El Bandito

Sheriff rigging

2009-06-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Marshall rigging

2009-06-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

Marshall rigging video for submission. Sheriff rigging video and El Bandito animation reel to follow.

Shot 14_15

2009-06-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Harvey and myself got by the hand screwing up in the end by just cleverly changing the focal length and camera position. People find this shot quite amusing so it seems the rig screwing up the hand, and his right arm glitching out doesn't matter so much! Yay! Basically I couldn't get the hand to stay in place because the upper body controls always affect it - an this shot really pushed the boundaries of the rig.

Shot 60 further tweaks

2009-06-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

Shot 60 - back to 62 frames (so it has not been extended at all), minus the aggressive throw which was a bit much after trying to help El Bandito. This way it's more like he's just completely stupid again - and his emotions are fickle.

Shot 60 con tweaks

2009-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

The general consensus was that after the emotion in the split screen shot - the con cuts straight into complete disregard for el bandito. There was no change in emotion whatsoever. This is far from perfect - but I think without lengthening the shot much more (this is taking it from 62 to 80 frames already), something like this hopefully does the job.

Shot_59_Split_screen

2009-06-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today I was doing the prisoner animation on the split screen shot, to go with El Bandito on the right. I think they both need a little work yet.

Shot 16 latest attempt

2009-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

New ending

2009-06-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Newer ending with more finessed animation - 61C Bandit shot waiting for Marshalls and Sheriff which Josh is going to do. Happy with 61A/B, C might need more finessing once Marshalls done. Very last two shots jus need work on the hands sliding a but up and down the bars.

New blocked out final shot

2009-06-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

I took the head turns out of this shot also - jus to keep the pace in the film. So this is something I'll be finishing very soon, I need to go through and do another pass, and then start splining bits, and tidying it all up.

Added breathing and toned down head movments...

2009-06-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is what I posted previously jus comp'd into the shot with some added heavy breathing which works quite nicely - also I have toned down the head movements a tad jus beacuse it was a bit much. Obviously just done the Bandit here.

Final Prison descent shot

2009-06-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the pull at bars shot, minus the head turns (taken out for pacing reasons)...with the added drop from above.

I am really liking this one now, if the render comes out nice I would definately use a portion for my reel i imagine.

Shot 14/15

2009-06-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

This shot has always been problematic as one of the weaknesses of the rig is that its very difficult to keep his hands in place whilst properly moving his torso. It is one of the places a stretchy IK setup could have really helped, but I have tried to do my best, and with a little camera shake - as I've tried to do a test with here - I think it can still work.

I've also combined the two shots in agreement with Harvey and Josh, and so now he jumps for the train, CUT, then we see the top of the train where he should have landed with the water tower in the distance, and the camera SWOOPS down to his actual position which is dangling along the side. It will really need his voice going ARGGHAAAAA-AAAHHHH at first to pull it off, and the wind really pelting along the side.

final shot 23 cam

2009-06-05T03:16:00.000-07:00

We all decided against the reverse tracking shot in the end - in favour of a more simple track in.

Blocked out first part of shot 62

2009-06-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

Starting to add in where El Bandito gets dropped into jail and the bars fall over him.

Bandit placement for Josh' first fight scene

2009-06-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

Some basic bits blocked out for the Bandit in Josh' first fight scene - just so all the Bandit stays consistent.

Shot 61 A/B combined

2009-06-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

This was going to be two shots - but we agreed it might as well be one, as the very slight angle change from a to b didn't really work. I added the bit where his arm drops at the start and some finger movement at the end just to keep him alive - I am now quite happy with the animation in this shot - and I am going to pass it on to maybe Josh to have the Sheriff jump up and tap him on the shoulder an then run to the left - but you'll only see the hat jus bobbing up and down - I think this will be a really nice little character gag.

Shots for render tuesday

2009-06-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've prepped shots 25, 28, 36 (what used to be 35) and tweaked 23 all ready for potential rendering tomorrow as the scheduling requires. Going back and tweaking the animations before rendering works out well, as I find when I don't see something for a while - it is easier to spot the problematic areas and quickly sort them out as oppose to working constantly on a shot looking at minute differences.

Shot 58 blockout

2009-06-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Video reference for last few shots

2009-05-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

Shot 58 reference

Shot 59 reference

Shot 62 reference (descent into prison)

Shot 40 reference (posing El Bandito in Josh' mines shot)

Shot_13 further tweaks

2009-05-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

Tweaked this a bit more on friday, It's not perfect, but its a bit snappier and Harvey seemed happy with it - so I think we're going to go with it. I wish I had more time to make every shot perfect but unfortunately I don't.

Bandit for shot 27

2009-05-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

This needs a bit of tweaking - but essentially its so fast as the bullet shoots overhead I think it'll work quite well. Below is the actual shot - El Bandito will be just in front of the door at the end, and duck at the last minute.

Jail cell pre-newspaper shot

2009-05-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

Final_two_shots_BLOCKED_OUT

2009-05-28T06:12:00.000-07:00

Spent yesterday afternoon and the morning today blocking out this last shot - as its ended up 315 frames, we've decided to cut it into two and then in between have the newspaper with the still of him looking horrified holding the bars.

We are going to lose the line up transition and him grabbing his name board, which I started to blockout and didn't love that much.

Shot_49

2009-05-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

Shot 9 tweaks....again...

2009-05-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Argh I still wasn't happy with it after the other day - but now I'm not going to tweak it anymore - I don't think it stands out as much - so I'm going to go with this - hopefully the nCloth will be easy to set up again....eeeeeeek

Tweaking shots for rendering

2009-05-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today I've been tweaking shots 9,10,11 and getting them ready for render. Shot 9 has been a constant thorn in my side ever since I did it, for some reason it never looks quite right, but I think it's better than it was, I just don't have time to play with it any longer, as it has to be rendered tommorrow and I want to get back to shot 49.

Ive left his head up so that when the scarf has got nCloth it will flap in front of his face.

Shot 49 (in progress)

2009-05-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to test parts on linear keys now, just to see how they're working - and im still happy with how it is going. Aim to have it finished by the end of the bank holiday weekend looking tidy.

Breakdown of what needs to be done on each shot

2009-05-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have analysed the remaining shots of mine to see what still needs to be done from trivial 5-minute tweaks to entire shot animations, it is useful to help see what's left and I would say I am on schedule to finishing these tasks.

Shot 9 - Just the timings are off slightly - essentially done, just a bit of graph editor work.

Shot 13 - Same, descent needs to be snappier, graph editor work.

Shot 14 - Will actually show more of the top of the train, and use the cycle I've already done of him holding on.

Shot 15 - Just need to sort out his left hand, and have him look left and right. Maybe a half a day work.

Shot 16 - Mostly sorted - the descent is a bit jerky, tweaked after talking with kanika, poses are working more or less.

Shot 20A - Need to swap in the poster - Josh needs to nCloth the poster also, and waistocoat.

Shot 23 - Just the look up at the end needs work. Mostly okay, rest of group like for the most part.

Shot 28 - Need to extend by 10 frames to fit the music (20 minutes work)

Shot 29 - Bandit falling back as train speeds up - He's not actually anywhere near the sheriff when this happens, and kanikas done a nice animation of that already - so not sure if needed.

Shot 35 - Just needs to be extended by 8 frames, so can just have him put his gun down, and josh needs to add the ncloth.

Shot 49 - Only blocked out, needs another maybe day and a half work (2 characters)

Shot 55 - Only blocked out roughly, but isn't a complicated shot.

Shot 56 - Same as above.

Shot 57 - Just a c.u. of face - facial expression work.

Shot 60 - Arm drops and expression - got good reference for this.

Shot 61B - Simply looks at sheriff - already blocked out.

Shot 61c - Looks at camera - marshalls grab him, not sure who's doing marshalls at this point.

Shot 62 - Blocked out - days work

Shot 66 - Needs doing but have solid reference

Also may have to pose the bandit in a couple of josh' shots, but this wont take long at all.

Shot 61/62 Blocked out

2009-05-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Essentially what will happen here is El Bandito just looks out at the camera as the Marshalls grab him, and then drop him into the next shot as the Police Line Up drops down behind him, and subsequently the bars and prison cell drop down over him.

Shot 25 'In situ'

2009-05-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's shot 25 - the hiccup/gunfire shot 'In situ' to coin Harvey's favourite Latin terminology (must be industry lingo!). I like the facial gestures a lot more when it's put together and am pretty happy with the sheriff piece preceeding it and obviously the bit where the driver gets knocked over. All in all - im content with the animation I've done in this sequence.

Shot 49 blocked out

2009-05-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling this - this is one of the sequences that has been in my head from day one really. Now I need to go through with a second pass - at the moment its about 90 frames with 12 maybe key poses I wanted the two of them to hit, I'll now go through and do all the breakdowns and inbetweens, like the step at between frame one and the con grabbing him, and his arc through the air as he's thrown.

Shot 21

2009-05-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Shot_14_various

2009-05-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

type 1

type 2

type 3

Shot_5 tweaked

2009-05-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Shot_54

2009-05-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

First sequence with new map shots

2009-05-13T03:27:00.000-07:00

WIP with new map shots - I attempted to use a skeletal system in the map to keep nCloth at a minimum, I think it works quite well.

Shot 53_54 transition

2009-05-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Shot 53 - Looney run

2009-05-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my reference for this shot, I wanted to make it really cartoony as a lot of the Bandito shots are mid or close ups with not a hell of a lot of action. Also this is a loose homage to 'A Case Of Mistaken Identity', Harvey and my ambitious 1st year film, in which Harv (possibly accidently ^_^) animated a wonderful anticipation and then dash shot of the Detective. I think it really is sentiment to our progress and the character's we like to create - as the Bandit is not too far removed from the Detective in year one.

This is the shot WIP. literally just taken off stepped and slightly extended - no graph editor work as of yet.

Shot 23 - Attempted escape through door

2009-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

This is one camera move for the shot in which the Sheriff and Marshalls are looming over the Bandit as he attempts to pull the door open and escape the train. I attempted a reverse tracking shot, and we're still unsure whether to use this, have the camera panning in on the Bandit to show more of his expression, or panning out to frame the marshalls more and emphasise they've trapped him.

First Bandit shot

2009-05-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

This is the first bandit shot, the first 40 frames are still because the poster needs to transition perfectly into the face. I tried to keep it quite subtle, and just show some empathy for the character.

Wanted poster replacing card, and other bandit shots

2009-05-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some new shots of mainly just reactions and things, more importantly is how we changed the sheriff jumping on the table holding one of the playing cards he had, to him getting out the wanted poster, just to further emphasise the connection between wanted bandit, and the law. We dropped the close up of the sheriff badge in favour of this and I think it works much better as a story telling device.

As i look at this I think a lot of these shots need bits shaved of either end, they're all a bit stale at the beginning and/or end, so just needs that flow to be really nice. I think it hangs on the wanted poster for too long as well.

Shot 13 problems

2009-05-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Reference for shot 13, we thought maybe he would trip as he jumped to the train and then it makes sense as to why he's dangling on.

But getting the camera angle right and really selling it as a trip seemed very problematic.

Marginally better, but still more of a sky dive than a trip.

Eventually I ended up going back to the original idea, that he leaps properly for it, then we also don't give away the joke later of him hanging on the side where he's missed it too early.

Shot 17

2009-05-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

This was some admittedly dodgy reference for the shot in which he jumps up after smashing through the train carriage window. But at least im willing to throw myself into the role whole heartedly, i consider myself as somewhat of a method actor, I walk around the house dressed up as a cowboy with a cap gun, and the other day i tried to hold up a train.

Here is shot 17 as so far, Mike and Dan saw it as I was working on it and decided there should be slightly more twist in the hips, that the gun needs to feel heavier, and that his left arm should kind of flow more, so I tried to integrate these elements best I could with the constraints of the rig, as its not completely perfect for the hip and shoulder twist, and the Ik hands dont stay where they are when you rotate the hips.

Shot 61 a,b,c

2009-05-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

Just to run through how I am doing most shots...I'll have the storyboard (or piece of the blockout) with the length in mind from the shot list.

If it is a shot that lends itself to having reference, then I will film it - more for the key poses and breakdowns, than the timings, because the timings of people doing things in comparison to animated characters I only really find useful as a guide.

Depending on how many actions/ the length of the shot, I would then go on to just work out the two key poses, with the timeline solely on 2 frames, so as to not even worry about the timings yet. This is something that Dan C told me, but is also backed up by Kieth Lango in his video tutorials, and as far as I know, is really the only way someone should be working. Then I will add breakdowns, in betweens, and finally try and work out the timings on stepped, which ends up looking something like this as in the example of shot 61. This will most likely change again as it is finessed, but as far as the poses go I am pretty happy with it. It needs to be faster perhaps and a longer pause between the dejected look and the double take as he is tapped on the shoulder.

First four bandit shots

2009-04-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here are the first four bandit shots, put straight into the animatic, as im more worried about how they look in the film as a whole than meticulously looking at each shot regardless of how it flows with the next and previous shots.

El Bandito animations

2009-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

WIP animations of the sheriff and El Bandito.

Test run cycle

2009-03-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is to test the rig more than anything - don't judge the animation. Basically what still needs doing, which I aim to finish tomorrow at uni with kaniks is....

- Bind the blend shapes head

- Set driven keys still need doing on hands

- Sort out the hand controls which aren't parented properly

- Pin all the assets to the rig and sort out pivots for them for secondary animation

- Finish weighting

- Nab the teeth an teeth bones from the marshall an add them to this rig

So its easily a 10-9 jobbie, will post how much of this i actually get done 2moro nite!

Marshall Rig update

2009-03-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, i thought i would just post an update as to where the rigs i have done are, the sheriff is completely finished, and the marshall just needs a few bits done to him an he'll be done, also i need the blendshapes from kanika before i bind the head. The alterations/additions are:

- The neck has an extra joint than it really needs and the controller is parented to the wrong joint, making neck movement a bit wierd

- I still need to do the hand set driven keys

- Need the b.shapes as i said

- there is a few weighting issues still

Apart from that the feet have bound nicely, and I think with the blendshapes i can finish him in 2 days solid work, and then ill do a test animation with him.

Random Water Tower I found on my travels...

2009-03-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Okay so I took my mum to a garden centre for mothers day (that's what she wanted to do!) and bumped into this random water tower...I wanted to climb it an sit at the top á la El Bandito but my mum wouldn't let me.....);

Not anything to do with El Bandito...

2009-03-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

This week has been a real challenge actually, at first animating to piggy way too realisitically an with too much character, I had to go through so many tests an get it wrong so much before getting it relatively right. The problem was that the pig had to be animated as if it were a porcelain piggybank, and couldn't lose its form too much. Being able to read the movements without it being too busy was hugely important, as it was to play a secondary role to what the shot/s were actually all about.

I was pretty happy with a couple of the tests in this vid - an would put sum of it on my reel I think. Animating two legged creature walk an run cycle will be much easier in comparison I feel now!

Marshall feet set driven keys

2009-03-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, i've done a bit of animation on the sheriff, and now im going to rig the Marshall, which in theory should be a lot easier...

I hope...

WIP gun shooting animation

2009-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

Blocked out gun shooting animation

2009-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

Test

2009-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sheriff weighting issues cont.

2009-03-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

After spending another few days problem solving, I think touchwood its getting better through a combination of using the component editor, using constraints to stop him moving too far in certain directions, and adding a ribcage-esque thing Mr.Sheriff is getting better...Will just take another couple of days I think, and I want to add more set driven keys.

Knees working better...

Constraint so he cant go any lower..."how low can you go!"....not very...

Arms are working fine...but they were never really a problem - this is an area wher its much easier to jus' grab all the cv's an go to town in the component editor.

Can actually throw his chest foward an its not glitching out too much...

Head moving side to side and hip sway...Myself an Josh also thought of a way to put bones in this ribcage on set driven keys, so if we hide all the joints and then there is still horrible areas, we can use the set driven key to move it up an make it look less deformed.

Endless sheriff weighting issues

2009-03-01T12:54:00.001-08:00

Here are just some of the weighting issues with the sheriff character i've experienced over the last week. The rig is completely done, he jus doesn't bind well...at all. I have tried literally everything, and sat with Jamie Perrin for time trying to work it out. We tried playing with the max influences and drop off rate, an all sorts, but not much luck. I tried seperating the legs and body, and that seemed to help on some level. The only thing I can really think of left to do is seperate the legs and also give the skeleton a sort of rib cage, like two joints coming out horizontally from the spine to give more influence to the chunky mesh. Josh is also goin to hoepfully have a play with it so it can get sorted, but really I am at the end of my tither with it, i have bound and attempted to weight 3 different variations of the body and legs.

Sheriff rigging cont...

2009-02-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

Okay...I've started binding this fatty, the hands are fine, set driven keys work nicely, feet are not too bad...little bit of weighting, the head the same, but the torso is going to take a couple of days solid weighting..its so chunky an bits like the flaps at the end of the jacket cause problems when he's leaning back, etc.

Teeth set driven keys parented to nurbs curve teeth control, parented to head control, parented to hip control, parented to global control...fun!

Global controller for scale, moving around etc., controllers for hands, hips, knees, elbows, set driven keys for fingers, clavicle, foot roll....

Sheriff rigging

2009-02-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

It looks a mess at the moment, but when all the bones and the such are hidden, it'll be much more user friendly.

'r' and 'l' so left and right knees are easily definable.

Making sure local rotation axis' are right.

This is going to take a while...Im using tutorials Dan Cripps an Alex use, that Dan was kind enough to give me.

2009-02-14T05:07:00.000-08:00

After josh an harv said about the lamp...i think this is better now...as it wasn't actually connecting with his head before to give a proper WACK!

Bullet hits lamp an knocks out train driver...

2009-02-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, for this shot I imagine it stayin pretty much as it is now animation-wise...It is the shot in which we see the bullet ricochet, hit the lamp and knock the driver out...which in turn sends the train speeding. It was always intended to be a silohuette, as to not have to design, model, rig another character - so what we will do is have the sun behind coming through the windows to silohuette the character as in this playblast.

I am quite happy with the animation as I only spent an hour or two on it, an successfully brought in 'three speeds' with the lamp, character and hat.

This is what animator Victor Navone's has to say about three speeds in animation on his blog...

"Something I heard back when I was first learning animation that still really helps me to this day: always try to get three speeds in your shot. Put in slow moves, medium moves, and fast moves. This will help give your shot texture, interest, and emphasis. If you can have different parts of the body moving at different speeds, even better!"

(http://www.navone.org/blogger/2007/09/3-speeds.html)
I was especially happy with the hat which slowly floats to the floor contrasting nicely with the character.

Prisoner_blendshapes

2009-02-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

Sheriff_blendshapes_finished

2009-02-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

So the sheriff's blendshapes are pretty much there...I made some simple teeth for him which I think really help, because there were certain gestures he just couldn't hit without them. So next will be finalising the prsioners b.shapes, then once the bandit is done - his which will take the longest. I'll leave the marshall till last - cos if these all take longer than expected kanika could really do them.

jiggle deformer

2009-01-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

A tentative go at playing with jiggle deformers...duno if itll really work.

More blendshapes...

2009-01-20T06:57:00.001-08:00

Here are some more blendshapes...they all need tweaking, but i can imagine transitioning between some of the wide open mouths and the "oooooo's" (see bottom left) and this looking quite cool.

*Added some blenshapes myself and Harv worked on for the prisoner character.

Testing the 'tache

2009-01-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

Bit of a shaving malfunction resulted in this...sheriff wasn't happy...

Blend shapes as so far...

2009-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

WIP Animation

2009-01-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Comments would be appreciated...

Animation_tests

2009-01-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

Animation test I've been playing with over last week or so, dialogue from Pulp Fiction...

A: Bring out the gimp

B: But the Gimps sleepin'

A: Well I guess u jus' have to go wake him up now wont you?

I have done the whole thing - but it needs tweaking, the first bit is looking okay though.

What's next...

2008-12-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we are at the end of term one, and have an animatic with sound, a 3d blockout almost completed with sound and all our pre-production essentially there. So over Christmas I think everyone knows what they are meant to be doing, but jus to reitorate:

Harv: Model the Sheriff

Sam: Model the Prisoner

Josh: Model the Bandit

Kanika: Model the Marshall

Tony: Continue with asset concept and textutes/backgrounds

Matt: Finish the Blockout completely, and start rigging people's characters

This isn't an exhaustive list, I know Sam wants to start modelling properly and lighting tests, and im of course going to be animating over Christmas as well, but the characters absolutely must be done by the time we're back - there is so much animation and rigging to be done. Also...Everyone needs to really have their dissertations nailed by the time we get back, we've got like 5 weeks, so there's no excuses really.

2008-12-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

Blockout animations

2008-12-04T15:48:00.000-08:00

Maquette class: Completion

2008-12-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

This is how my final maquette looked for the group pitch, after baking it in the oven with the super sculpy i re-attached the gun as it had snapped off, and then spray-painted it with grey primer. Was pretty happy with the outcome.

2008-12-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Prison scene

2008-11-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

Maquette class week dos

2008-11-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

Post-super sculpy

milliput around the armatures to keep them solid.

Sees train an jumps down for it

2008-11-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

Jumps off water tower

2008-11-18T16:42:00.000-08:00

This is the kinda thing im imagining for the jump off the top to then board the train.

Blocking out...

2008-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Maquette making class: Week 1

2008-11-16T11:44:00.001-08:00

Here's the maquette made in class after week 1. We screwed the thicker, threaded rods to the base, and then the more plyable aluminium rods were attached with thin copper wire to get the basic skeleton how it is here.

Following this we used milliput to secure the joints, which is comprised of two substances that once mixed together set rock solid.

Facial poses board

2008-11-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

3D ENVIRONMENTS MOOD BOARD

2008-11-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

Some nice 3d imagery to hopefully help with people's 3d blockouts.

Smash through the window

2008-11-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here's where it's at, at the moment. More of a test than anything, obviously wont be putting this much effort into every shot in the blockout, this is more just for fun. Would take longer than three weeks to do it like that!

2008-11-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

2008-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

Starting to block out

2008-10-26T16:23:00.001-07:00

I can already see how blocking out with this character in 3d is going to be beneficial, it helps to work out camera angles and composition of shots so much more.

Clone Wars Style

2008-10-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.starwars.com/clonewars/site/index.html

Go to gallery > concept to see some more really nice stuff. The squareish style is just perfect for what I imagine for the bandit. The way they've done Obi wan's beard is so much better than ever using real hair or fur, its great. I think for the characters modelling and texturing, its this Sigg Jones and Jungle Jail which are our main sources of inspiration.

Animation tests

2008-10-23T08:43:00.001-07:00

I want to get animating and blocking out asap, so I'm going to start using this Max rig with a very basic cowboy hat i modelled in order to do some animation tests. Will hopefully start with him smashing through the window!

Translating to 3D

2008-10-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Mood board of influences as to how I imagine bandit to be translated into 3d, squarish chin and features, thin neck surrounded by scarf (for ease of rigging), crooked teeth as in tony's illustrations. But the beard is just a flat colour a la Team Fortress 2 and Jungle Jail.And the eyebrows kind of rolled out pieces of plastercine added on top of model like that nice Max rig everyone uses.

Last scene

2008-10-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

Character Model Sheet

2008-10-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Mood Board

2008-10-19T17:18:00.001-07:00

supermoine

2008-10-18T13:17:00.001-07:00

This is also, to a lesser extent, relevant style-wise.

Scotch

2008-10-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sigg Jones

2008-10-18T12:33:00.001-07:00

www.siggjones.com

Jungle Jail

2008-10-18T12:02:00.001-07:00

Group blog...

2008-10-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just waiting on the final logo design from Harvey - an then that'll be the header of the group blog, which will include production schedule's, and any other reference that's applicable to all of us, and this will continue as my personal blog.

2008-10-15T17:41:00.001-07:00

Cowboys High Noon - Mulloy

2008-10-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

Big influence on me and the bandit character with the long noses and gangly limbs, there's something really chilling about these films, you hate to watch but you cant look away.

Phil Mulloy - cowboys

2008-10-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

And in the interests of fairness - the other end of the spectrum to highly well realised, complex 3D characters - Mulloy's "cowboys"

Hypnotic, disturbing, but with a real impact and flair. Wish we could all just make totally non-commercial, artistic animation!

Gun Whip - Neil Parkinson

2008-10-15T17:12:00.001-07:00

This character is ridiculously cool.