3Dsketchbook AM

Font viewer for Adobe Creative Suite CS5

2010-07-30T11:32:00.001+01:00

I have used Adobe products for years and one niggle I have is I can't access fonts that aren't in the default fonts folder location, so I have to manually copy them over... And If you happen to have thousands of fonts like I do you don't want to be copying them all over and clogging up the fonts folder on your machine....

Well thankfully Anastasiy (Who made the fantastic Magicpicker color wheel for photoshop) has a solution called DiskFonts font viewer that can over come this font headache. And I have to say the tool has been incredibly useful to me as I mostly use Photoshop and After Effects out of the Adobe products. With Diskfonts font viewer I can now have my fonts in different locations and navigate too them and just install the ones I need. And this can all be done directly in any Adobe product very quickly. I have posted the Anastasiy video below as it give you a better feel of the product than my ramblings :)

Something Left, Something Taken by Tiny Inventions

2010-07-27T10:55:00.005+01:00

I heard about this through buzz (on gmail) and have to say this is a such a creatively made film. Its a hybrid of real world elements that are composited in Adobe After Effects and animated. There is a making of here on the Tiny Inventions blog. It really is nice to see animation that isn't just 3D :)

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2010-07-26T20:34:00.018+01:00

So way back in December to mid June I worked on the film "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". I worked mostly on the Fantasia sequence (mops and sponges) and some of the end sequence of the movie at Double Negative in London.

On Sunday I was invited to a special Disney screening at Londons Vue Cinema in the Westend. To finally see the fully finished film way before it comes out in August is thanks to a kind lady at Disney who knew I worked it. And yes my name is on the credits as proof - ok you first have to let 2000 names roll past to get to mine :)

I took my sister and nephew to the screening too, and they both really enjoyed it. It is very fast paced at times and there are a number of big money shots and a few are over rather quickly sadly. So you don't get time to fully enjoy the big VFX. But then if every moment of VFX magic had 10 minutes or so each, perhaps the film would never end... There is just so many VFX moments in this film it can't not disappoint you from that perspective. The story on a whole is very Disney. - the good taking care of evil. There is a love story or two in the film. But its not too over powering that it distracts you from all the action that takes place in the rest of the movie.

The film over all is purely about the "magic" (VFX). There are so many VFX shots and magical things happening, you are constantly wondering what possibly is going to happen next. A very good film for the summer and the kids. It will be out in all Cinemas from August 11th.

I have found a cool Disney video that shows most of the Fantasia Sequence. There are a number of shots in the clip that I worked on. I will post times later on :)

*Update*

Shots I worked on are as follows:

1:38 -1:43 - Three shots in a row of all chose taking place
1:53 -1:55 - Mops jumping stairs jumping onto Dave's back
1:56 -1:58 - Mop tentacle moving across Dave's shoulders
2:02 - 2:04 - Mop mass jumping screen left, hiding in case being seen

There are more shots in the full Fantasia sequence of the film that aren't present here. It is finally nice to be able to show people some of the shots I worked on for this movie. :)

Toy Story 3 - Round-up

2010-07-26T19:04:00.011+01:00

On Saturday I and a host of AMers all piled into the London ODEON Cinema to watch Toy Story 3. For me the best character in the entire movie is Ken voiced by Michael Keaton. Ken has a number of moments in the film which are so funny. I would have loved to have animated some of them shots.

I won't say to much here about the movie as it can be very easy to spoil it. But I did feel the movie dragged just a little at Sunny Side. There is so much going on in TS3 that you are easily entertained and pleased to see the old character back on screen. Even the old toys you possibly once played with as a child. I did in fact have one of them fisher price phones

TS3 has gone all out on technological front. The fur on the bear when it comes into contact with water. The number of models and different sets/locations in the movie. The fact that every character has imperfections like dirt, scratches and blemishes, there is an amazing amount of attention to detail gone into this film. I think old Walt would be pleased that his ideas of pushing things and constantly challenging technology is still being carried on today in his films.

Over all the film is very good and I can't honestly say which Toy Story film is better as they all different.

Toy Story 3 -New Promo videos out

2010-04-18T17:06:00.009+01:00

Toy Story 3 is coming out soon :D And there is some new promo videos out :)

Photoshop CS4/CS5 Colour Wheel /Colour Picker update

2010-04-18T16:39:00.012+01:00

Back in May last year I spoke about a colour picker/colour wheel for Photoshop (post here). Well there is now a new release out and has a bunch of bugs fixed and new features implemented :)

www.anastasiy.com

How To Train Your Dragon - An IMAX 3D Experience

2010-03-28T17:09:00.008+01:00

Well on the 27th of March a huge mass of Animation Mentor (AM) students and Alumni :P (around 25) descended on London's BFI cinema for the IMAX screening of "How to Train Your Dragon" by Dreamworks.

Have to say its one of the best films Dreamworks has made to date. A decent story with no stupid jokes or very predictable ones just randomly thrown in (ok there was one or two). The characters, the look and the effort that has going into this film has clearly been well thought out. The animation, like you would expect was fantastic. If this had been a live action movie with CG vfx I don't think some of the voice actors would have come up to par with their acting ability, to match the amazing animation (acting in CG) that was put into this film. Its a shame that animators don't get similar treatment like actors or pay for that matter, or even the royalties for repeat showings of the movie.....

Voice casting was good too although it was strange how the older Vikings had very broad Scottish accents and the young kids had very American accents!!!!! Apart from that, over all the film was fun and easy to follow.

Not one AM student could find fault or disliked the movie, well done Dreamworks and all the people who worked on it :)

Toy Story 2 in 3D

2010-01-17T18:13:00.009Z

On Thursday 14th of January I saw Toy Story 2 in the 3D and it was great to see on the big screen again, even more so in 3D. To think this film is around 10 years old and yet for me it is still a fantastic film to watch. The 3D element is nice, it adds a nice depth of field to the shots, nothing springs out the screen, but to experience the movie again in the cinema was really nice :)

Highly recommend seeing it :D

Special Princess and the Frog Screening @ Disney HQ London!!!

2009-12-09T17:03:00.024Z

On Tuesday the 8th of December I and five of my fellow animators had the pleasure of being asked to attend a very special screening at Disney HQ in London for "The Princess and the Frog".

I have to say that I think Disney have their Mojo back and ok it had a number of clichés and a tip of the hat to the old Disney films (which I have no problem with). But in all I think they have made a truly fantastic film here. I think they captured the mood and the era really well. I love 1920's /1930's Art Deco style and the jazz music from them times. Oddly I have always found jazz music seems to go well with animation! Must be because they use to animate on 8's and 4's a lot back then haha who knows!

Vocal talent in the movie? oh boy they really went to town on getting the most out of their actors for this movie. The animators used every chance they could to make these characters feel alive. So nice to see squash and stretch in the their performances and faces. To think no technical problems and deformers to tweak, no cloth simulations to worry about and no rendering times!!! Just pure hardcore pencil and paper and the loss of million trees - I wonder what the carbon foot print would be for this film?

I will have to buy a copy of the Art of Book for this film as the Art Direction was very pleasing to watch and the use of colour really helped set the tone and mood of the picture. Colour really was another character in its self, but that could be me getting very arty farty.

From an animation point of view, for me it ticks all the box's of a good and well animated film with solid characters and well thought out story. From a family/average film goer point of view I think Disney managed to make this film not become too much of a girly film. The story hits all the morals in a classic old Disney fashion. I feel this film will do well with audiences, and I wish it every success.For me I can see a lot of hard work and planning has going into this film.

Thank goodness 2D is back, John Lasseter really knows his beans when it comes to animated movies, storytelling and making bold choices - like bring back 2D animation. I just wish I could be amazing with a pencil!!! Perhaps then I may have been given the opportunity to have worked on this incredible film. :)

Quote from the film "It's not slime, it's mucus!!!" - I wonder if that could be a new tag line?

My friend Fiona (who you see in the picture below) also did a review on the film which you can read on her blog here.

Working at Double Negative

2009-12-05T17:50:00.008Z

As of the 30th of November I have landed employment at 'Double Negative' in Soho London :)

They have worked on 100's of films. Notable productions would be Harry Potter series, the new Batman movies and Hell Boy 2. I feel very at home here and really hope I will be able to grow as an animator - only time will tell.

NEW Showreel Online

2009-11-04T15:37:00.002Z

I will post a video here but for the moment youtube will be the link HERE

Moviescope Magazine - One to watch

2009-10-21T12:29:00.007+01:00

Way back in July of this year I was asked by MovieScope magazine to do a small interview. Well this week the magazine is out in the shops and you can view (if you wish) my interview with the magazine online below :)

Article link 1 - Main Website

Article link 2 - Talent Watch

Thank you MovieScope for allowing me to be part of your magazine :)

Animation Mentor meetup go and see Pixar's UP at the BFI

2009-10-18T12:19:00.014+01:00

A little late on posting this, but on the 11th of October I and host of fellow Animation Mentor Students (AMers) went to the BFI to see Pixar's UP which had finally came to the UK borders after our American cousins had it way way way back in the early part of this year and couldn't stop talking about in the AM forums. Well now its our turn to finally see it and what can I say its truly a fantastic film, its way UP there in my top 10 (sorry bad pun and yes they have only made 10 films thus far). But I couldn't tell you what my other favourite Pixar film is/are as I think they all so different in their own way.

Below is a picture of some of the people that met up at Waterloo station (no Bourne moments on that day) As you can see we're a happy bunch.

The AM gathering was great. We try to meet every time there is a new CG film on in town. And its nice to see old and new faces. Way back when, the meetup was only around six people. In the last count it was 20+ this time around. Sooo year on year more and more people are coming to the UK AM gatherings which means more friends, networking and finding out whats going on in town (animation jobs) and chatting about random stuff that some how always ends up coming back to animation...

MovieScope Magazine

2009-07-27T16:27:00.005+01:00

Just last week I was asked to do a small interview for MovieScope magazine.

MovieScope provides a fresh perspective on the collaborative nature of film making from the insider's point of view. - That was copied from their twitter. As I couldn't come up with something that could sum it up any better.

The magazine talks to a host of people. People who have been in the business for along time and people who are just starting out - like me.

I'll be one of the future "One to Watch" columns in the magazine and talking about oddly enough animation :) I think i'll be their first animator in the magazine so if it all goes down well, hopefully not the last hahahaha. And no sadly im not going to write here an tell what they asked me but i'll post up here at a later date when the magazine is out :)

Photoshop CS4 Colour Picker/Colour wheel

2009-05-07T19:57:00.007+01:00

Is it me or is Photoshop ever closer getting more like Corel Painter?

I have recently played around in the new Photoshop CS4 and found that now when drawing and painting its very similar to how Corel Painter works. The brushes feel and react more natural?

Also i like how when you zoom right in the picture brakes up into little squares.

Any how im still annoyed that photoshop still hasn't got its act together with a nice colour wheel/colour picker - like Corel Painter. But i did find something that is perfectly well made online and works really well. Head over to www.anastasiy.com you have to put this tool into the adobe directory. Boot up photoshop and then go to window --> Extensions --> Colour Picker. And BAM Photoshop is now 100% quicker -well for choosing colours :)

New Showreel for 2009

2009-05-07T17:59:00.011+01:00

Forgot to post but i have a new showreel up on my site :)

Working On The Tale of Despereaux

2008-12-20T12:25:00.007Z

So the reason I am so behind on my AM posts is down to the fact I landed a job at Framestore working on their first full CG film called "The Tale of Despereaux". I was just finishing class 5 of AM and one night I got a call to attend a 'chat' at Framestore. And then before I knew it I had a job as a professional animator at Framestore. I was working there for around 7 months and the animation crew was fantastic to work with. Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen who directed the team, were great to work with and really nice guys to talk too (yes they took the time to talk to you).

Framestore site

www.framestore.com

Despereaux micro site

www.thetaleofdespereauxmovie.com

The film is now out but here are links to the two trailers.

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

AM Showcase 2008

2008-12-20T12:16:00.007Z

Late post on my part but i finally got around to adding this to my blog. Shockingly i managed to get onto this years showcase. Its right at the end of the showcase and is my Class 4 animation.

Direct link to the AM showcase 2008

Class 6 - Short Film Production

2008-12-19T18:58:00.004Z

Im not going to post every class 6 week here as, the entire class/term was about the animation and development of my short film. There was no real animation techniques to learn. The entire term was a collective of videos ranging from light and colour use in your short film, polishing your animation, the use of sound and finally talks preparing you for the industry and making a showreel.

As of 2009 the Animation Mentor course will be changing Class's 5 and 6 (short film). I believe the changes will be more focus on polishing the animation.

For Class 6 i had Morgan Kelly who is currently a Dreamworks Animator and worked on a host of films Shrek 2, Madagascar, Bee Movie, Over the hedge and currently Monsters vs Aliens.

*Video to come*

Class 5 - 3D Animatic/Layout

2008-12-19T17:35:00.006Z

So week/sessions 8, 9 and 10 would be developing the first pass for the 3D layout stage of the film. This is so timing issues can be more addressed, see if camera angles work and generally see if the film is working as a whole, and who knows things may even be cut in this first pass, cameras may change and acting choices may need to be thought out.

*Video to come*

Class 5 - 2D Animatic Development

2008-12-19T17:26:00.006Z

We developed the 2D animatic over 3 weeks. Weeks/sessions 5, 6 and 7. First a storyboard is made and then the 2D animatic happens to develop an understanding of timing for the film and how the film will play out.

One half of the film had to be developed over a week, then we was given feedback. Then the following week we would work on the second half of the film and then be given feedback. In the final week (week3) all the feedback we had been given would now be addressed and used for this weeks deadline. So the following week we would be able to start on the first layout pass.

After my two pitches my mentor found it hard to choose which one was strongest. But he lent a little more to the French artist idea as there was a more animation choices in terms of how the character changes emotions in the short film, and had a story. Compared to the duck hunter which is more gag driven and doesn't have a whole lot going on. Also i think the French idea came out strongest as i added some Frenchy music.

*pictures to come*

Class 5 - 5 Ideas to 2 core ideas

2008-12-19T17:05:00.004Z

After many hours of brain storming and general chit chat with other Animation Mentor Students. I came up with 5 ideas. These ideas are just foundations to build on. For me two of my ideas really jumped out at me and got me in the mood to animating. My other ideas were just small moments of time and could tell a larger story. Which is great but i wanted something more smaller that had the 3 core elements which are beginning, middle and end plus i wanted something funny and entertaining.

One of the two core ideas was about a duck hunter and the other idea was about a French artist. These would be my chosen ideas which would need more fleshing out, and refinement for the rest of class 5.

*pictures to come*

Class 5 - Short film Pre Production

2008-12-19T13:52:00.008Z

For this class i had Elliot Bour - animator for Walt Disney and worked on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan. He also does freelance storyboarding and directed a number of commercials.

For this class we was given a story planning packet which gives you the steps on how to develop your ideas and get them ready for delivery. Yes! you guessed it we have to record our self pitching the ideas to camera while keeping it short and to the point.

Over this class we had to come up with five different ideas, from them five ideas we narrow it down to two. We then pitched the two ideas to camera. And after feedback and possible changes, we then re-pitch one of the two ideas again. From there one idea will and should come out strongest and its that idea which you will then be turn into a 2D animatic and from there start a 3D Layout pass.

Class 4 - End of Class 4

2007-12-23T17:57:00.003Z

Well ANOTHER 12 weeks have flown by and this time its Christmas already!!!! AM has gone so fast and I have been working so hard to get all the work done on time and read. Mind you I still have more work to do on my final shot to get it all the way there but below is my AM showreel to date.

Looking back, I have come a long way over the past year, made and met some amazingly talented people and now im slowly coming to the end of AM journey. Two more classes and im done. Class 5 is mostly production work and Class 6 will be mostly doing all the animation. Out of all the Class's so far, Class 4 has been a real learning curve and I think really pushed and moved my animation learning/understanding forward. Meeting the deadlines and slowly getting to the level of quality animation I wanted to meet by the end of Class 4.

As of yet i still need to finish off my current animation as i want to add in the final few notes my mentor recommend and i also would like to go in a fix some of the mouth stuff and eye stuff.

Sorry for the lack posts over the last 12 weeks, Thanks for all your comments, questions and emails.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year :)

-Chris

Class 4 - Refine/Polish

2007-12-23T15:02:00.009Z

This week for me was all about keeping the character alive. I have the main things working but now its adding in all the character and fleshy-ness to the character - well hopefully. Creasy stills needs work as its tricky marrying the loose hand to the book which is constrained to the other hand lol. SO that will be a frame by frame job, once i have refined the rest of the animation in the body. For the most part the little girls fingers and settles have been worked on so there is no intersecting on the table, things have a nice natural feel to them. AM don't show you how to do these types of this as such, but its more about watching your video ref and know what leads and follows.

So for example in the first shot of this animation her arm comes down, the hand hits then all the fingers squash, the elbow moves out and plants down while the wrist/hand follows. Once the wrist plants then hand rotates a bit with small finger animation. All this happens in real life it just a matter of finding these things and watching what your own body and adding them in. One note my mentor did point out for this bit of the animation, was to add more settle/easing-in to the little girls arms when they on the table.

Class 4 - Finishing up

2007-12-23T15:02:00.007Z

Wow the final week. So this week i had to clean up all the dead spots where things stop moving and remove any areas that feel stiff. Its mostly cleaning up curves (which i do as i go) and tweaking the spacing of them keys in the graph editor. I do have weighted tangents on but i don't really like breaking the tangent weights, i'd sooner just add in an extra key. For the most part i don't offset my animation all the time, i normally add in keys and tweak curves - maybe that explains a lot if you feel my animation looks a bit poo. I do offset in places, but most of it is moving keys up and down in the graph editor and making sure i have decent curves (not changing the timing but changing the value of the key on the curve). You can't always get nice curves but for the most part i try to. Sometimes you might have the right timing but the spacing (the value in the graph editor for that key) might be wrong, so before you start changing all the timing check your curves. A lot of people are afraid of the graph editor but once you play around a bit and give it time, you get to know what to look for in a curve. Even now i still wonder if im using it correctly!!!!!!

Class 4 - Blockout

2007-12-23T15:01:00.012Z

This is the first real start on my scene. The camera cuts are working but I really like the angle at the start of the scene and at the end. But what i don't like is how it starts the same and ends the same. Im still trying to work out my cameras, as soon as i can nail the cameras, the sooner i can get on with the rest of the animation.

Class 4 - Block Plus

2007-12-23T15:01:00.010Z

This week I mostly wanted to focus on the spine and adding in more breakdowns. As soon as the spine is working everything else off of that gets worked on. The hard thing about this animation, is IK elbows. For this scene, the girl (green character) is IK arms and IK spine, Creasy is IK right arm, FK left arm and IK spine. The reason being that his left arm will never be leaning on the table and i could get better arcs and more fluid movement for dealing with the book. On these rigs the IK arms stretches and it can't be turned off. So this can bring up lots of anti animation to do. Also on this rig is you can lock the IK Elbow in place but when you start moving the hand around it will stretch. SO the whole time you have to make sure and keep an eye out for any strange things. You don't want the character to start with small forearms and by the end of the scene they have grown some what!!!!! That would be bad!!!

For this scene i did a number of tests on what would be the best way to set-up the puppet for the book to change from one hand to another. Constraints would be fine but it can get a bit messy, but i have opted for having two books in the scene. Each hand has a copy of the book which is constrained to the wrist (for different finger placement). So bearing this in mind i had to find a good spot in the animation for the change over to happen and feel very fluid F225 (one book turns off)-F226 (the other books turns on). This is still in the blocking pass so its looking very rough but the change over is there and its working clearly. The key to pulling this off is making sure the placement of the two objects is very similar and making sure the action isn't feeling too forced.

Class 4 - Breakdowns

2007-12-23T15:01:00.009Z

Seans Back and wants me to change the the camera. As much as he likes the camera angles on the first take, he felt the side on shot and then the end "2 shot" made the shot feel strange it was like an odd jump cut. He liked the second layout, but this to me made new problems!!!!! book starts to go wrong now the scene doesn't cut to the "2 shot" camera at the end... So if i go for that, it needs to be fixed and ironed out asap.

Apart from this new problem of the odd book going crazy, the shot over all is working out well. Also i have started a really rough pass on the head and face.

Class 4 - Face Pass

2007-12-23T15:01:00.007Z

This week, i really had to push myself and had to make sure i covered all the mentors notes and really get the face working asap as time is running out. Firstly I broke down my week to what I felt was the most important parts to be fixed first. Seans crits/feedback normal gets done on a Tuesday and i would pick it up on a Wednesday morning (timezone) so it gives me time to clean up the areas that i know are problems - like that book at the end of the scene for example. This book problem stemmed from where i blocked my scene out to the old camera move and not worry too much how it looked outside of the camera. AS it looked fine in camera for the old camera- until the camera change. SO always check that you animate to the camera your going to render too - like i did at the start. But at the same time check that things are working relatively in your scene too, just in case anything happens - like a new camera cut or poses need change etc.

Also i was cleaning up most of the spine and head, refining the arms and killing most of the floaty-ness out of the animation. From here on, this is where cleaning up and polishing the rest of my shot happens as its about a good 60%-70% done now.

Class 4 - Knowing the Cuts

2007-12-23T15:00:00.002Z

After going over the audio clips and working out which one my mentor liked, and i felt had good acting moments. The audio from clip I went for was from Man on fire. The scene its self has over 5 cuts, which are nearly all medium close up or close up. But only being able to use around 3-4 cuts MAX i wanted to make sure capture in my cuts the essence of the scene and how the characters bounce off one another.

Sean has left for a few weeks and we have a covering mentor called Raquel Coelho.

Below are thumb nails, video reference and a number of different CG takes on the scene. I shot loads of video reference, and narrowed it down to three, but only uploaded this clip as i feel it covers most of the things i want in the scene.

Class 4 - Audio choices

2007-10-28T18:21:00.002Z

A New task which will carry us out to the end of the term. We are now moving on to a two character shot animation. Im not going to upload here my audio choices as at a later date i might animate to them and like most of the audio wav sites now days everyone seems to have animated them. So sorry guys you will have to find clips of your own like i did :) but hey at least you can "watch" movies for a few days and class it as research :)

Class 4 - Lips Polish/Final

2007-10-21T21:17:00.002+01:00

Wrapping up this animation now and moving on finally. Plus two more head poses for this weeks task.

Class 4 - Lips blocking plus

2007-10-21T20:16:00.002+01:00

AM have their new showcase here the work is amazing check it out. And no, none of my work is there lol, don't be silly pfft, your lucky its even made it this far onto a blog....

This week is the next pass of the lip sync, from my mentors notes i really just have to push the vowel shapes the lip movements and refine some head turns. Also this week we had to find images of faces showing an emotion of some kind and recreate it with Bishop.

Class 4 - Lips block out

2007-10-21T20:15:00.002+01:00

Back again, and this time Class 4 and im already starting to coming close to the end of my AM journey and i still feel like i have LOADS TO LEARN (well i do but you know what i mean)..

My New MENTOR IS *Drum roll* Sean Ermey, You may recall this name before on here, he was my first AM Mentor, and oddly enough i have him again. Ok i never got a different mentor but hey Sean is bloody good at animation, and his Crits are fantastic i mean, some creep up into the 15 - 20 min mark. And no that doesn't mean your animation stinks it means that your getting what you pay for. A five min crit might be great on the out set but really are you getting your what you pay for!!! Anyway i may depend on your view for that one. But im really happy to have Sean in some ways as he saw from that start and seeing me again so i guess he can see how much i have improved (if any hahaha).

Well we start this term with lip sync refinements on the mouth, as we are given full access to Bishops face rig. There was an amazing video by Jason Schleifer on who to approach lip sync.

Have to hand it to the guy, he really knows how to explain "how to do it lip sync" without it seeming overwhelming and complex.

For this hand in we had to a few things, i can't seem to find one of the images on breaking down the text!!! But i still have my character drawings for the mouth shapes and the all important blocking *Oh yeah i rendered the wrong camera for hand in DOH!!! I'll have to fix that later for this blog

Class 3 - Finished

2007-09-20T16:48:00.007+01:00

This week i took a bold step and really re did the swig from the bottle. Some of it is down to ones just to really keep that bottle on the lips. Refined more arcs and curves, fixed some spacing in places. All in all cleaning up loose ends and tweaking curves in the ye old graph editor.

Class 3 - Term Over

2007-09-20T16:48:00.006+01:00

Class 3 comes to a close and its all over again - it goes so quick............... Next term will be even more work and will be pushing my skills further!!! Michelle was a great mentor and gave wicked crits and feedback to the class, so if you get her as a mentor your very lucky. In fact all the mentors i have had to date have been wicked.

We continue on this shot in Class 4, as we will be given another Bishop rig but with full face controls. As at the moment its just flappy mouth with very limited eye stuff...

Here is my end of term reel =O)

Class 3 - Refining

2007-09-20T16:47:00.004+01:00

This felt like a very long week. I was refining my pauses more and really getting in there and breaking down more and refining them graph curves. I try to keep the graph editor (GE) under check from the word go, as i don't want all my animation flipping out or have strange things happen. Always check your curves and keep them clean, so that by the end your not messing around to much. As you don't want to leave it to the end as it can get very messy.

So in short keep you curves tidy as you go along, it might feel like more work, but its a time saver in my view.......

Class 3 - Polish

2007-09-20T16:47:00.003+01:00

Well i had to refine some minor things here. I did a new pass on the eyes and did a pass on the fingers.

For the most part of the animation i wanted to make sure the hips and spine are fully working and green lit by my mentor before i press on with arms and go down the chain. The reason being, if i screw up the upper body and if have refined right down the little pinky - im screwed big time.

So working in a methodical way helps. Its ok to rough in this stuff but don't key the crap out of it until your 100% committed to the idea. If say the director/client liked it one day and not the next, and wanted a big change in the scene then fair enough. He/she is paying me to get it how they want it. So i have to be able to know how to take apart my shot and put in the new changes while keeping the shot working. OR if its too much start over lol or go back to an old file before you refined it to a high level.

Class 3 - Blocking

2007-09-20T16:46:00.006+01:00

Ok my choice was the kitchen but by popular demand "The Brain" won it. For this setting of this audio i thought a pub setting, and with the way the audio is delivered felt it was a more realistic animation over a cartoony one.

This is the block pass, done in copy pairs mode. Its very rough timings and mostly hitting key points of the animation.

Class 3 - Blocking and Breakdowns

2007-09-20T16:46:00.004+01:00

This week i had to get the darn thing look a bit more alive and less like the computer is doing all the work..... So with added keys and them all important breakdowns where all the "action happens".

Class 3 - Lip sync challenge

2007-09-20T16:45:00.002+01:00

New challenge this week, which will cover the entire term. We had to find good single audio clips which lasted around 10 seconds or less.

For each clip i had ideas and notes of what i wanted to do for them and then from that shot reference for each and then awaited the response from my mentor.

Drug Store

Kitchen Audio clip

The Brain

Also i had some final tweaks on my "Vote for Stu" shot, nothing big just really minor things.

Class 3 - Final Handin

2007-08-09T14:21:00.000+01:00

Ok Final hand has arrived and i got feed back only a day ago... The hands are still not correct but I'm working on that - again - as we speak. I have other things to fix and i have just noticed some more areas that need attention. But i guess that's the problem with being an artists/animator our work is never good enough to our self's nore is it ever completely finished, as it can always be tweaked for ever. The problem is knowing when to stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Class 3 - Refining

2007-08-09T14:16:00.001+01:00

Another week goes by and im into refining. Michelle really wants me to nail the hands coming up and holding. But its really hard to do that with out them looking frozen or to IK like. Also having to keep them on a nice path of action. I do wish i had kept to my FK roots =O)

Class 3 - Blocking Plus

2007-07-24T21:52:00.002+01:00

WAhoo, the idea is going strong, my first pass got the thumbs up and now i can crack on with my blocking plus. For me I did my blocking in "copy pairs" mode and i feel like im steaming ahead but really im just skipping the whole step mode to linear to spline out. Im just starting right in spline. In the past i had sort of done copy pairs before but did it all in step mode rather than start in spline. I must admit i may not do this for every shot i do, but for this shot i feel it working.

Class 3 - Blocking

2007-07-24T21:28:00.003+01:00

Ok Well the idea went down pan. As much as Michelle liked the idea, but felt that the idea was hanging to much on a gag. Also along with the fact that Stu had no fingers and also only dots for eyes meant that a lot of the stuff i was doing was not really fitting for the Stu puppet.

But on brighter note, she did think my "Vote for Stu" idea was new and that she hadn't seen it before. So in the long run her vote was on this idea (sorry). Oh did i happen to say that this idea was 30 seconds long!!! Somehow need to get this idea down to 10 seconds.

After shooting, over 50 takes (thats no lie) i had managed to get the idea down to 10 seconds ok 11/12. I quickly thumbed the idea outs (capturing the essence of the poses) and also started a blocking pass. So basically i did 2 assignments in 4 days lol - i got feedback on a Wednesday and had to submit it all by the Sunday.....

In case you wonder, copy pairs is basically finding areas you feel you want more pause time so you double up on them frames (you make holds). So firstly what i do is make all my main keys/golden poses, and then work out when i want that pose to happen. Timing to me is felt more than counting and worrying about frames numbers.... If it looks and feels right to me, than it is right. If my mentor didn't like the movement or i get loads of comments about that movement then i would go ahead and correct it.

So once i have done my key poses, i go back and start to double up on my poses to make nice little holds, this way i can quickly see whats working and whats not. This way i find my beats in my scene.

Now as im already in spline, i can already see how things are shaping up. The next pass would be Blocking plus,here i would start to add in my break down keys and tweak all my curves.

Class 3 - Ideas

2007-07-24T21:07:00.001+01:00

Well made it to class 3, and boy do i have to up my game. I have new mentor who is great, her name is Michelle Meeker a former Pixar, PDI and Weta animator, EA in fact shes work all over the place, you name it im sure shes been there.

I have a great new bunch of AM people in the class, most of which I have followed along the way, as their animation skills are amazing. So i feel really pleased to be in a class with such a high level of animation skill.

For this hand in i had to submit a bunch of ideas of a character showing 2 emotions with in 10 seconds. We had to shoot reference too and thumbnail out you main idea. I came up with a few ideas the one i picked was a typewriter idea, where the character is typing away and tries to push the paper roller across but its stuck and then tries again -nothing. Then he pounds the typewriter and the paper roller pings off and then Stu reacts in shock. I acted out a number of ideas around the typewriter and picked the best idea i felt right for the assignment.

Other ideas where a vote for Stu idea, Stu watching TV, Stu checking the results for a race on the radio and some others. But all the ideas had been rehashed soooo many times, hence why i opted for the typewriter.

Delay in posts and updates

2007-06-23T13:24:00.001+01:00

Well Class 2 has been a nightmare for me on a more personal level. At the start of my AM, back in Class 1, i lost my granddad and while in Class 2 of this term my nan had a massive stroke and a 2 weeks later she sadly past away. My nans passing all happened during the jumping pillar animation and hence why its not the most amazing animation on the planet. Thankfully with understanding friends a good mentor and the support of family, i carried on with my course work.

My baseball pitch i feel turned out well for my end of class 2 animation. I hope class 3 really pushes my skills further and puts me back on track into becoming a strong animator.

Class 2 - Pitch Finished animation

2007-06-23T13:23:00.005+01:00

Wahoo finished animation :)

Class 2 - All Over

2007-06-23T13:23:00.003+01:00

Below is class 2 and class 1 all in one showreel :)

Class 2 - Pitch Liner and Spline pass

2007-06-23T13:20:00.003+01:00

Liner and Spline pass

Class 2 - Pitch Blocking

2007-06-23T13:19:00.001+01:00

Blocking pass

Class 2 - Pillar Final

2007-06-23T13:18:00.004+01:00

Below is the polish and refine

Class 2 - The Baseball Pitch

2007-06-23T13:18:00.003+01:00

Below are some quick thumbnails of the baseball pitch

Class 2 - Pillar Spline

2007-06-23T13:17:00.001+01:00

Below is the spline pass

Class 2 - Pillar block out

2007-06-23T13:02:00.001+01:00

Below is a block out pass to the jumping pillar assignment

Class 2 - From Pillar to Post

2007-04-30T18:03:00.001+01:00

This week we are planning a character jumping from one post to another. Below are my very rough thumbnails and sketches.

Class 2 - 180 Turn Finished

2007-04-30T17:48:00.001+01:00

Below is my finished 180 turn :P

Class 2 - Body Mechanics - Walk Through a Shot

2007-04-14T17:24:00.002+01:00

This being "Class 2" Body Mechanics we get a new mentor for 12 weeks:)

My new mentor is Steve Gagnon-cady who currently works at Weta - fancy stuff.

Last week we had to shoot reference and plan out one of the following:
1.Kick a ball
2.Take a Big Step
3.Turn around 180 degrees

I opted for the 180 turn as i felt i should do something more realistic for once and not so cartoony. As 99% of time i tend to do cartoony animation over realistic animations.

So after shooting loads of different 180 turns, i chose one from my 10 clips as i felt it looked the most realistic and had some good timing and movement going on.

This week we had to use our planning and block out in 3D our planning poses and break downs.

Below are planning sketches and my submission for the block out.

Class 1 - Studying walks with different weights

2007-04-01T12:30:00.002+01:00

Well the final week is here and we come to end of class 1 already!!!! How time flies.

Well below is my reel for class 1 and i must say everyone who has completed class 1 has really worked well and there are some super talented people in my class and in the current year im in. Also i must say my mentor Sean Ermey was a really good mentor, plus this was his first time mentoring for AM and hopefully not his last.

Class 1 - In-depth look at the hips

2007-04-01T12:27:00.002+01:00

After a week of blocking we are now taking that walk out of blocking and into spline and breaking up the timings. Also this week Stu is balancing, my Stu is doing a spot of Yoga!!!

Class 1 - Introduction to Walks with character

2007-04-01T12:24:00.002+01:00

This week Stu is exhausted after all this posing and we start to add some personality to a walk cycle. For my walk cycle i started from scratch and shot some video reference.

Class 1 - Exaggeration and Weight

2007-04-01T12:20:00.001+01:00

This week we was looking into concerned poses and finishing off the basic walk cycle :)

Class 1 - Introduction to Walks

2007-03-08T17:36:00.001Z

This week Stu is trying to show strength, even for a guy with puny limbs he still has strength - inner lol.... So 2D drawings a go on this one and i got carried away and started doodling more and had to stop and focus on the task at hand. But still one doodle made it onto the planning for the poses and got turned into colour too...

Class 1 - Anticipation and Squash and Stretch

2007-03-08T17:35:00.009Z

This week Stu is devastated. And the animation for this week is to choose one of the two obstacle courses and then plan and animate a ball going around the screen (with Squash and Stretch).

Class 1 - Overlapping Action

2007-03-08T17:35:00.007Z

Pendulum task this week to show overlapping action, and its isn't as easy as it looks plus there is more to it than just offsetting keys in the dope sheet lol.

Class 1 - Arcs and Path of Action

2007-03-08T17:35:00.006Z

Tailor this week. This was planing out how tailor move around the screen and in that planning showing how arcs and path of action.

Class 1 - Planning & Blocking Methods

2007-03-08T17:34:00.006Z

This week Stu has to show excitement... And also we had to do a bouncy ball.

Class 1 - Intro to Timing

2007-03-08T17:34:00.004Z

This week we are looking at weight and timing!!! For this animation we had to show a heavy ball and a light ball...

Class 1 - Introduction to Animation

2007-03-08T17:33:00.001Z

Week 2 was asking use to go out and draw from real life and observe what we see. I went up town to Lester Square in London and was freezing cold and had pigeons swooping and pooping around me. These drawings are real quick sketches (under 20 seconds). From the poses we drew we had to take one and make it in 3D. Here is my Stu on the phone.

Class 1 - Basic Foundations

2007-03-08T17:30:00.001Z

Well I finally got around to applying to Animation Mentor and I'm over the moon to be accepted. Now i just hope that over the next 18 months my animation skills and understanding of animation will improve 10 fold. Also i hope from taking part in this course i can hopefully one day give something back to the animation industry and perhaps even inspire future animators down the line - hopefully it will be something useful and not "this is not how to animate, and never animating like this guy if you want a job in the animation industry".

3Dsketchbook AM

Font viewer for Adobe Creative Suite CS5

Something Left, Something Taken by Tiny Inventions

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Toy Story 3 - Round-up

Toy Story 3 -New Promo videos out

Photoshop CS4/CS5 Colour Wheel /Colour Picker *update*

How To Train Your Dragon - An IMAX 3D Experience

Toy Story 2 in 3D

Special Princess and the Frog Screening @ Disney HQ London!!!

Working at Double Negative

NEW Showreel Online

Moviescope Magazine - One to watch

Animation Mentor meetup go and see Pixar's UP at the BFI

MovieScope Magazine

Photoshop CS4 Colour Picker/Colour wheel

New Showreel for 2009

Working On The Tale of Despereaux

AM Showcase 2008

Class 6 - Short Film Production

Class 5 - 3D Animatic/Layout

Class 5 - 2D Animatic Development

Class 5 - 5 Ideas to 2 core ideas

Class 5 - Short film Pre Production

Class 4 - End of Class 4

Class 4 - Refine/Polish

Class 4 - Finishing up

Class 4 - Blockout

Class 4 - Block Plus

Class 4 - Breakdowns

Class 4 - Face Pass

Class 4 - Knowing the Cuts

Class 4 - Audio choices

Class 4 - Lips Polish/Final

Class 4 - Lips blocking plus

Class 4 - Lips block out

Class 3 - Finished

Class 3 - Term Over

Class 3 - Refining

Class 3 - Polish

Class 3 - Blocking

Class 3 - Blocking and Breakdowns

Class 3 - Lip sync challenge

Class 3 - Final Handin

Class 3 - Refining

Class 3 - Blocking Plus

Class 3 - Blocking

Class 3 - Ideas

Delay in posts and updates

Class 2 - Pitch Finished animation

Class 2 - All Over

Class 2 - Pitch Liner and Spline pass

Class 2 - Pitch Blocking

Class 2 - Pillar Final

Class 2 - The Baseball Pitch

Class 2 - Pillar Spline

Class 2 - Pillar block out

Class 2 - From Pillar to Post

Class 2 - 180 Turn Finished

Class 2 - Body Mechanics - Walk Through a Shot

Class 1 - Studying walks with different weights

Class 1 - In-depth look at the hips

Class 1 - Introduction to Walks with character

Class 1 - Exaggeration and Weight

Class 1 - Introduction to Walks

Class 1 - Anticipation and Squash and Stretch

Class 1 - Overlapping Action

Class 1 - Arcs and Path of Action

Class 1 - Planning & Blocking Methods

Class 1 - Intro to Timing

Class 1 - Introduction to Animation

Class 1 - Basic Foundations

Photoshop CS4/CS5 Colour Wheel /Colour Picker update