INTERACTIVE :: 12/10/16 - Toon shaders

After our tutorial today, I asked Lena and Regan about toon shaders in unity, and was directed to a downloadable package.  From there I used various duplications of the 'ToonShaderLit' material in order to re-create my mushrooms with a more cartoony/comic feel to them.

I quite like these shaders as I was able to use the UVs that I had previously made with them.  The shading is based on a simple gradient which I was able to open in photoshop and modify in order to create a harsher gradient.  Here are the screenshots I took while I was playing around with them

I quite like the results, though I may need to play around with gradients a bit more and see what happens when I put in things like a colored gradient instead of just plain greyscale.

This evening I plan to redraw my moth character, or at least tweak the drawing i did from the first assignment so that I can spend the next few days trying to build a model in Maya.

CINEMATIC :: 02/03/16 - Scripting and pre production

Monday saw us getting organized into groups and choosing the roles that each of us would have.  Out of the following in our team, our role holders are:

DIRECTOR - Oscar
PRODUCER - Jo
HEAD OF 3D - Hamish

Me and Tea will be handling the mattepainting and 2D animation aspects for this project, as we have chosen to go with Oscar's project suggestion of someone reaching enlightenment in their meditation and their soul ascending to the spirit world.  Our live action character is the person meditating, our 3D object is the human soul and potentially the environment for the other world, and our animated characters are the spirits which dwell in the ether.

We've given each other today to work on improving and tweaking the script, but I really don't feel like I have much to add to it at this point.  Therefore I have been thinking about the kinds of creatures that we could incorporate on the spiritual world and what the interims might look like.  As I've been recording dreams and half asleep visions I've had for a few years now, I find some of the characters I've dreamed subconsciously quite fascinating and would love to incorporate similar designs into the creatures of our own project.  Here are a few I've drawn from 2012-2013

My own interpretation of the spirit world lines up with oscar's idea of how it should look as well, except in his mind its much brighter, more vibrant and with a lot less black.

I've also recently discovered Ebru painting, and feel like the process of creating droplets on water before swirling them into shapes and patterns would create a fluid and simple forms for a monster concept to be based around.

Overall, I guess I'd like my focus to be on character/creature design and bringing those to life more than anything else.  Of course I need to run my ideas by Oscar to see if they fit in with his vision, but I think overall these creatures need to be simple in shape, design and movement if we're going to have a handful of them in our final project.  I'm not entirely sure if my strengths lie in this area, but it is probably where the majority of my interest is for certain.

CINEMATIC :: 26/02/16 - Script/Moodboard

Spent today's cinematic lesson working on both a script for one of my chosen ideas, as well as a mood board.  I've chosen to go with the SPIRIT JOURNEY idea from yesterday's post, since I really can't pass up the opportunity to design both a charming ocarina and a really regal looking monster.  I may do some sketches over the weekend to strengthen my concept a little more, depending on the feedback i receive from my tutors later on today.

Just to recap:

SPIRIT JOURNEY

A human (live action) makes their way up an enormous mountain, all the way to the highest peak.  They take a plain but oddly shaped bird whistle/ocarina (3D object) from their pocket and blow a tune which summons an enormous swirling beast/yokai from the clouds.  Possession of the whistle implies that the human has control over the massive, awe inspiring creature, as it bows its head and allows them to climb upon its back before dancing and swirling away into the clouds.  After seeing nothing but sky for several moments, the clouds part revealing a (matte painted?) different landscape or spiritual city.  The human gasps and stares in awe, whispering that they never believed such a place to exist and that they had finally arrived at the world of their dreams before the listening creature flicks them off its back with a ripple of its spine.  The human screams as they fall to earth, cut short by the monster swooping down to devour them.

MOODBOARD

My moodboard contains some inspiration for the creature, the kind of landscape I envision for this project, color palettes and pendant ocarinas.  Ideas for the live action protagonist have been left out, mainly because I am having trouble envisioning them and am unsure if this would be set in a more modern or traditional setting.

SCRIPT

EXT:  A WINDING PATH UP A MOUNTAIN.  CAREFULLY PLACED ROCKS AND PATCHES OF BAMBOO LINE AN OVERGROWN BUT STILL VISIBLE PATH.

ESTABLISHING SHOT: A FIGURE WALKS ALONG THE WINDING PATH, LEANING HEAVILY ON A LARGE STAFF.

BIRD'S EYE SHOT:  THE FIGURE WALKS ALONG ANOTHER SEGMENT OF MOUNTAIN.  HE PAUSES TO VIEW THE LANDSCAPE OF THE VALLEY BELOW BEFORE WIPING HIS BROW AND WALKING OFF SCREEN.

WIDE SHOT:  THE FIGURE REACHES THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN AND STANDS FOR A MOMENT.  THE WIND BLOWS THROUGH HIS CLOTHES.  HE SETS THE STAFF DOWN AND LOOKS AT THE VAST EXPANSE OF SKY.

CLOSE UP:  THE FIGURE REACHES INTO HIS CLOTHES AND DRAWS OUT A SMALL BIRD OCARINA

EXTREME CLOSE UP:  THE FIGURE'S HANDS LIFT THE OCARINA TO HIS LIPS.  HE BEGINS TO PLAY A SIMPLE BUT HAUNTING TUNE.

WIDE SHOT:  AN EMPTY EXPANSE OF SKY.  THE MELODY CARRIES ON A WHISPERING WIND.  AN ENORMOUS SPIRIT/BEAST/YOKAI FLOATS ACROSS THE SCREEN, ANSWERING THE CALL OF THE OCARINA.

WIDE SHOT:  THE FIGURE STANDS ON THE MOUNTAIN AS THE CREATURE TWISTS AND COILS BEFORE HIM, HOVERING IN THE SKY ABOVE THE MOUNTAIN'S PEAK.

MID SHOT:  THE FIGURE'S EYES WIDEN AND HE GASPS SOFTLY.  SLOWLY HE REACHES A HAND OUT TO THE SPIRIT AS THE CAMERA PANS OVER TO SHOW THE CREATURE CLOSING ITS EYES AND BUTTING ITS HEAD GENTLY INTO HIS HAND.

WANDERER:  I never imagined the legends were true…

HE STROKES THE CREATURE'S HEAD GENTLY AS HE STARES IN WONDER AT HIS OCARINA.  HIS HEAD JERKS UP TO GAZE INTO THE CREATURE'S EYES.

Please!  I must see the spirit realm!

EXTREME CLOSE UP:  THE CREATURE'S EYE WITH WANDERER REFLECTED INSIDE IT.  IT BLINKS SLOWLY AND THOUGHTFULLY.

MID SHOT:  THE CREATURE TWISTS ITS BODY, SHIFTING SO THAT THE COILS OF ITS BULK SETTLE UPON THE MOUNTAIN.  WANDERER GASPS, A HUGE SMILE BREAKING ACROSS HIS FACE AS HE RUSHES FORWARD TO CLIMB UP AND SETTLES HIMSELF ON ITS BACK.

WIDE SHOT:  THE CREATURE RISES SLOWLY, A SHUDDER RUNNING THROUGH ITS BODY AS IT LAUNCHES ITSELF INTO THE AIR AND SWIRLS AWAY INTO THE DISTANCE.

MID SHOT:  THE CREATURE FLOATS THROUGH THE CLOUDS WITH A WIDE-EYED WANDERER ON ITS BACK.  WANDERER IS LOOKING AROUND IN AMAZEMENT AT THE SKY AND THE CLOUDS, UNABLE TO BELIEVE HE IS FLYING ON A TRUE SPIRIT.

CLOUDS THICKEN AS THEY JOURNEY ON, THE SKY FADING TO A SOFT GREEN, THE CLOUDS TAKING ON PASTEL TONES OF PINK AND ORANGE.

THE CLOUDS EVENTUALLY PART, REVEALING AN UNFAMILIAR LANDSCAPE.  FROM ABOVE IT LOOKS LIKE AN ENORMOUS ZEN GARDEN, DOTTED HERE AND THERE WITH SMALL VILLAGES AND TINY ANTHROPOMORPHIC PEOPLE.  FOX-FIRE DOTS THE LANDSCAPE.

WANDERER:  STARES ENRAPTURED, A LIGHTHEARTED LAUGH ESCAPING HIM.

It truly exists!  The realm of the spirits where wishes come true!  My hopes and dreams, my fame and fortune!!  Soon it will all be realized!

HE CONTINUES TO LAUGH, GROWING MORE AND MORE EXCITED, CLAPPING HIS HANDS AND CONGRATULATING HIMSELF.

We must descend!  Please, fly lower!

CLOSE UP:  THE CREATURE'S EYE LAZILY ROLLS BACK TO LOOK AT THE HUMAN ON ITS BACK.  A SMILE PULLS AT ITS MOUTH, REVEALING DANGEROUSLY POINTED TEETH AND BLOOD RED GUMS.  A VIOLENT SHUDDER RUNS THROUGH ITS BODY, ITS BACK ARCHING SUDDENLY TO FLICK WANDERER INTO THE AIR.

BIRD'S EYE SHOT:  WANDERER SCREAMS, STARTLED AND SURPRISED TO SUDDENLY FIND HIMSELF FALLING TO EARTH.  THE CREATURE SWOOPS IN FROM THE SIDE OF THE SCREEN, SNAPPING HIM UP AND DEVOURING HIM IN A SINGLE BITE AS THE SCREEN TURNS BLACK.

CREATURE:  CHUCKLING SOFTLY

You asked to see the spirit realm, and so you have.  But that is where my obligation ends.

12/11/15 - Finalization

There hasn't really been much to update lately.  I've been working hard on my scene and tweaking my animation to the best that I can possibly make it and that has taken a good few weeks by the feel of things.  Lighting has been tested out and added to the scene as well and some aspects of the background were edited and textures were shifted around.

Here's a storyboard-ish scene by scene test of my animation:

I'm going to start work on compositing as soon as everything has finished rendering.

22/10/15 - Pre-animation setup!

Now that I've sorted out my rig, I've had to return to my prop and clean it up a bit in order to set up a scene for animating.  That has basically been what I have focused on today; just setting up a skydome and texturizing everything to make it fit for animating.

Here are a few screenshots:

I might still change it from its current skydome sphere to more of a cube shape though, in order to reflect the sense that the characters are within a building rather than out in the open somewhere