Not going to write much more - this week I am making my portfolio, my website and I am going to help Aminata with some compositing for her film so I am busy!
peace n luv,
asa
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Getting into the Illustration!
I am going to kill this Blog as soon as I have received my grades, one that doesn't have to do with college work but my work. But, until then I am going to write some more. I was a lazy butt last week, I worked everyday but all I did was in slow motion and not very good so I realized that after these 4 years maybe I should take some days off and watch films and get out of the house - so I did and took some pictures of texture wile I was at it;
Not going to write much more - this week I am making my portfolio, my website and I am going to help Aminata with some compositing for her film so I am busy!
peace n luv,
asa
Not going to write much more - this week I am making my portfolio, my website and I am going to help Aminata with some compositing for her film so I am busy!
peace n luv,
asa
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Life after college - week 1
Today its Wednesday on my first week off college and I have decided to rest from Monsters Spa for a week. I am happy about that I did it in the amount of time that I had cos it was not just animating ( as I am veyr bad at doing) it was developing environments and most of the characters. I am not happy with the end result though- the Spa section still looks shit and the massage scene as well so I will rip it up and change it, probably have a Monster with a face mask and hair rolls looking in to the spa room and animate Ruth better. The flickering of the text at a section in the end has to be sorted as well and some other details. But right now I need a short break from it and is planning my showreel instead. Jared is right. I should show that I can build stuff in 3D, cos I can, I am not brilliant but thats a choice that I made, 3D doesn't interest me, drawing and art work does. What changed my mind was two things, 1) i know that Jared is right and working with 3D is definitely better then working at Tesco, 2) I saw Kung Fu panda and screamed loud! Dreamworks has after years of shit films pulled off something that is, together with Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, the best CGI film I have ever seen! No desperate jokes, really cool character designs and the animation is brilliant and the environments and the story as well. It made me want to build an environment in 3D again. I have five already- but I have developed a lot and don't want to have them in my showreel.
My old fish designs from 2006
While taking a rest from Monsters Spa I finally know what to do with my fish designs that I wanted to animate for my showreel last year but never really knew what to do with, now I know. I think I might change them do,either I go for my cartoonish fish or I go for fish that actually exists and turn them cartoonish. I think I am going for the second option.
I want to create a coral reef but in 2D, with the help of the 3D space in after effects, depth of field, shadows and caustics I want to follow some of my fish fora couple of seconds. As always I like my work to be colorful but I have learned from most 2d films now that props don't have black outlines. The water is missing and seashells and details but I like what I see so far.
I choose to do a reef and salt water fish cos they are more color ful and crazy then other fish,
I wish I could draw fish like this..
I worked a bit on Superintendent Claude and the mad painter and I kind of knew it already- Claude's police car is to long and narrow while claude and his dog are so short and squarish...i do love that car..but if they are going to be in it then the car has to change..buhuuu buuuu..
Now I am going to make coffe and learn more about how to use the camera in After Effects,
peace n luv
asa
My old fish designs from 2006
While taking a rest from Monsters Spa I finally know what to do with my fish designs that I wanted to animate for my showreel last year but never really knew what to do with, now I know. I think I might change them do,either I go for my cartoonish fish or I go for fish that actually exists and turn them cartoonish. I think I am going for the second option.
I want to create a coral reef but in 2D, with the help of the 3D space in after effects, depth of field, shadows and caustics I want to follow some of my fish fora couple of seconds. As always I like my work to be colorful but I have learned from most 2d films now that props don't have black outlines. The water is missing and seashells and details but I like what I see so far.
I choose to do a reef and salt water fish cos they are more color ful and crazy then other fish,
I wish I could draw fish like this..
I worked a bit on Superintendent Claude and the mad painter and I kind of knew it already- Claude's police car is to long and narrow while claude and his dog are so short and squarish...i do love that car..but if they are going to be in it then the car has to change..buhuuu buuuu..
Now I am going to make coffe and learn more about how to use the camera in After Effects,
peace n luv
asa
Monday, 9 June 2008
THE LAST WEEK!!
Yes, I actually cant wait to finish college now!!
Anyway, I have been struggling with the Spa scene for a while, re -drawn the environment about 6-10 times and tried to give it depth by adding plants in the foreground- which just looked mad - and the monsters in there didn't fit together so I made two new ones and then i changed the action of the scene and tried different kind of animation etc etc. Today I am ready to give up, I just want to hand something in on friday and then I will improve this and add other work and make I show reel when college is done.
different characters in the spa
and decided to go for these two characters and changed his hair to brown,
making fonts for my "film",
Now after effects crashed. Fun, Gat to go.
The teachers has said that they will read our blogs and that that will help them to mark us, I don't believe that they will read our blogs, I just can't see them having the time. Maybe they scroll through and see how much we gat on here, anyway. I was not chosen for the second exhibition but I don't have a film so that fair enough, the fact that industry people asked for me last year is good enough for me :)
A shame our course missed out on Computer Arts graduate issue- they are showing showreels from people they consider the best graduated this year- Jessica Do, Adam and jessica S should have sent their stuff in and they would have been mentioned, but we missed out on that.
My film is rendered. Could still do some small changes but I really just want to add sound and render it out so I know that I have a version for friday - then I can do more after that, still have to finish the cafe idea and Superintendent Claude. Right now I am adding and editing sound to a ruff version while i tried o fix mistakes and improve the film on another computer to see if i can render and stick in changes in time - if not, then atleast i gat a ruff version to hand in.
Editing and adding sound effects, had to look for a long time for a sound that would fit the animated star. New ideas on how to improve this piece appears all the time but I will do that later. I think the green snail in the spa pool should be there alone floating on a bath-ring ( or what they are called in english? ). Would be more fun I think. My housemates loves the octopuss but I hate him, to simple and random, no fun. The postcard is some problems, was going to do it in maya from the start but my version of maya is a little cunt so I ended up doing it in After effects instead so sometimes it flickers- need to fix that.
Still confused about the rendering cos last year when I, Jessica Do and Aminata sat down together and followed Sean's out put instructions we where the ones who had handed in films with wrong settings so this year I am sticking to DV PAl and is trying to change and render it out widescreen afterwards. When it comes to the soundeffects they are all from www.soundsnap.com - briliant site- I don't know this new version Premier Pro very well so I cant figure out how to edit the sound that good but as an old musician I know how to cut soundwaves, change their volume and put on delay and so on - but it would be cool if the sounds could grow higher and bigger the closer we came to the object that make them but i dont know if premier is that good for sound editing? Will ask some friends later. Like the sound in the office in the begging- would like the schoolyard sound to only come on the right spaker so that we'd imagine the schoolyard is somewhere on the right..but I don't know how to do that in premier- maybe i have to edit the sound in Logic or Cubase first and then import it?
Today its friday and I am going to hand in my little film and my folders. I should be happy today, a part of me is, its been a long time but another part is disappointed and sad and can't help thinking about what I could have done if the teachers would have let me go term 2 instead of in the end of term three. I have payed a lot of money and time to be here - I should have been more stubborn term 2 - or maybe I should have taken the Westminister offer cos they would have let me do my own films and I wouldn't have to give up what I want to do for some group work and for being in a class and year where everyone wants to do 3D - and I don't. I don't give a shit about that the industry wants 3D work- I don't enjoy it and I don't find it creative but technical. I like Ravensbourne but did not fit in there - I don't want to work with Maya and I thought everyone wouldn't have to cos thats what I was told every time I had doubts about the course and was thinking about changing. Anyway, it doesn't matter if I am angry, sad, disappointed or happy. I can't change anything now, its to late and I can't do another degree so this is it. I'm not going to think more about it cos there is nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is shape this monster Spa short up and sit down and do more shorts! :)
Thats it! Four years at Ravensbourne and now I am done!!
peace n luv,
asa
Anyway, I have been struggling with the Spa scene for a while, re -drawn the environment about 6-10 times and tried to give it depth by adding plants in the foreground- which just looked mad - and the monsters in there didn't fit together so I made two new ones and then i changed the action of the scene and tried different kind of animation etc etc. Today I am ready to give up, I just want to hand something in on friday and then I will improve this and add other work and make I show reel when college is done.
different characters in the spa
and decided to go for these two characters and changed his hair to brown,
making fonts for my "film",
Now after effects crashed. Fun, Gat to go.
The teachers has said that they will read our blogs and that that will help them to mark us, I don't believe that they will read our blogs, I just can't see them having the time. Maybe they scroll through and see how much we gat on here, anyway. I was not chosen for the second exhibition but I don't have a film so that fair enough, the fact that industry people asked for me last year is good enough for me :)
A shame our course missed out on Computer Arts graduate issue- they are showing showreels from people they consider the best graduated this year- Jessica Do, Adam and jessica S should have sent their stuff in and they would have been mentioned, but we missed out on that.
My film is rendered. Could still do some small changes but I really just want to add sound and render it out so I know that I have a version for friday - then I can do more after that, still have to finish the cafe idea and Superintendent Claude. Right now I am adding and editing sound to a ruff version while i tried o fix mistakes and improve the film on another computer to see if i can render and stick in changes in time - if not, then atleast i gat a ruff version to hand in.
Editing and adding sound effects, had to look for a long time for a sound that would fit the animated star. New ideas on how to improve this piece appears all the time but I will do that later. I think the green snail in the spa pool should be there alone floating on a bath-ring ( or what they are called in english? ). Would be more fun I think. My housemates loves the octopuss but I hate him, to simple and random, no fun. The postcard is some problems, was going to do it in maya from the start but my version of maya is a little cunt so I ended up doing it in After effects instead so sometimes it flickers- need to fix that.
Still confused about the rendering cos last year when I, Jessica Do and Aminata sat down together and followed Sean's out put instructions we where the ones who had handed in films with wrong settings so this year I am sticking to DV PAl and is trying to change and render it out widescreen afterwards. When it comes to the soundeffects they are all from www.soundsnap.com - briliant site- I don't know this new version Premier Pro very well so I cant figure out how to edit the sound that good but as an old musician I know how to cut soundwaves, change their volume and put on delay and so on - but it would be cool if the sounds could grow higher and bigger the closer we came to the object that make them but i dont know if premier is that good for sound editing? Will ask some friends later. Like the sound in the office in the begging- would like the schoolyard sound to only come on the right spaker so that we'd imagine the schoolyard is somewhere on the right..but I don't know how to do that in premier- maybe i have to edit the sound in Logic or Cubase first and then import it?
Today its friday and I am going to hand in my little film and my folders. I should be happy today, a part of me is, its been a long time but another part is disappointed and sad and can't help thinking about what I could have done if the teachers would have let me go term 2 instead of in the end of term three. I have payed a lot of money and time to be here - I should have been more stubborn term 2 - or maybe I should have taken the Westminister offer cos they would have let me do my own films and I wouldn't have to give up what I want to do for some group work and for being in a class and year where everyone wants to do 3D - and I don't. I don't give a shit about that the industry wants 3D work- I don't enjoy it and I don't find it creative but technical. I like Ravensbourne but did not fit in there - I don't want to work with Maya and I thought everyone wouldn't have to cos thats what I was told every time I had doubts about the course and was thinking about changing. Anyway, it doesn't matter if I am angry, sad, disappointed or happy. I can't change anything now, its to late and I can't do another degree so this is it. I'm not going to think more about it cos there is nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is shape this monster Spa short up and sit down and do more shorts! :)
Thats it! Four years at Ravensbourne and now I am done!!
peace n luv,
asa
Monday, 2 June 2008
Week 23 - only two weeks left to go!
Today its Monday and I am very slow. Did a new environment and some new characters this weekend though and improved the shower scene- changed the environment so that shower curtains don't cover their heads, improved and added more animation to some of the characters and etc - still the scene doesn't want to render and Alex hasn't gat back to me since friday so I am going to mail him again, I am also asking friends that work with After Effects but no one seems to know what is cosing this fault, ofcourse it makes me nervous but there must be a solution!!
Here are some pics that I am very happy about - my illustrations being sold on a gallery in Munchen :)
Today was the last day that people could vote for the Skillset exhibition - it's obvious that people has voted for their friends instead of thinking about who could make an nice exhibition- Aminata only gat two votes and she is one of the most talented students in the class and Jessica Do who also is brilliant wasn't even on the list!! I gat three votes so I am happy that someone voted for me, I had two industry people interested in my work last year - but now I don't know if I will exhibit, anyway, I just hope that chosen students don't stick A4 and A3 prints up on the walls with blue tag as on our fist year "exhibition" cos that is so lame.
Yes, its Monday and I a grumpy cos my files aren't rendering..and cos it doesn't look the way i want.
anyway, I am changing environments and details back n forth as I am trying to get the style and look i want and as i am not happy with how things look- there's a difference having stuff looking funnily drawn or looking shit drawn.. I am now changing massage Ruth's animation for the 25 th time and I DO HATE HER and the spa is re drawn- again. But its worth it, its small small improvements every time so atleast its improving so its going to right direction but a little bit to slow for my liking.
I have done lots of new monsters as i would like to have s gym in there as well but i am leaving them and is trying to get the spa and the massage scene better first. I can't wait to finish college now, I am really tired of it.
this monster looks like i feel
peace n luv,
asa
Here are some pics that I am very happy about - my illustrations being sold on a gallery in Munchen :)
Today was the last day that people could vote for the Skillset exhibition - it's obvious that people has voted for their friends instead of thinking about who could make an nice exhibition- Aminata only gat two votes and she is one of the most talented students in the class and Jessica Do who also is brilliant wasn't even on the list!! I gat three votes so I am happy that someone voted for me, I had two industry people interested in my work last year - but now I don't know if I will exhibit, anyway, I just hope that chosen students don't stick A4 and A3 prints up on the walls with blue tag as on our fist year "exhibition" cos that is so lame.
Yes, its Monday and I a grumpy cos my files aren't rendering..and cos it doesn't look the way i want.
anyway, I am changing environments and details back n forth as I am trying to get the style and look i want and as i am not happy with how things look- there's a difference having stuff looking funnily drawn or looking shit drawn.. I am now changing massage Ruth's animation for the 25 th time and I DO HATE HER and the spa is re drawn- again. But its worth it, its small small improvements every time so atleast its improving so its going to right direction but a little bit to slow for my liking.
I have done lots of new monsters as i would like to have s gym in there as well but i am leaving them and is trying to get the spa and the massage scene better first. I can't wait to finish college now, I am really tired of it.
this monster looks like i feel
peace n luv,
asa
Monday, 26 May 2008
Week 22 and counting down
pic from animating the fly/bee for my intro
Monday and I haven't done as much work as I planned this weekend, I have re - done the massage scene 3 times, so many layers and keys that it has been two days work, sorting out her shoulder, her hair and then her hands keep moving although i keyed them and the puppet pin tool that i used to animate her hair affected her eyes so i have gone in and tried to sort that out. I am exporting a version of her now that i hope is the last!! I don't really like massage Ruth any more..
Been looking at animation show reels online and that put me down a lot, how the hell should I be able to do so much in just 2-3 weeks? Naa, not possible, but I guess my project will not be shown at RSA as its not a film, so then I can carry on and work on it until the exhibition and give it away on a dvd. So much I want to have in my show reel! I know that making 16 mm films wont give you a job but still I would really like to stick my old 16 mm film in from foundation as a lot of people really liked it - BUT - Brian who helped me shoot it on film shot it in a to small size and i don't have a projector and the equipment to re shoot it so I don't know.
Madness, madness. Started my own website and will finish it off before the exhibition so that I can have a link on my business cards - that I also have to do before the exhibition :) But right now I have to stop hating my work and trying to be a bit more positive cos it not getting better then this right now - atleast I am much better on after effects and drawing then i were a year ago so that feels good to see that atleast I am developing!
Here is the spa so far, NOT happy, will try other floors and walls.
Wednesday and today I had fun looking for sound effects online, i dont want to spend time on recording them myself, rather improve my work instead, i found really good shower sounds, burps, farts, drinking, jacuzzi sound and brush sound so that will be fun to add in the end!
After Effects had been a real cunt. All of a sudden it changes the content of locked layers- so I spend time animating and then when i start to pram preview - some layers has changed so all of a sudden i have five shoulders but no legs and feet..hmm.. i start wondering if my computer gat a virus or if my version of After Effects has a fault- its like with the rendering as well, same fault no matter what composition and what files that has been used, shouldn't really happen.. I finished the new Shower room yesterday and started to import the monsters- realized that i wanted to animate toe room a bit to make it more interesting so then I needed more Monsters to put into more booths so I created Flexter and the tale of another monster.
Flexter and annoying after effects- i need to change his belly so that he don't have a gap between his legs. I animated him today, put some animation on a shower curtain and animated a candle ruffly, I wish i had another computer to work on while waiting for renders cos my renders take loooooong time, anyway, tomorrow I 'm going into college to give Mike a heart attack.
Shower scene in development - need to add showers, fix the walls and shower curtains so they dont cover characters heads, need to delay animation so that we actually see it and the candle stops to early, to floor is moving etc etc but atleast I finally like the environment so I need to adapt the other ones so that they have the same style as this one and give all props watercolor textures.
Friday and I am tired after few hours sleep. My After Effects files still don't render- spent hours with Alex in college yesterday trying to sort it out, now i have renamed and replaced all the layers in ALL the monster files so last time I tried, the green monster, the brush monster and the monster teacher rendered - but still not the massage and the shampo monster so i am trying to figure out why the hell not right now while waiting to get locked out from my house so can get on a bus and see Alex again. If this doesn't work then its just my computer that can't handle the big files- but I have a killer computer now, 2.83 processor, 2Gb RAM- should try and get 4 I guess. Anyway - I still have environments that needs changes, animation that needs improvement etc etc so ofcourse I am a bit worried of all this. I will export the film and hand it in if worse comes to worse but hopefully we can sort it out. I can't see how I would fail if I did not hand in a finished showreel- I have still done more work this 5 weeks then some have done in an entire year and they will not fail.
here's the monster with the tail added, showers and candle fixed, bench added - needs much more improvement and I am working on it. Here are some stills as the resolution of the films is so low to be able to upload;
I created another new character, Olga, will show her later. She's a bug monster.
Here she is in the reception lobby, gave her a rocking chair;
peace n luv,
asa
Monday, 19 May 2008
Week 20 - getting all the monster scenes done
aaaargh, she was going to be the easiest monster to animate haha, but NO, I will try and sort this out, slow it down a bit, make it smoother later - but there is so much stuff i want to stick into my reel - and ITS NOT ANIMATION - so I don't want to spend to much time on it, I am having lots of fun though :) Unfortunately the plug in for soundkeys didn't work- it doesn't install properly, will ask Aminata if she knows some tricks.
I have developed my idea quite a lot - but I don't know if I am being realistic and actually can do it in time- but I am really trying to. Started my intro sequence yesterday , I LOVE after effects!! Trying to animate a bee now, I wish there was a shake effect so that I didn't have to go in and key every frame cos the be should move up and down as well as forward.
Well, I am getting back to work.
Started animating the Smoking Monster - he is really really boring but I do want him to be arrogant and just smoke so I changed the rest of the scene instead of him and added the Dog Monster that will stand by his side and be afraid of getting in the water, started animating him,
Would be fun to add a fat little Monster jumping up and down on a trampoline and make the Dog Monster + the Smoking Monster cue for it - but I don't know if I am realistic and can do that in time - we'll see, still have problems drawing the shower corridor and the pool room as my perspective drawing is really bad. And none of the Monsters animation looks really good so maybe I should focus on shaping it up - BUT - why? I have tried for hours and days, I AM NOT AN ANIMATOR.
Hmm,for some weird reason Blogger doesn't want to show my films anymore... weird, hope that its just temporarily )
Today its friday, went in to college yesterday and did absolutely nothing- I can't work in there, prefer to work at home. I have realized that I have to change the Spa scene completely, the pool that I planned to had look really bad and i have tried 3 other designs but it doesn't look good so I finally decided to go google and find what I was looking for;
Tried to draw it yesterday but messed up the lines several times so I will have to re do it today. I want to try and make a nice tile texture for the pool as well. The octopuss, the Dog Monster and Smoky did not fit together - my housemates really like the octopuss monster but I don't - I have decided to slaughter all of them and stick the Sleepy Monster in and make a better octopuss. I want it done this weekend. Or I NEED it done this weekend.
Now I am fixing ( hopefully for the better ha ha) the massage scene - you could hardly see that the monster that is being massaged is breathing so I need to over exaggerate it more and her arms, shoulder, body and head as well. Thinking about having a monster moving the curtain and looking in - will see if I have the time.
I didn't explain my new idea... but I can show it very ruff here - in my title sequence there's a fly/bee, we will follow it to a coffee shop and circulate around the tables and peoples food until we come to the girl with the glasses who is reading a magazine that has an image that brings us to the monster world. Thats my idea - but I am finishing the Monsters Spa first to see if I have the time- I really want to do it though as I want to show something that feels like me and that I think represents me. And I will do as Jared said and stick in some 3D environments, he is right- I don't think it is very fun with 3D but I should show that I can do it. I will do that this summer though, I have some old environments but I feel that I have developed a lot and rather would fix them up or do something new. Anyway, I did some of the cafe characters last week;
need to give him separate forks and pieces of food so that he can eat properly, you'll never see his mouth - only his mustache moving cos I didn't like him when I gave him a mouth.
I took a look at Tripplettes de Belleville and all the backgrounds, props etc are very nicely textured with watercolors etc but the characters are actually in solid colors- so I want to do the same thing and make the environment and props in watercolors.
I am happy with the hat shop - but the cafe could be nicer. Need to make the back street that you would see through the tunnel as well. But first- the Monsters!
I am going insane, trying to design the spa and the shower rooms and the corridor- it has to fit with the other designs and the postcard - a 4 window postcard would be the nicest but do i have time to do a forth window? this is just ruff- the showeers and the receptions should NOT look like that - just a test so i know where I'm going, i will use more watercolor textured things from now on, gets boring when everything is flat colors and its not illustrator but hand drawn stuff. I
peace out,
asa
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Week 19 - trying to animate..
Well, I am not really an animator so what I am doing now is trying to animate and it looks quite shit so this week is dedicated to changes and tweaking and being stubborn - after this week, fuck it, the animation will be what it is but I am trying to sort it out, to start with,
The green monster farting - had to re do this animation and the brush monster from scratch - atleast AE renders the file now but the animation needs work, the only interesting part of this scene is these few seconds where he is farting - the entire scene is actually 10-15 sec longer but it wasn't very fun watching him sitting and eating in a bathtub so i have to make something more with it so I think I am going to make him Smeagol from Lord of the rings and give him a precious plastic duck that he can play a bit with in the bath tub, just to try to make it more interesting cos there's not much happening right now as I don't want to take on to much animation as I am not a strong animator. I have found the Puppet Pin Tool though and is doesn't work for everything but it is a brilliant tool in After Effects that I love!
Here is the new Horn Monster animation and after it is the old, i have animated the arms completely differently and on the new one the head is animated as well- but i hardly see any difference and almost like the old one more..
problems with the uploading of the films - soooon - i hope.. )
Testing how the shower room should look like - i will go for the new blue and purple one but will change the background to orange cos now it has the same color as the postcard. I want to use the receptionist as well but i don't know where to stick her in cos i want to keep the card quite graphic and not to messy.
I am not happy, will sort out the perspective on this one so that its shot more straight on. Need to ask Alex about maya, when i came up with the monster spa idea like a year ago i did a quick test with 2d in 3d in maya 7 - it looked great- so what am i doing wrong now when it looks shit? anyway- i have already done most of the environments in 2D but it would be more fun with my original idea and would save me animation work. Oh yes, the blue monsters eyes decided to change anchor point eventhough the layer is locked so - no, the eyes should not float around like that and etc - this is just a test to see what shower environment i should go for.
Gave the green monster a ugly bird, was thinking that he could eat it for a while but I don't want to get stuck doing to much animation, anyway - i don't like this, its more fun when he just sits in the bath tub and looks stupid, atleast I tried.
I am trying to get the shampo monster right, lots of tweaking to get the outlines right as i have cheated with the animation and used the puppet pin tool - i have done lots of changes, tried to have him feeling the beat with his feet but it was to much and just gat messy but i changed him and made him start of with a closed mouth.
As this is not a film but more a showreel and its short, gat cut down from 40 sec to 22 now - I need something more to put in there so I want to put in two of my favorite characters, Super intendent Claude and his dog and The Mad painter and have Claude driving fast in his car as he is answering to a call - he comes to the crime scene and there is the mad painter, caught in action. I started doing all the cut out parts, trying to do parts so that the dog nervously can turn his head in the car as well and look at the driver and the road constantly but I am really bad at perspective drawing but I am trying.
and here is the car ( if i don't change my mind) - I am not sure about the backseats though, looks better without them I think.
I tried to record the shower sound and did the brush sound with a ( NEW straight from ikea ok? ) toilet brush but I live on a high street now + the heater for the shower sounds like a nuclear projector so..it didn't work. Will try and brush with a real bathroom brush and brush furry fabric - OR - save my self the hassle and look for sound effects online.
trying to animate haha..
Asked Aminata about something she told me about long time ago, that there is a plug in for After Effects that helps u animate to sound, that easily helps to key your objects to a certain part of the music that u have chosen, she gave me this link and here's a good tutorial so I am gonna see if that can help my monsters to move with the music:
http://trapcode.com/in_action/soundkeys_intro.html
When I finally gat her hands to work alright and gat started with the left side- all the LOCKED right hand layers have chosen to change their anchor point..so about 85 hands are now floating about that took me hours and hours to set up. So, I have to re do it again..
Anyway, finished it now and animated her hair - can't render it, same fault as always, makes me a bit nervous, there is no time for me to re do all this animation. I will go in and see Alex next week, he knows about this problem.
peace n luv,
asa
The green monster farting - had to re do this animation and the brush monster from scratch - atleast AE renders the file now but the animation needs work, the only interesting part of this scene is these few seconds where he is farting - the entire scene is actually 10-15 sec longer but it wasn't very fun watching him sitting and eating in a bathtub so i have to make something more with it so I think I am going to make him Smeagol from Lord of the rings and give him a precious plastic duck that he can play a bit with in the bath tub, just to try to make it more interesting cos there's not much happening right now as I don't want to take on to much animation as I am not a strong animator. I have found the Puppet Pin Tool though and is doesn't work for everything but it is a brilliant tool in After Effects that I love!
Here is the new Horn Monster animation and after it is the old, i have animated the arms completely differently and on the new one the head is animated as well- but i hardly see any difference and almost like the old one more..
problems with the uploading of the films - soooon - i hope.. )
Testing how the shower room should look like - i will go for the new blue and purple one but will change the background to orange cos now it has the same color as the postcard. I want to use the receptionist as well but i don't know where to stick her in cos i want to keep the card quite graphic and not to messy.
I am not happy, will sort out the perspective on this one so that its shot more straight on. Need to ask Alex about maya, when i came up with the monster spa idea like a year ago i did a quick test with 2d in 3d in maya 7 - it looked great- so what am i doing wrong now when it looks shit? anyway- i have already done most of the environments in 2D but it would be more fun with my original idea and would save me animation work. Oh yes, the blue monsters eyes decided to change anchor point eventhough the layer is locked so - no, the eyes should not float around like that and etc - this is just a test to see what shower environment i should go for.
Gave the green monster a ugly bird, was thinking that he could eat it for a while but I don't want to get stuck doing to much animation, anyway - i don't like this, its more fun when he just sits in the bath tub and looks stupid, atleast I tried.
I am trying to get the shampo monster right, lots of tweaking to get the outlines right as i have cheated with the animation and used the puppet pin tool - i have done lots of changes, tried to have him feeling the beat with his feet but it was to much and just gat messy but i changed him and made him start of with a closed mouth.
As this is not a film but more a showreel and its short, gat cut down from 40 sec to 22 now - I need something more to put in there so I want to put in two of my favorite characters, Super intendent Claude and his dog and The Mad painter and have Claude driving fast in his car as he is answering to a call - he comes to the crime scene and there is the mad painter, caught in action. I started doing all the cut out parts, trying to do parts so that the dog nervously can turn his head in the car as well and look at the driver and the road constantly but I am really bad at perspective drawing but I am trying.
and here is the car ( if i don't change my mind) - I am not sure about the backseats though, looks better without them I think.
I tried to record the shower sound and did the brush sound with a ( NEW straight from ikea ok? ) toilet brush but I live on a high street now + the heater for the shower sounds like a nuclear projector so..it didn't work. Will try and brush with a real bathroom brush and brush furry fabric - OR - save my self the hassle and look for sound effects online.
trying to animate haha..
Asked Aminata about something she told me about long time ago, that there is a plug in for After Effects that helps u animate to sound, that easily helps to key your objects to a certain part of the music that u have chosen, she gave me this link and here's a good tutorial so I am gonna see if that can help my monsters to move with the music:
http://trapcode.com/in_action/soundkeys_intro.html
When I finally gat her hands to work alright and gat started with the left side- all the LOCKED right hand layers have chosen to change their anchor point..so about 85 hands are now floating about that took me hours and hours to set up. So, I have to re do it again..
Anyway, finished it now and animated her hair - can't render it, same fault as always, makes me a bit nervous, there is no time for me to re do all this animation. I will go in and see Alex next week, he knows about this problem.
peace n luv,
asa
Monday, 5 May 2008
week 18
I am going back and forth between not giving a shit any more and giving up - or struggling and working really hard these last weeks, for me- I will work hard, but this year was really shit, so I need to make this happen for my own sake so that I didn't waste a year. Waste and waste, I learned a lot but at the end of they day its about what u have to show. Anyway, not much to do about it now but ofcourse I am disappointed about it.
This week I will animate the green stinky Monster, the teacher and the postcard and the HornMonster who is brushing himself. I have started all of them but can't get the animation smooth and natural so thats what i need to sort out this week, add frames- maybe even 2d animate it frame by frame. Testing things now to see what i need to change with layout and environments,
Wednesday: trying not to panic, I am moving house this week and it all happened kind of sudden so I am trying to pack while rendering maya on my lap top and AE on my computer. I didn't like the look of the class room so I added corners on it and has animated the real postcard and rendered it out in Maya so I will finish the teacher sequence hopefully tonight. The animation of the horn monster has taken much more time that I could have imaging- his eyes are a fucking problem so i have re- drawn the in-betweens several times and tried different timing etc in AE but he still looks really weird when he blinks, blinking is fucking simple to animate though so I am well annoyed - another mission for tonight :) I had this idea of making Wunderbaums out of three of my Monster designs to give away on the final year exhibition so I did some research online and found the biggest producer of Wunderbaums in Sweden, Yngve Niklasson AB - I called them but they don't have time to produce other designs then the Wunderbaums- they have been asked this question many times. I then found a company in China that does different kinds of car fresheners BUt their contact detail website is not working..hmm..well, I am not giving up on the idea yet but I will make sure I have a film first :) I have asked to meet Jared tomorrow and will see if I can meet up with Dan as well to see what they think of what I have done so far and my idea etc, I would like Alex or Dan's animation help as they might no some AE tricks that I have missed out on. I designed an octopus for the pool area last night that I want to animate with the puppet pin tool cos I watched an tutorial about how to use it and it looks really fun but doesn't work for all kinds of characters and animation.
Finished the Horn Monster - just ONE problem, it doesn't want to render the file.. it always does this around 9 minutes, I will e-mail Alex about it. I am using quite big files so i am making a smaller version now but it i think it might be something else.
Annoying.
Okej, After Effects doesn't want to render my Horn Monster file - it always stops at the same place so I booked an appointment with Alex, his suggestion was that I render it to other locations- I have tried that and it doesn't work. No file is missing but it doesn't want me to render one of the files- now I need to test about 600 layers of shower drops and shit to see - what layer it is? Hmm..fun. Did a quick test of my shower corridor - I don't like it, I want the monsters to be bigger on the screen so that u see them better so I will do more test - but this is how far it lets me render.. I have e-mailed Alex about it again to see if he has any other suggestion about how to find the fault.
I had a chat with Jared yesterday, wanted to talk to Dan as well and asked him if he had time, stayed and waited for him but he went home so I didn't see him, will try again next week. Checked my moodle and I haven't gat any feedback from my summative yet so I think I have to remind Mike about that. I asked him before if he wanted me to do more for my folders OR do this showreel, he said I should focus on this. Well, now I need to find that fault so I can move on with the rest of my work!
Started the Shampo Monster, need to fix it - timing is wrong - the back hand is wrong cos i wasn't going to use it like this so i need to change that + u can see the corner of the body sticking out sometimes and i need to smooth out between face expression, another hour or two and he should be done. Unless something goes terrible wrong..should never say never..
I'm gonna make a test when he moves the boy more as well. But now I am going to move house..
Peace n Luv,
asa
This week I will animate the green stinky Monster, the teacher and the postcard and the HornMonster who is brushing himself. I have started all of them but can't get the animation smooth and natural so thats what i need to sort out this week, add frames- maybe even 2d animate it frame by frame. Testing things now to see what i need to change with layout and environments,
Wednesday: trying not to panic, I am moving house this week and it all happened kind of sudden so I am trying to pack while rendering maya on my lap top and AE on my computer. I didn't like the look of the class room so I added corners on it and has animated the real postcard and rendered it out in Maya so I will finish the teacher sequence hopefully tonight. The animation of the horn monster has taken much more time that I could have imaging- his eyes are a fucking problem so i have re- drawn the in-betweens several times and tried different timing etc in AE but he still looks really weird when he blinks, blinking is fucking simple to animate though so I am well annoyed - another mission for tonight :) I had this idea of making Wunderbaums out of three of my Monster designs to give away on the final year exhibition so I did some research online and found the biggest producer of Wunderbaums in Sweden, Yngve Niklasson AB - I called them but they don't have time to produce other designs then the Wunderbaums- they have been asked this question many times. I then found a company in China that does different kinds of car fresheners BUt their contact detail website is not working..hmm..well, I am not giving up on the idea yet but I will make sure I have a film first :) I have asked to meet Jared tomorrow and will see if I can meet up with Dan as well to see what they think of what I have done so far and my idea etc, I would like Alex or Dan's animation help as they might no some AE tricks that I have missed out on. I designed an octopus for the pool area last night that I want to animate with the puppet pin tool cos I watched an tutorial about how to use it and it looks really fun but doesn't work for all kinds of characters and animation.
Finished the Horn Monster - just ONE problem, it doesn't want to render the file.. it always does this around 9 minutes, I will e-mail Alex about it. I am using quite big files so i am making a smaller version now but it i think it might be something else.
Annoying.
Okej, After Effects doesn't want to render my Horn Monster file - it always stops at the same place so I booked an appointment with Alex, his suggestion was that I render it to other locations- I have tried that and it doesn't work. No file is missing but it doesn't want me to render one of the files- now I need to test about 600 layers of shower drops and shit to see - what layer it is? Hmm..fun. Did a quick test of my shower corridor - I don't like it, I want the monsters to be bigger on the screen so that u see them better so I will do more test - but this is how far it lets me render.. I have e-mailed Alex about it again to see if he has any other suggestion about how to find the fault.
I had a chat with Jared yesterday, wanted to talk to Dan as well and asked him if he had time, stayed and waited for him but he went home so I didn't see him, will try again next week. Checked my moodle and I haven't gat any feedback from my summative yet so I think I have to remind Mike about that. I asked him before if he wanted me to do more for my folders OR do this showreel, he said I should focus on this. Well, now I need to find that fault so I can move on with the rest of my work!
Started the Shampo Monster, need to fix it - timing is wrong - the back hand is wrong cos i wasn't going to use it like this so i need to change that + u can see the corner of the body sticking out sometimes and i need to smooth out between face expression, another hour or two and he should be done. Unless something goes terrible wrong..should never say never..
I'm gonna make a test when he moves the boy more as well. But now I am going to move house..
Peace n Luv,
asa
Monday, 28 April 2008
Week 17, Okej! I start my Monster film
Well, Mike and I had a meeting last friday and Jared also showed up. We talked about the film and so on and decided that the best thing might be to drop it. So, its done. I really liked the idea, I loved Aminata's model of the girl, I liked how the dead world was coming together, I didn't want to do another 3D gag comedy film- use the software and the medium for something different and mix it up more - any way - it didn't work.
No..he doesn't have three heads -its parts that I will animate in AE )
Time to make a ll the cut out body parts to joint in after effects and animate. I don't have time to write now if I am going to make this, so ciao bello, later!
Technical things- how to render out a film from AE so its remains an alpha chanel. Will try the puppet tool in after effect- might be helpful with the animation.
Made some props for the spa and sticked them into the maya file. 2D and 3D is hard to mix nicely, i just want this colorful and wacky so I think i will keep the spa in just a solid color, no tiles or any fancy 3d texturing cos that just wouldn't fit.
Started to animate the horn monster who will just brush his back and put soap on the belly - have problems with his front arm, it doesn't want to joint and i cant put the anchor point where i want so i can't make it move naturally right now. His eyes are also a pain in the ass, want to animate everything but the front arm today so that i easily can do the arm later.
Will meet up with Alex tomorrow and hopefully solve why I can't upload my avi films on planes in Maya, do the films have to be something else den DV pal size? I know he gat some After Effects tricks as well then he can enlight me about. I did everything wrong with my showreel last year cos i refused to do tutorials n started working and learning - and making lots of mistakes- instead..hehehe..i didn't even parent my characters last year, - or use joints hehe..so that surely didn't help the animation haha. Anyway, u live and learn.
AAAAARGHHH! Tuesday today and my scanner just died - very bad timing - gat to go n get a new one! later!
Wednesday : new scanner and a new receptionist that I can't choose between.
My maya file is acting really weird, wanted to stick 2d textures on the spa walls to see if that could be the solution to the 2d and 3d not looking good together- BUT, maya sometimes has its own life, this time when i high light a face and add a texture to it- it adds the texture on everything thats NOT highlighted! haha I love this software, it does have its own life! Anyway, maybe i do it all in 2d.
The Receptionist - two different versions and some color tests.
..and if I get the time I will animate the Teacher down below cos she should be the receiver of the postcard.
I went for the orange hair for Ruth,
I have started to animate the Horn Monster and the Green Smelly Monster in After Effects - BUT - when I think I am done with the green monster, all of a sudden his parts starts floating around - they have anchor points, they are not parented, they are keyed in position and the layers are LOCKED! So how the hell can they move?? Very irritating. Have to find out what the hell it is cosing it cos all my work is for nothing right now as long as that continue to happen.
I think this will do as the massage scenery? I tried to give the massage customer different colors as he shouldn't have the same color as Ruth, but, i liked him the most green..
Working out how the shower room and the waiting room could look - need to add the room itself -
Peace n Luv
asa
No..he doesn't have three heads -its parts that I will animate in AE )
Time to make a ll the cut out body parts to joint in after effects and animate. I don't have time to write now if I am going to make this, so ciao bello, later!
Technical things- how to render out a film from AE so its remains an alpha chanel. Will try the puppet tool in after effect- might be helpful with the animation.
Made some props for the spa and sticked them into the maya file. 2D and 3D is hard to mix nicely, i just want this colorful and wacky so I think i will keep the spa in just a solid color, no tiles or any fancy 3d texturing cos that just wouldn't fit.
Started to animate the horn monster who will just brush his back and put soap on the belly - have problems with his front arm, it doesn't want to joint and i cant put the anchor point where i want so i can't make it move naturally right now. His eyes are also a pain in the ass, want to animate everything but the front arm today so that i easily can do the arm later.
Will meet up with Alex tomorrow and hopefully solve why I can't upload my avi films on planes in Maya, do the films have to be something else den DV pal size? I know he gat some After Effects tricks as well then he can enlight me about. I did everything wrong with my showreel last year cos i refused to do tutorials n started working and learning - and making lots of mistakes- instead..hehehe..i didn't even parent my characters last year, - or use joints hehe..so that surely didn't help the animation haha. Anyway, u live and learn.
AAAAARGHHH! Tuesday today and my scanner just died - very bad timing - gat to go n get a new one! later!
Wednesday : new scanner and a new receptionist that I can't choose between.
My maya file is acting really weird, wanted to stick 2d textures on the spa walls to see if that could be the solution to the 2d and 3d not looking good together- BUT, maya sometimes has its own life, this time when i high light a face and add a texture to it- it adds the texture on everything thats NOT highlighted! haha I love this software, it does have its own life! Anyway, maybe i do it all in 2d.
The Receptionist - two different versions and some color tests.
..and if I get the time I will animate the Teacher down below cos she should be the receiver of the postcard.
I went for the orange hair for Ruth,
I have started to animate the Horn Monster and the Green Smelly Monster in After Effects - BUT - when I think I am done with the green monster, all of a sudden his parts starts floating around - they have anchor points, they are not parented, they are keyed in position and the layers are LOCKED! So how the hell can they move?? Very irritating. Have to find out what the hell it is cosing it cos all my work is for nothing right now as long as that continue to happen.
I think this will do as the massage scenery? I tried to give the massage customer different colors as he shouldn't have the same color as Ruth, but, i liked him the most green..
Working out how the shower room and the waiting room could look - need to add the room itself -
Peace n Luv
asa
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