Mmm, renders!

f1: squirrel character has a broken texture map, will be fixed in rig file. blinn reflectivity on referenced building is at default reflectivity, will be fixed in source file.

f2: not textured, simple procedural shaders for test render, will be fixed in source file.

Shots 2 & 3

Incomplete, obviously not textured/lit/modeled completely. Here's my blocking 2.5 for scenes 1 & 2. I'll continue to tweak and improve over the next 4-5 weeks, these are by no means final. And of course there's still lots of scene work to go (the squirrel is completely in stepped, for example). So take this worth its weight as a pre-anim rather than a final.

woo!

Following a slump in which I slacked miserably and did not give close to my usual 110% I am once again in the saddle! Epic animations ensue. More importantly, I'm putting a hold on modeling since that was what was distracting me from Animating. So I have a slew of unfinished buildings chilling in my Construction folder calling my name.

No physical updates otherwise, unless you want some playblasts of shot 2... yeah, didn't think so. XD

Best screencap EVER

So I was working on my animation tweaks and was checking things from a non-cam angle to see how awkward they were and was working in perspective cam with this view.

imagine my giddy excitement when I realized that the peanut he was throwing was perfectly captured on keyframe 59 at this angle.

I hate graph tweaking.

Dear god, do I despise it. Every time I DON'T have to animate in 3D I think "wow, I'd love to be a 3d animator instead of a traditional!"... then I actually have to animate with graphs and I realize that I would rather skin my eyeballs with a toothpick than try and animate in Maya.

I love love LOVE modeling. I love rigging. I love scripting and texturing and lighting and all that wonderful, tasty stuff that makes life worth living. but if there's one thing I'm learning every day I'm forced to do it its that I REALLY hate animating in 3D. REALLY DO.

So SCAD, give me my Character TD major. I am in dire need of it. 'Cause it's traditional animation and 3D TD for me, baby.

Apologies

I'd like to apologize for not keeping on top of this blog. Between the house and roommates, the dogs, and my partner I had more than enough reasons to avoid spending time on my work and updating here. I'll admit I've been distracted and feel guilty for not giving my usual 110% towards my classes right now, but recent events have regrettably left me with a great deal of free time that I need to fill to keep myself sane and you can bet that it'll now be spent on Maya.



anyway, here's my peace offering. it's a static rigged completed truck model with articulated motion, auto-rolling wheels (wheels rotate in the direction the truck is traveling so the animator doesn't have to deal with it), axle compression (shock compression), and cargo jiggle. it will appear in my scenes for approximately 3 seconds but I'm damn proud of it.

Now I start on the car(s) and knock that out as well as going after blocking 2 with a vengeance. I have to hit this hard. I need the distraction right now.

more truck

feels good.

Screenshots and stills

Here's the house model I've been picking at. Not too much invested, a few hours at best. of course not textured nor lit just yet.



aaand here's a screenshot of the truck model I'm working on. only about 1 hour into this.



woo.

Oh, Maya...

How I love it when your license fails in the middle of my workflow.

Scripting and macros in MEL

Mmmm, scripting. I wrote a standard volume-preservation back stretch script (simple but a good first project) completely by trial and error. the first few times i had syntax errors like forgetting the semicolon at the end of a line or adding a space between an underscore and a word but it works great and shall be part of my rig.

Monty was retarded-ly closed for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th... thus prohibiting any kind of academic advancement. LAME. couple that with being closed on Sundays and I'm honestly not sure how they expect us to actually DO our work. bloody hell, y'all.

I'm going to go over to York hall after class today and sign up to become a tutor for Digital Form, Space, and Lighting, Animation 1 & 2, Survey of Computer Arts and Advanced Survey of Computer Arts, and Rigging. The requirement is an A in the class and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above... so basically I could tutor any of the classes I've taken except art history, that blasphemous pox upon my otherwise-perfect 4.0.
so if anybody out there wants a tutor for anything (Maya especially) pick me! You get excellent help and I get paid by the school at no cost to you. :)

*scurries off to learn macros*