Small improvements

We are told that things should get better the more version we do, or the more time spent on it. I have wondered about this one, in all the years that I have been plugging away at this are things really going to get much better? Got to ask yourself sometimes.
Here is a shot I am updating. Below is my first pass, which I am proud of. Hey its pretty ugly but it was part of getting all the passes and all the shots comped together. Not much has changed, I am rendering fur with raytracing, sand is decimated from zbrush, octos have SSS, Not alot but it has made a difference, and I am happy that I am still working away on it.

Latest take, 2011

First pass, 2008

Dingy Model

So i was wanting to model something again and I had seen this very nice dingy model at work, so I talked myself into needing this in one of shots, it looked empty under the house,any excuse would have done it. So 5 hours to model and then 1 hour to unwrap,texture material etc. Then I did a quick turntable, just because I can, not required at all. And down below you can see how amazing it looks in the shot!

Depth map to raytrace shadows.

As I stated in the previous post I have to render some shots with raytraced shadows. I used depth map shadows before. I think the depth map looks better, softer, more natural. The raytraced one is very harsh and the colors are different. But the depth map flickers and its just not acceptable. Got to raytrace!!

Fur render with depth map shadows

Fur render with raytraced shadows

Shot updates

Lately I have worked on updating all the interior shots with the textured files, and at the same time going over the lighting and rendering. Did find out that in many of the shots I will be rendering the fur with raytraced shadows. I had been using depth map and they are good, but in close up shots there is fair amount of flickering. Not so with the raytraced, downside is that fur look less soft. Will post up some images to compare.
In this shot I wanted to do something with the sand. Its about the most we see of the sand in any shot, however it looks dull. So did a quick zbush of the sand and got it rendered out.

Here below is the old sand


and with the zbrush sand.

New shot

First look at one of the new shots I have made to replace an old shot that caused me no end of trouble. Just getting the shot together. Have more animation to do yet.

Sand Test

I have been looking at the sand in some of shots and finding it a little dull. So to address this, I tried to take the mesh into Zbrush and work it up.Wanted to keep it lose and have fun with it. Here is frame of what I got.
When I first started on the film I could not see a good way to work this sand up, not with the resources that I have. And it wasn't till Decimation Master came out for Zbrush 3.5 that I could see a way.Really helps to give the characters of feeling of being in the world, rather than walking on it. Now I dont think I am going to animating this ground, its very heavy, so have will to choose where I put it carefully.

Short Film Update

So its a while since I posted an update to the film.I have done alot of work on it lately. So here is an update. I finally got around to unwrapping the interior of the house and started to texture that up. Makes a big difference. Still planning to let SHOo cut loose on those textures. The majority of my time has spent on animation. Tackling shots that I being avoiding. I have also reworked a shot that I could never render and was struggling with. I broke it into 2 shots now. Done plenty of comp work on various shots. And I have changed the ending! I have said that I would never change the edit..but it had to be done.

Shot 03

Sequence Renders

Well I can't just animate all the time(even though I am supposed to be), so when I wasn't animating I was doing some rendering. Getting there, I still have some work to do. These shots have the grade that I like, trouble is that is got loads of banding, not great, but I do love what it does with the subtle colours and blooming.


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Latest Sequence

Shot 25

New Scarf

So here are some renders of the new scarf. Amazing no?! But it looks soo much better than the last one. Have almost rendered out all the shots that have it in, still a few to go. And at the same time I am getting the dynamic scarf in.

Shot playblasts

Shot 38

Shot render with Vimeo Player!

Scarf Test

Got a scarf for the kids rig, work super well in this shot,thats why I am showing it! It looks good makes him even cuter.. I have some problems with it other shots so looking like I will have to bake out the dynamics and keyframe it.

Interview

My old school found out about my film and wanted to interview me about. If you want to read more about that click here
Thanks.

Shot Updates

Mostly working on the animation lately, still hoping to get all the animation done this month. But when I am not on this I can render any shot and get some fixes in. I have also being working on the grade, and these shots have the grade on them. I have got to animating and rendering some shots with the octos in them. Was pretty excited to be getting that in. They are looking good, the rendering is not too complicated( thankfully) Nice to render something on this project that does not have fur on it. Fur is a challenge, some shots have just never wanted to render. I have tried to different renderers, dmaps resolutions, anti-aliasing settings blah blah blah. At the moment I am using all of. Can depend on the amount of light that the fur is recieving, size in frame. Crazy, but worth it of course. I have added a dynamic scarf to the kid, it looks great but takes some time to get right, so I am having a internal debate about putting in or not. Dont really want to be adding stuff late in the piece, but can be hard to ignore a good idea.

More playblasts

So here are 3 shots. At this point in the film, the kid has to secure the house. With a very strong chair... So these are final animations...I hope. I think they run together quite nicely.
These ones have been rendered also, but I will not be posting them here, as the details get lost. I think I have 27 or so shots to go, done 20. Its been hard to get this far, but just working on it everyday, adds up, like a savings account. I am putting off the walk cycle for the octos still! The shots with the octos are the most complicated. It might have a better idea to tackle those shots first, but oh well.

New Animation

Have been re doing all the animations for the last few months. Here is the final animation for shot 38, the second to last shot. At the moment I have 20 shots animated and rendered. Will be posting the rest soon.