Category: Final Major Project

Character 2 Rigging

Character 2 poses to have the most interesting facial rig due to the wooden beam that functions as an eyebrow, however I feel the prior weeks rigging techniques will also work well here. The initial step was adding all the skeletal joints, and being particrualy in the eyebrow placement joints as they will make to be inline so that one is not further forward or back causing mesh collisions.

After this process I once again binded the skin using closest distance in the joint heirachry and got similar results in the skin paint distribution to the first two times I have rigged the characters.

After flooding all the correct mesh to the correct corresponding joints, I was able to achieve the result I wanted that went quite smoothly in process due to last weeks experience.

While these legs were shorter than that of character ones, they are also a lot wider which gave me a lot of leeway into the skin weight distribution and therefore I was able to get much cleaner knee bend on both legs.

The interesting part proved to be the weight painting of the upper ‘beam’ or eyebrow as there needed to be a well blended by even distribution influence on each joint that has a careful gradiaent In the centre so that it will all move uniformly but allow for additional eyebrow expression.

This i feel was particularly successful, and shall we very interesting to utilising during the animation process later on in the pipeline.

and early issue I had was that due to the fact the eyebrows were not 100% Flooded to their corresponding joints, I has some initial issues with the influence on the eye joint due to the proximity during the binding process.

Character 5 Rigging

Once again, reaptitng the same process for all the rigs prior to this one, I was able to successfully skin weight paint the model in the same process and also have even more leeway with the leg Iks due to the slight length of them.

The method of using separate joints for the eyes has been particularly successful, so I have once again uiltised this effect. SInce they eyes are more similar to that of Character 2, I also found this to be quite simply as they only really need to move on a Y Axis.

During the initial Skin bind, there were deformatives in the bottom fo the mesh, due to the high number of stones and mesh collision in that area. This was quite a simple fix by adding the influence, to the central hip joint.

When rigging the door, I thought of technicalities surrounding the pivot point, and alinged the nurbs controller with this pivot point so once it was parented it would follow the same rotational axis and work in the same way. This controller would then be added heriarchally to the hip joint so that it will follow the rest of the rig without moving separately from the rest of the mesh.

Character 6 Rigging

I followed exactly the same process with the rig for character 6, however, instead of rigging one door, I rigged two. The legs on this one proved to be a lot more difficult to weight paint, but applying the same time and concepts to the rig I was able to create an effect that works for exactly what I need it to do going forward.

Next Weeks Goals:

• Complete all character rigging
• Start Environment Modelling

Character 3 Rig

I wanted to initially rig character three as he is the only one with a planned walk cycle, and I wanted to allow time to properly weight paint the legs so they do not deform in unintended ways.

Starting the rigging process of these house models, I immediately checked that all the pivot points for the doors were correct and in functioning order, as well as the translate and rotate limitations.

The initial sept is placing the ‘skeleton’, which has just two IK legs and a central spine. One of the most important aspects of skeletal placement I have learned during my time at LCC is not to ruin the rotations by placing the joins in a messy, disorganised way, and specifically rotating each joint hierarchically and neatly so they are on a correct axis.

From here, I used a joint hierarchy bind to attach the mesh to the skeleton, which also selected the closest in the hierarchy so that the mesh influence would attach itself to the nearest joint. Since The house will not require very complex and naturalistic skin weighting, this option should suit the job quite well.

The initial binding, as displayed below, had several issues in terms of mesh deformities. Due to the default influence of the mesh, all the vertices are corresponding to several joints at once, which works well for a more humanoid and natural rig but will not work in this instance.

There also prove to be many issues with the IK application in the leg, as the knees seem to deform and shrink and the upper leg when manipulated. While the overall effect of the character intends to have an almost ‘rubber hose’ style, there still needs to be no deformities.

Looking into ‘rubber hose’ rigging techniques on youtube to assess whether this is the best course of action going forward, I found that giving the legs that much individual manipulation, it may complicate the animation in a way that is not necessary for this film. However, the tutorial may be very useful later on for a different project.

Another technique I was looking at the exemplify squash and stretch was to make a ‘stretchy’ spine so that the houses could bend and pull in a way that, again, would not massively deform the mesh. I feel this would be useful however, stylistically, I do not think it will essentially work in selling that the characters are stiff like houses.

The most effective way to bind the skin, similar to my skeleton project, the ‘Danse Macabre’ Dance-off, was to use 100% influence of certain mesh to certain joints so that they did not deform upon movement.

As shown, the current mesh, as it stands, warps and deforms massively due to multiple joint influences.

By going through all the different parts of the mesh and giving them 100% Influence over the central joint that will be the main hip control, the mesh was able to successfully follow in a way that makes sense.

Despite this, there are still several issues regarding its movement. One of the predominant issues that stand out is the leg deformities mentioned earlier.

due to the nature of the character, I would not be able to get the leg and the knee to be exactly in line with the joints, as there would be no space to bend. However, I successfully managed to get t the knee and upper leg to work in a way that minimises drastic deformities.

In order to 0 all the translations on the leg to avoid the rig going ‘crazy’ I created individual hierarchical groups for each joint and froze all of the transformations.

Interestingly, one of the issues I had was the mesh collapsed in on itself after trying to set influence to the main body of mesh, so due to this file corruption, I had to close and re-open my prior saved file.

I found that in order to get individual eye control, I had to make different joints for each individual eye and eyebrow and set them all the 100% to the corresponding joint in order to get them to move independently.

Hat constrain

Since I wish to add secondary animation with the hat, I decided to research different hat constraints that would allow it to move with the main mesh but work independently from it.

In doing the hat, I made it individually controlled but parented it to the highest joint in the ‘spine’ so that it was able to sit in its original position and could move independently from the body. Could then turn on and off the influence or ‘attachment’ in the transform settings.

Character 1 Rig

Going back to character one, I essentially used the same process in order to get it functioning, as both characters 1 and 3 have very similar features and functioning eyes.

The main struggle with this character was getting the weight paints right due to the very short legs, as to was very difficult to avoid massive deformities due to the lack fo space to work with.

After playing around with this tool for a while, I was eventually able to create an effect where the information was much less noticeable upon bending and settled for its appearance of it. This is an issue I expect to reoccur since most of my characters have shorter legs.

Next Week’s Goals:

• Continue Character Rigging

Since I have completed the entire character modelling process for my short film, I have started thinking about poster concepts in which all the characters can be placed together to best advertise the film. This also gave me a good indication that I will need to rescale some models later on as some proved to be much bigger and much smaller than their counterparts, and some of them are incorporated in the same scene. This is important to do before the rigging process, as scaling characters after the skin-binding process can effectively mess up the entire rig.

Music Tests

While a majority of the film is based around multiple dialogues conversations, there is an introductory section which I feel needs some musical addition to help set the tonality and theme. Exploring this sound, due to the child-like, stylised intended aesthetic of the film, I decided to play around with sounds that are associated with children’s television shows. I wanted to emphasise this by using instruments such as a glockenspiel and piano, which add a light and simplistic feel to the melody. This ‘happy’ introductory theme and the toy-like children’s aesthetic feels purposely contradictory to the spoken content in a way I feel works as an animated short.

Previsulatiation

As stated in prior blog posts, previsualization is a key and essential step in the filmmaking process to place everything into the correct spacing and see if it works. Since I am behind In the environmental modelling section of my film at the moment, this process provided me with a perfect base to start this process scale-wise and gave me an indication of object placement and overall setting depth. This also made several things very clear to me, as a few ideas did not translate well from the 2D animatic to the 3D Previs. One of these is the idea of having a humanoid character have a silhouette in the light of the window. While this conceptually works quite well and is more visually interesting for viewers, I predict I will not be able to include it going forward as I feel adding a human into the setting while also having a house within a house throws off the world balance. I also think this effect will prove to be very difficult without modelling a character that would make the right kind of silhouette to match the overall aesthetic.

During this process, I also found that using the shutters to make character 5 blink actually appeared slightly strange and uncanny due to its sideways motion of it.

The previs also indicated some issues that I may have regarding the Ncloth attached to character 3, and it may not follow the rig in the way I am expecting and key massively between keyframes. While this is something I would want to research in a more extensive way, I will add it as an additional feature If I have time in order to stay on schedule.

Next week’s Goals:

• Character rigging (priority)
• Environmental modelling

The next character model is a very proud Italian friend of mine who got very unfortunately caught up in the early issues in northern Italy during the pandemic. In order to pay effective tribute to her location and nationality during this time, we both agreed we should look into classic Italian architecture for this model.

Character Model 5

While she is from Valley d’Aosta and resides within the Italian side of the alps, that area has a very distinctive type of architecture due to the cross-cultural impact of France and Switzerland; a lot of the classic architecture can be associated with any of these areas. In order to communicate with an audience very clearly the Italian setting, I began looking at Tuscan houses, which are very distinct in style. These also potentially match the most stereotypical international views other than Rome and Venice.

Beginning the concept art, I really wanted to ensure that the shutters and the roof tiling were in the most visually-referential way I could with the imagery I had selected. I also felt incorporating the shutters in the ‘eye’ windows could effectively work as eyelids later on in the animation process.

First and foremost, I applied techniques I have learned from previous weeks’ modelling to create the roof tiling in a neat and orderly fashion. In contrast to my first model, I feel this friend of mine is a very neat and particular person, and I wanted to portray this visually in the best way I could.

Trying to get this flat, serious expression within this character model was also an essential point for me as a lot of the spoken content from this character is very serious and self-reflecting, and I wanted her expression, even within the limitations of architectural structure, to look intentionally flat and stone.

In order to rig the shutters later on, I wanted to endure the pivot transforms were correct and also had rotational limits on them so that during the animation process, they could be prevented from mesh collision, which I also something I intend to add to every door on the models I will begin to rig.

Experimenting with brick placement, I realised that due to the type of texture these buildings are traditionally made of, this method would prove ineffective, as it would not reflect the style of the building I was aiming to go for. In a lot of the Tuscan houses I had looked at, there was more stonework than brick.

Starting the base layer of stone, I wanted to see if I could make the bricks appear like a stone on the rest of the mesh; however, personally, I feel this made it look messy and imbalanced, which went against my initial goals for characterisation.

After managing to greater three neat rows of stone all the way around the model and using the same guttering technique used on model 3, I feel I was able to create a (somewhat) authentic italian-style house with a clean and simple appearance. I feel that minimally trying to add subtle location-specific details to my models has proved a slight challenge. However, I think it works quite well here, and I hope to continue to adapt this further with the next model.

Character Model 6

Since this character is based on a man who lives/ and has lived/ in Birmingham his whole life, I wanted to really try to get the essential parts of a classic Birmingham home into my modelling. A very classic trait of housing in Birmingham is this crowded attached terrace style housing which has this distinct’ red brick’ look to it. I also particularly like the layered circular detailing on the roofs, which will interesting to incorporate into my model.

Translating this into a character design, I think trying to play on the attached housing will work really well in a movement design aspect, as I can utilise both doors during different speeches to make a more interesting and dynamic piece of animation. Another element that I think will really help in creating expression is using the unique circular brickwork above the windows to use as eyebrows.

Considering this character is the only one who will be ‘indoors’ so to speak, I also wanted to consider the modelling for the environment early on and consider what the ‘house’ that they will be situated in will look like, as I intend to use this character model as a base.

Beginning the modelling process, I felt it appropriate once again everything very neat as this house will be very symmetrical in its visual approach. The tiling for this house also needs to have smaller, more close-knit lines due to the nature of its source material.

After completing all the individual lines of tiles around the whole building, I was very happy with the result and decided to use a ‘boolean’ technique to make the detailing impression for the edges of the roof. This created a nice effect that I was happy with aesthetically in wireframe.

However, when rendering this effect, it did not show up in a way that appeared there dimensional and lost a lot of its detailing and effect overall, looking like two flat planes on top of each other.

Trying to get this idea to correspond correctly within the Ai Toon shader, I created three layers of this curvy line of mesh to create a similar impression. By moving these slightly off-centre from one another, I was able to create a clean layered effect which appears to have a ‘softer’ and more friendly-looking appearance as it feels reminiscent of tablecloths typically associated with grandmothers. Having had northern grandparents myself, this is something I feel I would have typically seen in their house growing up and it helps set the age of the interviewee and their English background.

This effect also worked much more successfully in the Arnold render view, and I actually feel it achieves the aesthetic preference in a cleaner and more visually simplistic way.

Trying to get this central brickwork detailing and also incorporate it as the eyebrow design proved to be quite difficult as the movement would either have to be restricted (therefore reducing eye movement massively) or would have to move as an entire line which would look incorrect, or far too jarring.

Cropping this down to just the circular areas above the windows seems to work and also really helps add an expression that makes the character appear more friendly without losing its Birmingham characteristic.

For this model, I also wanted to add the appropriate door handling, which gives it a little more detail when rendered with the toon shader that separates it from the other door designs.

Below is the finished house model, which I feel encapsulates its location very well and indicates something quintessential from a northern British attached house. I feel quite enthusiastic to animate this character later on as it provides a lot of opportunity for expression with more carefully designed eyebrows and doors. I may potentially have to turn down the specualar on some textures, such as the tiles later on, as they make the model look very clean or wet, which is not the overall intention. Now that all of the main character models are complete, I now aim to start the rigging process with all of the characters and figure out exactly how they will move.

Next Week’s Goals:

• Finish previsualtaion
• Render tests (If time)
• Start Character Rigging (If Time )

The 4th interviewee clearly stated how they were in Florida, and with contextual input of them working in a cafe, I decided to research beach cafes that can be typically seen in that area. The main theme I noticed is a lot of primary blues and light-toned buildings with ‘flatter’ beaches and large umbrellas.

Architecturally, I felt very inspired by the image below as it has a lot of interesting shapes and features, which I believe would translate well into 3D space, such as the railing and simplistic beach cafe sign. I also really liked the use of the tarpaulin roofing that abuts the building and window ledges, which could prove interesting later on in terms of simulation and also texture exploration.

Expanding on from this, I drew a design that accentuates this more square shape and adapts it to fit an anthropomorphized character that requires a ‘mouth’ to speak. Trying to thematically engage with the weather of Florida locations, I wanted to accentuate this by using sunglasses. I also feel that later on in the rendering process, I could add some interesting reflections to them. The key thing I wanted to achieve from this design is how the shape will differ in a silhouette sense from the other characterised buildings and also to create a different dynamic door idea that fits into a more modern aesthetic due to its context.

Beginning with the base model, I felt that the addition of the railing was particularly effective here, and it gives the impression of additional ‘layers’ or floors within the building that give it a different scale and also allow me to play around with things that can go on the rooftop. The inward extrusion of the base, it also adds some surface detailing that is not present in the earlier models that I feel will look good in the final render.

When exploring what would be the most effective way to create the tarpaulin roof, I decided to try and use Ncloth to create a more believable cloth sitting that could be manipulated by wind effects due to its setting.

The first process of this was creating the building as a passive collider and then attaching the end vertex of the mesh using a transform constraint to make them fall over the roughly modelled window.

I feel this made the cloth sit more naturalistically and gave me a good starting approach for how this will later be applied when modelled into the correct shape and length.

The next key step was modelling the facial features, which will be the most essential for the animation process. Since my drawing tries to effeminate this character, I added some ‘eyeliner’ to the mesh to give it a bit more personality and differentially it slightly from the other models without string too far from the general aesthetic.

When beginning to model the sunglasses, I was having a lot of issues trying to start the process, originally using too large transparent squares to try and create the effect. I realised later on that it was proving difficult to try and create the circular effect without reference, and I found a pair online in which I could begin to shape the base around.

Using the reference, I found it much easier to get the right shape and focus on the details, such as the concave shape of the glasses, as this will help with helping distort reflections naturally and also work better generally in three dimensions.

After modelling the glasses, I really wanted to focus on a more stylised form of highlight so that it could match the heavy ‘toonshader’ linework of the renderer. In the concept work, I have the white ‘squares’ that implicate highlights. Trying to translate that into 3d, as visible in the rendered version, the contrast of the specular glass and the stylised highlight do not work well together. And turning down the specular also looks odd because it would block the visibility of the eyes, therefore restricting expression.

The most important aspect of the model in order for successful rigging was the door. I wanted to make an automatic door to add variety and also play around with the differing logistics of door styles and how they would work as mouths, so to speak. Since the main aspect of this motion is both of the doors moving swiftly and cleanly to the side without any mesh collisions, it felt important to make sure I get the transforms correct early on so the rigging process goes as smoothly as possible.

For the font for the front sign, I wanted to play with audience associations again to build a stronger sense of the environment and tried to replicate the font of the famous ‘sandals’ beach resort that was popular in the 80s and could potentially resonate subconsciously with older audiences. This also creates a more ‘beachy’ aesthetic for the whole model.

Now that a good portion of the character modelling was complete, I wanted to start the simulation process again with more accurately modelled cloth and see how this would work with the existing model. As seen in the clip below, the first attempt proved more successful than the prior attempt. However, the cloth is still too long and too thin to effectively replicate the cloth of tarpaulin/ cotton that is typically used for gazebo-type covers.

After shaping the cloth more effectively and using the transform constraints and more points to ensure mesh connection, the cloth sat much more accurately than before and achieved the overall effect I wanted going forward. However, I still felt the cloth deforms could be pushed even more accurately with additional underlying mesh.

Adding the metal bars that would potentially be used under the cloth to help hold and shape them over windows and cafe porches, I created a cylindrical bar and added a passive collider so that the NCloth simulation would sit on top of it.

The final result with the added bar collision, which I think adds a slight bounce and a cloth deform in the centre, would be more accurate to real life.

Applying a similar technique to the umbrella, I initially tried to create the edges of the mesh to have a Ncloth effect. However, this did not work as the Ncloth simulation appears to need to affect an entire piece of mesh to work as effective simulation.

Since the umbrella stick would not, from prior simulation experience, effectively hold the entire weight and length of the Ncloth mesh, I created an ‘invisible’ smaller piece of mesh underneath that it could collide with in a way that could make it appear realistic.

This idea application, with added collision weight and thickness, created exactly the kind of effect I wanted for this simulation. This could also be extremely useful when adding an additional ‘wind’ simulation as it could help just add that slight, subtle animation that helps sell a shot environmentally.

When finishing up the model, I wanted to add some additional detailing that would make the cafe look more full and life-like, such as cactus pots. I also added a ‘sun’ logo to the sign that feels reminiscent of the earlier reference image but acts as its own design. Given more time constraints on this, I would make the sign work as a ‘neon’ light, as beachside cafes/bars generally make use of it due to how dark beaches get at night, and I could play around with the time of day between the differing shots also.

Due to the nature of the type of building it is, I also wanted to add restaurant ‘seating’. Initially, I had thoughts of making the chairs big enough for ‘building’ characters to fit into as that fits the overall theme of the whole world I am building. However, I settled for making ‘human-sized seating as I felt this was a perfect flourish for the model detailing and also implies the existence of smaller living beings in the world without making a direct implication it is human.

Below showcases the final model details, with the textured Ncloth materials, which colour match the building base and also will, later on, match the towels I plan to place on the beach to help fill the environmental scene and make it more believable. Given the additional time, I would add a lot more careful details to the building, such as brick detailing, guttering, tables and little assets such as cups and mugs etc.

Next Week’s Goals:

• Design and Model Character 5
• Design and Model Character 6

Continuing with the character modelling process, this week, I decided to focus on the third character, who made no directly mentioned location, giving me many architectural areas to have creative freedom with.

Scouring interest for more referential ideas, I came across this model of a building which really inspired me with its overall shape and details. Particularly the guttering and off-centred balcony placement. I particularly wanted to accentuate height and detail within these and apply them to my own stylistic voice and visual identity.

Adapting these ideas into drawing, I wanted to give this character a kit of pipes and gutterings that could feel like structural support systems that will add contrasting details within the toon shader. I also wanted to create a light brickwork pattern within this to break up the plain white painted walls of the building. Due to the length of the design of this building, I felt I had a lot of room to work with facial expressions and intend to utilise the upper space to move the eyes and the eyebrows. As stated by Tinwell, a majority of facial expression is conveyed in the upper regions of the face, so this gives me plenty of opportunity to explore that (2015).

Beginning the modelling process, I used similar methods to those used with the first model to try and make a distinct link visually between the two buildings. Due to the fact that the interviewee this character is representing states that it was his birthday on the day of lockdown, I wanted to model him wearing a birthday hat to accentuate and play around with the visual ideas involved with the spoken content.

Using the same prior methods with the tile modelling and the toon shader application, I feel I was able to get a neat and effective tile representation with this method and have carved an effective way of creating tiles roofs which will speed up the modelling process later as this stage of production progresses. Reflecting on the current state of the model, I feel the legs are too thick and short and do not fully embody the length I was aiming to achieve within my concept art that matches the longer main ‘body’ of the building. This length in the legs will also aid the production of walk cycles later on as it provides more space for effective mesh deformation in the knee bends, easing the process of skin weighting with IK handles.

Since contextually, it is this interviewee’s birthday, I began modelling different ‘party’ hats that viewers would associate with birthdays visually. I thought if I incorporated this within the model throughout the entire three-minute film, it would make a subtle reference to the first spoken line of the character and also utilise additional secondary animation.

Initially, my idea was to create a ‘polka’ dot effect by using additional mesh shapes. However, this proved to be quite messy and did not have the right effect when rendering, as it was not explicitly clear that it was intended to be a birthday hat and looked more like a stylised ‘dunce’ hat.

In order to improve the overall audience associative imagery, I found a reference image of a very standard birthday party hat and tried to model around this, especially in terms of the colour scheme. Since the key associative element of the birthday hat seems to be a facial ‘spring’ or a pompom, I tried to replicate this by using a single pink sphere.

Below showcases the finished model, with an extra door added, which could potentially work like an additional ‘mouth’, so to speak, to create a more interesting overall visual representation of speech, and utilise the anthropomorphic elements of the design in a way that could make more unique expressions.

Reflectively looking at the model as a whole, I feel it works stylistically as it allowed me to explore my own stylistic ideas without a specific location contextual design. This being said, I feel the simplicity of it will blend and match the other models created so far despite this different approach. During the process of modelling, however, I felt I could have potentially pushed the detail more with the brickwork and potentially looked into the use of ‘bump maps’ which are “greyscale maps that add simulated height or depth to a model’s surface” (Chopine, 2011, p. 160). Utilizing this, I feel I could create a more overall detailed model, which would benefit from less extensive lighting to give the impression of detail. However, once again, the film aims to remain simplistic in visual design to reduce render times and also create more focus on contextual dialogue and narrative over aesthetic presentation.

References

Tinwell, A. (2015) The Uncanny Valley in Games and Animation. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.

Chopine, A. (2011) 3D Art Essentials: The Fundamentals of 3D Modelling and Animation. Focal Press.

In order to stay more organised with the modelling process going forward, I created a sheet in which I can keep track of all the different models I need to complete and their progress.

Contextually within the film’s interviewee subjects, the second (Marianna) was a resident of Canterbury during the coronavirus pandemic, and aesthetically I really wanted to encapsulate the architectural integrity of the local and add this to the design. Looking at different buildings within canterbury, many of the historic ones appeared to be very Tudor in external appearance, with dark, heavy wooden beams adding a lot of detail. Another thing I noticed when looking at the below images in detail is how imperfect and crooked the buildings are, with ‘layers’ and overhanging upper floors.

When adapting these images into an animated character, I tried to resemble the ‘crossbeam’ patterns associated with this particular style of building to add depth to the character I feel would translate well into 3D space. I also felt these beams would be a very interesting way to visually explore expression within the character design, such as eyebrow manipulation. The detail within this drawing, I feel, will also work very well with the toon shader as it will be outlined very distinctly against the move colourless, pale and simplistic base of the model.

Utilising the tutorial from last week, I felt it helped create a solid base more distinctly for this style of building, as the shape of Tudor buildings seems inherently ‘wonky’ and inconsistent. I also felt this tutorial’s use of the roof was exactly the sort of shape and style I wanted to accentuate within this model.

Completing this more detailed and layered roof, alongside a stronger ‘crossbeam’ pattern, I was able to make a more efficient method of layering the tiles so there was not as much mesh collision, which will lead to a much cleaner render overall. Especially with the application of the aitoon shader.

An important part of this model, in particular, was to preserve the detail in the tiles within the toon shader by applying a texture to them individually. This also allowed for specific individual control of colour shade and shadow/ specular contrast.

Similarly, with the last model, I wanted to ensure the ‘mouth’ or door would operate in a way that would effectively portray the ‘jaw bounce’ process of lip sync animation. Considering techniques for rigging this, later on, I will need to ensure that there is a clean pivotal translation that I can parent to a NURBS curve or circle that will have rotational control.

Fleshing and filling out the rest of the details, the eyes are a considerably essential aspect of the animation process, therefore felt important to design these carefully. As tudor-style windows traditionally have a central beam for support purposes, so I wanted to play with this to act as an ‘eyelid’. That way, facial animation can get a more heightened level of detail across.

The next important consideration was the legs; for this model, I wanted to create very small legs that would contrast with the overly detailed ones and add a humourous and stylistic element to them.

In an attempt to add further roof detailing that will mirror that of the previous models, I wanted to add a feature that could also accentuate secondary animation details to the movement to enhance the overall effect and believability of motion. In doing this, I created a weather vane as I felt that fit the overall design and time period contextual use.

Below presented the completed detailed model, which I feel proves much more successful than the last as it seems to encapsulate locational-specific aspects that help set the model and the character contextually. I also feel this fits stylistically very well with the overall aesthetic of the film. With the ‘overhanging’ layered aspect of the design, I also feel this fits the 3D animated form in a way that did not work as well as a 2D concept drawing. However, Improving upon this, I feel I could have added more details within the windows, as there is a very distinct wood detailing within Tudor-style windows. Especially windows that overhang outside the walls and also have more details around them.

Next Weeks Goals

• Design Character 3
• Model Character 3

Mood Boards and Art

Beginning the process of this character design, I wanted to achieve a sort of imperfect, ‘crooked’ type of look that did not appear too dishevelled. Turning to interest, I found two references in which I really aesthetically appreciated the way they had a specific charm and character to them, colour-wise but also shape-wise. Specifically looking at the roof tiling, I really wanted to explore how to create this effect in 3D in a more detailed way to counter-balance the simplicity of the overall ‘facial’ design.

As shown below in my character concepts, I explored facial expression translated into anthropomorphized housing, using the door to effectively replicate the mouth by placing it horizontally and trying to place a window to give the impression of a nose. A key stylistic choice I really want to push within the realms of my film, and in particular, this character design, is this imperfect element of architectural structures and how they replicate the imperfection of humans. To accentuate this for this particular character, I want to create a messy tiled look to the roof to implicate ‘messy hair’ and slanted windows to indicate imperfect noses. The crooked chimney, I feel, also adds an element of stylistic impression, and I want to utilise chimney smoke to highlight expression in the characters (e.g. puffing smoke when angry).

3D Modelling

Beginning to translate this model into 3D space, I tried to start trying to figure out proportionally how I would balance the body and the legs in a way that accentuated stylisation and behaved unrealistically but within the realms of realistic previewing. I also feel this aesthetic choice allows space for interesting weight portrayal within the actual character animation.

Below indicated the first application of the toon shader, in which I was trying to see: a) how it would work as a texture going forward for all the individual characters.

B) How, when using the shader, I would accentuate lines within the combined mesh.

I found when separating different elements of the mesh into groups, I was able to retain the detailed information of each object and have them clearer outlined to build more detail within the model without sacrificing the flatter, shaded look.

When beginning the process of modelling the roof, I was struggling to find an effective method to best place the tiles in a way that did not create mesh collisions and, overall, really wanted to push for the detail in this area. Researching tutorials on youtube, I found a very helpful one that illustrated a clear way to create that more detailed but simplistically stylised look I was aiming to achieve exactly.

Applying this method going forward, I was able to create a more effective and detailed roof which looked exactly how I wanted aesthetically and helped me create a method to apply to the other 5 models later on down in the production pipeline.

It felt essential also to add details which would really sell the model as a house, such as chimneys and TV antenna. I also feel with the addition of these objects, I will potentially be able to explore additional secondary animation later on that will help ‘flourish’ the character’s movements (Such as the antenna flicking etc).

An aspect that felt incredibly important to consider early on within this character creation process was understanding exactly how the door would work in place of a mouth. Recalling rigging techniques I have previously learned, I froze the transforms, changed the pivot location and tried to replicate how the mouth would operate when preparing for spoken mimesis.

Below showcases the completed model, which I think reflectively works well aesthetically for what I want to achieve for my film. However, in terms of modelling techniques, I think in future, I will try to create a neater system for tile placement so that it can look slightly more orderly with less collision. I also feel I would add more brick detailing, given the time to try and flesh out a more three-dimensional texture.

Improved Colours:

Retrospectively looking back on the colour scheme of the model, it indicated several issues as it relied solely on the colours being projected from the lights in the scene. I wanted to stick with a blue thematic colour scheme for this model so that it contrasts with the environment and the other characters to be modelled later on.

Goals for Next Week:

• Design Character 2
• Model Character 2

The Animatic and storyboarding process of an animated film, arguably, is the most important step, as a visual piece of narrative work has less value when there is no purpose behind its presentation. Considering this within documentary contexts, since the ’narrative’ displays factual accounts I felt it important to not just replicate real life but really utilise the animated form in a way that can express metaphoric subjectivity. As stated in Storyboarding: A critical History by Pallant and Price, storyboards in the contemporary age assist massively with understanding continuity editing, and it is essential to understand narrative aspects in my film, and how these different pieces of dialogue will stitch together in a meaningful way that can be visually interlinked.

Going forward Into the following weeks, I aim to complete my previsualsation as soon as I can as ”Previs presents the most accurate vision possible with resources available” (Pallant and Price, 2015, Pp. 152). This will also give me a stronger idea of any additional assets I will need following the list I have created below.

Asset Modelling List

Reference

. Pallant, C and Price, S. (2015) Storyboarding: a Critical History. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. .

To test different environmental aspects of my designs, I wanted to explore and test various cloud simulations to better understand how they work and see how they can be applied to the aesthetics of my overall film. Since I am utilising 3D software, U thought it would be a good idea to explore different simulation options I could attempt due to my overall lack of experience with using them.

Cloud using areo in Bifrost

My initial attempt to create a simulation was by learning to use the cloud areo feature in Bifrost, as I found a tutorial that looks at creating a more high-density ’realistic’ looking cloud. While stylistically, I am looking to go more ‘cartoony’, I also want to explore and see if a very stylised ’toony’ character will fit in more semi-realistic environments to see aesthetically how that will contrast.

The Initial step was creating a sphere and using a deformer to create random vertex placement; this allows for a more naturalistic-looking mesh that could, in essence, replicate a cloud.

After this, I utilised the geometry paint tools to create further mesh disparity. In using the cloud paint settings, I was also able to create a displacement of several spherical balls that will randomly surround the mesh in a way that will form the ‘look’ of a cloud.

Attaching the Bifrost aero to this collection of the mesh created a simulation which replicates the movement and overall look of the cloud. When using the Bifrost simulation, it became apparent the importance of lighting to get the desired look instead of relying on textures; they were ineffective. This already indicates several issues with my intended stylistic approach to my film as I will not be able to apply a toon-shader to this simulation, and it might look very odd in contrast. Even in an attempt to blend more realistic simulations within the film, the sheer amount of voxel density and lighting required for this simulation will also drastically up the render time, giving me less time to work on the animation itself.

N Particle Test

In a similar light, I attempted to use N Particles to create a more ‘smoke-like’ effect for the chimneys. In this, I used a particle emitter to explore different speeds and effects which I can manipulate to fit different wind speeds and climate conditions. This overall, however, did not create the effect I wanted to achieve as when I applied the toon shader, it once again blacked out even in differing lighting conditions.

Modelled and Animated Clouds

Taking this approach forward, I decided to take a similar approach in creating a cloud-like mesh by using lots of spherical objects clustered together. Due to the fact the aitoon shader does not outline each individual shape or wireframe but only outlines the exterior edge of the overall combined mesh, I thought I could use this to my advantage to create the best overall effect. I also feel this very circular, soft-looking style will help create an environment that is reminiscent of toys/ children’s television shows that will add a contrast to the darker subject matter visually.

Since It proved not effective to add a simulation to this type of cloud, I explored several different methods in which I could animate these clouds in different situations that will be required for my film.

As generalised background passive animation, there should be clouds in most of my shots moving within the sky that is visible to the camera. To explore a really simplistic way of moving these that gives a weightless look without spending an excessive amount of time making the motions replicate that of a simulation.

Another essential use of ‘clouds’ will be the chimney smoke that emits from some of the characters at several points within the film. For this, I began an exploration of motion that gives the impression of expansion and dissipation with the mesh.

Next Week’s Goals:

• I am to work extensively on the storyboarding and animatic process.
• Potential additional conceptual works.