WW Video Compilation and Soundtrack Update

This video shows the update of both, the soundtrack done by Dave Keefe and of animated scenes I have worked on lately. Hopefully we’ll be able to discuss if all of them are working and what should be changed, when we meet on Monday.

The Showcase

*The Wolves Within*

Amerindian Wolves - Virtue and Vice

A Character Presentation

The Makinf of Character Design for the Wolves Within

*Ivan The Bird*


Animated Short

Ivan The Bird Character Presentation

Production Video

Colour Keys for Ivan The Bird

Dream Island; Concept Art for Ivan The Bird

The Workshop: Concept for Ivan the Bird animation

  

Ivan for Ivan the Bird 

Ivan explores the outside world; Render Still from Ivan the Bird

Ivan is about to wake up; Render Still from Ivan the Bird

Ivan Watches The Dream Island; Render Still from Ivan the Bird

The Making of Animated Short IVAN the BIRD

Evil Wolf's 3D Concept

the same routine follows again: I bring  3d render of evil wolf and a maquet environment to photoshop and play with things there to make some nice visual representation. Hopefully the "infinite" space is clearly drawn where  his "steam" goes.

 The Progress :

 I have developed the environment  in relatively good detail, but then had to take it back to bring up some theatrical lighting. Possibly these concepts can serve for our animation lighting ideas.

And that would be it from my side :] Time for some proper Christmas holidays :] Family finaly comes at my totaly empty student halls :D
Wish you merry Christmas! :]

Headmoore Painting

Im on holidays for both uni and work, so I finally got to finish this old idea. I got it actually... a year ago, while visiting friend in Amsterdam. Now it kind of fascinates me, that I captured it pretty close to the original vision. Some already noted that this piece seems unlikely to my style. Something fresh then, I guess...

Execution was very quick, everything seemed to fall into places withought much of trouble.But then again, it is only a sketchy painting. I guess the Italian approach of "working" in the head and thinking about an idea was what helped :D To create the feeling a driving decision was colour palette choise of 3 colours , two complimentary green and purple, and one which sits directly in the middle of them - bright yellow.

Good Wolf's 3D Concept

I have read a while ago about this new approach artists are using for creating beautiful .. 3D Concepts. It involves making anything from making a quick 3D maquet to resolved 3d models and bringing them later to photoshop to push the visual idea there. This is my first attempt, the 3D concept of Good wolf.

I was trying to blend the the character in the scene seamlessly. I also used a more dynamic angle, so it made the task more interesting. Perhaps there is some conflict between the very defined 3D model of the wolf and very stylistic and relatively loose environment.

 

I’m hoping to do something similar for the Evil Wolf as well and then finally my family will arrive and it will be time for Christmas :]

WW Character Presentation Video

Here is compiled character presentation. I chose to show characters in contrast to each other: how obviously different they are in modeling , texturing approaches, and how the time-lapsed animations also embody that difference. To solve some funny perception issues (they looked like about to sniff each other) I have posed the characters slightly differently and increased the distance between them, Hopefully that does it. As for soundtrack, I Used Dave Keefe's earlier soundscape tests.

Wolves Sliding Jump Animation

Sliding jump animations for both of the wolves have reached a decent stage. With these animations I was trying to emphasize the gracefulness and lightness of the good wolf. He jumps high in the air and lands dynamically. For the evil wolf I was emphasizing his heavy mass and an ice-like materiality. Therefore, as he lands down, there is a notable sliding and anticipatory crouching.

Wolves Character Turnaround Development

While working on project's animation, character turnaround development is taking place. I have an idea to present each wolf seperately covering its topology, scultpural form and texturing. I have not decided yet if each character should be presented posed only or animated ( for example if animated, they would be on a slow motion run cycle).

At the end of character presentation I'd have both of them in full colour posed together to show the contrast between the two designs.

WW Updated Soundtrack Test

Here is the video to show how the soundtrack was changed. We asked our composer Dave Keefe to add more beat for the build up till the very end of the soundtrack. He came back with 3 minutes long of soundtrack, and this was edited and combined with the original version.
Feedback very Welcome, as I am to pass a word to him if this is what we needed or if there should be some other changes.
Mind, that I’m using relatively old animatic without updated scenes from pre-viz.

Landing and Sliding Jump animation

Lately I’m working on Good wolfs landing and sliding jump animations. These are examples of first pass animation, which later will be further defined and adjusted to the scenes.

There were no longer any reference images from Muybridge, therefore I have looked for some videos on youtube and print-screened some key frames to inform my animating.

I am aware that the sliding jump animation seems to rely on translate keyframing, meaning the body seems stiff. I'll revisit this one after some time off, as I found it is worth animating back again with a fresh eye.

Trotting and Jumping Quadruped Animation

Here is another video of refined evil wolf run cycle. I've referenced oxes this time too so to add the heavyness in the run cycle. Also, for the good wolf I'm working on jump and flying animation

Wolves Run Cycle Animation

The animated sequence presents both wolves trotting. I’ve laid out the base animation which will be pulled for scenes. The second pass of animation will be done once they are put within the environment and the particular situation. The key achievement in these sequences are the proper use of the animation handles so there is no twitching anymore. Also and again, Muybridge’s photo sequence of dog run cycles were invaluable reference source.

Wolwes Within Title Opening Sequence

To change the routine of learning quadruped animation I've worked on the title opening sequence. Quite simply , using after effects, I tried to make a nice introduction of the title. Having in mind the animation is talking about intricacies of our mind/soul I tried to build relatively surreal and dreamy feel to the sequence. I suppose,and again, having the title quit early on will be usefull for other videos such as character turnarounds ect.



revisited title :

Good Wolf's Walkcycle Test 1

This is today's first attempt in animating the basic quadruped walk cycle. It is not stylized to suit the character type, I focused on basics first.. .which actually were/are quite hard to get . I have followed Williams' Animator's Survival Kit.



7 hours of animating and I have a pain filled walkcycle. At the moment it looks like the wolf is walking rather in pain. :D But it really helps as a starting point to spot the problems and areas of focus. All in all, this 1 minute long animation is a luxury to focus on quality instead of the quantity, which was the case in 4 minute long Ivan the Bird animation. I find that after this exercise I’m in a much better position for the future attempts. For example, there is way too much action in the upper spine (neck area). Also, there are some problems, which I guess are coming from the rig: legs twitch at times.

Also, as I was animating other problems became evident and I attempted to fix them, such as skinning problems, or shape deformations in legs particularly ( I now have created an overall blend shape sitting on top of all the other ones, so that geometry could be easily altered from scene to scene if needed )

So… 6 seconds of arguably crappy animation, but it doesn’t feel like a loss today. And hopefully during this week's time there will be those better animations.

Ident Animation

Near in the future there should be quite a few new videos released with tests of animation, character turnarounds, (possibly production video) , so I needed a little "signature", simple but a more sophisticated than the still image.




And here is the revisited version: