The Making of the Call - Front Page Idea

I wanted the front page to reflect the style of my animation. I think it works well at showing a glimpse of the Mountain Kings world. However, It may be a bit too busy and confusing to look at?

Shot 5 - Improved @Phil

I've added extra eye movement and more secondary actions as he swings. I've tried to point his feet downwards to work with gravity more!

Rocking_side_to_side_playblast_improved from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Shot 5 - Rocking on 'horn shape' (playblast no sound)

Render from shot

Rocking_on_horn_shape_playblast_01 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Nuke Lesson 02 - Visual Presentation (snapshots)

I've really enjoyed learning about this new software. I am keeping snap shots from the lessons to help me remember what I've learnt.

Short and low quality playblast - The King falling onto the horn (with audio)

Falling_onto_horn_Playblast_01 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Multiple Kings on 'Horn Shapes' - Video with Audio

Rendered using Maya

King Multiplied Test Run 01 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Creating a Lattice for the 'Swinging Shape'

I have re - done the 'swinging shape' so that it moves more like a rope that swings from side to side. I adjusted the geometry, texture and created a lattice. This should help it look less mechanical.

Step 1 - Lattice options, tick use local mode

Step 2 - forms a lattice

Step 3 - snap joints 

Step 4 - Center the joints

Step 5 - Bind lattice to joints

Step 6 - check binding

Step 7 - test the shape

Creating a Texture Projection for the 'Swinging Shape'

Texture Projection:

Step 1 - reference image

Step 2 - adding geometry

Step 3 - planar then best plane

Step 4 - projection in UV Editor

Step 4 - scaling down in UV Editor 

Step 5 - find projection file

Step 6 - scaling projection to right size

Step 7 - hyper shade

Step 8 - delete these

Step 9 - should save as a projection in source images

Step 10 - assign new material 

Creating joints for the table and skinning problems @Alan

I have created joints and binded them to the mesh. However, during skinning when I flood all the joints and click back onto them it hasn't flooded properly? Its the same problem when I try to flood individual joints too. Not sure whats wrong as the settings seem to be fine? (see last two images)

With joints

Added geometry 

Flooding the whole table

Click back on and flooding has changed to this?

Intro scene playblast - with audio

Rendered Image

Intro_Scene_Playblast from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Intro scene - a few rendered images

I am animating the intro and doing some finishing touches. The king throws 8 loops onto the letters in time with the music. Here a few renders from the scene:

Render - 01

Render - 02

Render - Last Action (all hoops have landed)

Test Render - 'Rocket Shape' Scene (with audio)

Rocket_Shapes_Test_Render_01 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Shot 15 rendered and more glitches @Alan

When I render a scene out with my mesh smoothed it causes problems. For example the torso will detach itself (see image below). When I don't smooth the mesh it seems to render out fine?

When mesh is smoothed

Renders from shot 15 and random glitches!

I find rendering certain points in the scene very useful to get a good idea of how it will look. There was also a glitch in one of my renders (see last render) but the problem has mysteriously gone now.

Here are a few render snapshots from this scene.The king is trying to understand how to fly these 'rocket shapes', we see him go through all the motions!

Upside down - Render

(Smirk) gaining more confidence - Render

Unsure - Render

Almost getting the hang of it - Render

Completely confident - Render

Found a comfortable seat! - Render

Random glitch - Render

Shot 14 leading into shot 15

I wanted to link these shots together because I think it would flow nicely. In shot 14 the shape expands in and out at a fast pace to the music. On the last deep note of that section the three mountain kings fall and one lands onto a 'rocket shape' leading into the next shot.

Here is a very short and low quality play blast of the shape expanding to the music:

Expanding shape to the music from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Here are some renders of the kings falling into the next shot:

Render 01 - Fall from expanding shape

Render 02 - three kings fall into next shot 

Render 03 - middle king lands on bullet shape on last note 

Test run render (with audio) adjustments

I went back to the file in premier and managed to slide the clip along a little but for the future when I go to animate more scenes I will leave a 5 - 10 frame buffer on either side of my animation when rendering, as my renders wont take long to do. Giving me a 10 - 20 frame buffer in total for the animation, so if issues where the music does not match with the animation (shown from my previous post) meaning that compositing both the music and the video together will be easier.

Shark Scene Test Run Final 3 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Test run render of my progress so far (with audio)

I have been working on the shark scene but I've realized that the moment he turns to face the 'shark shape' its slightly off with the music. I'm going to adjust the frames slightly and check the timing again.

Rendered Image from scene

Shark Scene Test Run Final from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

Glitches within the programme

I noticed that whilst animating the eyes would disappear in the view port. This worried me because I didn't want this happening to all my scenes! However, when I rendered the scene the eyes thankfully appeared. Also his beard goes over the wave in the view port but not in the render. 

Rendered Image

Snapshot from View Port

Wave test run for 'shark shape scene'

Here is a short playblast of how I want the 'wave shapes' to move. I think these shapes work better if they move in a 'cartoon way', rather than move like a real wave.

Snapshot from the animatic

Wave_Test_Run_01 from Jennifer Ball on Vimeo.

The cloning scene - my progress so far (with sound)

I am pleased to have calculated the movement to the exact time of the music. However, I think the camera movement could be improved and I may need to make this clip a little longer to convey more emotion.

Ending Credits - Yes, that does seem very early to think about!

I am experimenting with the ending credits very early on. I didn't want to give it the least amount of attention as the rest of my short film! I think its important to keep it as visually interesting from start to finish. Doing this animation work has given me a bit of practice before I really start animating.

I did think about having the Mountain King in the ending credits like the intro, however, I don't want it look too busy. The font for my name and 'Edvard Grieg' is just a place holder for now.

To keep work at good pace, not everything I do will necessarily be in chronological order. I want to work on different tasks at once. This is outside my comfort zone but feel it is the right thing to do with the time I have left!


My progress so far with the ending credits:

Rigg fully completed and getting ready for animating! (Last checks)

I have completed the Rigg for the Mountain King. I can even switch between the four different views, using just one file! Skinning and rigging all the sides was a long and hard process but totally worth it in the end. I feel more confident working in Maya and am starting to trust my own abilities more.

Before I start animating there are a couple of things that need a fix. For example when I move the arms in the front and back view, the shoulders planes detach a bit from the top half of the body. I don't want this to spoil the illusion, so I will get help with this. I also need to clean up my 'source images' folder to get rid of everything I'm not using. Once these final fixes are done I should be able to start animating!

Front View Rigg

Back View Rigg

Left View Rigg

Right View Rigg

Four different views - controls in channel box

Left Side View - Facial Rigging Complete!

I have completed all the facial rigging for each model now. The files need a clean up and check, I want to make sure all my riggs are ready to use properly. 

With Alan's help I am hoping to put all the sides to the Mountain King in one file, this is so I can switch between the sides easily whilst animating.

The Facial Rigging Process:

Step 1 - Create and connect new mouth attributes 

Step 2 - Make drop down menu for eyes

Step 3 - Check channel box 

Step 4 - Connecting the eye expressions in the connection editor

Eyes Open

Eyes Half Open

Eyes Closed