Alien Model and Rigging Update

Hello Everyone!

So here is my completed alien model. I've made quite a few changes to him since the last time I posted. I've already sent him to my rigger, Sean Manning, and I might make some last minute changes before he starts the rigging.

So far, here's what I did. If you've noticed, I changed up his hind legs quite a bit, making them more squirrel and ferret-like. Before they resembled a very weak chicken leg, which wouldn't me conducive for rigging. I went ahead and lengthened the bone a bit in the front and made it larger. Now for the other changes. I made his claws more menacing, rounded out the tail more, made him skinnier, fixes his neck. perked up his ears, and made some other proportional changes. Take a look!

Anything else I should change or add before it's finalized? Suggest away!

In addition, the body of my spaceman is rigged. As of now, I've already narrowed down a facial rigger for him.

I'll keep you updated!

Model and Rigging Update

Hello!

So I'm just finishing up on the body for my alien. Here is the head and I should connect it with the body by tonight. Pretty much done!

I'm having trouble with the back leg and making it less 'cat-like' and more 'ferret-like'. What do you guys think? Here are some reference images of ferrets:

And a side profile of a cat:

RIGGING:

And finally - Rigging. Here is some work in progress shots. Lisa is doing an awesome job!

Alien Model Update + Music

MODELING

I was able to accomplish a lot this week. I began work on my alien head and am going to use a ferret body I found on Turbosquid as his body. I should be able to finish that up this week and then get started on my spaceship model. By the start of next week, I'll send off my model to Sean Manning so that he can begin rigging. Here are some pictures:

In terms of my rigging, it's going much faster than I anticipated. Lisa Anderson said that she'll be able to complete everything by November, right on schedule, and I can then begin animating from there.

MUSIC

I'm also very excited for my music! I'm basically going for more of a orchestral, slow-moving style with bits and pieces of percussion intertwined. I've also looked into 3 composers I am interested in, some part of SMPTV and one who graduated from USC last year. I've already emailed them and I should make my selection sometime soon.

So in terms of the musical style, I'm thinking of a mix between two of my favorite composers, Thomas Newman and John Powell. Newman composed a number of major films including my favorite, WALL-E. Here is musical selection from the movie I'm going for:

John Powell scored the amazing soundtrack for the film, How to Train Your Dragon. I really can relate this movie to my own because Toothless, the dragon, resembles my own small alien creature in a way. Also, the music in this film is phenomenal. It perfectly matches and enhances the overall visuals, which something that I want the music to do for my own.

This powerful scene really echos standoff between my astronaut and alien:

The music in this scene would go well with the bonding between the two:

And of course, the lovely 'Forbidden Friendship' scene would really relate:

Updated Schedule

Here is my most recent schedule. You can also view it under the 'Schedule' tab.
Sean Newton Schedule

Moving Along (Slowly)

Hey guys!

What's been happening
So I was able to finish up my astronaut this week and send him off to my rigger. The rigger sent me back a few notes on correcting my edge loops and I'll be able to make the changes and send it off to her tonight. I'm also going in and correcting the shape of the arms and legs, making them look more proportional.

Scheduling
I was camping all this weekend and had a blast! Only problem is that I didn't get any work done. So in terms of my schedule, I am somewhat behind because I'm supposed to be finished with all of my models this week. But so far, I've only been able to complete my astronaut.

Here's what I need to do. I need to begin modeling my small alien this week starting today, Monday, and finish him up by the end of this week. Once done modeling him, I'll send it off to my rigger. After that, I'll most likely begin modeling my larger alien next week and my spaceship after that. So in 2 weeks I should have all of my characters modeled. Also on my schedule I'm supposed to be modeling my spaceship now but will definitely have to postpone that until next week.

I need to finish modeling in time for my basic animation, which is supposed to begin early November after which all of the characters are rigged. I have allowed enough time for my riggers to complete the other characters and I could give them a couple more weeks if needed. I only really need my astronaut rigged by the end of this month.

EDIT: I've already sent the model to the rigger and here are some pictures. In addition to adding more edge loops around joints and straightening them out, I tweaked the hands and arms so that they are more proportional. I also bent the legs a bit more so it would be easier to rig.

Now that this is done, on to the alien! Thankfully I have all this week to work so I should be able to get back on track.

Final Model + Revised Animatic

Hey guys here is the final model for the spaceman and it's already sent off to the rigger. I added the wavy haircut, a device on his chest, and a right-handed wristwatch monitor. What do you think?

And here is my most recent revised animatic. Any recommendations?

Spaceman Model + Animatic Update

Hey guys!

So I spent some of this week creating a body for my spaceman and here it is! It does need a bit more tweaking here and there but it's pretty much done. Now it's time to model the alien! That should be done by the end of this week as well. So much to do and so little time...

Once I'm finished with the animatic, I'll post that here as well. Which will most likely be by tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Revised Animatic + Modeling Update

Hey guys, so here is the rundown:

So I was able to get some more face modeling of my astronaut in this week, but not enough. I'm spending more time on the face than I had initially planned, but probably because I'm still learning how to actually model. Didn't know it was this challenging! Hopefully I'll be able to complete his body this week and then begin to work on the small alien. If I have all of the modeling done by early October, I should be on schedule in time for the rigging.

In addition to the modeling, I've been devoting some time to my animatic. Don't be expecting anything spectacular. It's just going to be some really rough blocking. If I have time, I can clean it up a bit more in preparation for next week's class. I'll post some pictures of the modeling process later today. But here is a sneak-peak!

And here is the animatic for this week:



Thanks for reading!

Modeling Pictures

Well, here are some pictures of the head! Unfortunately, I had to redo some sections but now I'm moving on to modeling the rest of the body.

MODEL MODEL MODEL!

This week is modeling week! Yay!

So I'm basically modeling my astronaut all this week. Pre-vis is done. The animatic is done (as of now) and I will redo one completely in Maya for next week's class.

As of now, I'm modeling the astronaut's face and am going to finish up his body this week. I'm watching all the tutorials on Lynda.com (I would be going insane without them) and am trying to get all of the proportions right. Still quite a challenge when this is your first time. Hopefully I'll begin modeling my alien by next week and my larger alien after that. It's always important to properly model your character in preparation for rigging.

Here is the rundown for rigging. Two of the best and nicest people will be rigging my characters. Lisa Anderson, whom you guys may know as one of last year's undergrad animation seniors, has agreed to rig my astronaut. Sean Manning, also a undergrad senior from last year, was kind enough to rig my little alien. I might turn to him in rigging my much larger alien as well. As soon as I'm done modeling all of my characters, which will probably by the end of this month, they'll begin to rig while I model my backgrounds.

Anyways, I'll upload some more pre-vis for all of you and if I have time, some pictures of my modeling session!

Thanks for tuning in!

Some More Pre-Vis

Hey Guys!

So here are some images for my senior thesis. As you may notice, the planet itself is very barren and desert-like with a few rocks spotted on the landscape. At this point, I'm trying to decide whether to go for a 'mars' look or something completely different. Possible purple ground and pink rocks? Something crazy right? I'll upload images of my characters as well soon. Enjoy!

Updated Animatic!

Hey guys it's been a while since I posted (an entire summer!) but here is an updated animatic. It is 5 1/2 minutes but I'm still figuring out which scenes to cut and add in.

So here are the updates. If you notice, in the beginning I cut some scenes up when he's trying to look for food in the spaceship. There are fewer boxes he's looking through and I added the squeeze bottle gag in. I'm trying to come up with something funnier though. Or is it funny enough??

When the astronaut exits the spaceship, some additional scenes include a wrist monitor indicates that the air is breathable and him kicking a rock. The most major change was the astronaut's first encounter with the alien. I thought these changes would further establish a better relationship between the two. A little more dramatic and fast paced compared to the previous version.

I also changed up the ending somewhat and made the little alien appear more aggressive than he initially was. He now has a large row of chompers, indicating that he is indeed a carnivore. Matt suggested the alien make a noise telling the astronaut that he's hungry and then take a huge bite out of the chicken piece. The astronaut quickly realizes that the alien is more threatening than he seems to be and this is further established by other aliens coming to check out the food.

I forgot to add a scene in where all the aliens display their sharp teeth, tongues hanging out, gazing at the astronaut. I will add a scene in where the little alien tries taking bites out of the meat, but bites the astronaut's hand instead for more humor.

Animation - Version 1

My Rough Animatic...I'll add my updated version with sound and effects very soon!

The Spaceman Design

Here is some more pre-vis for the spaceman. Alot of faces to choose from and I added some personality to some of them for comedic effect. I was at first going for more detail on the character, but now I'm leaning towards a more abstract design.What do you guys think?

Some Visual Development

Here are some basic pre-vis drawings I have for my project so far. I'm still deciding of the look of my alien - any thoughts?

I have some basic idea of what the spaceship and the planet will look sort-of look like. Any suggestions will help. I will upload the astronaut drawings sometime soon.

Revised Treatment

Hey guys, based on the helpful suggestions from last week, here is a revised outline of my story. Enjoy!

An astronaut finds life in a lifeless planet.

Shot of stars and empty space. A small metallic spaceship zooms by. Inside is a candy wrapper which is spinning and floating in midair. Something growls and the astronaut looks down to see his stomach rumbling. He quickly opens up a nearby container and takes out a bunch of empty bags and wrappers. He wildly looks around him. Shelves of empty food cases and cans are scattered all around the spaceship hull. He puts his hands on his head in anguish. Several loud beeps echo throughout the hull. Astronaut gets up and walks to his computer in the front of the ship. A computerized voice says that a nearby habitable planet has been located. An image of the planet spinning around with subtitles is being displayed on a monitor. The astronaut grins with wide eyes and steers the spaceship, seemingly charting a course for the planet.

An empty landscape on a red planet. Dust is swirled around the planet. Camera looks up to reveal the spaceship coming down and landing on the surface. As the dust settles, a door opens and the astronaut emerges. He looks out across the barren landscape and begins walking away from the spaceship.

Long shot of the astronaut’s figure against a barren landscape. Close-up reveals the tired looking astronaut looks wearily ahead, holding his stomach. A sudden loud squeak is heard. The astronaut looks around and quickly hides behind a rock. Behind a rock in front of him emerges a small grey alien with two large eyes crawls out behind a rock and begins sniffing the ground in front of him. As the astronaut looks on, his stomach rumbles. He envisions the alien’s head as a roasted chicken on a platter. He licks his lips enviously. He begins to pull out a strange looking gun from his holster and carefully aims it at the creature. The smaller alien looks on and resumes sniffing the ground.

A large creature suddenly pounces on the smaller alien. The astronaut shockingly looks on. The two fight as the smaller tries to wrestle away from underneath the larger alien. The smaller alien looks upwards to see the larger creature raising his spiky claw into the air as if about to strike. The smaller alien closes his eyes.

A booming blast as heard. The smaller alien opens his eyes and looks over to see the larger alien’s sprawled smoking dead carcass on the ground. The smaller alien looks ahead to see the astronaut holding a smoking pistol before him. The little alien begins walking towards the astronaut eagerly. The trembling astronaut points his gun at the alien. The alien ignores this and then climbs up his leg and onto his shoulder. He licks the astronaut’s helmet and perches on top of his head. The astronaut is entertained by this and smiles. A loud rumbling sound his heard as both look down at the astronaut’s stomach.

Fade to black and then credits as the two are sitting by a large fire with the larger alien being cooked over it rotisserie style.

First Character Designs

Hey guys, sorry for the delay on putting these up. These are the basic character designs I have so far for the astronaut and the alien.

The Astronaut

The Alien

Treatment for 2/02/2011

Here is my first treatment of the journeyman script. Enjoy!

Journeyman

An astronaut finds life in a lifeless planet.

Late afternoon on a reddish planet resembling mars. High winds pick up the Martian soil and swirl it around. Long shot of a solitary figure walking through the rampant dust storm. His face reveals a tired looking man in his early 30’s gazing wearily ahead. The spaceman approaches a Martian rock and eyes it carefully. He briskly jogs towards it and crouches down. He takes out a strange looking probe from his belt and points it under the rock. There is a longer pause and a loud single beep sounds off. The astronaut sighs and puts the device back into his holster. He gets up and approaches another rock before him. He again takes out his strange looking device and scans under the rock. After the three beeping noises and another loud beep, the astronaut gets up and continues walking.

The spaceman trudges through the sandy Martian soil. He stops to view a huge, precipitous cliff lies before him. He looks up at the sheer face of the cliff. The spaceman looks down to reveal a small cave mouth at the base. The spaceman walks towards it. He approaches the cave mouth and looks around, eyeing a large rock in the corner. He walks and sits down on it heavily. The spaceman puts his elbows on his knees and leans his head down, closing his eyes.

A sudden squeak noise is heard. From under the spaceman’s rock, a strange creature emerges. It is a small, black four legged creature with four beady eyes. It cautiously walks out and looks up at the spaceman. The spaceman’s head is still facing downwards as if he didn’t notice his entrance. The Martian then approaches the spaceman’s foot and quickly scampers up his leg. The creature then effortlessly climbs on top of his helmet and peers over, looking down at the spaceman’s face. The spaceman’s eyes are still closed. 4 beady eyes stare directly at him from above. The spaceman screams. He immediately gets up, brushes the creature off of him, and runs away from the rock, panicking. He looks back to see the creature gazing back at him. The two stare at one another. A smile slowly creeps across the spaceman’s face. He begins to walk slowly towards the curious creature. He leans down and stretches out his arm towards the alien. The creature crawls back at first, hesitates, and then slowly walks towards the outstretched hand. The spaceman places his palm facing upwards as the creature crawls into his hand. The spaceman brings the creature slowly up to his face. The Martian looks back at him with eagerness.

The spaceman then quickly grabs the creature and reaches his other arm into his belt. While the creature struggles, he pulls out a large specimen jar and plops the alien inside. The jar quickly makes a locking sound as the top is now sealed. The spaceman pulls the jar in front of his face and smiles at the creature. The ecstatic spaceman looks at the frightened, fidgeting creature inside the jar and tucks the jar comfortably underneath his arm.

The spaceman defiantly begins to walk out of the cave with the jar tucked underneath his arm. Tapping noises are heard coming from the jar, the spaceman looks down to see the creature staring back at him with large saddened eyes. The spaceman looks back at it and sighs. He tucks the jar back under his arm. Small squeaks are heard again. The astronaut brings the jar back up to his face, shaking the jar a little, and looking directly at the alien. The alien stares back with large gloomy eyes. The spaceman sighs and looks upwards, sighing deeply. He brings his other hand on top of the jar lid as he crouches down, and opens up the jar. The alien scampers out. The spaceman depressingly looks on as the alien runs into the cave. He sighs and shakes his head. The astronaut turns his back and begins walking out from the cave mouth.

A loud squeak is heard. The spaceman turns around to see the alien looking back at him. The alien moves his head back and forth as if to motion the spaceman to follow him. The spaceman walks up to it. The alien scampers further into the cave. The spaceman hesitates, but then begins to follow it. As the pair walk, the device on the spaceman’s belt begins to beep. The spaceman looks around him and sees something small and green to his left.

A little green plant juts out from underneath a Martian boulder. He crouches down and scoops it up with the Martian soil, eyeing it enviously. Another squeak is heard as the astronaut turns to see the alien continuing to run further into the cave. The astronaut gets up, and places the plant back down in the soil, and continues following the alien. The eerie green light is now visibly emanating from deep within the cave, lighting the ground and the now wet interior. The beeping noise from the astronaut’s device is now growing increasingly louder.

The alien stops at the edge of a steep drop-off and looks beyond. It looks back at the astronaut, its face aglow from the now pronounced green light. The astronaut slowly approaches the edge and looks beyond with a shocked expression.

Senior Thesis Ideas for Thursday's class

Here are some very basic ideas I have so far for this upcoming class. Most of these I came up within the past day or so and are not fully comprehensible. Hopefully I'll be able to piece together my final piece with them.

Journeyman

A ship lands on a desolate planet. The air is filled with winds of grey dust and the dirt is pitch black. An astronaut emerges and views the landscape around him. He begins walking around looking under crevices and underneath rocks as if searching for something. After some time, he walks towards a boulder and sits down to rest. The astronaut begins to doze off. A little green alien then pops out underneath the rock. It looks at the astronaut and curiously begins 'exploring' him (Not a sexual pun). The astronaut wakes up and is surprised to see the alien. The alien looks back at him and resumes 'exploring' him. The astronaut is ecstatic. He quickly picks up the alien and places it in a specimen container. He begins to take it back to his ship but becomes distracted by the alien’s sullen large eyes looking back at him. The astronaut thinks and decides to open the jar. He releases the alien and begins to walk back to his ship. The alien first begins to run away then motions for the astronaut to follow it. The astronaut follows. Along the way, the astronaut spots a green plant and enviously inspects it. The alien then leads him to the edge of a cliff. The astronaut looks out and is astonished. A large expanse filled with colorful trees, vegetation, and a very blue ocean lay before him. The two look at eachother and smile.

Reference photo:

Style: A combination of both 3D and 2D animation. The landscape will be 3D while the characters will be 2D. Music in the beginning. The sound of wind is only heard when the astronaut explores. The music picks up near the end.

Vacation
A family decides to take a trip only to encounter problems along the way. The family accidently drives off, leaving the boy at The Grand Canyon. The Boy explores the land and meets a talking coyote who shows him the way back to his family.

Style: All 2-D animation.

The Great Escape

A rabbit is relaxing on a grassy lawn in a park. Suddenly a hand picks it up and places it in a large bag. Screen goes to black. The rabbit is then pulled out of the bag and placed in a large cage. The rabbit looks around at his new surroundings. He is now in a small dilapidated apartment with the cage in the center of the room. The rabbit tries to break free of his cage by gnawing on the bars. Behind him, the rabbit hears a noise. A turtle and a beetle emerge. The rabbit ignores them at gnaws at the bars again to no avail. The rabbit motions for them to help him but they just ignore him. Their mysterious capturer (a fat, balding middle-aged man) comes into the room. Through an elaborate escape attempt, the three are able to break free when the man opens the cage. They are able to knock the man unconscious. The three celebrate. They hear a slam and are greeted by the now locked apartment door.

Style: Either all 2-D or 3-D animation.

The City

A large city is seen being constructed by a greater power. This greater power’s identity is hidden. In this city, however, there is only one citizen. This citizen goes about his day exploring the vast and empty city and pretty much doing nothing. One day, he decides to climb the city’s tallest tower. Once he reaches the top, he views the landscape before him. In the distance, he sees a bright shining light. Curious, he exits the building and travels towards it. He spends days traveling towards the light. After reaching the edge of the city, the man encounters a large mountain. He begins to climb it. He reaches the top and sees the bright, white light. He walks towards it and sees a girl who is the source of this magnificent light. He embraces her and the two float into the sky.

Style: Entirely done in 3D with some 2D elements included.