Final Animation - What Lies Beneath

So I finally finished my animation of five weeks hard work. I must say I'm rather proud that I achieved this because for me, this was an all or nothing project to show my tutors and classmates that I was more than capable of becoming a successful student.

Just a quick note, for some reason it is alot darker on youtube, not sure why but it just is. For people who haven't seen it, this may be quite annoying, otherwise enjoy.

Other Maya Tutorials

Here will be all of the other Maya tutorials other than the Skinning. The first tutorial in this post is the face jiggle. This was a very exciting tutorial, and like in lesson also gave me a giggle whilst trying to do it.

 

Maya Reflection Pass -  The next tutorial in this post is from the layer renders. This screen shot is from the tutorial for the reflection pass.

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The next little tutorial is using deformers to animate bobs belly. By adding a deformer to the belly, when we keyframe the animation, the stomacfh squashes and stretches according to bobs movement.

Maya Tutorials - Skinning Arms

Hey guys heres one of the Skinning tutorials from unit 6. The others are a work in progress which I hope to have on the blog either tonight or tomorrow.

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Painting Weights -

The Making Of

The Images below are from my making of booklet for my Animation 'What Lies Beneath'

Development Images and Videos

This post is a selection of still images and playblasts/Batch renders from the development stages of my animation.

The video below is of the spores being released into the atmosphere

 

This next video is for my last scene, the first is of a playblast were i was working out my shot angles using the camera to follow onto the path of the fallen spore. 

Spore Pulsing Scene 2

I have basically finished my Spore pulsing scene were the amoeba hatches from the spore and slopes off out of the screen. This is exactly how the scene will go when finished appart from a few minor details. One is that the amoeba needs a little texture added to it and for some really annoying reason the lighting of the orb begins to flash at the start of the animation which  confuses me greatly.

 

Note - I'm not sure of the quality as the video shows different on different screens.

More Stills - What Lies Beneath...

There is a scene throughout my animation were the camera flows across a dark plane of land hidden beneath the surface of the tree stump, after flowing across the plane, the camera moves gracefully over the top of a mound/hill were we see another large space filled with spores.

Again, I struggle to see the lighting on this computer for some strange reason, hopefully that isn't the case for fellow bloggers.

Spore Pulsing Scene

Just a quick sneak preview of part of the scene where the spore begins to hatch a tiny Amoeba

Scene Updates...

Just a quick few updates with some images to do with when we are introduced into the dark and eerie scene where the we first see the spore about to hatch the amobia.

All of these are just tests using fog to create a dark and eerie effect with the lighting for the scene of the pulsating spore. The very top one I think used too much light especially for the effect that I want throughout my animation. The effect I'm going for consists of lots of spot lighting using the fog effect to give it a disturbed and unworldly finish. There will be a few seconds of the spore hatching scene uploaded within the hour.

Inside the last part of the log

These are just a few screen shots of the inside of the log were one of the spores floats through the top of the log and lands onto the cracked soiled surface. When this scene is finished, I will have lots of spot lights coming through the wood.

My apologies, I had two more shots but for some reason they have been changed once they were transfered over. Also looking at the ground above I see that the image is really dark but I'm not sure why. Confusing but it will be fixed in due course.

To Spore or not to Spore

Hmmm, having a little bit of a problem with somthing as simple as the shape of my final spore. I have two shapes in mind at the moment, one is a basic symetrical cycle and the other is an oval shape, a bit like a pod/bean. I'll let you have a look and decide for yourselfs, personally I prefer the bean shaped spore.

More Maya Scene tests

Just a quick post just of a video where I am trying to see what the Slime Mould will actually look like once I have Finally finished my animation. These two playblasts are just using different quality renders but came out looking strangely different(not the final pieces).

Corrected Animatic Panels - Version 2

I had a little problem when I had finished my first Animatic, I didn't like it. This wasn't the only thing either. Another thing that I was worried about was the actual science of it wasn't correct. Not taking any risks I decided to do it again. You can see my Animatic below in a previous post, but I have only uploaded my Animatic panels for a different one. These Panels are for the Animatic I presented at the Pitch.

Maya Tutorials

I have a few hours spare so I have given the Maya tutorials a go. Firstly I started off with the blend shapes.
In this first tutorial, Alan shows how to create deformers and apply them in order to create these blend shapes.

Operation Order - Below is just a print screen from Maya showing all the blend shape options. Maybe later when I get home I will open the files up and record me messing around with the controls using the programme Fraps, just to give a better idea of how they work. If I work quick enough I may be able to show all of what Alan does in the tutorial.

Mirror Movement - Next of the tutorials was the Mirror Movement using Blend shapes. This tutorial was very good and will be very helpful in the near and distant future.

The Next image is the Right Snarl, Angry Brow and raised brow blend shape examples 

Crit Review

Best revie/pitch I've had yet. Seriously going for this project now, it might be hell but im adament I will do it. Phil also has given me some good feedback in terms of my art direction. He seemed to notice that I like cross hatching whilst drawing, giving my work a unique style which suits me. Anyway, wish me luck, this will be a fun and tiring two weeks.

Pre Viz - Key Scenes

Just a quick upload of my Pre - Viz, this post feature not all of the Pre-Viz but some of the more important scenes which I will focus on throughout the remainder of this project.

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Updates...

So for tomorrow I want to have a good presentation, I want to be able to show what I can achieve and how I will do it. I have finished my Anamatic, most of the concept art, and will be ready to put together the work for the pitch at the start of tomorrow morning.

My pre-viz will be only showing some of the key stages of my animation. For instance, I will be showing the slug which is formed of the Amoeba moving along the ground like in the animation. Another thing that I will be showing is the pulsation of the fruiting body, ready for it to release its spores and complete its cycle.

I will keep you posted on how I'm coming along, hopefully shouldn't be a problem :)

Animatic take 2

Below is another Animatic which I have finished. This one is slightly different. Have a look if you have time. I would say that I prefer this one to my other because it has better direction, something which I need to help me along the way with this project.

Note: I may have a few sound issues which I aim to rectify if I have time. just a few crackles throughout the Anamatic, nothing too serious.

The Rethink...

I have just decided that I am going to change my animation. Don't panic, this project is all about development if you ask me :). I will keep you posted and will have my second version of my Animatic uploaded to my blog later.

Slime Mould and Spore Concepts

Just a quick bit of concept work using a tablet. A little close up of the Slime Mould Pods on top of their stalks.

Inside of a Spore

    

Stages of Development - Concept Work

So I have been trying to find a style of art that I think works for me, and after much dithering I think I might have found a style I like. Although I had already done some pen concepts, I wanted to do some also including a graphics tablet.

This concept is not finished at all, but the start of a concept to do with the inisde of a cavern which the Slime Mould is within.