Animating

Currently my animation is 75-80% done. There are a few problems that I don't know how to make the character interact with the prop. Another problem is the timing of some shots are a bit too fast and too slow. If I go back and fix it, I afraid I don't have enough time for it. I only have less than 2 weeks to finish everything including render and final editing. My plan right now is to finish all the animation then quickly fix some textures and ready to render. I'll try my best to get everything done within this week so the next week I only need to render and editing.  

Playblast

there are 2 shots misplaced  near the end..

Inside look of the house

texturing the house

And so this is the different look of the textures which are quite good compare to the last one. Those are new polygon cubes I created without any extrude or modification. It's quite flat but it does keep the textures better.

House + Texture

I'm currently applying textures on the house but I don't like it because of the UV layout maps are too complex and not much i can do about it. I also try to create a new polygon cube or a plane and then just apply textures on them and they actually look much better.. i still thinking if i should go for it or not, but theres a great chance i'll do it because i'm really running out of time.    

Walking Comp!!

Last time i tried to do the running comp with pencil test and got a bunch of errors in flash.. so i decided to leave it and continue to finish up my character and the set, but Jack said it's critical to have everyone's running comp done at this stage. So I left my character and jumped into locking down all the cameras. Then I rendered it but unlike last time as i rendered it out as footage, this time I rendered it as single frame and then imported them into flash and did the pencil test without any errors show up.

 

oppa Gangnam style!!

So far I have my character 95% rigged and ready for animation test which is a good sign! As i was creating a running-comp last week, everything went well until I render a couple of shots out and then imported them into Flash so I can start blocking the poses. Unfortunately after a draw over a few frames Flash started to crash, I've tried over and over again and the result still the same. I was thinking the problem is because I'm using Flash cs4 at the moment which is different at uni (cs5) but I will try to open it in uni soon. Another problem that I encountered is if I'm using cs4 Flash I still can open in cs5 but if I save it in cs5 then I won't able to open it in cs4 again, and that sucks! but I'll give it a go again.
At this stage I should have done my running comp but unfortunately not! as well as the texture and the set. I have not lock down the camera yet! because the set is still changing, but I'll figure this out soon.
As for music is still the same as in the animatic last semester, and I decided to get rid of the background music and only have ambient sound such as wind etc.. this way I think it will be more dramatic and focus more on the moment/movement.
What I will do now is try to figure out a better way to do an animation test and get the running comp done and lock down all the camera but again I'll have to finish up the set.  

Mya's revenge!!

Did she really DIED!!?

character modelling continues

GOAL - end of week 5

• Finish the Character modelling by the end of week 5-6
• Props modelled and rigged (or at least most of them)
• Need to have at least a few textures to test with
• Must have more than 50% of environment done
• Need to start on 2D animation (Opening shot)
• Need to have some more backgrounds
• Not to forget about music, find out what else I need for sound design. (improving through the production stage)

Character Modelling Ongoing

So far I'm sculpting the character's clothes and putting everything together. Getting my character model to this point is more than I expected because luckily Jack found a free model on the internet which almost looks the same as my character. But that doesn't mean I'll be using this free model as it is. I need to modify and re-sculpt it to make it looks like my character. I only use the head of this free model which has already rigged with some facial expressions. Currently I still get other parts done and leave the head to Jack because I don't know how modify it. Also I downloaded a free "Hand" model which looks very good, and this save me a lot of time.  

1 problem that I'm having is when I convert the Subdivision Polygon to Polygon and then delete the subdivision polygon but there's a polygon I cannot delete. I find this very annoying so I just Hide it.. not sure if it's right thing to do!

modeling Mya's hand

So I guess this is how the hand should be modelled!

Character Modelling

So umm I totally brainwashed how to model a character in Jack's way, but I found another way to modeling on the internet. It is by using "Subdivision Polygon" and I'm doing ok, I'm still sculpting it as can see the picture below. For the hands and head parts are a bit hard and I need to ask Jack, but for now I want to try to do it.. Oh and the clothes as well. What's in my head is to "EXTRUDE" from the waist down to create the skirt but I don't know if it's right! (I've never model clothes before) in the meanwhile I'll try whatever came out of my head and do some research online! 

Creating the SET

Layouts, Concept Art and Mood board

l

Character Design and Storyboard updated

please check "Pages" above to see more uploaded works

Pre-Production Reviews Week12

OK, let’s start off with the SCRIPT that I submitted awhile ago. Recently I got the feedback from Jack that I should think about what my character feels and if I can do it right my animation will be a powerful piece. The story is quite sad but then I feel like there’s something missing that won’t make the audience heartfelt/cry! I just don’t know what it is until Jack pointed it out that how my character feels when she decides to leave the house, and I think this is it!!! All I need is a few more shots of Mya making decisions because without these shots everything will just too abrupt. The only thing bothers is that if I add more shots I’ll have to go back to the storyboard and modify it then bring it in the animatic... but I guess there’s no other way!  

                My CHARACTER DESIGN is 99.99% locked up. After a while of testing and showing to other people in class and teachers, some think yellow/brown is good but then others think the background is too busy and the colour just got lost in it. Most people went with Purple and Red, however purple still seems to get lost in the background. Finally it was down to Red, everyone agreed Red is the colour to go. I think Red can make the character stand out but not poor enough even I already added a few patches on her clothes. But so far I’m happy with it but still indecisive about skin colour wether (light orange, pink or red) but that won’t be a big problem because after the 3D model is done I can experiment them with it. I cannot guarantee the 3D model will look exactly like 2D model sheet. There might be some slight changes on 3D model.

                I went through my script again and noted out most of the character’s emotions and so far I have only 7 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. I got the expression sheet given by Jack and I used for my character but after I showed Jack, It wasn’t good enough even though it seems fine to me. So I had to change it a bit and now it’s better. Those expressions are pretty much the same because my character is sad all the time however still different. I know there should be a few more and I figured out as the animation goes.

                CONCEPT ART and LAYOUTS are the two things I need to spend a bit more time on it because I’ve been doing/fixing storyboard and animatic (the animatic doesn’t have sound or music just yet, because I’ve been jumping in different works and do a little of this and that) . I only have 1 layout that I did earlier to experiment the character’s colour schemes and 3 more to go. Since the character design is locked now I can start composite my character with the backgrounds for concept art.

                So far I have 2 pages of MOOD BOARD which has to be 4 pages and each page is for each scene, but my script only has 3 scenes... annoying much! Recently I’ve been working on Animation Test as usual I forgot most of the things in 3D Maya so I needed some help from Jack to set up stuff for me. So far I have one shot done and going to work on the next shot, this time I’ll try to do it by myself and see if I can remember all the steps!     

                Other stuff like thumbnail, video blog etc... are already done. For some reasons I feel like I haven’t done enough of work and I only have 2 weeks left before the holiday starts... I guess it’s because I did not try to finish one thing first before I start on something else. Overall according to the pipeline I think I’m in the right stage.     

                                

Script (Adding)

Today I got the script feed back from Jack and there's something that I need to think about is the moment Mya  leaves to die. Does she reconsider returning , get angry, feel despair... what does she feel?
So I sat down and wrote down a few things...

This is when the Lady pushes Mya out of her house and closes the door.
Mya picks up the photograph she spends a moment looking at the house. Fade.
Finally she decides to walk away in despair
While she walks, she sees some woods lying on the snow
She stops and stares at it for a moment then looks to the broken photograph and
She decides to move on.

or

She sees some woods lying on the snow
She stares at it for awhile
She looks back to the broken photograph
She kneels down but not to pick up the woods
She gathers snow and starts building snowballs   

The problem is that I will have to add more shots and my animation is already long. But that won't bother me. Jack really got the point that I need a reason why Mya decided to leave, that's suicide and it's a big decision.

After she spends a moment staring at the house she finally walks away, and in her mind if she goes to pick up more woods the Lady would let her in. However while she looks for woods the photograph reminds her of her parents, so she decides to build the snowballs and then bring the woods home. Unfortunately the snowballs were built but she's too weak and exhausted, and she fell to her death. 

I think this answers the question!!! and I don't mind addding a few more shots as long as it make sense!!

This is the refinement of the character's facial expressions.

Checklist!!!

Checking the Preproduction checklist here are things that I've done

1. Script Premises
2. Script Synopsis
3. Script Treatment
4. Character Design
5. Expression Sheet
6. Colour Schemes
7. Thumbnail
8. Storyboard (i need to write the discription for each shot)
9. Model Sheet
10. Task Pipeline
11. Animatic (so far happy with the timing but need to do the rough sound design)
12. Video Blog
13. Animation test (still working on it)
14. Layout (I only did one layout, 3 more to go)
The 2 things left to do are Mood Board and Concept Art.

So far I'm quite happy with where I'm at the moment, but that doesn't mean i'll be slacking. I'll try to get everything done so that i can start on 3D modelling.

Animatic

This is my second version of Animattic even though i didnt upload the first version. Mainly i adjusted the timing and the angle of the shots, and this seems to be alright.  

Animation Test

Currently working on the animation test that I need to pick a shot/scene which involves a lot of animation. Base on the live action footage as the reference i need to roto the arc which then applies to make character. (This shot is when Mya being pushed out of the house). This is not the finish version, just yet!    

Facial Expression

This is 6 facial expressions of Mya and there will be more expressions later on.. I just had a lecture about facial expression which I can combine 2 different emotions together, and i reckon it will help me alot. 

Character's colour choices!!!

Most people i showed this likely to go with the Purple! but if i stand further away the character seems a bit lost into the background. But for the Red coloured one it works out best!  

Layout

Here is a layout i hand drew and then scanned and coloured in photoshop!

Thumbnail

Video Reference

This is a reference video clip of a how Mya may fall that i found on youtube.

Week 8

    Today is friday which is end of week 8, I've done my storyboard and got some different opinions from Darren and Jack. There is a scene where the Lady pushes Mya out of her house, Darren suggested that I should have a side shot of the house. However Jack thinks by adding that shot can make scene less dramatic. SO now that I have 2 versions of storyboard, the original and the shot-added one. I think I'll keep that shot just and if it doesn't work out I'll delete it in the final editing.

Character Design:
   My character design is now locked down and i'm quite happy with the design too! I have some problems with the character's clothes colour wether too bright and vibrance. I also found some very good textures for the the clothes, all I need to add is some patches on it to make it looks poor! I still do need to draw different angles of my character which i find a bit challenge because of the realistic human design. So now i have to simplify the character into simple shapes and see that will help! I also working on the Action Sheet as well as Layout. For the layout i'm trying to get the feel and i think i almost got it!

    I also finsihed the Production Proof and Video Blog!!

Video Blog

END of Week 6

Okee here are some works that I have accomplished in this week:

1. Final Draft
The script is finally done and submitted before the break, so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

2. Thumbnail
Early this week i started on thumbnailing and today is the end of the week 6, I got it ready for Storyboard in the 2 weeks break! The thing that have with thumbnailing is try to work out the shots in between the shots so that it makes more sense and not a "jump cut". Plus Neales thinks the ending of the story needs more shots and i also think it's a bit abrupt too. So i tried to add more shots and i came up with 4-5 extra shots despite animation's time is expanding.

3. Production proof
On thursday i literally finsihed the production proof where i can see how my animation will be make. Eventually it's not quite exact what i'm thinking, but i still need to go back and work on it for a bit more.

During the 2 weeks break I'll spending time on Storyboard, Concept arts, Chracter design, character's expression, Layout.. Pretty much most of the pre-production stuff as much as i can.

Week 5

So far I finished the final script and starting on the thumbnail. When i got Jack to read the first draft, it was more of telling than showing but then I got rid of it in the final draft, now it's much better. I guess it's ready for submission. Now I can move on to thumbnailing. There are a few shots I need to work out the angles, composition and even changing the shots, so I will not totally stick to shot-list.



About the character design, i found some reference photos of little girls such as this one here

I need to spend a little time just to work on the eyes because it needs to be appeal.

I also found some music for my animation, focusing on Violin and Piano because i want it to be sad so I reckon violin and piano are the best instruments for it.

SCRIPT - FINAL DRAFT

FINAL DRAFT
EXT.PARK – MID-AUTUMN (DAY)
One chilly day in mid-autumn, light wind blows through the trees, slowly bringing down all the yellow and red leaves. In a small park Mya and her parents gather around for a family photograph.
Mya
Mom, dad, when will it snow?
Mum
Very soon, dear!
MYA
When it snows I'm going to build the biggest family snowballs.
Dad
OK everyone, smile!

INT.MYA'S BEDROOM – FIRST DAY OF WINTER (DAY)
Poof! The sound of war battle blends with the camera's shutter brings Mya back to reality. Here she holds the photograph and the sadness once again fills her face.
The Lady
Mya..! Get down here right now!
Mya quickly puts down the photograph on the table and rushes downstairs without closing her bedroom's door.
MYA
Yes mam. I'm coming.
The cold winds of the first day of winter howl. Through the window snow starts falling. The empty room devoid of the comforts of other children of her age darkens and becomes greyer. A broken wooden table and a bed without a blanket, are all there is in the room. Through the frosted window we see the Lady commanding Mya to go out in the forest to get some wood for the cold night.
Mya, lightly dressed, goes straight in the wood by herself. Mya has to do an adult work while she's only seven. The sun goes down, as time passes Mya finally returns with some wood.
Mya quickly returns to her room. She hugs the photograph and lies down exhausted on her bed. She closes her eyes and as she breathes heavily her breath condenses into a fog.
While she closes her eyes she has a haunting flashback. She sees a dark doorway and the Lady’s hand grabs her and pushes her into her room.
The lady (reverb in flashback)
You want to live here? Do what I say!
The angry voice of the lady yells from downstairs awakes Mya.
The Lady (in reality)
Mya...!
The lady's footsteps get louder and heavier towards Mya's room.
Like an electric shock Mya quickly sits up, she carefully puts the photograph on her bed and rushes to the door.
The Lady aggressively opens the door. Mya innocently looks at her. All of the sudden the Lady grabs Mya's hair and drags her out of the room into the dark where she stands.
THE LADY
You did not get enough wood!!!
Down stairs the Lady opens the door and pushes Mya out. Mya falls onto the ground covered in snow. The lady quickly closes the door and leaves Mya outside the cold.

EXT. OUTSIDE THE HOUSE (DAY)
A few seconds later the Lady opens the door again, Mya looks up at the Lady in anticipation hoping to be let in, but the Lady instead throws out her family photograph. The photograph lands hard on the ground and cracks.
Mya quickly uses her tiny bare hands to reach out for the photograph and holds it against her chest. The photograph is the only thing left she has of her parents and it means everything to her.
Mya hopelessly stands up and silently walks away in the freezing weather.
The wild wind continues to blow, the snow falls even thicker making it hard for Mya to walk properly. Mya tightly holds the photograph close to her chest and tries to walk through the snow-storm, the wild wind almost knocks her over a few times.
Suddenly Mya decides to stop walking. She kneels down onto her bare knees and starts building snowballs. She uses her almost frozen little hands to gather the snow and slowly she sculpts them.
After the snowballs are built, Mya stands in front of them and breathes exhaustedly, then Mya carefully puts the photograph in the middle of the two snowballs and she mumbles
Mya
Mummy! Daddy!
Mya's little body starts to shake simultaneously and she falls to her knees. Quickly she starts to get covered in snow forming a third snowball.
Suddenly warm yellow sunshine covers Mya and two miracle hands reach out for Mya's arms.
Mya looks up, she can barely open her eyes but she able to smile.
The miracle hands softly lift Mya up.
The snow stops falling and Mya slowly walks away with the two white shadows. They fade into the distance.
Pull focus back to show the two snowballs she built and herself covered with snow and a happy smile on her frozen pale face.

shot-list v.2

SNOW BALLS

WS - Flashback – autumn day. Mya sits in the park with her parents to take a family photo. 7s
MCU - Mya looks at the family photo. The lady’s voice tells Mya to get downstairs immediately 4s
MS - Mya quickly puts the photograph on the table and runs straight downstairs. “Mya, get down here immediately!” says the lady. 6s
WS - Mya goes out and back with some wood. 6s
MCU - Mya lies down on her bed and feeling relief. 4s
MS - Flashback – The lady pushes Mya into a room and says “If you want to stay here and live you better listen to what I tell you to do.” 4s
CU –Mya’s face - and the angry voice of the lady yelling from downstairs “Mya” 4s
MS - Mya terrifies and sits up 2s
MS -Slowly zoom in the door as the footsteps get louder. 3s
MS - The lady opens the door. 1s
MS - Mya stands still with arms crossed. 1s
MCU - She grabs Mya hair 1s
MS - She pulls Mya out of the room and drags her downstairs despite Maya is crying and begging. 3s
MS – The lady opens the down stair door. 2s
MS - The lady pushes Mya out of the house and shut the door very hard. 5s
MS - Mya starts to sob. 4s
Ms - Awhile later the lady opens the door but instead of letting Mya in, she throws the photo of Mya parents out into snow. 3s
MCU - Photograph on the snow 1s
MS - Mya picks the photograph up and silently walks away. Fade 10s
WS - of the strong wind keeps blowing almost knocks Mya over as she walks against the wind’s direction. 3s
MS - Mya tries to balance. 2s
EWS - Mya slowly walks on the snow and suddenly Maya stops. 5s
MCU - Mya uses her bare hands to gather snow and builds 2 big snowballs. 4s
WS - Mya builds snowballs. 3s
MS - After Mya finished she puts the photograph in the middle of 2 snowballs. 4s
CU - Mya’s sad face. 2s
MS - She stands up 2s
CU - Mya breathes heavily with her eyes barely open. 3s
MS - A strong wind suddenly blows over Mya and she starts tumble. 2s
CU - Mya’s knees go down half way to the ground. 3s
MS - two miracle hands grab Mya’s arms. 2s
CU – Mya barely opens her eyes and looks up, she smiles. 3s
MS - the hands slowly help her to get up. 2s
EWS - Mya slowly walks away with 2 white shadows, leaves behind is herself kneeling on the ground covers with snow. 6s

Week 3

Right now I'm writing the first draft base on the shot-list. While writing I might change a few shots to make it works better.

The first shot of the animation is all about 2D which I want to make it perfect and it takes about 7-10 seconds. Also this is what I have to rethink whether I really need this shot or not, but I'll work it out really soon.

I'm also starting to design my characters. I came up with a few looks of my character and been showing to people around which one appeals more and I guess I know which one will work.

Apart from writing script and designing I also working on the production proof which I have to choose a scene that has most of things in it, then actually animate/composite it (doesn't have to be perfect) just to see if it works.

Production Proof

Scene: The lady pushes Mya out of the house.

The door opens – the lady pushes Mya out (from the lady’s view more like first person shooter)

· 3D door

· 3D arm/hand of the lady

· Mya (Character)

· 2D Ground

· 2D Background

· 2D falling snow

· 2D snow interacts with the character

This shot will be composite in layers in after effects,

1^st layer is the 3D-Door/arm (looking out from the house)

· Can be quickly done by using 3D space in after effects

2^nd layer is falling snow (this will be quickly done in after effects)

3^rd layer is interactive 2D snow where Mya hands interact with snow when she falls

· I’ll draw the snow onto this layer and key frame it to work with Mya’s hands.

4^th Layer is the Ground (the ground will be painted in photoshop)

· Either hand drawn or use a photograph then modify it to look more cartoon.

5^th layer is Background

· this will be a taken as real life photograph then modify it in photoshop to make it look more cartoony

Week 2

So far with Neale's suggestions I got my story from roughly 3 minutes down to 1:50 and the storyline stays the same which is awesome!

In this week I got my shot-list done and some drawings going on. I also working on my pipeline, data management and back-up plan which most of it are done too! So in week 3 I'll be writing the first draft and finishing off the pipeline and data management.

The exciting part is "video blog" which I have to act as my character and also discussing about the character's personality, behaviours and movements etc.

Premise, Synopsis and Treatment

Premise
Maya being adopted by a lady after her parents’ death in war time, and soon she finds her way to reunite with her parents.

Synopsis
7 years old Maya lost her parents in war time and later on being adopted by a lady, but things do not turn out right. The lady abuses Maya and makes her to work all day. One day she kicks Maya out of her house it is snowing. Nowhere to go, Maya hopelessly walks on the snow until she gets weak and falls to her death.

Treatment
Maya is 7 years old and she lost her both parents in a bomb attack, her parents sacrificed their lives to protect her from the bomb explosion. While she cries on her parents’ death, a lady discovers Maya and brings Maya home with her. Unfortunately Maya’s life with the lady turns out to be hell. Maya doesn’t get to play, eat good food, toys, love and all other things that a child should get around her age. But instead, the lady abuses Maya and forces her to work all day with little rest. Maya has to clean the house inside out and does whatever the lady tells her. The only thing Maya owns is a photograph that was taken when her parents still alive.
One extremely cold day the lady tells Maya to go out to pick up some woods for the cold night. No question ask Maya gets her hands on it and brings home some woods then heads back to her room. A bit later the lady gets angry and goes straight to Maya’s room and drags Maya’s hair downstairs and kicks her out of the house because Maya didn’t get enough wood. Despite how hard Maya begs the lady still leaves Maya outside the cold. Suddenly the lady opens the door, not to let Maya in but she throws out the photograph of Maya’s parents.
Hopelessly Maya walks away, snow starts falling and she has nowhere to go, so she keeps walking and walking. The snow falls thicker as Maya gets weaker, suddenly she stops and decides to build 2 big snowballs as she promised her parents. With naked hands she sculpts the 2 massive snowballs. Then, she puts the photograph on it while her legs are unstably shaking and she breathes heavily. The cold slowly intrudes her fragile body and finally she falls onto her knees. Suddenly 2 warm hands catch her fall before she hits the ground and slowly help her to stand up. Maya smiles and walks away with her parents. Then she turns her head around and looks at the snowballs she made, she sees herself kneels on the ground covers with snow, she knows she will never leave her parents side again!

Rough sketches with colours

Week1

During the holiday I came up with 2 stories,

The first one is about a Ninja faces the challenge in a mysterious house on a lake which it appears every 100 years. the Ninja is allow to have 3 lives and each time he dies the world that he's in changes (3D to 2D to claymation).

The second one is called Snowballs, the story is about a girl name Maya who lost her parents in a bomb attack in war time. She's later on adopted by a lady who turn Maya's life into hell. One cold winter night the lady kicks Maya out of the house, Maya hopelessly walks away and snow starts to fall. Maya later on fall to her death because of the freezing weather, she reunites with her parents once more.

Jack said the first one is a bit too long and personally i think to try 3 mediums of animation is a bit too hard and time consuming. So i decided to go with the second one instead. Snowballs has a good structure and character's backgrounds, but then same as the Ninja it's way too long for 1 minute animation.

Right now I'm trying to write a shots list to see how long it will turn out and hopefully it turns out right. I'm aiming about 2 minutes max. Otherwise i will have to cut down and that worries me.