Project Update: Sharwee .04

After a long break I went back to this personal project - Sharwee.
The reason why I abandoned it for  around two months was an overall disappointment and not being sure what I actually wanted from it.

Playing around in Mudbox was rather frustrating. I tried different things, various options...when I started poly painting I realised that I actually had no clue what I was doing. I drew the concept art of Sharwee, but the 3D Sharwee was more of a lost twin cousin. 

Sharwee got abandoned. Never finished, although often crossing my mind. I was constantly thinking about this project, trying to figure out the actual expectations I had towards it. It took me a lot of time to realise one, very simple solution - follow the concept art. Why trying to make him realistic if every drawing of him would always be stylized and simple. 

I also came across some really amazing examples of 3D work that inspired me to return to Sharwee and give him another try. This project is not finished yet, although in my opinion it's already looking way better. It's true to the character's initial design and it's not trying to be something else. 

Modelling: Sharwee .03

After some feedback and help the basic model is complete. Now it's time to finish UV mapping him and then take him into Mudbox to add details. I am very excited to do that!

Modelling: Sharwee .02

Modelling: Sharwee's Head

Between hour drawing exercise, working on 2D portfolio and job hunting I decided to go back to year two character design project and undust my modelling skills. The sidekick character got a lot of good feedback back in year two so I decided to give it a try.

The plan is to give him a new proper concept art, a nice model that shall then be taken into mudbox. I am thinking about fully rigging him as well but that shall be decided when the time comes. For now modelling.

So far he is looking like a very unhappy thumb but it's all early stages! I shall keep this space updated with the progress.

Animation Update: Do Come My Darling

Fixing the animation of the scene for New Designers.
Attempt number one (fixing the Son, the Elking not edited yet):

After receieving feedback additional changes have been made to the Son's animation to make him feel more scared and distanced from the Erlking: 

There's still a lot of fixing to be done but it's much better than it was before. 

Turnaround: The Father's New Pose

Animation: Son Covered by Twins

This scene proved itself to be really problematic and took many hours (count in days) to figure out the issues. From colliders to constraits I worked the way out of a problem and because it took a lot of time I am sharing a selection of fails (unfortunately some of the most dramatic ones didn't get saved).

And the final version where hair of both the Mushroom and the Plant twin works fine, doesn't have problems with scale or geometry forming into crazy shapes. 

Animation: Plant Twin Smiles

The beginning is for the dynamics to calm down. The actual animation is about 2 seconds long.

This scene has been rendered out!

Animation: The Son Looks Through Fingers

A quick scene with the Son looking up at one of the daughters.

Render stills and depth of field pass:

Textured playblast:

 

Non-textured playblast:

Animation: Twins Appear .01

After a rather fierce fight the scene got figured out. Below are light test, a playblast of the animation and a final render. 

Animation: Twins Appear

After re-thinking and re-designing the section of storyboard with the twins appearing the time has come to animate it. I decided to break the scene into smaller segments, because of the weight of the files. The first to work with was the Mushroom Twin.

The dynamics have been tweaked and overall animation added. First 100 frames are not going to be used in the actual animation, as it's the time for dynamics to settle and snap to point.

Next it was the Plant Twin with a similar process to go through. Her hair is still to be tweaked.

For the son's animation I decided to go with a really subtle movement as he should not be the main focus of the shot. 

And a test of the Son and the Mushroom Twin together in one scene (again, starting between 00:03-00:04). 

Animation: Be Willing My Darling

Camera movement and animation base. 

Animation tweaked and facial animation added. 

Animation: The Beauty I Covet .02

1. The set separated between layers

2. Dynamic train added, fog movement tweaked. 

Scene ready to be rendered!

Animation: The Beauty I Covet

Animation base. Few more tweaks to do and the fog to add. The end of it is going to be a close up of the Erlking's face, although I am planning on rendering out the whole sequence presented below just in case.

(for some reason after uploading the video to YouTube it glitches out in the end. I apologize for that.) 

Animation: Will Play Them With Thee .03

1. Elements of the scene split between layers

2. Lighting tests

3. Luminance Depth Pass

Animation: Will Play Them With Thee .02

A bit more tweaking to the head movement and the arms and shoulders. 

Subtle facial expression added.

Background fog added. 

Animated fog added. More layers of the fog rising up will be added in post-production. 

The Erlking's train added. Again, for some reason the dynamic system within the scene was broken and needed re-creating.

Animation: Will Play Them With Thee .01

   

Base animation in which the Erlking is controlling the fog. It has been suggested that the pose in the end should be more menacing. That and general smoothing and tweaking.

Still a bit more tweaking to be made. 

Animation: I Know Nice Games .05

Lights tests:

(unfortunately only 50% of the actual size)

(Further light test and final light; 100% size)

Luminance depth:

The scene divided into layers:

Still renders (no post-production):

This scene is ready to be batch rendered!

Animation: I Know Nice Games .04

After recieving feedback the camera angle and the positioning of the characters and the environment have been changed. The animation has been tweaked a bit further. 

A textured playblast showing the fog movement. The beginning of the shot is going to be cut slightly, in order for it to fit with the music track. 

Animation added to background and foreground fog. The Erlking fog's movement tweaked. 

For some reason the Erlking's train lost it's dynamic properties which means they had to be redone. After exporting the cache it has been added to the scene.

Animation: I Know Nice Games .03