3rd of March, and the 4th of March. Bullying my legs to support my weight for the entire day is a worthwhile trade compared to the ultimate closure I received on the last day. A graduation show, my graduation show, showcased everyone's bloodsoiled efforts - their final year project. (I grabbed everyone's namecards, heh)
It was very heartwarming to see everyone get the recognition they deserve. Schools, professors, industrial peoples, and most dear - our friends and family. But for me, this ultimate closure I speak of? Hehe :> 1A01, 2 GE, 1 ENT, Mental Racer. I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad I entered this course, and that things happened the way it did. To everyone, a sincere curtsy for you. Is soon the completion of the 3D layout. Throughout this period of time, I've more or less grown accustomed to adapting towards my peer's criticism (yay!) for its something I lack and take awhile to get used to. Having another person to view your work and share his point of view is important, as there are things that myself is unable to notice that other people do. Thats a perk of being in a team! You can't please everyone, though. Take some of the constructive criticism, add your own flavour and improve your work. A personal stand is also needed in my opinion. If one takes comments from everyone and changes it to the way others want, would it really be your own work at the end? Creating something to please others, or please yourself. I'd choose the latter, while tweaking the work to its very best to appeal to the certain audience I'm aiming for. A scope is always good. There was a collaboration with the music students to create music for our project. When they were experimenting in the audio room, the results were amazing! We immediately asked them to save a copy of the result to us. However though, when they were tasked to perform live on stage, it didn't seem that dynamic. I guess stage pressure is something that isn't easily overcome, too. Above is the near final 3D Layout for our project.
All in all, bonds have been strengthened, work has been improving. There have been some ups and downs, but at the end of the day, I'm happy to go through this emotional roller coaster ride. Jiahao Its almost been two months since the project has started. It really has been a long journey since our group's first meeting.
This might be a little out of topic, but this part of the process is what I despise the most about doing a group project. After the concepts have been discussed and most of the subjects are finalized, once we split up to do our work, there is not much communication between the group anymore. Everyone is doing their best doing their own work. Its not a bad thing, however I really dislike it. Could it be the fact that I yearn for more group bonding, or as much as I like to be alone, would rather be in the company of a small group of close friends? Maybe. No one knows, not even I. But hey, everyone is doing their best to complete what they can asap. After putting things together, its amazing to watch this project slowly come to life. From little small ideas to it being on the computer. That satisfaction is fulfilling beyond words. The day where we first sat down in the library to come up with the concept. Is the happiest day for me. I don't really wish much, but now I do have one. That things will be less awkward in the future. Jiahao Its been two weeks since the presentation of our concepts, and there's no time for rest still. Our group's next assignment requirements are as follows: 1) The base mesh of our characters. For our group, since we have already completed the base modelling of our characters and the background assets, we are mostly done with this part. Whats left is the refining of the details to just make them better. 2) The 3D Layout of the short film we are making. Whats a 3D layout, you ask? Its a rough, blocked animation that is timed to have the same duration as the final film, just minus the fancy effects, movement and character detail. Its important to see how our film will look like at the end. Being the only animator, I'm tasked with doing the 3D Layouts. Comparing to creating still images, doing the 3D layouts is on a whole new level of difficulty. There are many factors to consider, mainly making sure the audience knows what is happening. Compared to me who knows our story inside out, the audience has no clue. Hence, making sure the action sequence is conveyed clearly is extremely, if not the most important factor now in my opinion.. I will post up the 3D Layout once everything is finished. An example is in the video below: Working hard, keep up the motivation. the longer you work on a project, the more you realise how important passion is to keep you going. Jiahao Honestly, listening to the critique, it felt pretty depressing. Having presented our CA1 (Current Assessment 1) which involves the sharing of our concepts, storyboard and animatics with confidence, only to get shot down by the oppressing feeling of harshness. But well, it is part of the process to improve for the better. Taking the comments with a pinch of salt, our group moves forward into the next stage of production - 3D Layouts and more detailed models. I'm in charge of completing the 3D layouts, and I will put in my utmost effort to ensure its quality. For the last month, our project, PURSUIT (for now), had its baseline established. Character personality was something I looked forward to create for our lovely characters. Without further ado, here is the bio of our 3 main characters - Racer, Destruct-o-bot and the Chaser-bots. RACERCreated in the year 2510, Racer has always been alone since the beginning of his functionality. His creator vanished without a trace, and he had no one to rely on. Trusting no one, Racer manages to get by with his slick ways of maneuvering out of sticky situations. Literally. Although Racer believes that it is wrong break the law, he has no choice - else his life will be at stake. His presence anywhere in Nitro Town causes anyone to feel uncomfortable, due to his high intelligence and craftiness, much to his dislike. If there was something Racer is proud of, its neiter his speed, nor is it his ability to escape situations, but his pair of trusty boosters, X & Y. He hopes to find a friend he can rely on. Destruct-o-botProgrammed with the mindset of absolute justice, with a body of a colossus. A respected figure, Destruct-o-bot is a mecha designed to be the ultimate enforcer of the law. He delivers judgement to sinners with his fists, and when needed, his ulimate arm cannon. He has a straightforward personality and will do anything to accomplish his goal. However as time passes, the strength in his fists weaken as his compassion grows bigger. Destruct-o-bot seeks to give the wrong-doers another chance, only to get his thought processes forcefully overwritten. As such, this caused a fatal error in Destruct-o-bot's main circuitry , causing his entire system to malfunction. The result is Destruct-o-bot's memory being reset, and was sent to be a guardian of a power station. CHASER BOTThe main drone of the police force. Although it might seem weak by itself, they overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. Not programmed to be the brightest, though. Pretty cheesy at some parts, is it not? But whats a character without some personal flair that makes them stand out? The lonely thief and the compassionate executor. Sounds like they will make best buddies if there's a sequel.. If. Well, no stopping ideas from running amok~ The link to our animatics is found here: As much as it needs to be improved, it just shows how much we can improve (have to think positive, okay T_T)
Jiahao It's the year 2016 and (finally) the final year in my current course - Diploma in Digital Animation. Every student is required to get into a group and embark on a journey which is, the final year project. What is it you ask? It is in short, a half year long project where a group of students aim to create a short animated film of length 2~3 minutes. I'm blessed to be invited to a group with close friends that I can work together smoothly and constructively. The title of our project is just finalized as 'Pursuit'. Or it might be better with all caps? 'PURSUIT' sounds great too. In summary, it is a futuristic movie about a rogue robot that has to steal energy to survive. Once again I am grateful that I have been given this opportunity to work on this project, as it is one of the, if not, most of, the most interesting project I have ever done in this path. The model is great, the concept art is really stunning and most of all, the model is rigged reaaaally well. Kudos and shoutout to my group members Weibin and Yean Ling. Heres a preview of our current main character - The Racer. A sleek futuristic robot. At the moment I have to come up with a character bio for him. Oh, my role in this project is the lead animator and the storyboarder. And here is our antagonist, the Destruct-o-bot! Despite how small he looks in the picture above, he is actually twice as huge as Racer. In the upcoming week, our group will have to present our concept behind the story, and most importantly, the storyboard and animatics. I will update this blog with the storyboard once its good to go! And so, here are some misc silhouette studies I did with our dear character. And this is just the beginning. We still have a long way to go and I wish that this will be a fruitful. fulfilling and joyful experience.
Jiahao |
|