Hey -- week three of the design package includes Beastly and Darkheart, and some updates to Shrieky and Sour Sam.
I had a hard time fighting the urge to bring the red track suit in to the Aftermath, but it wouldn't really fit with my idea for the character. His garb is supposed to have a bit of a motley look to it -- the idea being that when he shapeshifts back in to human form he has to get clothes from wherever he can.
Beastly now lives up to his namesake. This is still more of a work in progress -- he's slimmed down considerably from my original sketches, but still has plenty of muscle left over.
Next week: Environments and props. Likely a reposting of work of all the work done so far, so we can have one post labelled "Design Package".
Week two of the design package published. We'll definitely be moving in to week three for the rest of the design package -- Still to come: Darkheart and Beastly, props and environments. It is taking longer than expected, but once again it's best to get these things settled as much as possible before moving on.
Shrieky and Sour Sam have turned out well. After much debate during the week Shrieky's hoodie will be included. In the cartoon Shrieky had a magic mirror. Powerful as it was, I don't recall her using it directly on the Care Bears -- just to spy on them -- and to torment Beastly. Her mirror will be making an appearance as one of the last vestiges of magic in the world -- but it's been broken. Shrieky has taken the shards and uses them to power a weapon that I am struggling to keep from looking like a light sabre... But it will use the mirror shards' energy to manifest different blades, beams, whips, whatever Shrieky might need at the time, and a basic handle-type design will best serve that purpose.
Sour Sam -- you may or may not recall from a Thanksgiving episode of the Care Bears. He sets out to ruin Thanksgiving by serving everyone "Crabby Apple Pies". Pies that make you stop caring after just one bite. Well... as you can see Sam's pies are making another appearance, but in this case we've set him up like a drug dealer. His pies are extremely addictive and he has turned them in to a multi-billion dollar industry -- making him one of the most powerful men on Earth. Once a person's addiction has reached a certain point they become red-stained, zombie like servants of Sour Sam. I've had a great deal of fun coming up with names for his pastry-fueled army. My top three choices are:
pie fiends (like crack fiends)
crab heads (like pot heads)
cappers (in reference to the initials of Crabby Apple Pie)
I'm not done with Darkheart's design. He's proving to be a little difficult. In the second Care Bears movie Darkheart was a shapeshifting entity they never really explained. He seemed like the 'bad boy' sort that all the girls had a crush on-- and I want to bring some of that appeal in to the Aftermath.
I have two options for Beastly -- a giant, brutish version of the character from the cartoons -- complete with German soldier helmet and flight goggles... or .... more in keeping with the cartoon -- a skinny weasle-esque creature that has only the desire to do evil... none of the power. Right now I'm leaning more towards the brute... I think I'd have more fun with that.
The thought occurred almost as soon as the post from Sunday was up -- this was not what was supposed to be posted. Not that there's anything wrong with what went up, but the word "underwhelming" came to mind. These procedural steps are always a good idea, but can sometimes be a little lackluster. Just wait until the weeks where a cloth sim test is the only post -- or a few UV maps. A lot of what's done in 3d is testing and problem solving. Every week can't be exciting I suppose --
In order to fix that -- here are some WIPs that are meant to tantalize your appetite for what's to come.
I'm not entirely convinced by Shrieky's hoodie -- I may try a version without it. But my trepidation surrounding the article of clothing is likely amplified by the degree of difficulty required to make a functioning hoodie -- what if I want her to wear the hood? What if I want her to not wear the hood? What if (god forbid) I want her to take off the hood as part of a shot... A few cleverly placed PSDs, clusters or blend shapes would likely take care of it -- or possibly cloth sim -- But I have visions in my head of three different fully modeled, rigged and textured hoodies -- one up, one down and one that can move in between.
It could be fun to try -- I am trying to learn things here. But my past experience with 3d has taught me it's better to go with a simple idea and really nail it, rather than to go for something really complex and just get it done.
Oh Braveheart... your long, billowy, awesome jacket is going to be so much work...
Depending on time/progress I may post some more WIPs this week -- We'll see what the Valentine's Day schedule allows for -- frankly I'm already behind.
Anyone paying attention this week will notice a slight adjustment to the production schedule. It all stemmed from my discovery of what an ambitious combination of words this is:
LION, CYBORG, COWBOY
While working on Braveheart's design the intricacies of modeling and rigging a cyborg character began to present themselves. We already mentioned what a significant contribution an animatic can make to animation work later on, and the same principle applies here. A solid concept/design package help greatly with the modeling and texturing of the character.
Braveheart's clothing went through a few iterations over the time spent working on the Aftermath. First he was going to be wearing clothing reminiscent of a 19th century sherrif (picture Wyatt Earp) with a vest, sherrif's badge sporting the heart and crown (Braveheart's symbol from the cartoons), and duster jacket. Contemplation of the 3d implications of working with a big open flowing jacket led to the next version (see the animatic) where Braveheart's jacket is closed, but the bottom could still stir in the wind. It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it would be much easier to deal with from a technical standpoint. This however, ended up too priestly in silhouette for me, so after a few deep breaths Braveheart opened his jacket again to get the original look, and we'll just deal with the technical issues as they arise. Someone may have to remind me later that a big flowy jacket was what I chose for myself in the beginning. This time Braveheart has bare arms that will show off the cybernetic bits of his arms, and he's lost his sherrif's badge in favour of a biker-style decal on his back (the heart and crown of course).
So after attempting a simple illustration to design Braveheart -- the realization that the design of each moving part and articulated joint would be necessary. This led to several illustrations of the various layers of Bravehearts arms, and chest piece. -- The pieces that will not be deforming as part of the smooth bind.
Bottom line -- is that I would like to take care of the design process now -- best to have as little ambiguity as possible when it comes to your designs -- it will lead to a lot fewer wasted hours come the 3d modeling phase. To that end -- each articulated joint and gear in Braveheart's arms has been worked out to be able to provide human-like movement for him. (see below.)
So the design package will now come in 2 (possibly 3) parts. This week -- Braveheart's arms, chest, turnaround, and illustration WIP. Next week I'd like all the characters to the same place as Braveheart -- No more cyborgs after this one, so I don't anticipate any further problems.
Braveheart's arm frame --simple enough, but the joints are all articulated and they should work in 3d space when they all have to move together. I tried to give it a bit of a hydraulic feel to the various pieces. The cords are meant to simulate some of the muscles in the human arm. The ball joint at the top will fit in a socket in Braveheart's chest.
Braveheart's arm chassis. The shape around the wrist is meant to give the wrist a silhouette similar to what the cuff of a long duster jacket would have. The other pieces are meant to emulate structures in the human arm. One could say the two parts in the forearm are like the radius and ulna, and the piece on the upper arm like the bicep. Please note the space left above the elbow, so the parts of the forearm chassis won't intersect with the upper arm chassis when the elbow is bent.
Braveheart's arm. Well -- it seems most of my careful design on the framework has been covered up. There will be an opening on the other side (another view I'll have to do) where the inner workings will be visible for a few shots. Plus I'll sleep better knowing the framework is there.
For anyone who uses After Effects -- If you haven't heard of a site called Video Copilot, I highly recommend you check it out. After browsing a few of Mr. Andrew Kramer's tutorials, I came up with this variation of the intro. I like the idea of the clouds -- The texture is nice enough, but since Carealot is mentioned later it might be nice to work on a matte painting and be zooming through the clouds with the text appearing and Carealot's ruins in silhouette in the background. We'll have to see about what works... that may not come until the end. Just documenting the creative process now...
The term "final animatic" suggests a rigidity that doesn't exist for this project. I work as part of the "final layout and character finaling" department at my studio -- who's job it is (amongst other things) to tweak little bits of timing and animation that make each moment as effective as possible. This happens long after the storyboards, animatic, layout and animation are "done". As I mentioned last week the animatic is about laying a foundation in 2d for the overall timing, framing and shot choices for the film. We will often get a note that the client wants to hold on the character's expression for another half a second, or to hold that pose longer, or lose that set piece in the background it's not working. In theory this process could go on indefinitely -- I think it was Leonardo Da Vinci that said, "Art is never finished. It is only abandoned."
So far I'm happy with the results--not abandoning it yet. After a few revisions during the week we've come out the other side successfully. The running time is back up to about 1400 frames -- just shy of one minute. The sound still needs a lot of work, but a scratch track is standard procedure at this point -- something that can be discarded later. I've worked with foley artists before, and it's really hard for them to do what they do with an incomplete visual. So the audio is just a placeholder for now -- again to give us an overall sense of what's happening.
It's really just a matter of watching it over and over again, until you make the changes that feel right. At least that's how I've been working it -- for me timing is really intuitive -- I'll watch a clip over and over again with my finger hovering over the space bar (pause button) and, like a gunslinger on a quick draw, try to catch the correct moment to cut to the next shot -- I like to think it's worked out so far.
As we move past the asset phase and in to layout and animation there's always room for a few more changes to make things flow better.
Enjoy
Next week the Design Package is due -- which will contain character, prop, and set designs. Turn arounds for each character -- and likely another revision of the animatic.
The exodus continues -- and we're getting there. I continued to work with the timing and played with effects on the text.
The idea for the introductory text came about due to the big empty space in the beginning -- and also as a bit of context -- hopefully by mentioning the Care Bears before the visual someone will have an "ah ha" moment and figure out we're watching Braveheart Lion before his name comes up.
24 hours for changes left -- I probably won't be strict with this deadline -- always room for changes, but we'll have something solid to look at tomorrow.
