Work continues. Since the last update, I now have all the main (written) characters modelled and optimised. I went through the arduous task of creating the rig,  the ‘rig’ being the bone/joint construction of the characters which is somewhat like the metal skeletal structure you might have seen inside of stop motion characters allowing them to be posed and positioned, except in this case digital and much more convoluted.

With the rig made, I took a few extra steps in integrating it into the relatively new Cinema 4D Character Rig system which is a system that enables you to re-use rigs and reposition the proportions from character to character in a very easy manner. Having done that I went ahead a conformed all the characters to their respective rigs, so each of the characters have their joint system set up and almost ready to go. What I’m doing currently is working on the characters weights (not weight as in mass, but mesh influence on each joint) and also setting up morphs to be able to control and animate their facial expressions, eye blinks etc… Working on the weights is one of those tasks where you wish you could go to sleep and wake up with it somehow, as if by magic all resolved itself. It’s not fun and I’ve been finding it a quite difficult to sit down in front of the computer and get it done. Nonetheless I’m getting through it, counteracting the mind numbing process of weight-painting with watching episodes of Only Fools and Horses & King of the Hill.

With the characters taking shape, I’ve begun to experiment with test-frames, trying out different looks, seeing what direction to take the lighting etc… I’ve got some great frames on my hard drive that I’m excited about, but will hold off publishing anything too revealing as of yet, there’s still a long way to go and it’d break my heart to see the same (rendered) style replicated in some crappy short about a butterfly trying to find it’s friend (you know what I mean, all animated shorts are the same).

I’m once again looking forward to an upcoming fortnight writing retreat. Among other things I will be looking at the film’s script for the first time for a long time so will probably have a few things I’ll want to try with it, with a fresh view before It’s called ‘done’ done. Other than that the writing fortnight is fairly open, I’m looking forward to writing some completely new stuff, just for writing’s sake.

Taking a factory-line type approach, I’m working on all the characters simultaneously (the prime cast at least). Firstly I’m modelling each of their heads, starting out with a rough sketch approximation of the character and then diving straight into Cinema 4D to translate the sketch into a final model. I initially created one of the film’s characters and am using that model as a base mesh on which to mold the others. The advantage of this method is that although the mesh’s points are in different locations from a character to character basis, the mesh is similar for all in ways that will count in later stages such as rigging. I will be doing the same for the bodies soon, create the body for the initial character, then use that to mold all the others.

I hope to have all the heads and most of the bodies completed by New Years and having all the characters finished, rigged and ready to go in their entirety by the end of February 2013. There’s lots to do though in that time, outside of the rigging many of the characters will need multiple states, both clothing, appearance and from a facial rigging standpoint, I believe I will need to manually create all the different expressions and mouth shapes for each of them to ensure they can speak and emote, not necessarily extensive, but enough to begin animating. I can always add extra options and functionality as and when needed.

Something really important I’ve been learning about 3D, at least in this ultra-indie approach is how when you begin, you literally start with nothing and it takes a lot of time to accumulate working assets… but the more and more you create, the more time you save the next time around as 3D assets are very malleable. For instance, I’ve made a base head mesh that I really like, am comfortable working with… as I’ve mentioned the base mesh will be used for all the characters in the film, but If I was to create a short, I would likely be able to use that very same base mesh, no matter if the style for the short was completely different from the film. The same goes for most things, I don’t have my own rig as of yet, but when I do, I will use that same rig for all the characters in the film and anything else I could want to do in the future. That’s one nice reassurance from all of this.

I recently created a ‘Porbeagle’ (Film) page here. It has a little early information, some social links and a mailing list if you would care to sign up. If you’re a regular/subscriber it’s not necessary, it’s more for people with some vague interest who would just like to know when the film is released.

I also have been posting some ‘Porbeagle’ updates on Tumblr, I really like the social side of Tumblr, the barrier for interaction is much lower and convenient. So if you are into Tumblr follow me for extra updates.

Preorder the book here: WAX @ RainTown Press
Some info for the tech-eys:

Modelled in Cinema 4D & ZBrush
Animated in Cinema 4D
Composited in After Effects
Edited in Premiere Pro
Scored in Garageband (yep) using a ‘Blue’ baby bottle and a Martin 000-M.

Some stills from the trailer:

I just wanted to give a quick update on some recent happenings.

Firstly, a few months back I reduced my hours at work quite a bit. It was getting me down how slow the work on the film has been coming. So now with more time on my hands to put directly into the film, I expect progress to increase exponentially, Yay!

Secondly I’ve been hard at work, testing my newly acquired 3D skills with a video for my buddy, author; @anotherphil. Phil has been kind enough in the past to help me out with some advice/encouragement with my first screenplay so it has been great to help him out by making a cool video and in turn boost my confidence in this whole 3D animation stuff going forward.

Right now I’m putting the finishing touches to this video, I hope you visit again in the next couple of days and check it out!

There’s a few other cool little things I have in the works and am very excited about, but a little more on those when they’re ready to show.

I posted the teaser to this film a little while back.

I came across MdotStrange whilst searching for Cinema 4D tutorials on Youtube, he has the perfect mind set in accordance to using 3D software, creating animated shorts and features solo (completely).

He’s finally completed and released to the world his second animated feature, ‘Heart String Marionette’ and I have to admit I had high expectations for this one, but they were far surpassed in every way. I watched it twice yesterday and it vastly improved upon a second viewing too. It feels like a darkly Wizard of Oz or Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, with Samurai and monsters, it’s at times funny, at times exciting, at times moving but always beautiful.

Disillusioned by film festivals and how many have become more money raising schemes for the festivals themselves and less focus on the filmmaker and the films, this time around MdotStrange opted into releasing the film independently and digitally on his website.

If you’re an adventurous film watcher, enjoy watching animation and more experimental films, I implore you to check out MdotStrange’s ‘Heart String Marionette’.

Available now for $5 at

youwilldieinside.com

Support an independent animator, in the truest sense of the word!

The props and the sets are coming along really well, I’m really happy with how everything is turning out so far, they are much better than I envisaged when I began to write the script. I’m not going to show anything final, such as the actual sets, but here are a couple of test images etc… from some recent modelling practice. There’s still a long way ahead of me but how far I’ve come in the recent months is encouraging

Here’s a cool and powerful little app I found online recently that’s going to prove indispensable whilst working on the film.

It’s called ‘DJV’ and it is quite simply an image sequence player. Now, you can play .tif and .png image sequences etc.. from within Quicktime Player 7, but it doesn’t support many HDR image sequence types, such as the OpenEXR format…. DJV does.

This is great because it’ll enable me to check renders from within a stand alone player without having to directly bring them in to a compositing application’s project file or rendering an additional .mov for preview purposes.

Get it now, it’s free!

Check it out: http://kmog.tumblr.com

We currently have two actors attached to the film:

• Steve Speirs as ‘Ryan’

• and Laura Bridgwater as ‘Jean’.

I’ve already recorded Steve’s dialogue which went great. My current plans for the casting/recording of the remaining parts: to be focused on later in the year.

The past few months my main focus has been on learning as much as I can to do with the technical side of the film: the 3D software. I’ve in particular spent most time my learning through books, tutorials and tests how to model and rig characters ready for animation.

This is really the crux of it all in my mind as once the characters are digitally created and set up ready to go, I feel, in a way, the hardest job will be done and although the animation and modelling of other assets will be a much longer task, it will also be a much easier and more enjoyable task.

With modelling, I now have the first set created. Today I’ve been playing around with the look and feel for the film (or that set at least) I’ve lately been leaning towards a black and white look but that could change in time. I’ve also tested and defined what render settings and workflow I’m using with the film and finding out alternative routes for time-intensive render options like DOF and Motion Blur which I need, but don’t want to waste time doing natively if I can get them as-good in post in a tenth of the time.

Anyway time for me to return to isolation. No resolutions for me, I just want to keep on the same track going forward.

Happy New Year!