Design Package WIP

Hey Everyone --

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...