weekly update

I've been continuing to work on the concept art, which is coming along, and have been filtering through the feedback from seminar. The majority of it, whether positive or negative, was helpful. The aspect of the animatic that got the most criticism were the camera moves. Some suggested breaking up the shots with closeups and strengthening the connection between each environment. All good points that will be taken into consideration.

I also met with Eric Hanson yesterday. We discussed ways to overcome some technical challenges (i.e. rendering water), but also presented some ways to improve the film from an editorial standpoint. I came out of that discussion wanting to maintain the same pace, but possibly break up each shot with some different angles that I can squeeze out of my camera projections.




Another huge help has been Darin Hilton's Gnomon lecture on camera projection techniques in Maya. It clearly and concisely outlines a logical workflow for creating 3d matte paintings. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning the finer details of this art.

weekly update

Finishing the latest animatic has been a huge milestone, and a good marker of how much work lays ahead. I now have a solid base to work off of, and having begun to paint the concept art, can really see everything starting to take shape. Once I complete the concept art, which I anticipate to do before winter break, I'll be 50% complete, right on target. Next semester will consist of painting, projecting, then effects and composting (over winter break I plan to model the geometry in more detail and taking A LOT of photographic reference of textures, plants, rivers, etc. to be used as source material in each painting).

To comment on the animatic directly, I feel like the transition from within the city walls to outside is jarring, and anticipate changing the camera moves to make it more seamless. Also, struggling over an appropriate ending, I decided to end the film on the last "epic" shot instead of returning through the mist to the poet's room, and can sense that it will work. Unless I receive some persuasive feedback tomorrow night during my presentation in seminar, I will leave it as is.

weekly update

This past week has been my most productive week yet, and I plan on continuing like this from here on out. I've completed the value studies for three of the eight shots, and have modeled two in Maya. With the kind of progress that I'm making now I'll easily make the 50% mark by December.


My primary focus now is on completing the final animatic. Instead of completing the rough geometry and concept art for every shot, I'm going to take what I have , and use my thumbnails to cut to the temp score that Pierre sent to me last week.

It's both comforting and a big source of motivation that the manner in which I have been working has itself been working.





(concept art for shot 2)

weekly update

This week I've been continuing to develop my designs and shape them into more interesting shots. Now that I can see what I'll be needing in each shot, I have a vague idea of how to separate each layer. Consequentially I set up my scenes in Maya, so I can now begin to lay out each element.

Also, I expect to receive a temp track from Pierre today. As soon as I get that I'll be able to drop in each shot and time it out.