Sound for Georgi

Music that we are looking at will give more info....

Script including Lighting, Camera, animation,

Faith based animation

I found this interesting article on faith and animation.

Keeping the Faith: TV Animation Promoting Religious Values

Karen Raugust looks into how major general-market distributors, retailers and studios keep an eye on Christian-themed animation sector.

By Karen Raugust | Monday, October 30, 2006 at 12:00 am

Christian consumer interests were bolstered by the success of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (above) and The Passion of the Christ. © Disney Enterprises Inc. and Walden Media Llc. All rights reserved

The success of Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, like The Passion of the Christbefore it, has reminded retailers, Hollywood studios, networks and animation houses of various sizes that Christian consumers exist, and that they are willing to spend on family-friendly andvalues-based entertainment.

Popular general-market properties with Christian themes, such as Narnia, “continue to help remind buyers and retailers that these faith-based customers are there and that they will buy other products as well,” says Dan Lynch, svp and publisher of Tommy Nelson, a Christian publisher that distributes DVDs to Christian stores.

Lynch points out that faith-based properties can do well in all channels of distribution, from Christian stores to discounters. Christian author Max Lucado, for example, has driven sales of 50 million books for adults and children, with a significant percentage of those occurring outside Christian channels. (He also is responsible for the number two children’s DVD franchise in Christian stores, after Veggie Tales, Tommy Nelson’s Hermie & Friends.)

Properties like Narnia have an influence in Hollywood, too. “Producers look to what’s working,” says Denis DeShazer, evp/exec producer at Exclaim Ent., which creates Christian-themed animation for preschoolers and families. “Something like Narnia certainly catches the eye of the studios.”

Studios Join the Fray
A number of major studios have been interested in Christian-themed entertainment after the successes of Narnia andThe Passion, among others. One of the most significant initiatives has come from 20th Century Fox Home Ent., which partnered with Word Distribution, a leading Christian distributor, to form the DVD imprint FoxFaith in early 2006. The banner encompasses productions with overtly Christian content, often based on stories and books by bestselling Christian authors. They will be released on DVD, sometimes supported by limited theatrical runs.

An animation property from FoxFaith is The Bug Rangers (formerly The Roach Approach), from Wacky World Studios, with 3D animation done by Wet Cement Prods. (Wacky World formerly had a distribution agreement with EMI, but FoxFaith bought the rights.) The four episodes, the first of which debuted a year and a half ago, feature four cockroaches that tell Bible stories. Distribution is in Christian stores only, but is expected to widen once licensed products become available to supplement the videos, according to Wacky World’s president and founder, Bruce Barry. The company has signed with licensing agent United Media.

20th Century Fox Home Ent. has partnered with Word Distribution to form FoxFaith, which acquired The Bug Rangers, sold in Christian stores only. © 2006 Wacky World Studios Llc. All rights reserved.

DIC Ent. also entered the faith-based market in 2006, forging a joint venture called Promise Media with Thomopoulos Prods. “It was formed to provide high-quality, positive-value programming for families,” says Tony Thomopoulos, president of Thomopoulos Prods. and co-founder of Promise Media. “We develop value-based properties and incubate them in faith-based stores, then migrate into the secular market.” The first releases are expected in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Exclaim Ent. was founded by Dennis DeShazer, one of the creators of Lyrick Studios’ Barney the Dinosaur (now owned by HIT Ent.), and Jon Green, also a graduate of Lyrick, in 2003. It became part of Reel FX Creative Studios, a 12-year-old, 100-employee company with studios in Dallas and Southern California, shortly thereafter. Exclaim’s goal is to create entertainment properties for children and families that include faith values as well as educational concepts, DeShazer says.

Its first property is BOZ, The Green Bear Next Door, a Christian brand for preschoolers. The first two DVDs, each of which contain three 15-minute episodes plus extras, released in March 2006, debuting as one of the top three children’s DVD brands in the Christian market, according to Exclaim. They were followed by additional titles in August and November 2006, and four more are in production.

Even the Vatican is getting into the children’s animation field, distributing a DVD that tells the story of the life and death of Pope John Paul II. Called Pope John Paul II: The Friend of All Humanity, the DVD is being created by Barcelona’s Cavin Cooper Prods. and producer Jose Luis Lopez-Guardia, in partnership with the Vatican Television Centre.

Wide Range of Content

The spectrum of faith- or values-based content encompasses all styles of animation, from 3D to Flash, and ranges from stories that feature family-friendly, positive values to overt Christian productions that tell Bible stories, include prayers, or feature characters from the Bible.

BOZ, for example, stars in titles such as Thank you God for… Colors and Shapes. Stories reflect how preschoolers experience God and explain how God loves them, DeShazer says. They include prayers that preschoolers and families can say together, as well as physical comedy and catchy music. (There is also a series of BOZ books from Christian publisher Zonderkidz.) Exclaim also is doing a one-off half hour called The Very First Noel, a family production that tells the story of the first Christmas. “Consumers are very eager for something that tells ‘the reason for the season’,” DeShazer reports.

Exclaim offers the BOZ Thank You God for… series (left) that include prayers, physical comedy and catchy music. It also produced a half-hour video, The Very First Noel, for the home video market. © 2006 Reel FX Inc.

Promise Media will develop a combination of general values-based content and faith-based productions. “We try and have values that represent everyone’s point of view,” says Thomopoulos. “It’s not running away from the Bible. There are Judeo-Christian values behind it, but there’s a universality to it.” He cites a full-length animated DVD feature based on It’s A Wonderful Life as a quintessential Promise Media program. It is about the Bailey family, with one of the sons, now 10 years old, serving as the protagonist. He misplaces his library money and thinks he has no value, until the guardian angel Clarence hears his story and shows him what the world would be like without him.

The company is also developing other properties with a stronger Christian message, such as The Animated Adventures of Sophie and Sam. Written by Tori Cloud, the wife the bestselling author Dr. Henry Cloud, Sophie and Sam is based on the Boundaries concept made famous in Dr. Cloud’s books, which sell in both Christian and secular stores.

Flying Rhinoceros is looking for wider appeal for its faith-based animation. On the Farm features Vince Gill, Amy Grant and Randy Travis, who are popular in mainstream country and Christian music. © 2006 On the Farm Llc.

Thomopoulos formerly worked at The Family Channel, and that led him to the idea behind Promise Media, which is to create content that the core, strongly faith-based audience of The Family Channel would be happy with, but that also has appeal to a wider audience. “What I saw there was an enormous appetite for positive-value content,” Thomopoulos says. “It’s not just about the content, it’s about building a brand that people will come to trust to deliver this content. That’s a very big part of it.”

Flying Rhinoceros, a publishing and entertainment property developer, also creates faith-based animation that it hopes will have a wider appeal. “We’re genuinely reaching out to a general market audience as well as a Christian market, without it feeling forced,” says Ranjy Thomas, president. One of the company’s scriptural properties, On the Farm, features the voices of Vince Gill, Amy Grant and Randy Travis, country singers who are popular both in mainstream country music and Christian music. “That was intentional,” Thomas says. “Both markets call them their own.”

He adds that the general market is not usually turned off by a Christian property if it’s respectful to all faiths, and if the faith message is associated with a specific character or characters. For example, people from all belief systems liked the classic TV show The Waltons, he says, which was about a family for which faith played a great role. “I’d like to think that anything we create will be well-received by both markets,” Thomas explains.

Most Christians don’t know where a Christian bookstore is so Christian videos are coming to where middle America shops. Hermie, will be distributed in mass merchants, specialty stores, drug and grocery outlets. © Tommy Nelson.

Retail Distribution
Many marketers of faith-based and values-based DVD animation establish their properties first in Christian stores, before expanding into the secular market, which includes traditional toy, gift, and entertainment stores as well as department stores and discounters. “They absolutely want to see you succeed,” DeShazer says of the Christian stores, many of which have been boosting the number of children’s DVDs they carry.

But the size of the Christian market is limited. “The CBA [Christian Bookseller Assoc.] market has a cap that limits its potential,” explains Lynch, noting that these stores are a destination for Christian and inspirational material, but just a small percentage of that is for children and a small percentage of that is DVD. “There’s only so much floor space,” he says, adding, “The real growth is outside the CBA market.”

Barry points out that with Veggie Tales and Hermie & Friends so dominant in Christian stores, it can be difficult for a new property to succeed even there. “It’s hard to break through that barrier,” he says, reporting that The Bug Rangershas managed to do so, selling about 400,000 units in the last year and a half.

Tommy Nelson is about to announce a mainstream distribution agreement for Hermie & Friends, with product expected to hit secular shelves in 2007. Another Tommy Nelson-distributed property, Flying Rhinoceros’s On the Farm, is sold exclusively at Wal-mart (outside of Christian channels), according to Thomas. Other Christian DVD properties from the company, also with Tommy Nelson, including The Horned Avenger and Princess Gigi.

Faith-based animation properties are usually launched in the direct-to-video format. Tony Thomopoulos, of Promise Media, for example, plans direct-to-video as its main launch platform, but doesn’t preclude other distribution.

While there are more than15 million Americans who profess a Christian faith, “most don’t know where a Christian bookstore is,” Lynch says. “We want to be anywhere middle America shops.” Hermie, for example, will be distributed in mass merchants and specialty stores, as well as drug and grocery outlets. Noting that mass merchants have seen explosive growth in categories such as Christian music, Lynch believes it’s up to the video marketers and producers to educate buyers on the fact that Christian video will sell there, too. “It’s the same shopper,” he says.

Greg Fritz, vp marketing for Big Idea Prods., producer of Veggie Tales, notes that a new property has to succeed in secular stores right away, compared to the slower build it is allowed in Christian stores. Veggie Tales commands lots of space in stores such as Wal-mart, and has been merchandised on palettes and endcaps at Wal-mart, Target and Costco. But that success isn’t taken for granted. “We always have to be delivering the numbers,” Fritz says.

Jon Green, Exclaim’s evp/exec producer and BOZ co-creator, notes that traffic in Christian stores has been declining over the last decade. “There’s so much Christian content available at general retail in a substantive way,” he says. “Consumers no longer need to make a special trip for Christian content.”

So far BOZ is distributed only in Christian channels, through Provident, the Christian arm of Sony BMG, as well as via direct mail and on the Exclaim website. “We have larger and grander plans,” Green says. “But we’ve been very thoughtful in our business strategy and executed it deliberately.”

Thomopoulos says the key to establishing a property, especially in Christian stores, is “finding titles that have significance to the faith-based market.” In addition, building word of mouth is critical. “Viral marketing is a big aspect of it,” he adds, noting that Promise’s strategy is to talk to Christian groups about the company’s properties as they launch.

Similarly, FoxFaith reportedly has developed a network of 90,000 congregations through which it can distribute promotional materials. In fact, Narnia, The Passion of the Christ, The Bug Rangers and Veggie Tales all have been marketed to churches and church groups through tactics such as screenings, marketing materials, and lunch menus in parochial schools.

Direct-to-Video Is Prime Format
Typically, faith-based animation properties, whether half hours or full-length features, are launched in the direct-to-video format. Promise Media, for example, plans direct-to-video as its main launch platform, although “that doesn’t preclude other distribution,” Thomopoulos says.

Tommy Nelson’s properties are all direct-to-video, includingHermie, which has sold some two million units to date, all in Christian stores. “We’re building the experience base from the production itself rather than from TV,” Lynch says. “It’s a slower build, and we don’t have the financial resources [that a TV property would].” While properties such as Hermie compete with the SpongeBobs of the world, Lynch points out that Veggie Tales had sold nearly 50 million DVDs before debuting on television this fall.

The direct-to-video market relies on word-of-mouth to succeed, and therefore, Green cautions, “is very dependent on having programming that’s relevant to kids.”

“You have to have great content,” DeShazer agrees, noting that parents talk to each other about what DVDs to buy for their kids, especially when it comes to values-based programming. “They want to try new things, and they will tell their friends.”

Veggie Tales has been so successful on DVD over the last 14 years that it caught the eye of NBC, Telemundo and the i network (formerly PAX), which air it as part of the new qubo programming block. 3-2-1 Penguins and LarryBoy Adventures, two other series from Big Idea — a subsidiary of Classic Media, which, along with Nelvana and Scholastic, is a partner in qubo — also are part of the three-hour block.

The stories have been mainstreamed for TV, as NBC and its subsidiaries do not allow overt references to scripture or God. Big Idea created new opening and closing animation that takes place at the character Bob’s house; the new content bookends edited versions of the video episode storylines.

“We did have to adapt to network guidelines,” says Fritz. “But we saw it as a great opportunity to bring a quality program with a strong message based on a Judeo-Christian worldview. We would have loved the episodes to be brought over intact, but we can’t change network practices all at once.”

Streaming video might be in the future for Christian properties. Presently, some properties have a broadband audience; specially made episodes of The Horned Avenger run on Fraboom.com. © 2006 Horned Avenger Llc.

Wacky World is in talks with broadcasters about a series of 13 22-minute Bug Rangers episodes. It, too, would be a more mainstream version of the video production, without the overt Christian references. “It’s more like, ‘you shouldn’t have stolen the cookie, dude,” Barry says.

Lynch reports that there has been interest in Hermie from broadcasters, and that TV is a possibility for the future. The seventh Hermie & Friends DVD was just released, and numbers 8 through 11 are in various phases of production, so there are not enough episodes yet for television.

Meanwhile, Exclaim is looking into the possibility of The Very First Noel as a TV special; it will come out on DVD this November, no matter what the TV support. BOZ will remain a direct-to-video program, at least for the time being.

Thomas believes that streaming video will be a growth area as far as distribution of Christian properties is concerned. He notes that properties that have “very large niche audiences” can do well in the broadband space. Specially made episodes of On the Farm and The Horned Avenger run on a website called Fraboom.com, which features both Christian and general market properties. “It seems like a smart way to build a large audience,” Thomas says. “We may find a correlation between what’s streaming big and what’s selling in the general market stores.”

Not many Christian animation properties find their way to a theatrical release, but it can happen. A five-minute Bug Rangers short is screening in theaters before the Strawberry Shortcake movie. Universal Studios will release a second Veggie Tales feature film, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, in early 2008. The latter is a follow-up to the 2002 release, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, which grossed $25 million theatrically.

Karen Raugust is a Minneapolis-based freelance business writer specializing in animation, publishing, licensing and art. She is the author of The Licensing Business Handbook (EPM Communications).

Marios Texture Artist and UV Mapping

Objects modelled, uv mapped and textured by Marios for Leap of Faith.

needle
Rocking Chair
Shield of Faith
Sword of the Spirit
Owls Pearch

Breastplate of Righteousness

Librarians Chair

Bootles

Test textures for barrel and book....

Animatics

Monday 24th January

Group meeting with David Bull.

After showing David the revised animatics with changes made from the last meeting I was so glad that we spent time with him as he gave us some fantastic valuable tips. david was pleased with the animatics. The following tips were suggested.

1. Climbing down the ladder - To add a bit of hesitation by the foot stretching out to find the next step and to have a shot of the face look of shock as the step snaps from her weight.
2. Ink pot fall - To add hesitation when the pot falls of the edge as the weight makes it fall.
3. Shake - Lectern moves as the weight of the librarian slips and grabs hold of the edge.
4. Quote - To add the quote from the bible at the end of the animatics as it whites out to bring it back to the point.
5. To relate the ink from the ink pot relative to the doves. The ink pot will have doves carved into the holder. The inkpot will look old and embelished with doves. When the camera moves to the ink pot the ink pot will slightly explode/expand and a shimmer will go round the pot. This is a subtle effect to show the inkpot has some magical powers. Just a seed for the audience to know that the ink pot is special.

This is the revised animatics with more added to the beginning. Please see storyboard link for more information.

Alex Animation

Meeting with Alex Bax to discuss animation. 09.02.2011

After discussing the animation shot by shot....

Hi Depa, here is a transcription of what we were talking about for the shots.

I have made a few extra shots that may look interesting, and may flow a bit better, it will be clearer when i have done some storyboard panels.

Shot 1: Long shot/Full shot/Establishing shot - camera low, close to the runs of the ladder to sell the height. Lectern to look like a thrown show power. Owl is perched on stand on the left hand side of the lectern.

Shot 2: Medium Close up - Zoom in of the owl. not much movement, he can be static, and after 2 seconds blinks and ruffles a bit to show is not stuffed. Camera pans across to the librarian...

Shot 3: Medium lose up - Frontal shot of Lady writing. she is still, hardly any bodily movement. Hand is writing with secondary coming from the quill,

possibly some finger drumming. glasses slip down her nose, she stops them and pushes them further up her nose. Her head moves as she studies. Clock is ticking away in the background and the scene shows a clock close up as she is studying to show time passing...day and night.

Shot 5: Mid - Shot - Front - She yawns.

Shot 6: Mid - Shot - Side view, can see from her right that her spine is curving exaggeratedly. maybe some comical bone cracking noises.

Shot 7: Mid - Shot - looks at her watch

Shot 8: Extreme Close up of watch face to show time.

Shot 4: Extreme Close up - Ariel view She slams the book closed, we see by the cover it is a holy Bible.

Shot 7: Close up - Aerial view she climbs down from the lectern. hand on the side, other hand on the top run of the ladder.

Shot 8: Close up - Foot thumbles around looking for the next run of the ladder (may need to get some live action reference) foot comes down darkening camera.

Shot 9: front of character we see her face through the runs of the ladder, as she tries to steady the wobbling ladder. (ladder may need some rigging) (nice)

Shot 10: Close up - Owl starts looking agitated - faster blinking.

Shot 11: Close up Foot goes through a run of the ladder and she looses her footing!

Shot 12: Long shot Camera looking up - of her suspended Body is suspended in the air as she hangs on the ends of her fingers. Show height.

Shot 12: as she looks down, her glasses fall off and the camera speeds down the extra long ladder to catch them smashing on the ground,

to speed back up to the top. Showing if she falls she wont survive. Not sure if the smashing will occur we can cut the scene before it reaches the fall

Shot 13: Close up - Front view from the lectern at the struggling fingertips. Rocking back and forth rapidly as they try to take the weight. Fingers shuffle along.

Camera shunts along, bringing the ink bottle into view, knocking it off balance. after a comical little pirouette on the spot, the ink bottle falls away in slow motion (like this) The ink bottle will have a magical prescence so when the camera views the inkpot a glimmer of light will just encircle around the glass to show that it is special or magical.

Shot 14: Long Shot from down below as the bottle falls slow at first and covers the camera as it seems to fall through the camera.

Shot 15: Close up - Fingers loose grip one after another.

Shot 16: close up of the librarian eyes - film noir type lighting where the light is a strip across her eyes. show fear...mouth open eyes widening... as the she falls away into darkness.

Shot 17: Woman is silhouetted in the background, as the bottle falls in the foreground.

Shot 18: bottle smash and the contents (ink) spreads out and transforms into a spinning tornado of birds. over too Diogo. Yemi Modelling Doves

i have added some shots here and there Depa the help make sense, and some shots I combined into one.

i'll upload a storyboard as soon as i get it done.

Alex

03/02/2011 - Meeting with Alex to go through animation.

As discussed please see below what is needed for the animation. The shots are heavily governed by extreme camera angles, stretch and anticipation.

Please see below what is needed as discussed last on Thursday.

• Example animation using moom of a character sitting perched at a table studying with glasses. The pose is detrimental to the age and style of the character. So leaning over with head close to the book studying. I would like the character pondering head moving side to side and maybe pressing twill to her mouth. Secondary animation will occur with the twill. Writing whilst the feather moves. As she is studying her glasses slide down her nose and she moves them back up. She yawns looks at her watch and then stretches as she decides to call it a day.

• Studying characteristics maybe tapping fingers on the page. Hands or finger pressed on the lips or face as she is thinking...pondering...eyes moving along page...eyebrows move up as she finds an interesting text. She looks over to the ink pot.

As the animation goes...

1. The camera looks up at the lectern....extreme shot of looking up......A lot of the animation is looking up at or looking down as in order of power. The camera looks up at the lectern as in the animation I showed you then fixed on the owl.
2. The camera pans closer to the owl (zooms). The owl is in shadow with a beam of light across his eyes. Lit by candle light...As the camera zooms the owl twitches looks side to side generally in a calm state.


3. Next shot librarian sitting at the lectern studying. Please see above description. Include blinking. and eyebrow moving.


4. Ariel. Next shot she is looking up at the camera with hand closest to the camera as she is stepping down the ladder. Background blurred She in focus. Close up. She is looking straight at the camera.


5. She climbs down the ladder


6. As she climbs down she stretches her foot and thumbles to find the next step. The camera is looking below her so the foot and step almost on top of the camera. She steps down to the next step very carefully as she is old. The ladder wobbles as she climbs down.


7. Owl is seen again in the shadow..blinks...slightly agitated....


8. Next shot looking up at the the foot as it reaches the next step it snaps....her weight drops...then she grabs hold to the side of the lectern as she manages to find the next step again. Lots of shake from the fall. As she falls her glasses fall off and falls to the ground...might have the camera pan on the glasses as it falls.


9. She looks down then the camera pans quickly to the ground and back again to just get the picture of how far the fall is. She looks scared as her body is stretched as shes hanging on for dear life...


10. Close up her fingers Ariel view as shes holding to the side. she knock the ink pot it wobbles slowly build up anticipation and then suddenly fall in slow motion...her fingers slide off one by one Then she falls....


11. Looking up you see the bottle falling in slow motion and the librarian falling in the back ground. The bottle comes towards camera getting larger in larger..

Please look at this animation for stuff we discussed and look at storyboard with link I sent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq9wivMLzd0

Cheers Alex

Hi Alex

Thanks for the fingers sliding off shelf...

As discussed please can you incorporate in the animation the fingers sliding along the shelf and the index finger knocks into the ink bottle making it fall off the shelf. This causes her to slip of the shelf and fall.

Please can I also have the animation of where she is falling(birds eye view as she slowly falls and she falls into darkness. emphasis on the lighting across the eyes...(film noir style...) please see animatic for further details....

Please can I have it for next week..

This will do for now...

Cheers Alex

First Animation for the hand shot sliding off the shelf....Cool first test. Fingers need to be a little more fluid and as the hand slides along the index finger knocks into the bottle and the bottle falls off the shelf as well as the librarian. need pauses as each finger slides off. Remember that the hands fingers are gripping onto the shelf so the muscles are tight. fingers slide more then fluttering. and fingers move along the shelf. Nice one Alex....Love the index finger snapping back to regain grip looks cool....

Animation test for the fall....

Modeling The character

I must say I am very pleased with the outcome of this character. I had pretty much envisaged this character last year in April. Did the character come first or the story? I think it was the actual environment, character then the story. I wanted the character to resemble characteristics of myself likewise also the environment....A very hard working, committed, resilient, dedicated and loyal person that even when she feels that her life is dull she still carries on much too her detriment....her normal existence is soon shaken up....

From when I first pitched Leap of faith and being told that it would be better in 2D as most of the feedback given was that they could not see it in 3D has come a long way...this has been a challenging and rewarding experience. I was nervous at first to tackle this character as I knew it would be complicated as the style and design I wanted to meet the original concepts. I am very pleased with the outcome....The character in particular as this is where I want to focus..(character modelling and concepts). If I were to do the character again I would change the topology of the mouth as I do not like the way that it opens...the glasses I wanted more old eccentric mad scientist look. More in the detailing like button hanging off one thread.

I have learnt so much through modelling this character right through to rigging, texturing, Things to look out for when animating.

Finished textures for librarian - April 20th 2011

Rendered shots using ray tracing and Mental ray and final gathering.

Rigged Character by Clymbo


Textures given to Marios for Librarian

I can see the librarian wearing some old brogues...old school footwear...classic...like the double stitching and the worn out textures.

From the first test Marios gave me for the texture of the skin it was to clean and fresh looking. I suggested to have the skin looking like old leather...worn out with character lines and blemishes...
Old style buttons for the cardi. The cardi has three buttons. If we had more time I would have prefer them to be odd and one button hanging from a cotton thread. So when animating secondary animation can occur when she's walking...nice attention to detail...

More wrinkles.........
Old type granny socks over the nee but due too overuse the elasticity of the sock no longer hold s up so the Librarian is seen to be wearing over the knee socks that have slipped creating folds in the fabric...This is something I created in the geometry of the model.
This is more the style of shoe that I envisaged for the librarian. Oxford Brogues.....nice.....

Attention to detail creating the hole effect in the shoe.
Textures I gave to Marios when texturing.

Passed to Clym to Rig.....

modelling belt buckle and belt...

Seperating geommetry by selecting faces and extracting...

Pleats to be well defined and shaped around body.

Adding good old edge loops for sharp edges...

Getting there......working on skirt and belt and belt loop....

Distortions when mirroring now rectified by reducing the threshold.....

Front view
Side view
Top viewThis is where I am smoothing out....its looking like my character.....

Working on glasses...still deciding the style of glasses not sure if I want round or half reading glasses...

Working on hair...She has a bob style hair cut but I just wanted to add some geometry to put in some edges.

Vertices merging together to create triangles in areas.

problems with mirroring geometry...some areas triangulate so to get round this I reduced the threshold and it seemed to work....

Sorted it by reversing normals.....

getting the eyebrow to come down over the eye to give a more elderly look...tweeking vertices to get the right look.

Forming the nose

forming the lips...didn't want them to big but slightly pronounced. Small in comparison to the rest of the face.

Started of with small nostrils but later changed to larger nostrils to suit the shape of the nose.

Getting a feel for the kind of nose I want...decided on larger nostrils so merges with rest of nose.Doing the nose although I might ditch the nose and do the mouth first as the nose covers the mouth....dughhhhh!! Main muscle around the eye Obicularis Occuli....the character expression (eye) closed, blink, open wide in shock, look down, look side to side, questioning, tired, scared, stretch...eyelid, eyebrows raised etc....

Wanted heavier lids as the character squints...although for rigging etc I decided to model the character with eyes open.

Getting the eye sorted....

Just getting the eye topology right by using less geometry as possible. Much of the time was spent tweaking the verts etc to get the right look.

Problems....problems....problems....Had one of those crap days where everything you do maya decides it doesn't want to play with you...Tried different methods of modelling this character and decided in the end to ditch the original as I was having probs with the curve tool and I didn't like the way I was going with it. Since this is a stylised character rather then realistic this is heavenly governed by organic shapes so I decided to stick with poly modelling but not originating from a box but rather a sphere I then used the lattice tool to shape the face.

The effect was much closer to the design....Spent a day faffing around as when I smoothed out my model creases were apparent as if it was made from paper...this wasn't right...I then realised that there was a glitch for some bizarre reason when extruding the vertices weren't merging. So when I merged the verts it seemed to smooth out ok. FINALLY....

3D Modelling

Modelling is the process of taking a shape and molding it into a complete 3D mesh. Taking a primitive and extend or grow into the shape that can be refined and detailed from single points (vertex), lines (edge) a curve (spline) to three dimensional objects (faces or polygons).

I will be exploring different techniques in modeling my character...

1. Spline or patch modeling - A curve bezier curves or nurbs. A cage of splines is created to form a skeleton of the object. The software then creates a patch of polygons that extend between the two splines. forming a 3D skin. Spline modeling is often used in hard objects like cars, buildings, furniture. Not ideal for character modeling.
2. Box Modeling - Bears closer resemblance to traditional sculpting. Start with a primitive shape and begin adding detail. Downside to this method of modeling I found is that it takes a lot of time tweaking to the final shape You want.
3. Poly modeling/ edge extrusion - Perhaps the most effective and precise technique. In poly modelling a 3D mesh is created point-by-point, face-by-face. Often starting with one single quad. and extruding the edge of the quad. creating more quads. I have found it is not as quick as box modeling and requires less tweaking. One has to think more of the geometry of the shape and in my case muscle formation. This method is best used for organic modeling.

Outcome: Generally I have tried all methods and for my final character I will be trying all the above methods to suit whatever part of the character.

Difference of shapes....

I watched this fantastic tutorial on how topology can greatly affect the smoothing of a model by Greg Petchkovski. He demonstrates key concepts to avoid unwanted smoothing artifacts.

TOPOLOGY IS SIMPLY THE WIRE FRAME PATTERN OF A POLYGON MESH.

Terminology

• Subdivision Surface: A popular method of modeling using a low resolution polygon mesh which is then smoothed to produce a well rounded model. Its advantage is to produce high polygon results while only creating a low poly mesh. - Sub Divs
• Base Mesh - The subdivision model without applying smoothing
• Smoothing artifacts - Unwanted smoothing problems caused by bad topology
• In line Edge - An extra line of topology that allows control of corners in subdivision modelling
• Pole - Where 3, 5 or more edges meet. While 4 meeting edges might be called a 4 sided pole it is rarely refer ed to as one because it is considered normal in sub div on surfaces

Keep exclusively to four sides...3sides produces lumps as well as 5 etc.

Dense meshes are difficult to work with in animating an texturing.

in line edges create smoother edges.

poles - vertex with many edges connected to it. minimise number of poles.

Removing non quads- removing and turning edges..

Reducing unwanted details. - using to many edges can add problems. Bad topology can create problems for rigging..animation and unwrapping etc... During the course of my modeling I will keep in touch with Clym to make sure the topology works with the rigging.

Found this awesome tutorial...gives a good description and shows good topology....Following muscles...

Modelling the character

Resource:

http://www.infinitee-designs.com/Tutorials-Maya-1.htm

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/412347/Maya---Real-Time-Character-Modelling-Tutorial

http://www.thehobbitguy.com/tutorials/polymodeling/page04.htm

http://www.viz.tamu.edu/courses/tutorials/sajan/index.html

http://www.garycmartin.com/mouth_shapes.html

http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/maya/dobby/

Looking at tutorials head extrusion method

This tutorial inspired me to do this model with a poly plane

For this section my goal is to look at different modelling techniques to model the character

• edge extrusion method
• using single polygon to form shape
• using cylinders
• curves
• box modelling

I will be using various tools such as the smooth tool. Looking at muscle formation that will relate to the areas of movement

that my character the librarian will be using.

I will experiment by using nurbs and polys, how to create

creases and refine edges. I will be looking at topology and good edge flow within the mesh.

Looking at the geometry for good edge flow following the muscles - Orbicularis Oculi - eyes, Occipital, Temporal muscles front and top of head, Orbicularis Oris - Mouth, Superior Auricular muscle of the side, = Main muscles please see diagram for a more detailed analysis of the muscles to understand good edge flow.

Eye detail is very important for my character as she is old so heavy ness of the eye muscle sometimes overhanging to display sagging and wrinkles at the corner of the eye using closer edges to define edge.

Blocking out the body....using basic nurb sphere using isoparms and hulls to the acquired shape. Constructing the collar with an opening seam restricted the circle shape to form the collar. When I detached the isoparm that sets the opening for the shirt when

duplicating the isoparm it disconnected parts thus not forming a fluid singular shape. I tried to merge...connect this but it created other deformations when lofting. Toresolve this I just created the basic shape using the Isoparms and lofting it without the detached seam. I took both the body and collar converted it to Polys and cleaned up topology. This took some time but result was successful.

The reason I used nurbs is to achieve a rounded organic shape to add weight on the belly.

As you can see from the above two frames when converting the nubs shape to polys some odd bits of topology occurred. I then went over the modeling and corrected edge flows deleted where not needed and added where needed. Cleaned up the topology so lines flow and quads.

Using basic cylinders to create the geometry.

Following digital tutors and box modeling for face...I used this method previously for my aviator boy character....I found that it takes far to long to get the desired effect by tweaking....Although starting to get the shape I wanted making sure to use clean edge flow.

Using curves to create the shape. I am much happier with the look of this so far so will continue with this wonderful world of using edge lines and curves...

Daft as it may seem when using the curves at first I had problems with seeing the curve shape in a 3D format so I created a basic curved shape and extruded edges to build.