It's time to start on a clean slate. I used this blog sparingly in the past to post about my Animation Mentor adventures, and now that I have graduated, I feel the need to start anew. From now on I will be using this blog to inconsistently post about anything new I am working on. See you on the other blog...
-Tim
P.S. For those who didn't catch the link above... My new blog is located at:
www.tinytimanimation.com/blog/tinytimblog.html
Monday, September 08, 2008
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Upward and Onward
Well, I finally made it to Class 6. I had to take a term off because of financial and other personal issues. But, I am happy to say I am back and ready to continue working on my short. Last term, I had Ike Feldman and he really helped me to tighten up my short towards the later part of the class. This term I have Ethan Hurd and he has already made a few suggestions for making it even more tight. Because my short is so long [1:50 with titles & credits], I will be taking Class 6 twice. I have heard that other students struggle to get 30-60sec done in one term, so I know it will be impossible for me to get mine done in one term. Besides, I want this to turn out sweet, so I am more than willing to spend the extra time and money on it. So, this term I will only be working on the first 1000 frames or so... yeah, thats alot.
During the break, I worked a little bit on the modeling, lighting and texturing. I still have a few things to model, like file cabinets, clothes, clutter for Harold's desk. I actually spent alot of time trying to figure out how I was going to clothe the characters. I tested a few different methods on one of my older dialogue tests. Texturing alone looks too flat. If they were wearing spandex, it would pass, but not for the look I have in mind. I tried using cloth simulation, using the new nCloth for Maya, but for some reason I couldn't constrain the clothes to the character because of the way the rig is setup. AM did a real good job of locking down the rigs so you can't really modify them too much. I also tried skinning clothes to them, but I didn't want to spend too much time on painting weights or any of that nonsense. Finally, when class started, I found a tutorial Ant Travieso made in the forum on wrap deformers. This was perfect for what I wanted. The only downside is that for high poly meshes it does take a little while to calculate for each frame. Anyways here is a shot of what the lighting and textures look so far:
Here is the finished layout:
Right now I am working on the blocking. So far, I have finished around 700 frames. I will post the blocking once I have finshed with the first half. Let me know what you think :)
During the break, I worked a little bit on the modeling, lighting and texturing. I still have a few things to model, like file cabinets, clothes, clutter for Harold's desk. I actually spent alot of time trying to figure out how I was going to clothe the characters. I tested a few different methods on one of my older dialogue tests. Texturing alone looks too flat. If they were wearing spandex, it would pass, but not for the look I have in mind. I tried using cloth simulation, using the new nCloth for Maya, but for some reason I couldn't constrain the clothes to the character because of the way the rig is setup. AM did a real good job of locking down the rigs so you can't really modify them too much. I also tried skinning clothes to them, but I didn't want to spend too much time on painting weights or any of that nonsense. Finally, when class started, I found a tutorial Ant Travieso made in the forum on wrap deformers. This was perfect for what I wanted. The only downside is that for high poly meshes it does take a little while to calculate for each frame. Anyways here is a shot of what the lighting and textures look so far:
Here is the finished layout:
Right now I am working on the blocking. So far, I have finished around 700 frames. I will post the blocking once I have finshed with the first half. Let me know what you think :)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Just keep swimming...
Well, I have been working on my short film. I chose to go with "The Audition". I have spent the last 3 weeks boarding it out and I finished my animatic this past weekend. I cut a lot out from the original story to make it a little more fluid and I think its working pretty well now. Its still running a little long, so I might go back and mess with the timing a little to see if I can shorten it up. Let me know what you think. Here it is:
Friday, April 20, 2007
Back!
Wow, I haven't posted for almost a year... Well, here is a quick update of what has happened since I last posted. Ok, I went to Boston for Siggraph and also Japan for 3 weeks in August. I ended up falling behind in AM, so I dropped out of Class 4 and decided to retake it. I also quit my job at the design studio I was working at about a month ago. Its been a big change, but I needed to do it so I could focus more on AM. I just started Class 5 and am in pre-production on my short film. I came up with 5 short ideas last week and I have narrowed it down to 2. Each one of them is had to be around 30sec to 1 minute long with out any dialog. I am going to be pitching the 2 I chose this week and I should know which one I will be doing next week. Here are the 5 I came up with:
The Audition (working title)
We open with a door in a 1920's office building. The door has a frosted glass window and a brass doorknob. On the window it says, " Harold P. Schultz III - Talent Agent." Below that, there is a piece of paper pinned to the door, which says "Auditions Being Held Today. Inquire Within." A tall lanky fellow with a cape, top hat, and luggage case comes walking up the stairs and down the hallway towards the talent agent's office. He comes up to the door and prepares to enter the office. He brushes himself off, clears his throat and straightens his hat. He is about to knock on the door when suddenly it swings open and a large muscular man is standing there with watery eyes. He looks at the tall fellow, then back into the office, then takes off running down the hallway, sobbing uncontrollably. The tall fellow is a little discouraged by this sight, but he regains his composure and enters the office. The office is cluttered with paperwork and performer's head shots scattered all over the place. On the walls, there are posters of famous acts that the talent agent represents. In the middle of the room, there is a large desk, also cluttered with tons of papers. Behind the desk, Harold is seated in a large leather chair. His head is barely visible above the desk. Harold motions the tall fellow to come in. He walks in to the middle of the office and puts his case on the floor. Harold picks up an hourglass and turns it over, then motions for the fellow to begin his act. The tall fellow picks up his case and holds it with both hands. In one motion he shakes the case, legs pop out from beneath it and he sets it down. He opens the case and pulls out a large stand, much larger than the case and sets it down beside him. He pulls down on a pulley revealing a poster that says "The Magnificent Panini." Then, he pulls out a ball out of his case and starts to wave it around. He makes it disappear, then reappear in the other hand. He makes it multiply so he has 4 balls and then makes them all disappear. Panini looks to Harold to see his reaction. He is not impressed. He starts tapping his fingers, then glances over at the hourglass. Panini is a little frustrated with Harold's reaction, so he goes back into his case and pulls out 3 rings. He holds up the 3 rings to show Harold, then hits them together to show they are solid. Then he does a quick movement and suddenly all 3 rings are stuck together. He dangles them from from one hand and looks at Harold. Again, he is not impressed. He starts to yawn and stretches in his chair. This time, Panini is really frustrated. He drops the rings in his case and then looks directly at Harold. He brings both his hands up and puts 2 fingers on each of his temples. He stares really hard at Harold and then suddenly, POOF, he disappears. His hat and cape drop down and land on the floor. Harold jumps out of his chair. He can't believe his eyes. He goes over to Panini's remnants and looks around for Panini to reappear. He looks under his hat, inside of his case... nothing. He goes over to the door, opens it and looks down the hallway. Again, no Panini. Harold goes back to his desk and scratches his head in wonder. As the credits roll, we will cut to Panini standing on top of a snowy mounting shivering, then fade to black. The End.
Fooling Around
We open with a king sitting at his throne in an empty hall. He is slouched over to one side and obviously bored. He claps his hands and a skinny jester comes bounding out to the middle of the hall. He starts dancing merrily around and when he is done he gets down on one knee, puts his hands up and looks at the king to see if he is pleased. The king is not impressed. He puts his hand on a lever and pulls it. A trap door opens up and the jester goes flying down the hole. The king releases the lever and the trap door goes back in place, He claps his hands again. This time a hefty jester comes walking out nervously. About halfway in, he trips over his own feet and goes flying into the center of the court. The king chuckles to himself. The jester picks himself up and brushes himself off. He is terrified and is frozen in place. His knees start chattering together as he looks up in fear at the king. The king looks down at the jester and starts to move his hand toward the lever. The jester closes his eyes and winces. All of a sudden he lets out a tremendous fart that resonates throughout the empty hallways. The jester opens his eyes and blushes as he looks up at the king. The king starts to chuckle and then bursts out into uncontrollable laughter. The jester starts to coyly laugh along with the king. The king can't stop and is besides himself with laughter. He starts to lose his breath and starts choking. The king can't catch his breath and suddenly he slumps over to one side and leans over with a blank stare. The jester is wide-eyed in shock. He walks up to the throne and pokes at the king. The king doesn't move. The jester gulps and looks to each side of the hall. He looks back at the king, slowly starts to back away, then goes running off. The End.
Le Pantomime
We open with the sun beginning to rise over a park. The Eiffel Tower is in the background. Birds are chirping and the city is just starting to wake. A young, tall man walks in carrying a box. He is a mime. He sets the box down in a very specific place and he takes off his hat and sets that down as well. He stretches and gets ready to start off the day. He looks both ways down the path and sees and old lady walking coming. He gets into ready position and starts doing the classic rope pull routine. He keeps his eye on her as she passes by, not dropping any money. He stands up and looks into the empty hat. He looks the other way down the path. He sees a business man walking and hops up into ready position again. This time he is trapped in a box. After the man passes, the mime looks over to his hat. Again, no money. He sulks and looks down the path again. This time, a young lady is coming. He gets ready and starts acting like he is trying to pick up a heavy object. The lady passes by. He stands up and looks into the hat. No money yet again. He is really depressed now. He looks at the hat and kicks it to the side. He goes over to his box and sits down resting his chin on his fist. A tourist comes walking down the path, his head buried deep in a map. He comes to where the mime is sitting and stops. He is looking at a picture of Rodin's "The Thinker" He looks up to see the mime sitting in the exact same pose on his box. The tourist is amazed, he walks up to the mime and pulls out a handful of coins and drops them in the mime's hat. He takes a picture with his camera then continues walking down the path. The mime looks down at the hat and sees it full of money. He can't believe it. He jumps up and looks down the path to see who the kind patron was. He shrugs and continues doing his routine. The End.
Midnight Snack
We open with a guy sitting alone in a dark living room on a couch. He is holding a remote control, flipping through the channels. Then his stomach starts rumbling. He looks down and rubs his belly. He gets up and walks into his kitchen. He opens the fridge and looks inside. It's completely empty. He goes over to his cupboards and opens them. They are empty as well. He goes over to his phone and sees a pizza add. He picks up the phone and starts to dial. There is no ring tone. He hits the receiver button a couple of times, still no ring tone. He sighs then walks towards the front door. He grabs his keys then goes out to his car and gets inside. His tries to start his car, but it wont start. He hits the steering wheel and sits there for a few seconds. His stomach starts rumbling again. He sighs then gets out of his car. Just as he starts to walk down the street, it starts raining. We cut to a fast food place. There is a sign in the window blinking "Drive Thru Open 24 Hours" The guy comes running up, completely soaked. He sees the sign in the window and walks to the drive thru. He orders his food then walks around to the other window to pick up his food. The attendant comes up to the window and is shocked to see the guy standing there without a car. The guy grabs the bag of food, drops money on the counter, and takes off. We cut back to the guys living room. He is sitting there eating his food watching TV with a pleased look on his face. The End.
Blind Date
We open in a cafe with a table set for two. It is very romantic with low lighting and candles on the table. A young man comes stumbling into the scene followed by a waiter and a girl. He stumbles over to one of the chairs and motions for the girl to sit down. The girl walks over and giggles as she sits down. The boy looks over to the waiter. He looks up and shakes his head in disgust. The boy goes over to the other side of the table and sits down. The waiter hands them both a menu and walks off. They both pick up their menus and begin looking for something to eat. The boy is very nervous. He pulls at his collar and fidgets around trying to think of something to say. He lowers his menu to look at the girl and opens his mouth like he is about to say something. She has her menu up high and can't see him. He clears his throat to get her attention. She lowers her menu to look at him. He still has his mouth open, but cant say anything. He smiles sheepishly and does a little wave. The girl does a sort of half smile then raises her menu back up. The boy lifts his menu back up and is really mad at himself. He hits himself on the forehead thinking, "Ugh, how could I be such an idiot". The waiter come to take the order. He goes to the girl and she points to the menu. The waiter goes to the boy, who hasn't decided yet. looks at the waiter, then back at the menu, then just randomly points somewhere on the menu. The waiter takes their menus then goes off again.
(Ok, basically, this is as far as I got with the story. The whole time the boy is trying to think of something to say to the girl to break the ice, but every time he is about to say something, something happens that prevents him. Like, the waiter comes with their food or the girl has to go to the bathroom. I don't know how to end it though. I was thinking of having something happen like the boy burning his mouth with his food and cant talk. But, I don't know...I think this one would be really hard to do without dialogue.)
Ok, so those are the 5 stories I came up with. I am going to be pitching the first 2, "The Audition" and "Fooling Around". My heart is with The Audition though. That is the one I spent the most time developing. Either way, I think I would have fun doing either of them. Fooling Around might be easier because there would be less props to deal with, but i'll just have to see. I haven't decided just quite yet.
The Audition (working title)
We open with a door in a 1920's office building. The door has a frosted glass window and a brass doorknob. On the window it says, " Harold P. Schultz III - Talent Agent." Below that, there is a piece of paper pinned to the door, which says "Auditions Being Held Today. Inquire Within." A tall lanky fellow with a cape, top hat, and luggage case comes walking up the stairs and down the hallway towards the talent agent's office. He comes up to the door and prepares to enter the office. He brushes himself off, clears his throat and straightens his hat. He is about to knock on the door when suddenly it swings open and a large muscular man is standing there with watery eyes. He looks at the tall fellow, then back into the office, then takes off running down the hallway, sobbing uncontrollably. The tall fellow is a little discouraged by this sight, but he regains his composure and enters the office. The office is cluttered with paperwork and performer's head shots scattered all over the place. On the walls, there are posters of famous acts that the talent agent represents. In the middle of the room, there is a large desk, also cluttered with tons of papers. Behind the desk, Harold is seated in a large leather chair. His head is barely visible above the desk. Harold motions the tall fellow to come in. He walks in to the middle of the office and puts his case on the floor. Harold picks up an hourglass and turns it over, then motions for the fellow to begin his act. The tall fellow picks up his case and holds it with both hands. In one motion he shakes the case, legs pop out from beneath it and he sets it down. He opens the case and pulls out a large stand, much larger than the case and sets it down beside him. He pulls down on a pulley revealing a poster that says "The Magnificent Panini." Then, he pulls out a ball out of his case and starts to wave it around. He makes it disappear, then reappear in the other hand. He makes it multiply so he has 4 balls and then makes them all disappear. Panini looks to Harold to see his reaction. He is not impressed. He starts tapping his fingers, then glances over at the hourglass. Panini is a little frustrated with Harold's reaction, so he goes back into his case and pulls out 3 rings. He holds up the 3 rings to show Harold, then hits them together to show they are solid. Then he does a quick movement and suddenly all 3 rings are stuck together. He dangles them from from one hand and looks at Harold. Again, he is not impressed. He starts to yawn and stretches in his chair. This time, Panini is really frustrated. He drops the rings in his case and then looks directly at Harold. He brings both his hands up and puts 2 fingers on each of his temples. He stares really hard at Harold and then suddenly, POOF, he disappears. His hat and cape drop down and land on the floor. Harold jumps out of his chair. He can't believe his eyes. He goes over to Panini's remnants and looks around for Panini to reappear. He looks under his hat, inside of his case... nothing. He goes over to the door, opens it and looks down the hallway. Again, no Panini. Harold goes back to his desk and scratches his head in wonder. As the credits roll, we will cut to Panini standing on top of a snowy mounting shivering, then fade to black. The End.
Fooling Around
We open with a king sitting at his throne in an empty hall. He is slouched over to one side and obviously bored. He claps his hands and a skinny jester comes bounding out to the middle of the hall. He starts dancing merrily around and when he is done he gets down on one knee, puts his hands up and looks at the king to see if he is pleased. The king is not impressed. He puts his hand on a lever and pulls it. A trap door opens up and the jester goes flying down the hole. The king releases the lever and the trap door goes back in place, He claps his hands again. This time a hefty jester comes walking out nervously. About halfway in, he trips over his own feet and goes flying into the center of the court. The king chuckles to himself. The jester picks himself up and brushes himself off. He is terrified and is frozen in place. His knees start chattering together as he looks up in fear at the king. The king looks down at the jester and starts to move his hand toward the lever. The jester closes his eyes and winces. All of a sudden he lets out a tremendous fart that resonates throughout the empty hallways. The jester opens his eyes and blushes as he looks up at the king. The king starts to chuckle and then bursts out into uncontrollable laughter. The jester starts to coyly laugh along with the king. The king can't stop and is besides himself with laughter. He starts to lose his breath and starts choking. The king can't catch his breath and suddenly he slumps over to one side and leans over with a blank stare. The jester is wide-eyed in shock. He walks up to the throne and pokes at the king. The king doesn't move. The jester gulps and looks to each side of the hall. He looks back at the king, slowly starts to back away, then goes running off. The End.
Le Pantomime
We open with the sun beginning to rise over a park. The Eiffel Tower is in the background. Birds are chirping and the city is just starting to wake. A young, tall man walks in carrying a box. He is a mime. He sets the box down in a very specific place and he takes off his hat and sets that down as well. He stretches and gets ready to start off the day. He looks both ways down the path and sees and old lady walking coming. He gets into ready position and starts doing the classic rope pull routine. He keeps his eye on her as she passes by, not dropping any money. He stands up and looks into the empty hat. He looks the other way down the path. He sees a business man walking and hops up into ready position again. This time he is trapped in a box. After the man passes, the mime looks over to his hat. Again, no money. He sulks and looks down the path again. This time, a young lady is coming. He gets ready and starts acting like he is trying to pick up a heavy object. The lady passes by. He stands up and looks into the hat. No money yet again. He is really depressed now. He looks at the hat and kicks it to the side. He goes over to his box and sits down resting his chin on his fist. A tourist comes walking down the path, his head buried deep in a map. He comes to where the mime is sitting and stops. He is looking at a picture of Rodin's "The Thinker" He looks up to see the mime sitting in the exact same pose on his box. The tourist is amazed, he walks up to the mime and pulls out a handful of coins and drops them in the mime's hat. He takes a picture with his camera then continues walking down the path. The mime looks down at the hat and sees it full of money. He can't believe it. He jumps up and looks down the path to see who the kind patron was. He shrugs and continues doing his routine. The End.
Midnight Snack
We open with a guy sitting alone in a dark living room on a couch. He is holding a remote control, flipping through the channels. Then his stomach starts rumbling. He looks down and rubs his belly. He gets up and walks into his kitchen. He opens the fridge and looks inside. It's completely empty. He goes over to his cupboards and opens them. They are empty as well. He goes over to his phone and sees a pizza add. He picks up the phone and starts to dial. There is no ring tone. He hits the receiver button a couple of times, still no ring tone. He sighs then walks towards the front door. He grabs his keys then goes out to his car and gets inside. His tries to start his car, but it wont start. He hits the steering wheel and sits there for a few seconds. His stomach starts rumbling again. He sighs then gets out of his car. Just as he starts to walk down the street, it starts raining. We cut to a fast food place. There is a sign in the window blinking "Drive Thru Open 24 Hours" The guy comes running up, completely soaked. He sees the sign in the window and walks to the drive thru. He orders his food then walks around to the other window to pick up his food. The attendant comes up to the window and is shocked to see the guy standing there without a car. The guy grabs the bag of food, drops money on the counter, and takes off. We cut back to the guys living room. He is sitting there eating his food watching TV with a pleased look on his face. The End.
Blind Date
We open in a cafe with a table set for two. It is very romantic with low lighting and candles on the table. A young man comes stumbling into the scene followed by a waiter and a girl. He stumbles over to one of the chairs and motions for the girl to sit down. The girl walks over and giggles as she sits down. The boy looks over to the waiter. He looks up and shakes his head in disgust. The boy goes over to the other side of the table and sits down. The waiter hands them both a menu and walks off. They both pick up their menus and begin looking for something to eat. The boy is very nervous. He pulls at his collar and fidgets around trying to think of something to say. He lowers his menu to look at the girl and opens his mouth like he is about to say something. She has her menu up high and can't see him. He clears his throat to get her attention. She lowers her menu to look at him. He still has his mouth open, but cant say anything. He smiles sheepishly and does a little wave. The girl does a sort of half smile then raises her menu back up. The boy lifts his menu back up and is really mad at himself. He hits himself on the forehead thinking, "Ugh, how could I be such an idiot". The waiter come to take the order. He goes to the girl and she points to the menu. The waiter goes to the boy, who hasn't decided yet. looks at the waiter, then back at the menu, then just randomly points somewhere on the menu. The waiter takes their menus then goes off again.
(Ok, basically, this is as far as I got with the story. The whole time the boy is trying to think of something to say to the girl to break the ice, but every time he is about to say something, something happens that prevents him. Like, the waiter comes with their food or the girl has to go to the bathroom. I don't know how to end it though. I was thinking of having something happen like the boy burning his mouth with his food and cant talk. But, I don't know...I think this one would be really hard to do without dialogue.)
Ok, so those are the 5 stories I came up with. I am going to be pitching the first 2, "The Audition" and "Fooling Around". My heart is with The Audition though. That is the one I spent the most time developing. Either way, I think I would have fun doing either of them. Fooling Around might be easier because there would be less props to deal with, but i'll just have to see. I haven't decided just quite yet.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
I'm Alive!
Well, its been forever and a day since I've used my blog... so I figured I would give an update for anyone that does read this. Well, I'm halfway through Class 3 at AnimationMentor and i'm loving it more than ever! I had a rough time with my last assignment, which was a pantomime shot. Now im moving on to my very first DIALOGUE shot!!! Yikes, scary stuff.
So, last week I found the line of dialogue that i'm going to use. Its a Jack Black line from King Kong. Its from the the beginning where he's screening the footage for the movie he wants to make. One of the studio execs makes a comment about adding more "boobies" into the movie. So he says:
"What are you an IDIOT? Do you think they made DeMille wasted his time on nudie shots? No! They respected the filmmaker and showed some class! Not that you know what that means, you cheap lowlife!"
I think im going to have a lot of fun with this one. There's great contrast in emotion and a alot of peaks and valleys for me to work off of. Well, Im going to start on my blocking this week, so Ill try and give any updates as I make progress. Happy Animating!
So, last week I found the line of dialogue that i'm going to use. Its a Jack Black line from King Kong. Its from the the beginning where he's screening the footage for the movie he wants to make. One of the studio execs makes a comment about adding more "boobies" into the movie. So he says:
"What are you an IDIOT? Do you think they made DeMille wasted his time on nudie shots? No! They respected the filmmaker and showed some class! Not that you know what that means, you cheap lowlife!"
I think im going to have a lot of fun with this one. There's great contrast in emotion and a alot of peaks and valleys for me to work off of. Well, Im going to start on my blocking this week, so Ill try and give any updates as I make progress. Happy Animating!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
AM Class 2!
It has been a long 3 week break (maybe not long enough) and now Animation Mentor is now back in full swing! I just started Class 2 which will be covering Body Mechanics. My mentor for this quarter is none other than Charles Alleneck from ILM... cool huh? We had our first QnA tonight and it was pretty awesome! I got to meet all my fellow class mates and Charles of course. It looks like it is going to be a super fun quarter! This week we have to do some thumbnails for an assignment we get to pick our selves, a new implementation this quarter. I get to choose from kicking a ball, an 180 degree turn, or a sidestep. Im leaning towards the kick or the turn, I cant quite decide yet. Anywho, I better get to work!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Week 11 Assignment
Wow, the last 11 weeks have gone by so fast! I cant belive I am going to be in my last week of this class. This week we focused on hips, which is really HUGE! Since basically all movement starts from the hips, if they are off, your whole animation will be off. That is one thing that most people will notice, even if they cant quite say what it is. So, to tie that in to the assignment for the week, we had to take one of our walks and take it in to a perpective view (all of our assignments this quarter have been from a side view). Since, I added the hip movement originally when I did the assignments, I took this opportunity to really polish both of the walks I did this term. We also had to do a pose that show BALANCE. These are the 3 I did:
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