3D Merienda

2011-12-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

30 days of Awesome!

2011-11-12T21:23:00.001-08:00

Just downloaded the 30 day trial of Photoshop 2 days ago (had it on a different machine a few months ago). I haven't painted for a while (once my Painter trial expired a month or so ago I haven't painted). I find it very enjoyable :). I hope to buy photoshop this holiday season... Let's hope the funds come in somehow...

My creation for the afternoon. I would say it has a touch of Skyrim inspiration.

hmm, I could definitely crop that right side a bit. I'm still trying to figure out what makes a good painting.... in general. For example, where do I put my lights? What kind of shapes do I use in this particular piece to make it appealing? How do I balance the drawing? Where's the focus? Where is the viewer led? What's the meaning? What's in my color palette? What's the backround of the world? What's the story? What's being conveyed? What's the mood? Does it make sense? etc. These are things I'm trying to study in other peoples works. I find browsing around CG society and ConceptArt to be very helpful and inspiring. There's some awesome work going on and I like to draw out what I like, and apply it in mine. Also If I draw something cool on accident and think it looks cool, I will go with it. For example all the curly spikes was a mistake at first, then I just went with it. I think it goes well with the overall feeling of the shot :). Till' next time.

Old Work

2011-10-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

I've decided to post some older work that I don't think I ever otherwise posted, you can cehck it out on vimeo. (Actually I believe some of it has already been posted) Anyhow...

For example: Here's my twist (of which I like a lot more than directors final) on one of the shots I did for the short Live Music:

I'm most proud of the animation of the stand, I was pretty psyched about how it turned out.

Another, below is a shot from my unfinished short:

(Modeling, rigging, everything etc by me)

Here I did a walk cycle test for the main character (This was was first full rig).

Check out everything else out I posted on Vimeo

See Some of my competition entries (the first is my first time animating, the last one was done shortly before my mission 28 months ago ish. Like this:

Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T18:09:00.001-07:00

February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011
Everyone knew it was coming, but it's still hard to see a great mind pass on due to abnormal illness. Definitely left his mark in his allotted time.

Walk exercise (speed animate!)

2011-10-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have practically no time these days. Well, this needs some... lots of fix-ups, but I just wanted to do a quick speedy exercise to get some rust off, getting back into Maya... I have a few cool shots in-pending I think will look pretty cool so stay tuned.

Painter

2011-09-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

exactly 10 minutes each.

Some tests. I set my timer to exactly 10 minutes, so guaranteed, all of these took exactly 10 minutes each. I kinda like exercises like this because I don't feel so bad when it doesn't turn out so great, it was only 10 minutes! Scratch it and move to another!

uhh, the one with the blue thing in his hand is me trying to make fan art for Diablo III, the rest are from Merienda Land.

Looks like I need to work out some issues with perspective and depth.

Corel Painter

2011-09-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

Portrait of my niece. Done for Wacom's Summer Contest .

Playing around with Painter, I'ts starting to grow on me. I want to like it more than photoshop, even though at this point i'm still struggling to get the effects I want as quick as I want. This is greatly inspired by many, but mainly Sam Nielson's work. Crits welcome!

The New Tower!

2011-08-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

This was my first build, it looks like it turned out alright! It will be nice to have something that actually has power for once. I plan on getting those wires all cleaned up but for now I'm just psyched it didn't blow up booting up to BIOS for the first time.

Here are the specs:

Case: COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced ($89):

Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz ($220):

Motherboard : MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel ($130)

Memory : G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ($50)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s ($90)

Power Supply: CORSAIR ENthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire ($95)

CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact"... ($29)

Video Card: SAPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCO EXPRESS... ($155)

Optical Drive: ASUS 24x Burner... ($20)

Photoshop

2011-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

City took 30 min mas o menos, y the other... too long. Getting faster though!

No references used

Photoshop

2011-08-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today I decided I wanted to learn concept art, so as result:

Seems to be something I really enjoy, I'll probably keep trying to learn the art.

I am back!

2011-06-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Officially back in the business. Im not sure if I will be posting so often due to a full schedule and study starting at BYU Idaho, but I am back for whatever questions or comments that ya'll got :). Nonetheless We'll march forward learning more everyday.

Im gone! check back july 2011!!!

2009-06-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Officially signing out until my return. I hope to see some of ya'll around when I get back, especially over at the club! If your reading this, you can safely assume my blog has survived my absence thus far! yay! Be sure to check back around July 2011! Mark you calenders! Now! Actually, you might need to go find a 2011 calender first... BUT MARK IT WHEN YOU DO!

I'm gona give a shout out to anyone who has read my blog through my progress. Also a shout out to the people who were just clicking away at links and found this place! Now get out of here and start learning yourself! Start with the links to the left! Through them I pass invaluable information from me to you, so get reading! alright too many exclamation marks.

So this next part is really for myself for when I return... If this blog doesn't die while I'm gone (cross you fingers)...

A list of things I'm gona miss! They're in rough order of importance, but don't judge based on it, there's plently of ties:

•Diablo III ~!!!!!!
•Toy Story 3
•Panda Express (specifically orange/cashew chicken...awww yum yum)
•Ponyo
•Tim Burton 9
•Where the Wild Things Are
•Avatar the last airbender (the movie) (the cartoon series is AMAZING. I just hope it'll be just as good)
•The princes and the Frog
•Ice age 3 (Miss it by one day! aww man!)
•Cars 2 (june 24th 2011... just miss this one too!)
•Avatar
*...list goes on, can't think...

Now here is a list of things I'm psyched to be back for (in order of importance based on what I know about them right now)!:

•The Hobbit (winter 2011/2012)
•Marvel: The Avengers (4th may 2012)
•The bear and the bow (december 25 2011)
•Brad Bird's 1906 (2012)

And last but not least, the one thing I'm gona be mega ultra psyched to get back to!!!!:

•11secondclub!!! (can't wait to see how much this place grows while im gone!)

Also a self note to future me... AM is looking like a major possibility. So get on that!

Too much text, not enough pictures! So I leave you with a farewell. CYA!:

Look it's in 3d!

Last weeks splining... let's see if I can finish this thing...

2009-06-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

WIP splining #2 troll/ninja shot from Nate Lane on Vimeo.

EDIT: I couldn't finish :'(. Here's a short exercise I did as a replacement:

rohan game style with changes from Nate Lane on Vimeo.

greatly inspired by Ina's post over at the Animation Resource Center. Be sure to check out the comments on the post as well! They're great!

Last shot before mish :)

2009-06-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

WIP. Hopefully will finish before heading out :)

Comments welcome!

Pass complete from Nate Lane on Vimeo.

May 11sc Entry

2009-06-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Pass complete from Nate Lane on Vimeo.

This is what I entered for this months 11sc (May). there's things in it that I'm happy to have accomplished, and things I can't stand the sight of. I guess that's just the way it works as I grow and learn.

Oh, and this version actually has the camera backed out a bit, otherwise I haven't made any changes based off of the comments I got (which were great! thanks guys!). I just don't got the time right now with me heading out in less than a month

Also I'm trying to get a June entry in and complete by the 20th (I'm selling my computer before I leave for my 24 month adventure on the 1st of July :))

Thanks for stopping by!

EDIT: the "Vimeo" version is what I entered.

Ah, this is what crunch time feels like.

2009-05-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

I'm Seeing what I can pull together in this last week for my May 11SC entry... hold for the mess/results of that (Barely got it roughed... in my head)

I'm also experimenting with some Photoshop techniques (specifically brushes)... the first is actually a character design for a modeling challenge I have absolutely no time for (originally I thought I would) and the second is pure... well... doodling.

Sketchin

2009-05-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

Man, I need to start sketching like the good old days. I'm considering daily (or at least weekly) Photoshop journal entries. We'll see.

Pixar opening shorts studio in Canada

2009-05-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Caught me totally off guard. Check it out at Vancouver Sun:

Pixar opening shorts studio in Canada

Avatar

2009-05-07T00:50:00.001-07:00

This new avatar was actually part of a whole picture that's still a WIP. I'm planning on finishing it, but at the rate I'm going, you might have to wait a few years . Also I just noticed that shading on the nose needs some work... you can count on that in a few years as well! This isn't procrastination. It's artistic hibernation. There's a BIG difference of which I plan on discussing some day. Just not today.

Fantastic Reference

2009-05-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

Came across this fantastic reference in my search for a tiger hunting (possible hint of upcoming shot!?)

On the downside check out this possibly over dramatic edit of these cats. If you don't watch the whole thing, atleast check out 0:57

and for kicks.... Simba Finally gets his revenge on the Hyenas, and he's not messing around this time!

stimulating facial muscles with electrodes on your friends = good fun

2009-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Milt Khal Pencil Test

2009-04-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Studied this shot to no end a while back. Awesome to see it in its pencil test stage.

Milt Kahl (Mowgli) from Victor Ens on Vimeo.

Speaking of Milt Khal, in 6 days is the event celebrating his work, "Milt Khal: The Animation Michelangelo". Good thing I got my tickets right away, kuz it sold out pretty fast. Still, if you really wanna go they let the slackers who didn't buy their tickets right away, show up and fill in the empty seats after a certain hour. Check it out here: Milt Khal: The Animation Michelangelo

Dragon fly cycle

2009-04-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

After being left empty handed after a good hour and a half search for a solid proxy styled dragon rig, I decided to just whip up my own... control test:

Like I said, very simple rig (done completely with parenting and contraints), but it gets the job done. I'll be using it for one of my upcoming shots.

The results are as follow:

Neck needs some pivot adjustments ( I couldn't get a smooth wave in the neck for the life of me)...I might shorten the finger on the back of the hands... and the forearm needs a little extension.

On another note, This is a fly cycle... It would be a .mov file so that it would automatically loop, if BOXstr hadn't decided to die on me. They better come back, and when they do I'll re-post.

P.S. if you know of any other site that allows you to upload and embed .mov files, TELL ME!!!

Called to serve

2009-04-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited, I just got my missionary call! I will be serving in the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission (Spanish speaking of course)! I report to the MTC (missionary Training Center) this summer on July 1st, that's pretty soon! I will be serving a full 24 months, which means major jet lagg animation wise, however I feel this is just the pulling back of the sling, which in effect will allow me to reach heights I otherwise couldn't have come close to.

Until July, you can bet I'll be animating like mad ;)

FJORG!

2009-04-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Didn't know about this until 10 minutes ago... defines awesome, and headache on all kinds of levels. It's basically an animation competition at SIGGRAPH to make a short animation piece in a team of 3, all over 32 straight hours. Yeah, definitely headache. Better yet, they make sure you are distracted with all kinds of performances. Check out the video below. I don't know anybody that would be able to concentrate during the "monk" performance.

Last years documentary: http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/fjorg/FJORG2-H.264.mov

This Years: http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/submissions/fjorg/index.php

Drawn to Life

2009-04-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, Drawn to Life (volume 2) found its way to my doorstep today, and already I've dug myself in a good chunk (volume one should be here monday). GET IT!

Anyways the real reason for writing this post is because I came across this quote and had to share it:

"Trying to reach a 'goal' is not so much narrowing down to a fine point as it is opening up to a wider range of realization. You concentrate you efforts only by broadening your knowledge and understanding and skill."

Crazy

2009-03-21T13:48:00.001-07:00

short film post #9

2009-03-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

Last few days I've been,... distracted, from directly working on my short film, and I've been doing some side projects. For instance I'm playing around for an entry for the Spline Doctors competition, as well as doodling in photoshop, of which I think I started something I want to finish (seen below).

Anyhow I'm kinda taking these little breaks in, all as if part of the process of making a short film. I need time away from my animations I'm currently working on, so that I can come back with a fresh eye and hopefully fix it for the better. I am nearing completion of my first shot in the short (250 or so frames outa the entire 2500 I think that complete the short). I didn't say I was workin fast :P... shooting for quality :).

edit: hmmm, well I don't have a short film update, but I'll show you where I'm goin with the demon guy :)

yes, I know it's all over the place right now :), I think my next "break" from short film work I'll try to clean it up.

short film post #8

2009-03-03T17:27:00.001-08:00

Walk Cycle Control Test

For my lacking in posts, I'm posting this test I did for the controllers of my rig. I wanted to make sure everything was in working condition, not so much for the animation :)

Muppets

2009-02-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

I thought this was clever, funny gag too

short film post #7

2009-02-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

quick roughing of environment

acrylic paint

short film post #6

2009-02-14T23:45:00.000-08:00

Major re-write

I'm completely starting over, new characters, new story. What's great is that I was working for a month on my other idea, tons of modeling in the set etc, but this new idea is so simple, I've already surpassed the other one in just a couple days. It's about the character animation isn't it? So that's what I plan on spending time with.

Here's a nearly completely rigged sneak peak, of 1 of 2 characters (of which seems already a lot funner to animation with in comparison with the one in the last post)

short film post #5

2009-02-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

Modeling for boy character is complete. Within the next couple days I hope to have completed the girl character. Going for simplicity.
For the hair I'm going to give the Maya hair/fur a chance. If that doesn't work out I will just create polygon hair from extusions of the head topology.

"Live Music". √ check. or apparently the square root of check?

2009-02-02T02:56:00.000-08:00

Just submitted final changes to my last shot (which happens to be the first shot of Riff). I think it's ok, but I really would have liked more frames (Even though they already extended my shot 60 or so frames, I felt that I could have used more. I'm Picky :P)

Well now I can work on my short film full time. That's my one and only focus right now.I have a bunch of 80-90% finished models (car/house/general landscape) that I have been procrastinating on...

The character modeling hasn't been going so well. I think I changed the design of one of one particular character 5 or 6 times after thinking I had him in cement (that's with modeling nearly the entire character each time o_o ). I think I got a good one now though (much simpler design than the others). Trying to get the right topology down so it's definitely taking longer than I would like ( I suck at modeling).

short film post #4

2009-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

I have quite a few shots that take place in front of this house, still a WIP modeling wise as you can see...

Reference is taken from a googled image

short film post #3

2009-01-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

another cool looking texture will be using as tar in road

Short Film Post #2

2009-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Some test render...

Clouds (which look dang good if you ask me :P)

Rain/light fog. Still working out the kinks with the rain as you can see...

Getting a bit ahead of myself with the renders, so before I lose track of time I'm going to start the modeling (all characters are now designed :) )

Short Film Post #1

2009-01-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

Alrighty the short film...

story/screenplay is for the most part done. whew! I think it'll be pretty good, although I've already grown numb to it for reading so many times :P. Gona show it to a couple friends to make sure it works well.

Characters... 2 of the 4 are designed as of this after noon :). relief to get that set off.

Environment Sets are being planned out further (sketching around) from screenplay. If anybody has any great tutorials/tips for trees, that would be awesome.

Lighting as begun as well. been doing a ton of research because I need normal outdoor sunny day, to rain, to dark with rain. Will post some of my test renders I've been working on very soon for feedback.

Effects... only need rain right now, I've figured out a way that will work... Again, Anyone who knows some great "rain" tutorials get back to me!

Texturing... ummm well I haven't even modeled anything yet. It's all in my head tho :P

Character Modeling/Rigging... getting there :P. Christmas has brought The Setup Machine as well as The face Machine into play which is an awesome new toy :). I know a bit of rigging but don't really have the time or patience to go through manually.

Another shot accepted :)

2009-01-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

Got word that my only medium shot was accepted :) 3 for 3 now. woo!

In other news...

Work on my short film has taken off... getting the story down. Will post more soon :)

TF_0560 I think. WIP

2009-01-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

Just some blocking so far. Might change up Riffs exit a bit. Might not.

2 shots accepted so far :D

2008-12-29T23:32:00.002-08:00

Just got word that so far my 2 easy shots that I submitted were accepted by the director of the mass animation project :D ($500 per shot). That kinda got me pumped up ta want to enter in more of the "hard" shots than I was planning on (just one). Dang this is awesome! I think that if Mass Animation can get the short in theaters like they said (showing before a feature) that would be priceless (screw the money! ha, but the money is nice too :) ) ! way awesome stuff :D

Short Film?

2008-12-27T00:30:00.002-08:00

Been thinking a lot about making a short film lately. I have now until april/may/june ta sit around (6 months at most). I'm not in school right now so I either need to find a job, or animate like mad. Going to be trying to apply for the Reel FX apprentice program. I just heard about it a week or so ago, and I hear it's crazy hard to get in, so chances are it's not happenin, but it seems to span exactly when I'm free :). Well that's just high hopes. The reality is likely to be a short film during my <6 months. So keep an eye out!

last minute submission attempt... (shot TF_0050)

2008-12-26T23:49:00.012-08:00

Didn't get this one submitted on time I guess... it didn't take :'(

Oh well, it sucked anyhow. Rushed it like crazy!!! Tried to add to much for how much time I had. should have made it simpler

Please ignore the lack of arcs / overall cleaning of shot.

TF_0570 Done

2008-12-19T15:43:00.007-08:00

Still not completely happy with it, but I needed to turn it in to have more time for another shot before they're due ("medium" shots).

ahem! don't overlook that rope!!! That was a load of work!!! and at least on my monitor I can't even see it on this blast "blogger" video. Curse you google blogger people and your cheap video uploadings!!!

TF_0570 Nearly done

2008-12-18T14:57:00.005-08:00

About half way done. entire animation just with 2/3 controls. So still need to get those other ones in there to make it less stiff (especially neck). And that rope...

Modeling mess around

2008-12-16T22:11:00.003-08:00

Just messing around with a character concept. Just modeled, not rigged.

Shot 3 nearly done (TF_0540)

2008-12-11T13:55:00.008-08:00

Here's my third one nearly done. It's due in a day or two ('easy shot').

Total hours on shot: 4/5 hours

Still need to add more character to the two brass instruments (don't know how yet), and change up the violins reaction, maybe mellow it out a bit.

Edit: didn't have time to work on it more before submit :'(

Shot 2 done

2008-12-08T00:42:00.006-08:00

no major changes, some tweaks here and there. Just submitted it. Will start working on some more now.

Anyhow view it and rate it the best here!

2nd shot nearly done (RA_0050)

2008-12-01T18:04:00.004-08:00

Here's the second shot, I still need to polish. Will do for the final.

Hopefully it makes sense. The shot breakdown is basically he gets set down and then just comes to life, only to find that no one else is around.

1st "easy" shot down (HN_0880)

2008-11-20T22:19:00.010-08:00

After a horrible day with Maya freezing up after several hours of work, and losing it all, on my first shot of the thingy mentioned below, I decided to quickly do an "easy" shot. Took about 2 hours because I have to fight with the guitar strings breaking through the pick mesh, and so I had to invent this ghetto constraint/parenting archive with all these locaters, that seems to work fine. So here's the finished product... Doesn't look like much, and it's not.

Alright, so for you lazy bums who don't want to visit the site I'll give you a shot breakdown... Basically this electric guitar man wants this violin woman, but her father decides to pick a fight, and so the electric guitar man gets his picks and is preparing to fire them off...

edit: ahh wait, I decided I aint done with this shot yet... will add more subtle shiz

off my butt

2008-11-20T01:07:00.002-08:00

Finally got off my butt and have already started working on contributing to this crazy "Mass Animation" (check it out) thing over at facebook of all places. Should be pretty awesome, I've been wanting to do some sort of original pantomime stuff that will set my demo reel apart from others, and this could help me out quite a bit.

There's a few hundred other contenders as of this morning, so I'm not planning on actually getting anything in the finished product (a 5 minute short), but it will be fun to see how close I can get :) (they get rated), and of course the learning experience will be nice :P. Pretty cool to sort of experience production as if nearly getting paid by an actual studio (reelFX SP?), nearly. But hopefully not the closest I'll ever get.

My Fable II studies...

2008-11-18T00:10:00.006-08:00

I've been pretty busy studying up with Fable II. You know, just observing the walk cycles and whatnot. Ha but really, you can learn form playing video games. Fable has some really great cinematics in it as well. Anyhow my studies on are now coming to a complete, and I will now be practicing what I have observed. Hard work I know. You can likely expect some action/fighting type shots from me here any time soon, so keep an out out!

Current Count

2008-09-24T12:57:00.003-07:00

The count is 7 unfinished projects... if you're counting

Old Man Painting #2

2008-09-08T18:43:00.004-07:00

Another old man acrylic painting... kinda speed painting... kinda not. Spent total of 3 hours :)... not really done tho

Just google "old man" and you'll see the pic of this one there as well :)

Eric Lerner

2008-08-17T16:59:00.006-07:00

Likely to be the greatest 2 minutes and 14 seconds of your life. Check this Music Video by Eric Lerner

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

(thanks "film making" for the link :) )

Yeahha! Michael Phelps winnin 8 golds

2008-08-17T00:09:00.003-07:00

A bit off topic... Don't know how many of you follow the Olympics... (you likely live in a hole if you don't)... but I do (not live in a hole, but follow the Olympics...) ... Anyhow it's all the rage right now, so I figured I'd throw this post up. Mr.Fish just took his 8th gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, making him the single greatest Olympian of all time. Whoooo! cRaZy stuff!

Testing my 2D

2008-08-13T00:49:00.004-07:00

Alrighty, I decided to go ahead and scrape out what I can for a hand drawn 2d 11 second club entry. I haven't done any 2d character animation so if it works as planned, it should be a complete tragedy :D. I can't seem to convince myself that this isn't a great way to open up the world of hand drawn... I am a foolish fool. Here's a rough character sketch... laugh if you wish :), I will improve... I promise :)I'm thinking that since I don't even know how to draw, I should have the character sitting... and so he sits... which results in minimal needed movement. Yes! haha! exactly what I like. dead, stiff characters :). So... how do I make it move?

Sharpened The Pencils and It's Back To Fun!

2008-08-02T23:47:00.007-07:00

Just marking the end of my "vacation" and continuing the regular, of which I like so much more! Vacation is work compared to animating! I just hope I don't ever have to take another. Finding those t.v. remotes can sure be stressful.

Super Mario Lives!

2008-07-22T11:42:00.005-07:00

Amazing site. Go to www.mariogame.info . You can actually play all the old school super mario games in flash. It's amazing!

Just a little screen grab of me gaming it up to prove that I have not gone mad from my extended vacation:

And yes. I was playing the game while simultaneously grabbing the screen, resulting in the shot shown above. Amazing I know

Mwuhahaha!

2008-06-21T17:54:00.004-07:00

This is just a picture of a box. But it's what's inside the box that counts.

Airblaster Logo Fun!

2008-06-18T23:42:00.004-07:00

Preview render of a little side project... Yes, I do have about 3 different projects I'm working on right now. Anyways, this will probably be the last of the 3 projects I'm currently working on, to get finished. I'm gone on vacation in a week so this might not get done for a couple months, but don't worry, one day! It's going to be basically the logo coming to life, or transforming around... haven't quite figured it out, but It should be good :)

Lesson One:

2008-06-14T21:06:00.006-07:00

Don't waste time adjusting the UVs, and texturing an already rigged model. It'll look fantastic!... all until you move him.

Jump Render Preview!

2008-06-09T18:26:00.006-07:00

Alright, kinda decided to not procrastinate my jumping project any longer, and so I started to work with the lighting and texturing for my final render. Here's one of my many variations... hehe, look closely and you can see my little goof... the huge pile of tacos in the reflection... hehe oops

Frank

2008-05-31T10:58:00.008-07:00

So I decided it was about time I created my own little guy. His name happens to be Frank. Worked on just the modeling thus far, should be able to find some time early next week to rig him.

He is greatly inspired by the rig found on a couple of Cameron Miyasaki's tests, found on his site. Sadly I have yet to find the owner of the rig he uses, to ask if its alright, seeing that I have made its brother... don't want no trouble of course :)

Pass complete...

2008-05-28T13:32:00.007-07:00

So i fanally finished my first complete pass... which was a rather in debth pass, but regardless, it was a pass.

So I'll be working a lot with the little details now. There's plenty of things that can be fixed, such as the feet going beneath the floor geometry... not very organic looking moving holds... some weight/balance issues when he walks/rests... and some other stuff.

I'm thinking of giving the first shot some major attention, and fix it up, seeing that his walk backwards isn't very natural. And another thing in the first shot is that when he's surprised that the floor doesn't continue, the leap is a bit slow... so gota fix those.

Also noticed that the camera angles aren't working...

Anyway, suggestions welcome :)

Thanks for looking

Jumping Around

2008-05-23T20:02:00.003-07:00

and... another update, which isn't very big... so yes, I lied :)... but... the next update will be hugantic! well, I'm probably just setting myself up for another lie. Oh well, here ya go :D

Jump Pass Update... Yep!

2008-05-17T14:07:00.011-07:00

Finally got around to another little update... Playing with the camera angles... not sure if I really should. Maybe simple is better in this case?

I'm kinda just discovering new things to do that give him drive to jump these crazy steps, and that's exactly what the huge pile of tacos is doing. I originally had him all exited about seeing the one floating taco, and then he looks down and remembers where he is, and then he all of a sudden jumps all excitedly to the next step. And this really didn't fit, because I had to give him a reason to be all excited all of a sudden. So Then I soon figured out that 246 tacos appearing really out of nowhere would be an excellent excuse to have him jump the steps.

So when the huge pile of tacos pops up out of nowhere I'm planning on having the tacos flying in the air a bit, and then settling back onto the step. I think it will add to the scene a lot once I get that small movement in there.

Anyways here ya go :D

Jump Pass Update

2008-05-09T20:36:00.006-07:00

and yes... he did just see a floating taco! :D

Jump Pass Update

2008-05-07T20:34:00.011-07:00

uhg. The past 5 days I was constantly changing up the way ball man falls in between these two floating steps. First I had his fall straight into it (as you can see from last update), next I had him jumping, stepping forward with his right foot for the edge of the next floating step and slipping, then falling down, and finally I did another approach where he does the splits over the 2 different steps. Not to mention I had a whole issue where when he first falls down I changed it so that he looks to the right stepping with his right (not his left), and continuing this shot in that manner (look left step left, look right step right). I then decided that I liked the original way, so that was kinda a waste as well...

So with all that work, I ended up returning to my original idea. Keep the feet as is, and keep the leap as originally planned (see first pass).

There was, however, a benefit surprisingly :-O ! I learned that the above workflow is not very time effecient. Total time spent experimenting = +/- 9 hours. Time to do actual shot, 30-40 minutes. YAY! Nest time I think I'll plan for a good week, make sure I have thought of the best way to do the shot, and then do it. No more of this experimenting, it's just silly 8-)

Oh yeah I also did a single pass of him getting up out from in between he steps, which I was actually fairly happy with, shame I won't be needing it anymore tho :(

Jumping Second Pass

2008-04-29T18:45:00.005-07:00

I'm breaking the entire shot down to about fourths, so this is the first quarter. Still plenty of work to be done with this one, and still have to figure out how he's going to get back up... hmmmm.

Quick ball bounce exercise

2008-04-28T19:12:00.001-07:00

Simple ball bounce exercise. Made mostly to just temporarily escape my current project :)

Jumping First Pass

2008-04-28T14:49:00.004-07:00

Nearly done with the first pass of this exercise. As you can see I'm test driving a new technique of animating without the legs for now. So far I like I like this approach. Only problem is that I can't really tell if it's working or not until I add the legs in :D

Sneak Peak

2008-04-27T20:14:00.007-07:00

Just a sneak peak at my newest ongoing project. This one will probably take a couple weeks to finish. My main focus will be on the weight and momentum that the character carries

The Walk

2008-04-25T20:35:00.005-07:00

May still needs some tweaking. Happy with the result :)

The Basics - The Walk

2008-04-25T19:17:00.006-07:00

Alright, thanks to the advice of many out there in the web world, I will be starting my learning experience where I should have - at the basics. My last scene that I was working on really helped me see that I didn't know much at all about the simple concepts of animation: walks, weight, and other stuff...

So for the next little while it's all about these basic tests!

Here's some blocking for a plain old walk :)

11 second club challenge

2008-04-13T19:31:00.007-07:00

Update on my ongoing April entry... changed some stuff, so now the kid ( small one) will just stand there after watching guy fall, kuz he's tired of waiting in line for... tacos? ice-cream? chinese food? haven't quite figured that out yet :) ( It'll be better this way kuz I think it adds to the comedy attempt, and its easier :) ).

I think that I might change up the fall as well if I have time, kuz the current one is a little too straight forward. Gota figure out how to make it funner to watch him fall!

And as of right now the guy serving the food is a magic genie! he can float through solid surfaces! and hold straight poses for extended periods of time! haha, I'm having too much fun with this...

11 Second Club Challenge

2008-04-09T20:06:00.004-07:00

decided to give the April challenge a go... Some simple blocking just to get idea of timing and stuff.... This shot will have 4 characters in it, which is going to be interesting since I struggle with just one :D Anyhow comments/suggestions welcome :)

New Avatar

2008-04-05T15:08:00.002-07:00

my new avatar :)

Fun With Dynamic Particles!

2008-04-04T18:46:00.007-07:00

Was playing around with particles and got this. It thought it looked pretty cool so I posted :) Underneath all that sludge are some fixes with the character... so just look REALLY, REALLY carefully and you just might get lucky enough to see one!

Entry For the 11 Second Club Challenge

2008-03-31T20:06:00.005-07:00

This is my entry for the March 11 Second Club challenge... (making it a very first time for animating a characters body and lip syncing). Didn't have time to sync the mouth really at all, and my original plans to have him holding the paper for the second half didn't happen either... oh well Enjoyed making it... :) Oh yeah and the deadline was at 11 p.m. N.Y. time,... It finished rendering at 10:48, and I fixed it up in AE, finally sending it in at 10:55 p.m. I'd say that was cutting it pretty close. Another thing... I think something went wrong in AE when I sewed the audio and video together... it doesn't look like it's on cue. Anyways, comments welcome :)

Learning Animation update

2008-03-27T18:48:00.008-07:00

wokred a bit on the head and neck... arms still blocked in. Played with the face, will definitely be changing some stuff up... the brows are a bit sketchy. Still need to sync the mouth as well :(

Learning Animation update

2008-03-25T20:24:00.004-07:00

Worked a bit on the back and head tangents...

More Odler Work...

2008-03-24T18:03:00.011-07:00

Thought I'd post some of my older tests/models/stuff... (everything is modeled/light/textured/rendered, besides the blurred background image of chess piece and warning signs in Stewie piece)

and Gir...

Learning Animation update

2008-03-18T14:20:00.004-07:00

Did a pass on the hands, and revised the over all animation. I've basically blocked everything in and will start to make all the tangents all curvy and what not.

Learning animation

2008-03-17T19:21:00.006-07:00

Here's my work so far on an animation I'm doing for the current 11 second club challenge... Have most of the blocking done, hopefully will be done with the entire thing in a week or so.

Thanks for looking! As always suggestions/comments welcome

Older Animation

2008-03-16T16:22:00.005-07:00

This is an older one of my works. Made to show how the body stops iron from absorbing into the body. Will actually be working some fixes back into it.

Learning Animation

2008-03-13T20:59:00.007-07:00

This was rigged and animated by me. The model came with a Digital Tutors animation training kit. This is my first attempt to animate a face. Rigging was about a solid days work (7 hours give or take), and animating was 2 or 3 hours. Hopefully I can speed up the process after I become more experienced :)

2008-03-09T18:00:00.005-07:00

Here's what doodling in photoshop got me. Well, a couple days of doodling :)

Here's a painting I did a few weeks ago. Not the greatest camera to take a picture of it with, but you get the idea

Welcome to my blog!

2008-03-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

IF your here and reading this I'm sorry I haven't posted anything yet, but hopefully soon! A lot of my posts will be on my progression in animation/cg in general. Right now I am a high school senior, progressing with my animation independent study. I'll post some of my work soon, I hope you enjoy.