Flower Story Commentary and Credits

Just finalized the commentary we recorded for Flower Story!  The whole ordeal took two days to record our 9 commentary tracks, some in multiple takes.  I cut it all together with the music using Adobe Premiere (mainly because I already knew how to use Adobe Premiere.)

The commentaries ranged between cool technical behind-the-scenes to totally non-technical ribbing and goofing on each other.  They will be showing up on the DVDs we will producing, along with our movies and any other extras for both movies, making them well worth the price of admission.

Participate in a recorded commentary session?  Check one life goal off!

I also have some (really) quick sketches of the characters I threw together for our credits artist.  I boarded out the poses for him, so he just had to repaint them in the style we were using.  I absolutely love our credits.  It draws the entire production to a close, and it somehow reflects what's going on with our lives, how we're all moving on in different directions after finishing the project.  (Eventually, when I am allowed to post the movie online, that will make a bit more sense.)

(Check out the Flower Story Facebook page here.)

High Heel Boot with Textures and Maya camera in 3DS Max

I finished up texturing the boot and call this model complete!  It's just textured directly from the orthos I had; it looks okay, but more importantly, it was quick.  And with that, I'd say I have a good grasp at modeling in 3DS Max.  I'm ready to move onto the next project.

Another great step, I found a free maya-style camera for Max script.  If anyone else has this problem, check it out here: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/plugins/mems-max2maya-maya-viewport-navigation-in-3ds-max

I believe that one should learn the controls of a program, rather than try to replace them with another.  However, since I've been going back and forth between Maya and Max so often, this became a godsend.  Really, I'm comfortable with both styles, but it's good to be able to stick with one, just so there isn't that minute of mental lag when trying to get back into a project.

Lutra Orthos

Just finished up the orthos for Lutra, my League of Legends style character.  Unfortunately, with the chaos going on right now between school and potential work, I won't be able to start until the summer.  C'est la vie;  part of the battle is already won!

High Heel Boot

This is just a low poly model I threw together in 3DS Max, as a way to familiarize myself with how the program works.  I used box modeling, and a photographs of a boot as reference.

The transition between Maya and Max isn't too bad, but there are some things I'm used to that may be hard to replace.  The biggest thing is camera controls; camera has to be second nature, and I keep second guessing myself now.  Also, it feels harder to do planar modeling in Max, but that may be because I don't have experience in it yet.  Next step, texturing!

Life Drawing Schmorgasboard

A collection of life drawings from the past 2 years in the UCF Visual Language program.  More to come!

Lutra Character Concept

This was a concept piece I made for a portfolio application to FIEA, a masters program at the University of Central Florida.  The assignment was to create concept art for an existing game that matched the style.  I chose to design an original League of Legends character, complete with splash screen art, in-game mockup, lore tie-in, and skill list!  One of my projects for this upcoming summer will be to model, texture, and rig this character.  I'll also be redesigning the skills from ground up, and animating each one after the character is finished.

Oh, and I was admitted in to FIEA.  Good times!

Flower Story Facial Rigs

Here is a demo of the facial rigs I did for both of the Flower Story Characters, as well as a sneak peek at what we've got going on in the movie.



It was my job to finish up both of the face models, and make sure that all of the edgeflow was in the right places.  I also built the facial GUI from scratch to my own design.  All of the controls were done using (60 or more) blendshapes.  I was interested in using joints, but when I looked into it, it would have taken too much time considering where I was in the process.  Perhaps my next character will have a more joint-y face.

Silhouette Animation

The challenge of this animation was to use a prop, and to do everything in silhouette.  It was a very clever way for us to learn to animate to the camera.

I decided to use a character as a prop, as well as another prop, becuase I knew someone would have to have experience with this to animate a scene in the upcoming Flower Story film.  This animation helped us solve a couple rig problems, and gave me a bit of insight into how to get it done.  Also, it ends with a double Simba, because we all like Disney that much.

Flint Environment Walk

This was a test of our Flower Story character rig for Flint, the larger of the two.  The challenge was a walk through an environment with a jump (and motivation to jump).  In hindsight now, there are several problems here or there, but it was a nice test.

Also, this project has taught me to appreciate FK a lot more.

Flower Story - Chip Character Design

Here is the redesign for our little character.  Exactly what we predicted, the two characters didn't work out due to the method we were using; the characters didn't resonate with each other, and neither of them really worked in the environment we had picked.  (This is what happens when you blue-sky the environment while also developing characters.)  As a group, we decided to completely scrap what we had done, and completely remodel the characters.

We formed a character design group to discuss what we liked and disliked about everyone's characters, and then split up to work on the redesigns.  I worked on our little guy with Ashley DeMattos, and this is what we ended up with.  A lot of elements were taken from my original designs (which the group had picked as a potential design) and we smoothed out a bit here and there.

What we were going for was a little more cliché.  We wanted something that the audience would immediately accept, so they can start sympathizing with the character.  I based the little guy off of an animal.  He's got a cute and expressive face, but his brows and nose should still read as a sort of carved statue (mixing in the hard edges with the organic shape.)  We decided to keep the hood, since it really resonated with the guardian-guarded feel of the big guy to little guy.  I described the dynamic as a medieval knight and a medieval archer.  One is slow, strong, and moves with intent, and the other is quick, perceptive, and energetic.