Environment complete on my side

Just completed doing the environments, hope it looks good. If there is anything you guys want me to add just let me know while i continue to rig the ninja

No Wednesday this week.

Just a quick reminder. Guys we are not going in this Wednesday due to the snow and the fact it will probably be closed anyway. Keeping blogging and we'll sort a Wednesday out soon, maybe the 30th.

Have a great Christmas.

High polys still?

High Poly problems still ?

Decimation Master

Is YOUR Friend

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=71265

Normality

Yo, trying out a new way of modelling the head since I need to get the target and Hitman animation friendly. Problem is I need to use the create polygon tool a fair bit in this process so when I smooth out I get the bits where I've created a poly looking different to the rest of the mesh. You can't see it very well but in the screen shot look at the edge in the highlighted section.

Dan said it's probably something to do with normals but I'm not sure what exactly it would be. Any of you's had this problem? Let me know if you have a quick fix.

Cheers.

Dodging Dodgeball but wait...charity?!

So I mentioned this on Wednesday when we were all in and I told Sam just a moment ago but I figure it's best I get word out myself. So, I can't go to dodgeball tomorrow. I am gonna be at my Dad's all evening because he's going away for Christmas with his wife so I won't see him till around new years.

Gotta go have a meal, exchange gifts etc. Sorry Dan I know people have been dicking you about with this thing but, Family takes priority.

On another note when I was speaking to Sam about fund raising and I think I mentioned it to you already but if we did a fun run or bike ride like Simons idea we could get people to sponsor us for however far it would be. e.g. 10 miles and say that 70% of the proceeds go to a charity or however much after we raise what we need goes to a charity. That way everyone can take a signiture form and get people from all around where they live. People would be more willing to help if a charity is involved I reckon. So if everyone gets around 100 signitures and is sponsored for like 3-5 quid for all 10 miles then it's like 300-500 per person multiplied by 30 odd and it's quite a lot. Even after giving most of it to charity. That's a best case scenario of course 100 signitures may be asking a lot, but I reckon it could potentially raise a fair bit.

I don't know exactly how it would work but if you contact a charity like cancer research or some such you can probably say "I want to organise an event to raise money for your institution (while skimming a bit off the side) blah blah blah" and maybe they have official forms for it or whatever so that you can show people on their doorstep.

Hope that appeases you somewhat. Sorry again.

Merry Christmas one and all.

Little message for the rigger

Ok this is towards Dan and Josh as you guys are also going to take part in rigging. The key element to rigging is to have a proper and functional joint orientation. Having the proper local rotation axis for each joint is crucial when setting up and animating a character. Basicly each joint has a local roation axis that defines how the joint will react to transformation. For most part of a character i found out that the default orientation in fine. By using orientation you will ensure that all local axes of the new joints are aligned with the bones that follow.

Message for Spence

Hey man, when you got some time you could make a start on the matte painted sky background. Seeing as you have been doing alot of cloud painting I thought you could give this a crack whilst you in the mind set. Found this picture of TF2, the sky is very much what I had in mind for the film. Colour and clouds are realistic but not over the top. When you have a crack at it, also consider details like airplane vapour trails.

Sick of me

Heh I bet you are. Ok so firstly thanks to Spence for trying to help me out with the technical problems I've been having. Some of the stuff like retopology I'm definately going to have to wrap my head around but frankly most of it's over my head so it will take a while for me to suss it.

For the sake of this project I don't really have the time to meddle with all of that so above is a screenshot of what the level of detail the final thing is going to be. It clocks in at around 40,000 polys and runs fine on my laptop. This is about as high as I can get it before it's going to slow down.

I just spent like 2 hours exploring alternatives just to come to the solution I came to on Thursday lol. In any case, I think that this is acceptable. I can sneak in a little more detail I think since I can keep it much lower poly now. I suppose it's better to encounter these problems now so that when I do the other models I don't repeat the mistakes.

Well anyway, I'm just typing what I'm thinking now. I won't post up any more ninja's till it's finished and he has eyes!

So far so good

Just being rigging over the past few days now and everything is going all good. I’m not yet finished with the rig as i still need to do joint orientation and inverse kematics, i just did a little test by binding the rig to the ninjas body to see if the movement are up to the standards. I think it’s going good so far but ill post some pic with him doing some little movements. Also on my blog i have the full body rig, not complete though

Really important!

This came up yesterday when I was talking to Ferhan, but I've been faffing with zBrush this morning and checking some tutorials, and something important has come to my attention.

Good news is I'm starting to get the hang of the interface, the bad news however is to get some proper definition in there that looks smooth and well...good. This is going to be a very high poly model. I'm talking between 170-600 thousand polys. Any lower and the creases I cut in just look a bit messy.

I'm going to play with it a bit more and see if I can find anything online about low poly sculpting or a way to compress it when I send it back into maya. But before I go any further I need to know how far I can go with the polys. Or wether I should pack it in.

Here's a basic cut I put in for peck to shoulder definition to show you guys what I mean. That's the same cut in 10-40 and 170,000 polys. It looks waaay better the more subdiv's involved. 170 is probably as high as I would go.

It will be large but at the same time if I can get some cool definition on the side of the head and the collar bone, mebbe the arms it could look real nice.

I leave it up to the directors to see if it's worth the trade off.

Hit me back once you've had a look over this so we can determine a course of action.

Exterior Master File

Me and Ferhan put our models together yesterday to make sure everything sync'd up. So far so good.

Plan of action

Ok at this stage i have kind of left the Hitman character to one side for now, just wanting to let you know im going to produce a test rig on Joshes ninja model, hopefuly i will get a better understanding of the Rigging tool as i go along. I should have the test done soon so i should hopefuly show the progress. If everything seems to be going good then im gona ask Josh if i can then start to fully rig the ninja character, who knows if josh dosent mind i could help out with the rigs of the other characters

Sligh problem with Hitman character

While working on the Hitman for some time i went and imported it in to Maya to compare it against Joshes character model.Joshes model seems to have more of a clean finnish with a hard solid body, in the other hand with the one from zbrush when imported in to maya its not as solid looking as Joshes model. And also i have tried extruding out the clothes from the Hitman character but it dosent seem to work with the different style topology in zbrush. I was considering if worse comes to worse, Josh if your reading this i might pass on the model of the Hitman to you. Is that ok, If its not let me know seeing how you are already modelling another character. If i do pass on the model to it would only be fair if i rig one of your character in exchange. I dont want to throw all the work on to you. Just let me know, and guys if your reading this let me know aswel

Its all happening

Right guys... duno if you know but I'm doing some building work at my place atm. Meaning I will come in tomorrow... however I might have to run off around 1 or 2ish. I'll be in all morning mind you and be doing a fair bit more work as now my swimming stuff is in... yay. ps... someone please explain why we are doing Pre Production a term early in comparison to what it says above (found on our course hand book on the pen drive)

Apartment update 2

Just wanted to post up an update of the environments ive been modelling. Im happy to say that the four building blocks are complete (for now), the only thing i gotta do now is like the little touch up such as cables and that. Ill show you guys more 2mz

Wear a mask tmoz ... Because...

I've seem to have come down with something quite bad at the moment( i was meant to be in uni today for SPLAY but i felt too ragged out to have gone in), it’s definitely one of the worst colds I’ve had in a long time, thankfully tho it's progressively getting better as of tonight ! (whether it’s the medicine making me feel better or the infection going I don’t know)but either way i'll probs be in around lunch-ish tmoz anyways and make everyone ill to prove I’m not faking it :P (which some people always seem to presume, because people never become ill right?) . anyways, hope to see you guys tmoz =]

Note to Self...

DON'T FORGET USB TOMORROW!

my update

hey guys, just letting you know that it all looks well swish with the stuff going on and im gonna put my hands up and say ive done no more since last week cos of xmas shopping, work experience, part time job etc oh and an annoying mother lol but i shall be cracking on from this day forth and shall not let you down :)

much love

StuDogg88
x x

From the hoop

Here is a short film called "From the Hoop" which is wicked, ive pasted the official web add where they have the making of and stuff like that, dont forget to watch their film youll like it

http://www.fromthehoop.com/

aye up

aye up lads. I've got a beta model of a small sofa under wraps atm (mainly so i/we can further develop it if need be . Atm it stands at about 1488 polys =]. Looks bland atm so i aim to push as much detail into it as i can( tattered, run down and lopsided the rest would all be normal mapped . Anyways what models do you guys wish me to make ? =].unless you have me continue with this for now? =]

Turning point

Ok so I have reached the point where it is nigh on impossible to make the changes I want in maya so I mirrored, smoothed and gave it the JC stamp of approval. Now I have shipped it into zBrush as an object file.

The interface still scares me but instead of closing it down I figured out a few things by randomly clicking stuff...I now know how to resize the brush and rotate the model. Props for me.

In short I'm gonna get Ferhan to give me a crash course on the basic tools I need for this, or nab those tutorials he has at the very least. If anyone has any major gripes with the model so far let me know now so I can change it up before I start the zBrush phase. Oh and don't say `he has no eyes` cos I know dat!

Hopefully it's all fine with you guys but I'll probably put this off till next time we meet up on Wednesday and make a start on the other character model.

P.S. the JC stamp of approval is Josh Cook not Jesus Christ...

Motel so far

Environment so far

Question on environment

Sam just wanted to ask should i only focus on the two cubes u put in the layout representing the apartment and another building, or do we have to model a whole street of building. The buildings which was in the file you gave me, are they only going to be in shot and no other buildings along the road?

Sexy Occlusion!

Stuck the Ninja in there to make sure the scale was on track.

Inspiration for modelling the motel or apartment

Well today I have been modelling the apartment while listening to the resident evil 2 soundtrack. For some odd reason it was inspiring me to model the environment similar the rundown apartment in resident evil. Here is a picture of the idea

To Sam

Yo sam just wanted to let you know on the modelling section for both of us. Something that will really help out it the long run when is to label each object or building you model. Also when ever you model something which is then going to be duplicated just group them all together (ctrl+G), then label and name the folder.
If what i wrote dosent make sense just let me know

Dodgeball Date

Dodgeball is confirmed. The date is December, Saturday the 19th. Thats a week on Saturday!! It'll be In Sevenoaks School... More details will follow soon. I hope you guys can make it. Not entirely sure who can and who can't. I've already invited as many people as I can think of. If anyone needs a lift I can always pick them up before hand however I think most of us can drive. If you guys could possibly let others know... i sent a couple of texts out and I will get Mike Smith to do a mass e-mail tomorrow I hope. It'll be £2 I believe however time I'm still not sure about. Everyone try and bring someone along as this will really help our degree FuNNNNNNnnnding
Cheers
Dan

Tutorial

Hey guys, found this tutorial on the web. Thought it might help it's about rigging. OOOOOOOO

Update

Sam and I met up yesterday to discuss a few things, Fundraising and Contracts being two of them. Contracts we shall go through and you will have to sign either Digitally or in hand... havn't decided if we are keeping them digital or printing them out just yet. Either way we've put down a list of the jobs you guys have said you will be doing and we also chucked in a few others which we think you'll have a go at as well. We can alter things as we go along but its just so we've got something down on paper/digital :p
Cool cool, see you all 2mr I hope lads.

Sigg Jones Reference

Trivial

Hey guys, I took a break from essay writing to have a little fiddle with maya...theres a sentence I never thought I would say.

Anyway when I load it up I get some little problems. For one my grid has shrunk down to be really small and also when I switch to my front or side views unless I'm zoomed in real close then my image planes and actual parts of the model dissapear. It's not my clip plane cos I set them all up proper at the start.

Wondering if it's because I'm working from a maya 2010 file in 8.5. but I don't think that's it. They are problems I can work around but if any of you have had this problem before and know how to get around it I'd appreciate the advice.

Cheers.

Whack'd Wednesdays!

Hey Guys,
Starting Wednesday 9th Dec, we are coming in as a group to discuss the progress of the project and give everyone a chance to tweak their work and resolve any issues. This will happen every Wednesday throughout the Xmas holidays until we come back next year. If anyone has a problem coming in, just let me or Dan know and it'll be fine. Also if anyone want to come in on a certain day let us know and we'll sort that out too.

Thanks guys. Keep up the good work and check the bloggy!

Digressing From The Essay

Couldn't be bothered with Gareths Essay as it would appear the hand in date is open til Tuesday or Monday or something - I'll use that time lol

Off topic

does any one know how to upload gareths essay on moodle cant seem to submit it online

Thursday - Cd/Dvd Day

Ok Guys - We Know the deadline is Friday but we hope to get all the work together Thursday afternoon. So bring all your amazing Images. Screen Grabs of Schedule etc with you to Kierons Day as it'll be mighty handy if we can be prepared for the hand in on Thursday rather than Friday.
Cool, See you Thursday

PS I'm doing Essay 2day as well as Contracts and Budget (Done Budget and half way through Directors Contracts. Yours will all b done by tomorrow I hope :p)

Well Done Guys!

Just like to say, well done to everyone for today's presentation. Personally I think it went really well. Just need to tweak the timing and character background for the target. Thursday we will all sort out what needs to go in our folders for the submission on Friday. Keep up the good work!

Boom Box concept

Heres a boom box concept, thought we could add this in the targets room

Sigg Jones Short Film

If you guys want another look, heres that short I found.
Good bit of character modelling going on. Some inspiring stuff to look at.
Posted a few images of the models on my blog if you want to check them out.

Concept

Here is the concept for the TV, if you want yo can add this for the presentation for monday

Model Citizen

Modelsheet of the Hitman for Ferhan so he can get cracking when he so chooses to. This upload should be a big enough size so you can just save it from here, it's on my USB if you don't/ can't though.

Gonna have a little chinwag with you about zBrush before I start making the ninja. That can wait till tomorrow though. Now I better make an A4 summary or whatever for Kieron.

Peace.

New Shot

Extra Panels

Finished all those extra panels just now, I didn't do a new opening shot since y'all seemed unclear if you wanted him entering the building or the fan or whatever. Anywho it's all ready to be thrown into the animatic so I'll give Stu the PSD's on thursday or if you need them sooner just let me know and I can e-mail them over.

If you make up your mind about the opening then let me know and I can draw it up tomorrow, won't take me long.

Message for Stu

I somehow managed to miss panels 31 and 32 when I gave you the inked versions of the board for the animatic, I'll give them to you on Thursday with the extra ones I need to do...which should be done in a few hours.

Room in occlusion layer

Hows it going?

Hey guys,
just wondering how everyone is getting on? Not going to lie I havn't been up to much for this project recently. Also Sam and Josh there is a small amount of work to do for Kierons Thursday coming. I'll fill you in when ever.

PS Lost is space is on now and ITS HILARIOUSLY BAD! :D

Sausage Rolls...SORTED

Read and Obey mo-fos

Modelling Reference Images

A few reference images for you guys when you start modelling in Maya. Take note how simple but effective the models are. They have very little in terms of props but make it look detailed without cluttering the space. Smaller details help to give the environment some character, such as pipes, air ducts, light fixtures and steel supports for the structure itself. The modelling and bold shapes are also complimented by the soft lighting.

Cracking SHOT!

Look at that lighting where the door is open... DON'T LOOK ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN - Its naughty.

Build !

Time to start modelling some proper furniture guys .Need to sort out what really works and what doesn’t . Before its too late and we’re rushing it. Concepts are looking great and all but we need to build .. Like now . Otherwise we run a huge risk.

Tools of the trade

A little later than intended but heres some ninja weapons and tools simplified into a style we can use. The curve on the katana is a bit poo since I was using the polygonal lasso tool but you get the drift.

I heard from Sam we might have a presentation to give tomorrow, I bloody hope not cos I don't know nothing about it. Well might as well enjoy the rest of my evening in case I'm walking into a s**t storm tomorrow.

Peace.

Shoot to thrill

Just did these for the Hitmans sidearm guys, I'm liking the top one personally, seems sort of traditional. The middle one is basically Snake's USP from Metal Gear Solid. The bottom one was pretty funny to make but yeah I definately think we should have a show piece like the one up top.

Ninja stuff to come later.

More Concepts

Just a few concepts to keep us going.

Loving It...

Like what I'm seeing guys. Keep it up. Its all work to put in that folder and its all things that'll rack up that final grade 1.1's all the way if we keep this up throughout the year. hehe. I've been concepting mini ninjas and characters and I'm just working on this car atm... just figured I'd keep going but yeah keep it up. Sorry I havn't been posting much (I AM WORKING THOUGH when I can think of things to concept) ... sometimes I just have a mind blank :p

Woke up this mornin...

And got myself a gun, well four actually and I only just finished doing them. After a little chinwag with Sam I decided to concept up the weapons that are gonna be used in the film since we have to think about that too. Specially what rifle we are gonna use since it needs to be detachable etc.

Gonna do a page of pistols in case we have the dude pulling one out at the end or something before he takes on the ninjas and I'll do some weaponry for the ninjaz! as well.

Hitman Laptop Screen [mock-up]

Thought I'd have a go at the laptop screen. Not too pleased with the graphics, layout and colours, but you guys can see where I'm going with it. Also needs to look abit more official, like this was sent from his agency. So I might make a mock-up logo for the service he works for. Apart from that it's coming along ok.

Colour Script Taster

Almost there with the colour script. Thought I'd post some so you guys can have a look see. Rough idea of the palette in each scene, most probably this will change over time due to lighting corrections etc.

Poster Updated

Had a quick go at the poster using Josh's character silhouette. Makes sense seeing as we're using the character model. Doesn't look too bad to the moment, needs some work. Also need to add a shadow at the bottom.

Environment concept

Samsonator

Yo sam just posting this to let you know I sorted that image for our Whack'd poster hopefully this image should work out better than my initial concept.

I forgot which of the two e-mail adresses I got for you your using right now so I'll give you a shout a little later and send over the PSD and Jpeg so you can get cracking with the rest.