Feedback

The feedback I got concerns mainly the ability of the superhero and how it ties up with the theme. My initial idea for him is that he is able to bend reality to fit the brief given to us. But his abilities has to reflect his personality. I made a character template which I will upload soon. The idea I have based on the feedback I received is that his powers are light based. His personality is that he is a white knight; bold, brave, lively and enthusiastic. He is always ready for a challenge and confronts them with energy and courage. But he is also quite arrogant leading him to be rash and reckless. This resulted into him acting as such during one confrontation which later became an incident that redefined his life. He's thinking that without his powers, he's nothing. He is now a broken man without a purpose, at least that's what he thinks. He overlooked the fact that his wife still needs him and that to her, he is not nothing.

I reckon the feedback I got really helped me flesh out the character more and refine the theme and the story itself.

Story Ideas

I came up with 3 story ideas for the group cinematic project.

The first one is about a superhero who struggles to come into terms with what has happened after an incident, affecting his relationship with his wife. He used to be a world saving champion but after losing his powers, he feels broken and lost. This results into him being distant towards his wife. But when he is confronted by his wife, she tells him that although he can't save the world, he could still save her world. The character is going to be 3D. His powers are going to be animated in 2D. My initial idea for this is that he is able to bend reality, being a 3D character himself. But he loses his powers and it turns into 2D which basically doesn't do anything. I mixed superhero and family drama genres for this one.

My second idea is about a creature that is blackmailing a person to be its companion. It has a bomb inside its mouth ready to explode. The person reluctantly complies but in the end, the person realizes that all it needs is a friend. I haven't really fleshed out this idea. The idea is that it's going to be a 2D creature with a 3D bomb inside its mouth. I mixed buddy comedy and sci-fi for this one.

My third idea is about a person who is fed up with his/her life and struggles to control the ticking time bomb within. The bomb is a 2D character which tells the person that he/she is a ticking time bomb and that a mental breakdown is inevitable. It has a 3D pocket watch to constantly remind the person of the inevitable. The person doesn't speak at all except when talking to his/her boss which is the source of his/her stress. It is mostly internal monologue wherein the bomb narrated everything the person is feeling inside. It is a quite a mischievous character, urging the person to punch/hit the boss which he/she does at the end. I mixed psychological and comedy for this one.

I really like my first idea and I'm going with it. I really like mixing the superhero genre with quite a tragic drama about trauma and how it could affect one's relationship with someone and/or his family.

Rationale

This was my first time animating in 3D. It was challenging but a lot of fun. The transition from working in 2D to 3D was quite hard but I managed to get the hang of it. It does go through the same process in the  production and they use the same principles in terms of animation. I enjoyed 3D modelling a lot. I got the hang of UV texturing after a while and it’s actually really fun to find the right texture to peel out the feel of the character. Rigging was very technical and i found it really challenging. But with practice, I got the hang of it. I learned more about animation after doing 3D animation. I saw how the principles of 2D animation work through the limitations of 3D. I learned how important timing, key poses, inbetweens and secondary movements are.

I chose the chestburster scene from Alien because it is very iconic and it is easy to identify. This gave me a lot of room for ideas to mess around with. At first it was only supposed to be one worm but from Keat’s feedback and suggestions I thought it would be more awesome to have more little worms coming out after the big one. From this idea that Keat suggested, I thought i could make the “mama” worm comfort the little ones. It gives that contrast between a gruesome death and an adorable moment for the worms which works for a comedic twist on the horrific scene from Alien.

I enjoyed blend shapes a lot. I made blend shapes for my face rig and the chocolate blood. I saw how important the face topology and landmarks are on making facial expressions. I modeled the face of my character based on a real face. I practiced making a human head to learn about how to properly make the topology of the face. Of course I modified this for my character.

At first I was planning to just paint my background. But then I decided to build it. It was really fun building an environment despite a short amount of time. I enjoyed building the egg and the goo. Together with the refrigerator, it creates an indexical relationship about eating something out of that egg without showing it but hinting it. Lighting my environment was also really fun. I messed around with different lights to find out which ones would work best. I also messed around with the reflectivity settings for each material to make the environment look more awesome. I also like messing around with different light colours to create a filter to suggest a mood. I also put in a space picture to complete the setting. When I saw what it looked like rendered, I was really happy.

I encountered some problems with my rig after testing it out, some were easy to fix, some were not so much. Even though they limited the extent of the availability of different poses for my character, I did manage to animate my character properly despite these problems. I also animated 6 separate worms. It was really fun making the worms move in different ways as different individuals rather than make them move in a similar way which could have made it look mechanical. At the end, I’m very happy with what I’ve made. I’m looking forward to learn more and improve.

Final Animation

This is the video for my final animation. I'm really happy with what I've done. I learned a lot about 3D animation and animation in general by making this sequence. It was really fun and I'd like to learn more :)

Rig Demo

I finished rigging my character and prop but I've only animated the character. Here's the video.

Rigging

If UV texturing was technical, rigging is way more technical and challenging but it's going great. Here's a screenshot of my rig and controls so far. I did the weight painting first before the controls but then I realized that painting it would be easier after putting the controls in. So i detached the skin and I'll paint it again. It doesn't really bug me that much. I reckon it's part of the learning process.

On the side, there's also my dummy for blending shapes which I would do next. I was planning to rig the face of my character but I don't think I could do it in time for the submission. So what I'll do is just do the blend shape for each expression. I think blend shape might suit my character better but it would be awesome if I could rig his face. But what I'll do is practice face rigging in my own time. 

3D Model and Textures

I haven't posted in a bit but this is what my full coloured model looks like and the UV textures I put on it. UV texturing was very technical which is something I'm not really good at especially the unfolding bit and laying it out properly. But I did learn that laying the UV properly really helps with the painting. Also the map grid is really useful to see stretching and it's also a good reference.

And also my prop.