Ruben's Blogpage

Minor Project - Atom Pancakes- The Final Chapter

2012-01-23T14:15:00.000Z

With the minor project basically wrapped up, I thought I would write evaluation of the time spent with my colleagues at Atom Pancakes and share any of the latest animation work.

The 15 to 18 week period spent with my 2 colleagues Jordan Buckner and Ethan Shilling, on our latest project was an amazing experience. It definitely taught me a lot of things about collaboration, work ethic and friendship. When we set up for this project we had a main goal, that in 15 weeks from that time we would have an animation, which the three of us would be happy with. Although in times, it wasn't as easy as it seems, we all learnt a valuable lesson, that in order to succeed in this industry, you have to work as a community, accepting and giving feedback, negotiating and compromising. Our task to create this animation was immense, as we from the beginning decided to create a story from scratch, however after a few weeks of not being sure, the group worked very well together to overcome this problem, always giving and receiving input. With the foundation of the project, laid out the rest was a very enjoyable trip, where me and my colleagues shared and worked well together, to design the world of 'The Final Chapter', from character to environment design, every single member's opinion was taken into account and used in favour of the project.
While at production, stage, everything ran smoothly, as we decided to distribute the tasks according to each individuals strengths. Animation was a very insightful task, as we had time to explore it we were able to further develop our skills.
In the end everything came together nicely, and despite a few last minutes hazard, the group was ejected with enough adrenaline to overcome them rapidly and successfully.

I would like to thank Jordan Buckner and Ethan Shilling, for the great experience, but also the tutors, Phil Gomm and Alan Postings, for allowing this group to form.

Surely, I used this experience to build by confidence when attempting to get a job after my degree.

After an emotional ending for a my evaluation, here is the promised latest work I have done in The Final Chapter.

Animation:

Finished Scene

Prepare scene

( The Typing Scene)

Dynamics:

Bubbles

Smoke

Supporting Documents:

Making of - The Final Chapter

The Final Chapter - Character Bible

'The Final Chapter' by Atom pancakes

2012-01-21T14:03:00.001Z

Atom Pancakes proudly presents 'The Final Chapter'. Our short animation finally finished.

directed by:
Jordan Buckner
Ethan Shilling
Ruben Martins

Synopsis:

"The story follows our crime writer, Arthur Winters, as he attempts to write the ending of his book. As he thinks through possible ideas, things begin to go wrong around him. While having these ideas, Winters enters his dream space and starts to act like the suspects. When he finally realises an idea that works, he burst into motion to finish his book, however the simplest of the tasks is not so simple after all."

Enjoy!!

The Final Chapter Supporting Documents

2012-01-21T14:01:00.000Z

Atom pancakes would like to share the documents supporting our animation, they feature the behind-the-scenes which helped us produce our final short.

Making of - The Final Chapter

If you like the character Arthur Winters, this document will explain how our studio decided upon the design and show some of the early stage drawings of him .

The Final Chapter - Character Bible

Enjoy!

Animation at Atom Pancakes IV

2012-01-11T23:27:00.000Z

Lately, I have been spending time and more time animating and tweaking any animation previously done. It has been a very enjoyable journey with a lot learnt. With only one more scene to tweak. What follows is an animation "dump" of all the scenes I have been working on.

Animation Finished Scene

Animation Finished Scene- Cameras

Animation Prepare Scene- Cameras

Montage Scene

One of the things I have been working was the dynamics for some of the scenes, here is a bubble test done and which will be added on the glass in one of the scenes.

Bubble Dynamics Test Render

The final animation is almost approaching keep tuned.

Final Chapter- Teaser Poster

2012-01-03T23:17:00.004Z

Follow our official blog for all the progress at:

http://atompancakes.blogspot.com

Or our Facebook page or twitter at: (respectively)

More updates will land on here very soon!

Keep Tuned!

Animation at Atom Pancakes III

2012-01-01T12:35:00.000Z

Animation and rendering is going well at Atom pancakes, we almost done with all the scenes to animate however, is still a few bits to tweak.

Here are the scenes I have been working on:

Tension Playblast Edit

After Credits Scene- Blocking

After Credits Scene- Final

Dream Detective- Blocking

Prepare Scene- Blocking

Busy Times at Atom Pancakes Studio

2011-12-20T22:32:00.000Z

Lately, At Atom Pancakes I have been with my fingers in many pies, as we trying to finalise production and set everything to render. As I said I have mentioned in charge of some more scenes to animate, painting the background matte paintings and testing dynamics such as smoke and fire.

Animation

Butler Scene

Firstly, I tweaked the butler scene on the laughing jumps, I have made them just so they are more subtle and are a movement around the chest area rather than the pelvis.

On this scene, I just have to animate the props, such as the tray, the ice cube and the drink mesh. Apart from that, it is ready for rendering.

I am also animating other scenes, at the moment they are at the blocking out stages. but they will be finished as soon as possible.

Prepare Scene

Progress 1

Progress 2

Also I have blocked the investigation scene, but it is not uploaded yet.

Test Dynamics

I have been playing around with dynamics, in order to get a smoke effect for the burning paper. after fiddling around I came to something that seems to be the right track. further tweaks will be on the particle size, colour, turbulence and conserve attributes.

Matte Paintings

As I said I have been working on the matte paintings for the interior and exterior environment. I have tried to conserve the painterly style.

Outside Matte Painting

Interior Night Matte Painting

Interior Day Matte Painting

Note that this not Moon or Sun on the Matte Paintings, it is because I have created them separately, in which I will render and animate in AE.

It is all for now, more updates coming soon... Stay Tuned

Cigarette Smoke Dynamic Test

2011-12-18T23:04:00.002Z

Lately, I have been also testing some effects for our animation, after following a tutorial, i was able to play around and create cigarette smoke. Here is the test:

Animation at Atom Pancakes II

2011-12-14T22:14:00.001Z

So animation continues at Atom Pancakes, I decided to carry on tweaking the Butler Scene, and I have to say it is almost ready for rendering, It still needs some secondary animation.

Butler Reveal Scene Animation Progress 8 (Close-up)

Butler Reveal Scene Animation Progress 8

I have also began blocking the Investigation Scene, and I will post a playblast soon.

On a side note, I am also in charge of getting the dream sequence environment ready for rendering, so today I took some time to to set it up with lighting and also playing around with the background.

We opted to go for a simpler set up where we will have the character fully lit, and the body, laying on the floor under the spotlight.

For the space not look so empty, we will add a few effects, in this case some particle travelling between the character and the black space. they will be the pattern of the room.

Just like shown on this render.

Animation at Atom Pancakes I

2011-12-13T00:46:00.001Z

So Animation begins!! and how exciting it is! At Atom Pancakes I was assigned to animate a few scenes for the following weeks, i will be blocking, animating and tweaking them.

Reveal Butler Animation (Progress 1)

Reveal Butler Animation (Progress 2)

Reveal Butler Animation (Progress 3)

Reveal Butler Animation (Progress 4)

Reveal Butler Animation (Progress 5)

Still a bit to tweak

Dream Sequence Light Tests

2011-12-07T10:03:00.001Z

With animation already starting and some minor tweaks to do in either the rig or the environment, I had some time to explore lighting,therefore I have began doing some light tests on the dream environment. this environment is still in choosing stages.
Firstly, we were thinking of having a total blank space, then adding the environment with a spotlight focusing on the character, and also we thought of having the environment, but with no textures in it.

Here are some light tests I have done with the main different ideas:

BLANK Space

Render With Default Light Set up

Render With Default Light Set up + Ambient Light 0.4

Render With Default Light Set up + Ambient Light (Range)

Render With Default Light Set up + Ambient Light 0.5

Night Time With Spotlight

The Final Chapter is Coming Soon...

2011-12-06T01:19:00.004Z

Follow our official blog for all the progress at:

http://atompancakes.blogspot.com

Or our Facebook page or twitter at: (respectively)

More updates will land on here very soon!

Keep Tuned!

Props texturing

2011-12-05T13:57:00.002Z

Last week, after finishing to modelling and scale all the props, I began texturing. A task that me and Jordan were assigned to do, with many props to texture the list was split and the workload eased. To keep consistence on the texture work, we followed the art direction influence map and any previous texture work on the character.
So here is the props that`I was assigned to texture.

Typewriter

Butler Set

Chef Set

Maid's Dagger

Cigarette and Match

Lamp

Magnifying Glass

Pencil Sharpener

Pencils

Pot Plant

Trophies

More Props ...

2011-11-14T01:01:00.000Z

This week at Atom Pancakes I have decided to get the modelling stage out of the way, therefore I took on any leftover model and finished ready for scaling and texturing.
Note that most of these props were already started by my colleague Ethan, So i tweaked them and laid out the UVS.

Cup Trophy

Cup Trophy UVs

Pencil Sharpener

Pencil Sharpener UVs

Pot Plant (Dynamics Simulation Still to come)

Shield Trophy

Shield Trophy UVs

With this left the last prop needed is the burnt hair on our character, that will need to be modelled and then sculpted.

Atom Pancakes Project-Final Chapter- Progress

2011-11-08T01:49:00.000Z

Last week, the task was primarily model the character and lay out its Uvs, with that finished my task for the past week was to model the character props, a set of props that will be close and parented to the character, and that going to be animated.

Although I may post some repetitions this are the props i have been working on.

Butler's Tie Bow

Butler's Tray

Magnifying Glass

Chef's Rolling Pin with Breakable Rigged Extra

Burnt Moustache

Chef's Hat

Monocle

On this prop I have also created a video showing the whole system of the string working, as we move the monocle glass the string will follow.

The Long Awaited Update

2011-11-03T00:42:00.000Z

For the past few weeks this blog has been very quiet, mainly because weeks, days have been struggle due to the amount of work I have outside of university. Hopefully from this week forward I will be able to update my followers regularly on how my collaboration is going.

Taking from where I left it. The character was fully designed and ready to be translated into the 3D World. So me and the rest of the colleagues at Atom Pancakes, went on to resolve the story, by creating storyboards in order to tell the story. After numerous attempts on getting an animatic ready. The latest version seems to be working.

So me and the rest at Atom Pancakes decided that I would take on the task to model the character in 3D.
So here is the progress on the character:

With the body fully resolved I moved onto modelling the head (the tricky part :))

With this done I moved onto creating the character props, a task that still is being finished.

Thus far, here are the character props.

Butler's Tray

Butler's Bow Tie

Chef's Rolling Pin

Magnifying Glass

More updates to come soon... Stay Tuned!

Character: Arthur Winters- Character Additional Information

2011-09-28T00:00:00.003+01:00

Last week, we had our first creative tutorial with Alan, and though I was not able to be present, the studio filled me in with the feedback he gave about the story and character. Overall the story it is going the right way and we began to storyboard it. We have also took some interesting ideas that Alan suggested and definitely we are incorporating them in the story.

For that matter, additional information on the character was needed. With the new elements integrated in the story. Instead of having 2d motion graphics to play out the daydream sequences, we are actually doing them in 3D, as well as changing the content of each one of them. On this new idea, the character will try to find who is the murderer, therefore he will in his thought sequence play out possible suspects. By getting a few props and acting like them.

Additional Suspect Sheet

Also we though of adding an extra gag in the after credits sequence, where we will see the character burnt and beginning to write something rather different.

This definitely will allow us to work more on character animation, as we will have more scenes to play with.

Atom Pancakes Work- Arthur Winters Character Final Files

2011-09-23T10:08:00.000+01:00

With the development all done, I began to create the informative sheets on the character. As well as any final poses or character action shots. this process is always fun, as you begin to think just like your character.

For now I leave you with all the drawings and paintings that will be featured in the character bible of this character.

Arthur Winters Final Character Development

Arthur Winters Turnarounds

Face Expressions

Size Sheet

Props Sheet

Colour Variations

Final Colour

Final Pose

Action Shot

Atom Pancakes Work- Arthur Winters Character Development

2011-09-23T09:51:00.000+01:00

With the initial sketches done, I brought them to a meeting and each of our studio members decided which would work the best. Taking on their feedback I began to develop the character.

Arthur Winters- Face Development

With the final head shape done, I began to develop the facial features on the character. Though first, I want to check our art direction and how much of stylisation I could give to the character.

Arthur Winters- Different Character Stylisation

At the same time I have began working on the body of the character. Using the same technique I used on the face I began by creating a few silhouettes of body shapes and then play around with them.

Initial Body Silhouettes

Final Body Silhouette

On the head with the right stylisation decided, i began to explore possibilities of the character. By creating a few assets I created variation of the head by mixing them up.

Character Face Variations

After another studio meeting, it was finally decided how ultimately the character would look like.

Arthur Winters - Character Face

Atom Pancakes Work- Character

2011-09-22T21:07:00.000+01:00

With my 3rd year just starting I have embarked on a journey to the fictional Atom Pancake Studios. Just like a normal studio we have divided tasks, just so the work load won't be too much on one person. Based on people strengths each one of us has a few tasks in pre-production stage. For now here is the proposal of the project which will also give more information about what we want to produce and achieve.

Atom Pancakes- Project Proposal

For our project, we decided to create a 2 to 3 minutes animation, revolving the events of one specific character in his environment.

Our animation ‘Final Chapter’ follows Arthur Winters, a 1930’s accomplished crime writer, who is writing his next crime masterpiece. With the editor’s deadline approaching, he is pressured to finish the book. Although it seems like a easy task for a well-known writer, all that the pressure leads him to have ‘writer’s block’ and getting stuck on the ending of his book. With a matter of luck he finds the lost piece of the puzzle which helps him to finish the chapter. However the real struggle, begins when he tries to write it down.

With this animation, our objective as a studio is to emphasize on the importance of a story based on one character and one environment. We want to achieve a short film with great art direction, amazing computer generated work and ultimately beautiful animation. Throughout the animation we will also want to explore different 3D and 2D techniques, to help us tell the story more intuitively.

Finally, the final goal is to hopefully be able to feature our work in an animation festival, this will only be able with good marketing campaign, either online or at university, with the aim to publish our studio and our work to the world.

Although it only started this week, our studio gathered a few weeks back and tried to get our project slightly ahead. With the different tasks divided for pre-production, my job is to work on the character designs and draw storyboards.

What follows is the initial creative work and research that I have done for the character. on the following post I will feature the development of the character and final designs and informative sheets.

Hope you like it!!

Character Profile Sheet & Research

Name: Arthur Winters

Biography: Arthur Winters is a recognised novel author, however when he prepares to write his new book, ideas slip his mind and he is left with nothing. For an accomplished writer not having ideas is like a crime. After some time of reflection and gathering thoughts, he thinks he has yet another masterpiece, though the real struggle begins when he tries to write his ideas for the new book.

Age: 45

Race: Human

Height: 1.70 m.

Body Type: Skinny, Average Height, Waistline Above Normal,Long Hands and Feet.

Face Type: Skinny Body Face With Salient Cheek Bones, Small Eyes and Big Nose.

Complexion: Pale Colour With little Wrinkles, and a Mole ( Not Dark)

Eyes: Hazelnut Colour Eyes and Often Uses a Monocle

Hair: 1920's to 1940's Hairstyle, Full Hair with Bald Sides.

Facial Hair: Well Trimmed Moustache, but as the animation progresses he gets also a stubble.

Clothing Style: On His Torso, He Wears a Well- Ironed Long Sleeve White Shirt a Tie Covered with a Sleeveless (Dark Green) Polo. (Maybe w/ Braces). His Trousers Are Beige and Slightly Short with Polished Brown Shoes.

Speaking Style: Calm, Polite, Formal (Academic Level).

General Demeanour: When normal he is excited about his books, when he has an idea he overreacts and becomes silly.

Career: An Acclaimed Novel Writer

Prejudices: Loves to write books, but unfortunately he is not lucky enough to have an idea.

Best Qualities: enthusiastic, determined, polite, has common sense.

Worst Qualities: melodramatic, silly, sometimes frustrated.

Weaknesses: when overreacting he behaves silly, allowing gags to play on him.

Initial Character Sketches

For in-depth information about the project, check our studio blog at:

http://atompancakes.blogspot.com/

It all Starts... Over Again

2011-09-22T20:25:00.001+01:00

Hello guys, after a few weeks with little activity on here many things happened meantime. I have found a job and it has been taking a lot of time on my weeks therefore my excuse for little posting these couple of weeks, and for doing little on my recent CG model.
On a much more important note, I have started the 3rd and final year in CG Arts and Animation (indeed, graduation will soon arrive). this year will be slightly different than the previous two, as it gives me the liberty to do what I want to do creatively and focus in a speciality within the vast CG discipline.

The 1st project, a 15 week self-initiated project which is open to any type of proposal related to the course. From character and environment design and modelling to short animations or games modelling, everything is possible.

In my case, I adopted to use the minor project to work in collaboration with some of my colleagues, Ethan Shilling and Jordan Buckner. I mainly chose this because it will allow us to focus in specific tasks that each one of us want to pursue after university. I, always in love with characters, my forte lies in design and model them, while my other colleagues have different goals.

The first step for this collaboration project, was to find the studio name and create its own logo and ident.
Having a lot of discussion with my studio peers we found a great name, Atom Pancakes.

What follows is the logo and ident of the studio.

Atom Pancakes is an independent Production Company specialising in 3d Animation. The studio was formed as part of a project for the University for Creative Arts. We provide services in the animation production pipeline.

Alongside this designs we have also created a blog, where we will share the progress of our animation.

http://atompancakes.blogspot.com/

( Later we will have a little surprise.. so be ready!)

Also for further information we have a facebook page and a twitter account.

(you can find them by clicking the logo respectively.)

So if you are interested in what we are about to cook at Atom Pancakes, drop by and follow our blog.

Finally this personal blog wont be abandoned, though with less posts I will keep you all updated with any work I have been working on. And this will come in form of maybe lengthy posts with little text and a lot of images.

So tune in!!!

Robot Pirates Modelling- Sidekick Character

2011-08-14T20:06:00.000+01:00

With one character finished I moved onto the next, this time the sidekick character will take shape and despite being the beginning of the journey it is proving to be a fun one. This character unlike the other one has more detail, and small pieces which make him a bit more complete.

So far I have been blocking out his body, although this character wont have much of organic modelling ( not giving room for sculpting), some pieces like the belt will be more detailed.

So far it is like this:

On a side note, I would like to thank you for the exceptional feedback on the other character. thank you all.

John "Rusty" Hero Robot Pirate Turnaround

2011-08-07T19:17:00.000+01:00

With the rendering of the turnaround taking some time I was able to get the documents ready to add on my website, documents such as Texture Maps making presentable, different views of the character etc.

So without further ado, here I present you the first Robot Pirate fully done.

John "Rusty" The Hero Robot Pirate Turnaround

Character Different Views

Character Geometry

Character Texture Maps

note that I will do quick animation to add to my showreel when I have the rest of the characters and some more time.

The next stage will be to continue modelling the second Character , "Metal Jaw" Gertie the Hunchman Pirate. I will update this page again regularly.

Stay Tuned!

John "Rusty" Hero Robot Pirate Sneak Peek

2011-08-06T15:35:00.001+01:00

After getting the character textured, I moved onto creating the eye controls and I'm happy to say that I was able to make it even though it was slightly different. After giving the character a change to look more alive, I began rendering the turnaround, so while its rendering I leave here a sneak peek shot of the character posed :)

**EDIT:

Here is a version of the character where ambient occlusion was added, it gives more depth to the model making it stand out more in 3D.

To this picture I will add a occlusion pass on the final render turnaround. Enjoy !!

Robot Pirates Final Texturing

2011-08-04T12:58:00.000+01:00

I carried on with texturing this character,with two passes done, what was left was play with the saturation of the cloth and add dirt onto the body, head and props. Overall, texturing is a fun process, and despite taking some time i love the whole process of tweaking and find the character instantly looking better.
When I finish this model I will post the maps I painted for this character.

For now I leave you with a few screen shots, note that the light needs still tweaking.

I still have a few things left to do, first gotta create an eye control which will of with this type of flat eyes, then tweak the light pose the character and render it in 3 versions: Beauty, Clay and Outline.

Robot Pirates Texturing II - Adding Detail

2011-08-02T21:45:00.000+01:00

So after a week where I wasn't able to do much due to being working with Animate & Create helping out young people with skills such as animation and time management. I came back to work on texturing this character, with the finishing line approaching it is still a bit to do. so here I leave you with the second pass of texturing the character- detail.

On the next passes I will correct any texturing problems in the body as well as add transparency in some parts of the shirt, and work with the saturation of the cloth. The last pass is reserved to add a little of dirt on the character.

Enjoy for now!

Robot Pirates Facial Rigging

2011-07-31T12:26:00.000+01:00

After a busy week where not much was done towards this character, I felt it was needed to update on the facial rigging. Last week I was able to finish it, but for no apparent reason I forgot to post it. So here it goes:

While the mouth controls are done with blendshapes into 2 positions, sad and smile. The eyebrows have 3 joint skinned to certain vertices on the eyebrows and than constrained onto 3 point controls, this whole new set up will allow me more freedom when posing the character and and will be able to create a face for any situation.

Eyebrows Set Up

Eyebrows Test

Happy Face

Sad Face

The objective before the end of this weekend is to apply another 2 passes of texturing, one with the actual texturing and some extra detail, then what is left is the dirt.

However in terms of Facial Rigging I still have to control the eyes, it is proving challenging thus far.

The Day of the Invisible Cannibals from Beyond the Stars- Debut Trailer

2011-07-24T14:35:00.000+01:00

The Day of the Invisible Cannibals from Beyond the Stars was the final outcome from a group project done at university. Ruben Martins, Ethan Shilling and Shahbir Hameed formed the fictional studio B3D Studios, and together produced this animation and I'm proud to present it.

Enjoy!

Robot Pirates Texturing I - Blocking out Colours

2011-07-21T23:26:00.001+01:00

Here is a quick update on my Robot Pirate character, rigging is past and what is left to do now is a quick facial rigging to enable the character to smile, and the long task of texturing it. I have started both task and I'm working simultaneously on them, while I created a set-up to begin sculpting the blend-shapes, i have also started to block out colours for the character.

As you can see the character's clothes changed, this was due some previous feedback I have received when designing the character. Character Designer, Justin Wyatt suggested me to vary his colour from the the villain and sidekick colours therefore the blue now comes to play. I do think is working as blue and yellow are two complementary colours.

This is the 1st step of many as I will revisit and apply more passes on this character, a texture pass and retouch pass ( final touches) and dirt pass. Without forgetting the normal and the specular maps.

EDIT**

After a misshapen yesterday, where I deleted the previous blocked out colours, I restart to block colours however this time I took some advice and did a variation for the cloth which follows the original design better. I have to agree that the red colour fits the character better, however I will do also 2 variations when I model the villain.

Robot Pirates Rigging

2011-07-19T21:29:00.000+01:00

With skinning done, Rigging was the next stop, the less creative process in a character pipeline, where you create controls in order to ease in the animation stage. although not creative, it is a essential process and without it animation would be almost impossible. I have to say I enjoyed doing some rigging and it was great getting back to understand how rigging works.

In this character, I have used the same rigging set-up, that I did with the Erich Zann Characters, with a variation of rigs in both arms. However, I have been learning a bit more advanced rigging where I am able to use squash and stretch features.

As I feel more confident, I also can begin customise my own rigging set up, where I will vary the rigging according to what characters are or do.

Here is a couple of pictures showing the different rigs: when the character pipeline is finished I will be sharing a few videos testing the rigging, skinning and cloth simulation.

FK Rig IK Rig

Robot Pirates- Skinning

2011-07-16T17:57:00.001+01:00

I have been quite busy figuring out the skinning for this character, indeed it had given me a lot of thought because how it was modelled. Being build in parts and being them hard surface, the challenge was not in the actual skinning and do the weights but how to bind and where to bind. The solution was using a different approach while some pieces and bound to the body, with the weights fully attached to the respective joint, other body parts like the hands are skinned and with the weights painted. Also the accessories were parented to the joints so they move with it.

Finally I have also fixed the shirt to it moves with the rest of the body. everything seems to be working, now onto the rigging.

Robot Pirates UV Layouts

2011-07-10T22:50:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on the Robot Pirate model. The most boring task in CG has been done on this model, laying out UVs. This time I was feeling more confident on UV Mapping. however they were so many details that took me longer to do it. Though I learnt how to approach different types of geometry instinctively, which will help me in a long run for future projects.

Skinning, Rigging and then Texturing... a step closer to the final model :)

Stay tuned!!

Robot Pirates Scuplting

2011-07-08T13:37:00.000+01:00

With the hero pirate modelled, moved into Zbrush, and started to sculpt the accessories he carries ( all the clothes). Without further ado here is the progress thus far on the Hero Pirate.

I have to say I love to use Zbrush, because it is such an intuitive an creative tool which allows to get great results. Although the interface can be quite confusing for beginners (like me), as soon as you understand it it can be really simple to work with.

I have also set a day to finish this character and move onto the next. so the deadline is the 13 th of July. by that time I will need to have the rigging, skinning and texturing done, and then it is ready for the turnaround. however no rushing is needed!

Hope you like!

Robot Pirates Modelling IV

2011-07-03T17:12:00.001+01:00

For a long time, I haven't updated on my progress with the Robot Pirates, so here it goes:

So from where I left it, modelling is going great, with the head pretty much blocked out, I moved onto adding the hard surface details on the body, such as blots and gauges, not being a games character I was able to be a bit more expensive and spend some polygons on it.I have also blocked out the clothes which will be imported into Zbrush for some organic sculpting.
Finally, I have also modelled the robot's props (gun and dagger) which will be textured and added to the model.

So here is how the model looks like now (sculpting to be done):

Geometry Layer Cloth Layer

Dagger

Gun

More to come now that I move onto Zbrush!

Enjoy!

Robot Pirates Modelling III

2011-06-28T18:00:00.000+01:00

Another update:

I finished to block out the head, the main metal parts such as the skull, the jaw, the eyes, etc are all finished. However it is still needed some organic sculpting on the bandana, which will be done in Zbrush. Even though is cloth i decided to not use ncloth on the top of the bandana, however the last bits (after the knot) will have cloth simulation so it will resemble a real cloth piece behave as such.

Now onto adding the hard surface details on the body. And then export all to Zbrush :)

Stay tuned!!

Robot Pirates Modelling II

2011-06-26T17:28:00.001+01:00

Ok here is the progress i have been doing on the head of the Robot Pirate Hero.

I have added some details such eye brows, the pupils the hair and others, also I have fixed the skull. Now what is left is the bandana and the neck. everything is getting into shape.

As the character designer and modeller, I really want to stick with the design and transfer it from 2d to 3D. However, some decisions have to be taken if I see that the design is not working.

Now back to some rigging!

More to come!! Enjoy!

Robot Pirates Modelling

2011-06-24T17:16:00.000+01:00

After spending a couple of weeks trying to forge my skills, in the worlds of zbrush and rigging and getting my new website up and running, I decided to get on full gear with my Robot Pirates Modelling. grabbing where I left it, I have made the body base mesh for the Hero Robot Pirate.

I began to model the head and so far it is blocked out and I have added the eyes and model shapes. following a good topology is very important (clean and tidy), as I may be able to take this characters a step further and animate them with time.

More progress will be uploaded soon!

My New Professional Website

2011-06-19T17:25:00.002+01:00

For a couple of weeks I have been working a new showcase website, where I would present my work in a professional manner. It is finally finished and will be updated with future projects in which I am confident to include in my portfolio.

you can take a look on

http://rubenmartinsshowcase.blogspot.com/

and a new facebook page, where work will be updated often, so take a look and drop a Like.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ruben-Martins/218529468177444

And please enjoy!

EDIT:

The sidebar button now is working, it will link you to the new showcase website.

Anatomy Sketches *2

2011-06-12T15:17:00.000+01:00

This space has been quiet lately, as I have tried to be a bit away of the overwhelming power of the blogosphere and concentrating on learning and broad my knowledge on different subjects, as part of my summer plan.

For now, I am just uploading a few anatomy sketches I have done lately.

Please, Enjoy!

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Match Moving

2011-06-01T00:50:00.000+01:00

Here is two weeks of tutorials where we were introduced to match moving, one of the fields in the industry that has been developed a lot recently. Although, not what I really want to follow this tutorials were helpful to understand and even visualise the world.from a simple 2d footage to a 3D environment.

However, I had a few problems with this tutorials because the auto tracking feature in Match-mover, was giving some really weird results. however after a few tries I was able to fix it, I dont know how.

the second problem was rendering the car tutorial, I don't know why but it didn't render any more than 10 frames. even though i changed the settings they would go back to 10 frames. with more time I will finish the other 2 tutorials and try to rerender the toy car one.

Match Moving- Auto tracking

Match Moving- Masked Auto Tracking

Maya Tutorials: High Resolution Head- Model Thus far

2011-06-01T00:47:00.000+01:00

here is what I have of the model. with the main features on the face done I have to get the ear and then move onto the body. I am aiming to finish this tutorial as soon as possible. as it will help me in a long run to get my own personal models right.

I can see i fell behind with this unit's tutorials, mainly because I didnt have a good internet connection where I could download the videos. with that said, Im aiming to catch up with the body and the Match moving tutorials.

Work Placement Unit Evaluation

2011-05-30T16:17:00.000+01:00

The work experience unit is officially over, and with it many things were learnt. With my work placement at Picasso Pictures, I had the chance to see how a small part of a vast industry works. Being in such environment and meeting such great people, helped me understand how to approach work in a production team. With feedback talks with director James Boty from FinkBoom, t whom I mainly did work for, I understood that is crucial to be able to visualise what the director wants, and quickly show him what he wants.
Although, many times at Picasso Pictures during my placement it was very quiet it allowed me to sneak upstairs and ask productive questions to the freelancers working there.
Questions mainly were focused on work ethic, career approach and professionalism. with these talks I learnt a lot not only about the industry, my career, but also how to effectively approach university. the importance of a community in the CG and animation world.
These were the high points of my work experience, however where is highs is also lows, the only low point I can figure was the fact that it was extremely quiet on the first week, and it truly lowered a lot my esteem to face the second week, though I didnt allow that affect my work ethic, and I was hard-working as I always do.

Overall, It was a great experience, because it allowed me to meet different people and keep their contacts, for future questions. and mainly to have a taste of what the industry awaits me.

Picasso Pictures, Production Company, 2003

2011-05-30T16:02:00.002+01:00

Picasso Pictures is a one of the UK's leading independent production companies based in London, more specially in the animation/ advertisement field.

It all started back in 2003 when a group of producers (Jane Bolton, Dominic Buttimore and Richard Price) from the Post-production house The Moving Picture Company , decided to create a production team. The main objective of the creation of Picasso Pictures was to introduce new work to The Moving Picture Company as well as giving opportunity for new talents to shine in the animation/ advertisement world.
The initial studios were on the corner of Wardour street and only later, they moved to 9-11 Broadwick St where they still remain. This studio consists in a 4 floors building in the centre of Soho London, the 4 floors are divided accordingly, the 1st floor houses a small post-production team, which quickly, composite and edit any animation footage ready to show to the clients. The 2nd floor, consists in the executives, Jane Bolton and Richard Price, and many producers, such as Inga Johnson, they are the people in charge to secure the jobs and ultimately are the face of the company who have to negotiate with the client.
The 3rd Floor is the place where ideas are made, brainstormed and decided, on the director's floor, many animation directors are based in there, however many others work away from the studio.
So if the 3rd floor is the place where ideas are born, the 4th is theproduction of those same ideas. The production room, houses a few computers where many freelances artists pass by and work for Picasso Pictures, giving all their best to the clients. To receive the ideas into a final product Picasso Pictures has its own Render-farm, a potent unit which allows to render the work in time for tight deadlines and picky clients.

One of the main objectives of the creation of Picasso Pictures was to give the opportunity to young talents to share their work and visions. Therefore, the studio consists in great directors who are distinct with their work.

What follows is a quick showcase of some of the directors and their work.

Tokyo Plastic

Zune Art

MTS 4G Commercial

Finkboom

ZombieGotchi

Steve May

X &Y

Alongside this great directors and many more, is a exhaustive list of freelance artists that make these ideas happen. I had the chance to meet 2 of them, and was really pleased to bo able to aske them a lot of questions.

Ricardo David

Gael Lendoiro

These 2 artists were freelance artists, who were working on one of the projects. While Gael Lendoiro, was a generalist artist, Ricardo David is a generalist focused on animation, his strength. These 2 artists are only two of many people that work for Picasso Pictures as freelance artists, aiding with their respective skill, from concept to final product, from modelling to animation.

With a house full of talent either in the director's room or the production one, Picasso Pictures has been growing since its launch, and the success doesn't look like is going to stop.

All works are copyrighted to the named artists

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Ncloth Week 2

2011-05-30T09:18:00.000+01:00

The continuation of Ncloth Maya tutorials, it is great to get a bit more advanced in terms of animation with particles, etc. this will definately help step up my game for next year.

M & Ms Bag

Balloons

Tearable Surface

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Ncloth Week 1

2011-05-30T09:13:00.000+01:00

On the 3rd week of maya tutorials we were introduced to Ncloth. Although I have used Ncloth on my last project, it was great to see it being applied differently onto different materials. these tutorials not only deal with the characteristics of Ncloth, but also but also how to attach it to other surfaces by using constraints.

Flags

( I guess here Patriotism came in first place)

Netting

Rubber Castle

Rope Bridge

Maya Tutorials: Soft/ Rigid Bodies Week 2

2011-05-30T09:02:00.000+01:00

The continuation of simulation with dynamics, more precisely Rigid/ Soft Bodies. This time applying them into a more organic environment.

Flesh

Marble

Snow

Water

Bubbles

Maya Tutorials: Soft/ Rigid Bodies Week 1

2011-05-30T08:55:00.000+01:00

For the last unit of the year our tutorials were divided in three distinct subjects, Simulation with dynamics, Motion capture and and High Resolution modelling.

Here is the 1st week of the simulation with Rigid/ Soft Bodies, where we learned how to create models which can assume a more realistic feel.

Chain

Catapult

Earring

Newton's Craddle

( even though I followed the tutorial, the simulation seemed to not work correctly, it still needs more tweaking).

Anatomy sketches *1

2011-05-25T22:41:00.001+01:00

As part of my plan for summer time, I want to get on with drawing a lot more. understand better human proportions and then apply that to my characters for either realism or stylisation. Therefore I began my own set of Anatomy classes, where i will sketch the human body, either as a whole or detailed parts.

Here is the first set of drawings:

Exploring Skull and Neck Structure- Bones and Muscles

Now back to the Maya tutorials.

Long live the update!

2011-05-21T10:36:00.000+01:00

After sometime off, thinking how to approach my future career. I came up with a quite interesting and busy plan for over the summer.However, this unit still needs to be finished, therefore I will try to do the presentation as soon as possible, and write about Picasso Pictures. As well as, do as much as I can of the Maya tutorials.

With this out of the way, I can concentrate on summer time and what I want from it.

My plan range in different things to do, mainly learn more about a few topics:

Anatomy

Zbrush ( for character sculpting)

Character Rigging- a bit more advanced ( GUI rigs and squash and stretch)

Animation

and maybe give a try at marmoset tool bag rendering, just because I saw some of the results out of it, and really look professional.

Meanwhile, to boost my future career, I will be redesigning my business card and grabbing some elements for my show reel. trying to pick the best work I have produced over this 2 years.

Meanwhile I will continue to model the Robot Pirates and apply what I am about to learn in ZBrush on them.

I suppose it will be a busy summer time, where the main objective is to boost my knowledge and up the standard of my models.

On a side note, I will be entering a competition on CG Hub, with Ivana, it will be the first that us both will do a collaboration and the first time I will be entering a online challenge so which me luck!!

Work Experience: Day 6 to 9

2011-05-17T12:25:00.000+01:00

The last few days of my work placement ( which is now over), were slightly busier. Firstly, I carried on meeting with the artists upstairs and throwing my shopping list of questions. then I had my first go at modelling for a director.

After meeting with James Boty, from Finkboom. he was willing to give me some 3D stuff to do. I can i was excited and worried, excited because finally I had something that i enjoyed to do and worried because I didn't know if my modelling skills were up to standard. However, i began modelling some stuff for him which would be featured in an upcoming pitch. ( details I cant say).
This experience was great because it allowed me to work 1 to 1 with the director/ art director, and gave em the chance to get instant feedback on my work and on the things that needed changing. having to prepare the models for a pitch that was due last Friday, it helped me visualise how to work with extremely tight deadlines.
Indeed, some of the days I was doing some extra time to catch up with the production, which was enjoyable.

with my days of work placement over, I pretend to still be in contact with Picasso Pictures and the directors within it as well as applying everything that I learnt from the professionals I had the chance to speak to.
i have to say overall it was a great experience, shame it was so short.

Good things will come, hopefully!

Work Experience: Day 5

2011-05-10T10:02:00.003+01:00

Fifth day at Picasso Pictures, and overall it was a quiet day...

I did continue doing some 3DS Max tutorials, to boost my knowledge in the 3DS Max. Wrote the questions to ask the executives about the company. The last part of the day, I went into the production room, and met again with the 3D artists over there.

This time, I focussed my questions on showreels, how to build one and what to put in it. Gael Lendoiro, and Ricardo David, gave me crucial advice on what to do and how to start one.

They also gave me advice on how you present your work, therefore I thought of creating a blog which will be my website, it wont have any feeds but rather will work as a showcase for my work, I will be working on that over the summer so I can update with some of the 3rd year's work.

for now here is the website of the two incredible artists, I have been meeting with.

Gael Lendoiro Website- Here

Ricardo David Website- Here

Enjoy!

Work Experience: Day 4

2011-05-09T11:05:00.002+01:00

Day 4, a quiet day... after getting those 2D designs for the client, Rik the one in charge of the project is just correcting some small changes. Although a quiet day, I had the chance to browse some interesting stuff on internet.
I have also met Leo, my colleague who is doing working experience at Nexus. it was cool to share experiences that we are living in both companies.
At Picasso Pictures, I spent some time getting the grips of 3DS Max just for fun!!

A Teacup

The last part of the day was by far the most interesting of these couple of days,. I had the chance to meet with directors, such as Steve May, the Tokyoplastic Guys and others, it was great to speak about work, Steve May for example, showed some work, either the one he did for his band or the funny illustration he is all the time doing. Inga Johnson was spreading the word that I would be in the studio this week and that I ca do some 3D, Tokyo Plastic, member Sam Lanyon Jones asked me for the protfolio so he may find me some stuff to do this week.

Meanwhile, here is some work by the 2 Directors I met.

Tokyo Plastic

©Copyright tokyoplastic

Steve May

©Copyright Steve May

On the second part of the tour, I met the production team, which is finalizing some work in an 3D ad ( in 3DS max). It consisted in a couple of members which were finishing animating and rendering stuff to deliver to a client. Without being too much, I spent some time with them asking questions about the industry, and the difference between big companies and small companies. etc... though, the part that i was really interested in asking was about freelancing. Gael Lendoiro and Ricardo David are two frelancers working in the industry for over 4 years. Although they work as generalists most of the part, Gael is specified in rendering and lighting while Ricardo is an animator, for companies like Crytek, etc. So it was great to meet them, and learn a bit more freelancing, the subject and the industry out there. Lastly, i met another guy doing work experience, he was from Germany, and he was working with tokyo plastic on some concept art, hopefully he will still be there.

Today, I will sneak upstairs and ask a few more questions about showreels. Being a freelancer is all about putting your best work to grab jobs, so I guess I will receive great advice from them.

Work Experience: Day 3

2011-05-06T10:31:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, I had my 3rd day working at Picasso Pictures.Thus far is being a great experience, I have been meeting people and talking about the industry.
I mention to Inga Johnson to meet more people in the production room, which is in the 4th floor (currently at the 1st floor). However that had to be delayed as I was rushed with some work to do. The work consisted in continuing some 2D Design work for a client, creating some website banners in different formats etc. So far I learnt some stuff about branding, and composition within a banner as well as how space counts a lot in the industry. With me I have a list of what the client have asked with all the sizes and how big they have to be in kb, this has to be followed strictly. The designs I have been doing are just first versions which will be approved or not by the client.

Finally, I have spoke to Inga and she mentioned that maybe some 3D will need to be done next week, hopefully!

p.s: I wont be able to show these designs here, however I will ask inga if it is possible to to get them and show them on the crit.

Work Experience: Day 2

2011-05-04T22:33:00.002+01:00

Second day of the work experience at Picasso Pictures and I was a bit more of movement. Without giving it all out, because I can't, I have been doing some 2D work, marketing design for a well-known client. It consists in basic photoshop editing of layers, merging pictures, to make presentable, pitch templates to show the client. It is just a quick job to do.
Meanwhile, I have a quiet funny experience. I have been following the blog of this illustrator called Steve May, for over a year. Yesterday, while doing some stuff, one of the directors came downstairs, and after chatting a bit he left. The guys in my room, kept mentioning his name, which was Steve May. After trying to remember where I knew that name,when I check his blog did some research and tried to match the pieces of the puzzle. I found that the artist Steve May, who I have been following the blog for over a year is the same Steve May, Animation Director at Picasso Pictures.Interesting!

I then entered in contact with him, who thank me to follow his blog, today I had properly a 1 to 1 conversation with him.

It just proves that the industry is too small. or that I am all over the web as a stalker. You tell me !

Work Experience: Day 1

2011-05-04T11:56:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, I had my 1st day of work experience at Picasso Pictures in London. It started at 10.00 with Inga Johnsson showing the installations of the studio. then they set up a computer for me, so i would be able to work. I have to say the firstly was very quiet, didnt do much apart from browsing the internet, etc. However i was able to see how the industry works when is tight deadlines ahead.

Not much to add from the always awkward first day. Apart that I did some runner work, by going shopping, etc.

Work Placement: Robot Pirate Hero Block out

2011-04-27T15:37:00.000+01:00

So I carried on modelling the Hero character, and I am pretty much done with blocking out the body. it has been an interesting experience, and quite different from what I am used to.

So here is the latest progress on the character, and so far the turnarounds didnt let me down.

With the body blocked out, I just have to block out the face and then I am ready to sculpt the details in as well as adding the clothes and props.

Work Placement: The Modelling Side

2011-04-26T10:13:00.001+01:00

Only having 2 weeks of Work Placement, I decided to do some extra work and get some experience in modelling. I am modelling the Robot Pirates Characters, because they seem really fun to do. My aim is to create a base mesh in Maya, and then sculpt any details in Zbrush, and lastly re-mesh it in Maya.
This blog is lacking in Maya work at the moment, so here it comes the update on the character, I began with the Hero. and already he is offering a different type of challenging when modelling a character. As i am modelling in parts instead of a whole mesh. Therefore I have to be thoughtful when putting everything together. it has been fun!

I dont want to rush through, the modelling, as this is a learning experience. when done i will give a try at sculpting it in Zbrush. to get the best out of the model. :)

I found that something was looking weird in the model so I retouched the mesh, by accentuating the curve on the upper leg as well as the part that it connect with the hips.

**EDIT

More updates will come soon!

Animation is Inspiration: A friend Like Me Genie from Alladin

2011-04-25T22:49:00.001+01:00

With my last post, on Animation is Inspiration I mentioned 3D Animation, this time lets get back into the traditional 2D Medium, a see how an animation can be pull almost to the extreme of Imagination. The scene is Friend Like Me, from the film Aladdin by Disney.

Genie " Friend Like Me" - Aladdin- Disney

Why I chose it?

The Genie character in the film Aladdin is by itself a great sidekick character which allows a lot of animation, being a non-human character it assumes non- realistic animation, and therefore it shapes its own personality. Indeed, the animation in the genie sets a new boundary of the squash and stretch principle, as well as it not only focus on character animation but also morphing. the character itself is a crazy, happy genie who is there to serve his master however is also a funny sidekick, therefore the main character for gags. Out of curiosity, the animator responsible for the Genie, and who animated specifically this scene is the great Eric Goldberg, his experience is almost infinite, He worked for adverts in London, under the direction of Richard Williams. as well as many other animation films, Who framed Roger Rabbit?, Fantasia 2000 to name some but also directed Pocahontas. Apart from his experience, he is one of the most passionate people about animation, and seems like a great person. For insightful tips and funny stories about animation, check his podcast on Animation Podcast. You won't regret it.

Animation is Inspiration: Scrat Animation from Ice Age

2011-04-23T09:17:00.001+01:00

This Animation is Inspiration post, will talk about Scrat, a cute, funny little character from the film Ice Age. focusing on its type of animation.

Why I chose it?

The design of the character itself it's great, identifying the character as a cute neurotic small animal who is crazy about acorns. With such a convincing character, the animation had to be also evoking the same. As you can see the animation in scrat is really jumpy, fast, and snappy. when the pose to pose jumps so quickly that your not there to see the inbetweens. this is great to evoke stress. being a really quickly and small character it does not have much weight, therefore it also allows more freedom to play around in the animation. The animator for Scrat was Aaron Hartline, A great animator which is currently is animating at PIXAR, you may know its work, from Up! or the tortilla scene in Toy Story 3( another big challenge).

You can check is blog at: http://aaronhartline.blogspot.com/

Maya Tutorials: Games Modelling Character- UV layouts

2011-04-22T13:58:00.000+01:00

Continuing to do some Maya Tutorials over these holidays. This time was laying out the Uvs. This process is crucial for the texturing stage, so you can get the most out of your model.

UV Map 1024x1024

On a minor note, I have started to model the Robot Pirate characters, for these characters I don't want to rush anything and learn alot about modelling and sculpting in Zbrush. So those skills can be carried onto the 3rd year.

Nude Postcards for Exhibition at Horsebridge Gallery

2011-04-21T22:55:00.002+01:00

Ivana mentioned this exhibition to me and I felt it would be interesting to participate, it is called Post Nude and consist in people create nude postcards by Post to the Horsebridge Gallery in Whitstable and then all entries will be put up. It will be good to see different ideas and styles. The emphasise is on nude postcards and and travelling nudes on the post.

So I have done my 2 entries.

For more information check the exhibitions website Here.

Maya Tutorials: Games Modelling Character

2011-04-21T22:38:00.000+01:00

here is a tutorials that was forgotten from the last transcription project. Even though I had started back when we received the tutorial, it has been forgotten ever since. This tutorial introduced us to games modelling, where the number of polys is the most important thing of it all, The Key for this type of modelling is model efficiently and the details will be added in the texturing.

Meanwhile I have also did the missing tutorial,the last of the normal map tutorials. here the normal maps were used to create bump values on the textures, something I used on my project before.

Animation is Inspiration: Prince of Egypt, Dreamworks

2011-04-19T17:46:00.003+01:00

Continuing the Animation is Inspiration thread, today I present a slightly recent 2D animation. Recently I have re-watched Prince of Egypt, a 1998 2D animation by Dreamworks studio. To me is one of the best animations alongside Iron Giant and Kung Fu Panda released by Dreamworks. It is the adaptation of the biblical story of two brothers, Moses and Rameses, that destiny will turn them enemies. Without further ado, here is the trailer as well as a sequence that to me standout the most.

Trailer- Prince of Egypt

All I ever wanted- Prince of Egypt- DreamWorks

Why I chose it?

In this particular scene, Moses finds who he really is. I chose it because the different approaches to traditional and CG animation present. From cinematic viewpoints at the beginning, to a rather unusual use of 3D to convey a 2D surface. I do think the cinematic approach worked throughout the whole film, specially in Exodus scene, where a huge crowd was following Moses' path. The last scene, is something unusual seen in 2D Animation though, In my opinion it worked really well, and if the hieroglyphs tells you a story with each image, this was a good approach to convey the same effect. Interesting enough, though the unusual approach, the story was delivered perfectly and its purpose to convey a dream was great.

Animation is Inspiration: 3 Little Pigs / Pigs in Polka

2011-04-18T18:25:00.000+01:00

After a last week when i was trying to get on with the tutorials as well as the essay, I'm happy to present the new feature on this blog. I will often post animation videos which inspire me and will help me understand better animation as well as acting and story-telling.

So the feature on this blog will be labelled as an "Animation is Inspiration" post and it will be illustrated with the picture above.

These new feature, will have videos from all mediums of animation, 2D, 3D, Claymation, etc. As well as, good acting videos, slapstick acting or simple animations with a good story-telling.

Alongside, the video it will be a section 'Why I chose it?', just for explanation as well as self-reference.

So to start with this I have a double dose. Two animations adapted from the same original story, though with two completely different approaches.

3 Little Pigs - Silly Symphonies - Walt Disney

Why I chose it?

3 Little Pigs is a 1933 2D animation by the Walt Disney Studios and the predecessor of the 1st feature length 2D Animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. When these short animation, Silly Symphonies, were being produced animators were always pushing animation further to achieve what it is called the Illusion of Life. This period was crucial to establish the principles of animation, which later were adapted and improved. 3 Little Pigs was itself a groundbreaking experiment because it was the first 2D animation, in which characters assumed personalities and instead of being just animated, they were acting.

Pigs in Polka- Looney Tunes - Warner Bros.

Why I chose it?

With only 10 years apart, Pigs in Polka a 1943 2D animation by Warner Bros. was already a big improvement in animation. As you can see the animation was looking more fluid and it was good timing, weight, etc. Which enabled the animators at the Warner Bros. studio to push their animation techniques further. Warner Bros. was always known for they snappy, violent yet funny animations. And Pigs in Polka is exactly that, an exaggeration of reality and comedy with influences on slapstick animation. One of its high points is the score played all through the animation. And where the actions of the characters are carefully synchronised with the music and its variations. Is in cases like this, that an Exposure Sheet (x-Sheet) comes in really handy.

In my opinion, I prefer the Looney Tunes version better, because of its snappy and incredibly funny animation, I do also like how in Warner Bros. animation, the political correctness is taken to the extreme. And it also just provokes really great gags that are never dated. On the other hand, 3 Little Pigs despite having some gags throughout the animation, it assumes a moral aspect.

Work Placement: What is the Situation?

2011-04-16T21:24:00.000+01:00

Last week, I received the Email from Inga Johnson , a Producer at Picasso Pictures and who will be working with me in about 2 weeks time. I promptly sent an email to her, just to ask how was the situation. So within bringing cookies and boiling kettles, I know now when to start. So my Work Placement starts at 10 am on the 3rd of May, at Picasso Pictures.
On that day, I will be introduced to the team and a tour around the place and then hopefully will be able to be slotted in according to Inga Johnson.
Meanwhile, to fulfil the brief we need to write about the history of the company we will be working with, when I asked Inga, she said that she will introduce the executives, Richard Price and Jane Bolton, and then i can ask all the questions.
Everything is set to start my work placement on the 3rd, one last thing I can't forget is to bring the cookies!!

A bit off topic, I really wanted to put my work out there a bit more and although the blog is a good tool, it is difficult to harvest new followers, and special people working in the industry. So I'm proud to present that Ruben Martins is now on Polycount, a CG community forum in where students and professionals share their work, give feedback and all that useful stuff.

So follow me on Polycount, my username is eCzety ( it was a games nickname and don't ask me why I chose it)

A Quick Update on the Blog

2011-04-13T19:40:00.000+01:00

I will just give a quick update on this blog. To boost the professionalism on this blog and to prepare for the industry, I decided to redo the portfolio section on my blog as well as update my CG Hub Account. With this I pretend to be at least more active in the CG Community out there.

The Portfolio- I have created a new portfolio where I will be holding my best 2d Work as well as any 3D renders I'm happy with. this will be updated every time it is needed.

CG Hub gallery, I found that I have been not putting myself out there too much. So I have updated all my CG Hub Gallery, and pretend to be more active in the CG Community.

Work Placement: Beyond Transcription

2011-04-12T10:36:00.001+01:00

A few weeks back, I was happy to know that I would have work placement in a company. Picasso Pictures, is the place in which I will spend around 2 weeks absorbing what the industry is all about. Being a unit for university, apart from the work experience I will get, I was also asked to write about the company I will be working with, and if possible show any work that I am going to to there.

This unit supposed to be a 5 weeks unit, but because I am having 2 weeks of work placement, I will need to produce something more. It was said that I could either finish the my transcription animation or do the models and metaphors project ( a competition project).

After pondering about it, I decided for a third option. I spoke to Phil and he gave me green light for this choice. For the next couple of weeks I will be doing the work placement unit, as well as modelling the Characters from the Character Design Project ( if you remember the Robots shown on the blog banner).

I have also found that I have to learn a lot about animation, so I will be intensively teaching myself, the art of animate, firstly I will accurately understand the principles and then apply them to the 3D world.
This blog will be more active than ever, From either my experiences at Picasso Pictures, any development about the characters or animation exercises. Finally, as part of my understanding for animation I will be posting excerpts of good animations and films.

Here I leave you with one of the most amazing sequences, in my opinion , done in 2D Animation. It was part of my childhood, when feeding my head in Disney Films.

Pocahontas- Colours of the Wind

Why I chose this?
Firslty, I have to give credit to the animator, Glen Keane a master of 2d Animation, animated this sequence. What stroke me the most is how expressive the animation is, and how every element animate the sequence works. It is visible 2 styles of animation, it is either characters moving or morphing animation. The animation has weight and timing. All this beautiful work is aided by the expressive colours.

Hope you like it.

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Dynamic Tutorials Week*8

2011-04-11T04:57:00.001+01:00

This is the last week of Dynamics tutorials, here we were shown more details about Goals to control the particles and introduced to Sprites.

Muddy Golf Ball- Goal

Pixie Dust- Sprites

Maya Tutorials: Rendering with Mental Ray Week*4

2011-04-11T04:52:00.000+01:00

Here is lasts week Mental Ray tutorials, although some are not complete I will get on with them as soon as possible. Last week, we were introduced to Caustics, in order to create more realistic renders. Also to use Mia Materials ( mental ray) specific materials and to how to use physical sun to create atmosphere and the lighting in your scene.

Caustics

Default 1st render

Scene with Final Gather and Global Illumination

Final render w/ Caustics

Mia Materials

Here is a representation of the Mia Materials presets assembled to different spheres, the level of realism is outstanding, definitely the way forward if you need to create hyper-realistic scenarios.

Physical Sun and Sky

Initial Render- Default

Scene with Wrong Horizon Line

Horizon Line Tweaked

Default Sun

Scaled Sun

Haze options

Blue to Red Attribute

Saturation Option

Default Shadow Shadow Softness

Final Render Sample 64

To be Continued...

Maya Tutorials: Rendering with Mental Ray Week*3

2011-04-11T04:35:00.000+01:00

This week, we explored different worlds inside mental ray. We were shown how to get bump values in another way, by using displacement maps. we were introduced to Final Gather and Global Illumination.

Displacement Maps

Using Maya Software

Final Render

Progress

Using Mental Ray

Final Mental Ray Render

Progress

Using Non- Smooth Objects

Using SubDiv

Using Surfaces

Final Gather

Final Gather Render

Final Gather Diagnose

Global Illumination

Global Illumination Render

Global Illumination Progress

Maya Tutorials: Rendering with Mental Ray Week*2

2011-04-11T04:18:00.000+01:00

On this week, we were introduced to really interesting features in mental ray, that will help get the render desired. Motion Blur was the first that was shown to us, and despite the horrific render times the effects your are able to get with Motion Blur are unique, it is truly useful for motion characters or props, to give that extra hint of dynamism, instead of looking like a still object moving around.

Motion Blur
2D Motion Blur

Final Motion Blur Shot

2D Motion Blur Progress

3D Motion Blur

Final 3D Motion Blur Shot

3D Motion Blur Progress

Non- Deformations Motion Blur

Final Non- Deformed Motion Blur

Non-Deformed Motion Blur Progress

Motion Blur Using Rasterizer

Lastly, but no less important, this tutorial, helped understand how to possibly reduce the render time, When using motion blur the objects will be moving at a certain, therefore a lot of detail doesn't need to exist. So by using the rasterizer option, instead of the Scanline, the render looks still similar but the render time was reduced by half a minute.

Final Motion Blur Rasterizer Shot

Motion Blur with Rasterizer Progress

The second part of the mental ray tutorials this week was helping to understand depth of field, this is extremely useful, as it focus on certain things that could be missed at first.

Depth of Field

Depth of Field Progress Shots

Lens Bokeh Effect

Maya Tutorials: Rendering with Mental Ray Week*1

2011-04-11T03:59:00.000+01:00

This week we were introduced properly to Mental Ray, this far most of the things rendered came out of the Maya software render.
Mental Ray works differently, and with better results.
here we were introduced to the shadow corrections and optimisation, which allows to test your scenes so they can possibly render faster.

Mental Ray Shadows

Final

Maya Software

Switching to Mental Ray

Shadow Softness Default

Shadow Softness 15

Mental Ray Optimisation

This tutorial to me was really problematic, first I had to reconnect all the textures from the source images. And then after exhaustively trying to find the Output menu on my mac, I wasnt able to. However, I was able to get the console giving me the information about the render but not the useful one. So I wrote the process of my renders.

Final- Mental Ray Samples 1

Mental Ray Samples 2

BSP Depth Diagnose

Render 1

2.36

BSP 10

BSP Depth 40

Render 2

2.18

BSP Size 10

BSP Depth 50

Render 3

2.19

BSP Size 10

BSP Depth 45

Render 4

2.07

BSP Size 10

BSP Depth 48

Render 5

2.25

BSP Size 10

BSP Depth 60

Render 4

Sampling 1

1.47

BSP Size 10

BSP Depth 48

Maya Tutorials: Introduction to Normal Maps

2011-04-11T03:42:00.000+01:00

Here we were introduced to normal maps, a more recent method to get bump values on your model, since this tutorial I have explored even further this method and wrote a technical paper about it. Definitely, something to take in consideration for the future projects.

Mental Ray Maya Software ( it doesn't work)

2nd Example

Mac does not support the Nvidia plugin for Photoshop to convert Normal Maps, luckily the program nDo enabled me to do the same thing.

Transcription: The Music of Erich Zann Submission Files

2011-04-08T18:35:00.006+01:00

Yesterday was the last of the Transcription project, so I presented my work. It consisted in the final animatic to understand the story, the animation tests, which was a excerpt of animation I have done so far and walk cycles, and the Animation shots, renders that were taken out of the final animation.
My work was fully supported with the 'Art of' Document, that enables anybody to understand the process behind what I have done for the past 10 weeks.
Although, yesterday it was the last day of the project, it's certainly not the last day of Erich Zann, as I am excited to finish this piece.

Without further Ado here is what I presented, as well as the rest of the submission files.

Hope you like it.

Final Animatic

Animation Tests

Animation Shots

(I'm sorry for the quality, but I guess Scbrid doesnt like high res)

Art of The Music of the Erich Zann

Demo Reel Shot

Technical Paper- Texturing a Model Using Sculpting and Normal Maps

DVD and Disc Template

Logo and Branding

Business Card

The business card is not final, I have done this one in the beginning of the project, and I found out that It as to be improved.

transcription: Rue D'Auseil Final Model and Texture

2011-04-02T15:24:00.000+01:00

I am getting closer and closer of finishing the set modelling, here is a quick update from the previously posted Rue D'Auseil model. I have added the lodge house, the wall and some stairs and lamps here and there. What is left is a quick close up model of the door opened and the interior set.

Texture Maps

For the texture maps, I did another few for the buildings.

Transcription: A Quick Update on Environment Modelling/ Texturing

2011-04-02T00:29:00.000+01:00

Throughout the day I have been modelling and texturing the last scenario for my animation, the Rue D' Auseil. I used the same style for the street and I plan to finish it tomorrow.

I will update tomorrow with the final model, and I will begin to sort out things for the final presentation.

Transcription: Staircase Modelled and Textured

2011-04-01T13:53:00.001+01:00

Lately, I have rampaging through set modelling and texturing. and I forgot how time consuming it can be. Like everything else, and as John Lasseter once said, " In CG nothing comes for free". so I have to model everything in the scene, and then texture it.
Today, I have moved onto modelling the Rue D'Auseil, and texture it. Before I post that here is a quick update on the the staircase environment and texture.

Staircase Model

Staircase Textured

Texture Maps:

Transcription: Viol Finally Textured

2011-03-30T22:52:00.000+01:00

I am not superstitious person, but i just hit the 666th post, so I decided to move the post numbers forward and create a quick post related to my viol. As I mentioned before, the viol is like a 3th character for my animation, because it is through it that most of the action will take place. Though being so busy with the rest almost forgot about texturing it. So here is the final render of the textured viol.

Also I will add, some test renders and the texture map.

Finally, I will be doing a turnaround for the viol as well because it also plays an important role in the overall animation.

Transcription: Getting the last textures done for the Environments

2011-03-30T22:39:00.000+01:00

The last few days continued to be all over the place, I don't mean this in a bad way though. Set modelling/ texturing environments/ some animation and rendering have taken place.
I finally set my mind that it will be impossible to finish the animation in the upcoming days, so I am taking a different strategy, instead of rushing all the way until the end. I will try to polish the work that I have so far , in terms of set modelling, props etc. And generate less but better animation within my knowledge. (Indeed, I will be teaching myself throughout the holidays. Animator's Survival Kit all the way).
I'm taking this strategy not to show that I will produce less work for the last few days of this project, but to have a solid pre-production/ production on this project, that will be in a final animation stage in a very close future. Therefore finished.
I want quality work throughout the overall project, and instead of rushing any set design, or texturing now.

But I guess is enough of "blah blah", and let's share some of the things I have been concentrating lately. As I said texturing as taken a lot of time s I have a few texture environments to show to show the amount of texturing I will add also the texture maps.

The Attic Hallway

Erich Zann Room

Although the room looks similar to the young man's one, I used even more printing shapes, heavy bold lines I was able to gather from my hand-made prints. and deliberately made them in direction to the window, indeed they will unconsciously lead the viewer to a side of the screen.

Lodge House Outside

For this lodge house exterior, I emphasised again on the shapes, more irregular shapes carrying the creepiness of the environment, if you realise, the shapes here are also consciously placed in an order, they all directed to the window. A closer shot of the window is shown when the Young man sees the mysterious sight, therefore I want to directed the viewer to is reaction. and as if the black bold shapes are after the Young Man.

Continuing on the theory side, my next environment was the void, I had an interesting concept in mind, though I didn't know if it would work, I wanted to create a mechanism, in which it would create random shapes, therefore motion inside the void.

Here is how it turned out:

To note is the absence of any type of lighting, and that the animation of the void circles, are in some cases too fast. but it shows the mechanism working. It consists of 4 plates with different shapes carved on them, that when rotate create even more unexpected shapes, for the background I painted a mystical background, which at the moment seems already infinite. For the atmosphere I will add lights pulsing as the same speed than plates movement, there fore create even more motion and atmosphere.

Finally as promised are the maps of the textures, I will just upload the colour ones, but all the maps had similar bump map also.

Erich Zann Room Details

Erich Zann Room

Attic Hallway

Lodge House Exterior

Void

Oops, this turned out to be a longer post than expected, I should have advised in the beginning.

Transcription: Bits and Bobs 3

2011-03-29T10:04:00.000+01:00

Past few days, I have been finishing the set modelling and texture, something I always underestimate how time consuming it is. However, during the night I am setting up stuff to render. So here is one of the scenes rendered the- the blowing the candle scene. Note that the flame in the candle is not rendered yet, and it will be rendered in separately.

Meanwhile here are some other test renders of the other scenes.

Falling Asleep Scene - Test Render

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Dynamic Tutorials Week*7

2011-03-28T12:25:00.000+01:00

Here is the last week Dynamic tutorials, we continued exploring the Instancers settings, though this time instead of still object, we used an animated one. Again, this proved really helpful, as we can have a few objects on the scene behaving the same than only 1 animated base mesh. Also interesting is the way how you can offset the movement, so the animation looks slightly more appealing.

Goldfish Animation

Spiders Animation

Robot Walking Animation

Transcription: Bits and Bobs 2

2011-03-26T23:04:00.000Z

As I mentioned on one of the previous posts, I have been trying to catch up with more delayed tasks such as set modelling and texturing. at the same time that I am animating and setting up stuff to render. It has been hectic but things are getting into shape.

My first bit of good news came when I fully rendered the map scene without any problems, here is the raw version, not being yet edited. Later, I will take that into after effects and composited the maps.

In terms of texturing the environments, I am pretty much done with the first set, and here is a sneak peek, of the textures I have done to the young man room.

Finally, is a quick sneak peek of the candle scene shot, I have rendered two shots one with the candle light on and the other with it off. I will be then adding a flame and render it separately.

I will update the blog soon, with the rest of the textured environments as well as any other updates.

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Dynamic Tutorials Week*6

2011-03-26T22:23:00.000Z

This week we continued the with dynamics instancers, however this time we tried something more advanced. Being able to have a mesh attached to a particle, is really useful, though as default its control was limited. therefore we were introduced how to create attributes to control the direction in which the instancers will move. From aim to rotation.

Arrow Animation

Rockets Animation

Pointers Animation

Alongside animating with instancers were were introduced how to also use them as a tool to randomly place objects onto a scene. It is indeed very difficult to randomly place objects by ourselves as we unconsciously arrange a pattern to place them with this tool, it is fairly simple to get a good random selection .

I remember last project, placing my own trees onto a scene, now I can easily to that.

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Dynamic Tutorials Week*5

2011-03-26T22:11:00.000Z

Here is the Week 5 dynamics tutorials, this week we were introduced to instancers, which seemed a really useful thing, having a base mesh which can be attached to particles and then duplicated and assuming a certain animation.

Robot Animation

Bubble Animation

Meteor Animation

Shapes Animation

Crowd Animation

Transcription: Animation Diary Entry *2

2011-03-26T21:12:00.000Z

Wanting to have some of the delayed tasks up to date I havent spent much time animating, though I can say that so far the scene inside the young man apartment is almost full animated, I just need the scene in which the young man can't sleep and the one he gets inside the room. Something I will spend some time tonight to animate. Meanwhile, here is the animated scenes I have so far.

Note that they are not rendered, or even textured in this videos.

Firstly is the close-up eye scene, it appears shortly the young man falls asleep, and when the young man firstly realises the music that is being played upstairs. This shot is really quick and it will jump onto a fast cutting montage of shots.

Following is the animation on the ceiling that despite the music don't have any physical power it will be used just to emphasise its weirdness and strength.

After I animated the sceptical face of the young man, when he realises the strangeness of the song. letting him curious about the knowing the player behind such weird music.

Following is the clock animation, I have shot the 2 clock animation together which then i will take into After Effects and slice them accordingly. on the first animation we just see the clock hitting 12 at night. and the second animation shows the camera fast cutting as the clock jumps from 12 to 1 to 2 in the morning, having the symbolism that the hours passed and passed and he listened.

Finally I have also animated the last shot f this sequence, which will lead the to characters meet the following day. It is a camera movement from the apartment window, to the moon lit sky. Once again this scene emphasises time.

Updates will come as soon as possible!

Maya Tutorials: Intro to Dynamic Tutorials Week*4

2011-03-26T20:21:00.000Z

For these last few days , I have been trying to push the different fronts along, from either the project or any delayed tutorials. While on the project, I have been doing the texturing finishing the set modelling, animating and already rendering some scenes. In terms of Maya tutorials I was able to catch -up with the dynamics side of it. Mental Ray on its way.

So here is the week 4 when we learned how to create dynamics simulation of 2 objects interacting, from metal on metal creating sparkles, to rain and to bowling alleys.

All very helpful, and surely something I will take further on my projects.

Metal Collision

Rain Collision

Bowling Alley

Transcription: Animation Diary Entry *1

2011-03-24T01:06:00.000Z

Being well into animating my short film at the moment, I decided to create a diary post with all the animation I have been doing throughout the day, this will be done for at least a week. Meanwhile tomorrow, I will be able to render some shots in uni so it is a battle against the time. Though no rushing is needed.

So here it goes today I have been animating the initial scenes inside the lodge house with the Young man. where he first hears the music.

Firstly I animated the candle shot, in here the young man will blow the candle before he falls asleep.

Secondly, I was trying to merge the previously done walk cycle for the young man, onto a scene. although it is still a bit jerky, I was able to get it working at some extent and with the ncloth bag working. for this shot I will have to tweak the animation and the gravity on the bag at the moment it is too jumpy.

Next came the falling asleep and listening for the first time the Music of Erich Zann shot.

Alongside those scenes I have set up all the minor cameras and animations which will be used between these shots. Such as the extreme-close up of the eye opening and the ear shot.

more updates will come tomorrow, Keep tuned!!

Transcription: Update On Animation

2011-03-23T01:58:00.000Z

Carrying on animating my project while finishing the environments, I have concluded the motion for Erich Zann, this is a walk cycle for the old man. My approach for this was slightly different than for the young man, I wanted to convey a slightly more forced walk, just like a sacrifice. therefore I emphasise the walking on the placing of the feet.

So here it is:

Also I had the cloth simulation and after a few problems at the beginning I could somehow overcome them with simply luck and logic.

Finally, I have looked at the Young Man walk cycle and I corrected some feet placement, though I could be tweaking it a lot, though it is still a lot of animation to do and its time to move on.