me with projects throughout this course, and as evidenced by the minor project I have yet to overcome that. It is something I will have to pay close attention to with work in the future.

The second issue I faced during this project was with the storyboard and animatic. At the end of the Adaptation B project, the animatic I submitted underlined the weaknesses in my skill set regarding shot direction and pacing. With this in mind I gave myself extra time during the minor project for improving my animatic. I struggled more than I thought I would. I believe this was in part due to putting too much pressure on myself to make something perfect for the story. As I came across a lot of problems it required a great deal of help from tutors to get my work moving in the right direction. In the end a significant amount of time was lost to this endeavor and that has weighed on the rest of the project afterwards. However, I do feel content with the quality of the animatic I produced in the end.

While these two problems cost time during the project, there is one thing that I did better than I expected I would. When we left university over the Christmas break I had a clear list of the things I wanted to achieve and have ready for the deadline. I managed to be efficient with my time and stay undistracted throughout. As a result I was able to produce a good amount of work and push myself to a satisfying hand in. I have had problems with working efficiently while away from university on previous projects. As such I feel very positive about overcoming that obstacle during this project.

Overall, I am pleased with my progress on the minor project. I have only become more enthusiastic about my work as it has steadily improved in quality during this project.

Minor Project Submission

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.