Animation with a moustache

The animation with a .... je ne sais quoi!

Monthly Archive: September 2009

Props done 1

Modeling / Portfolio / Short film

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Props done

I just finished modeling the props needed for the first shots of my short film. The sink was originally modeled in Maya 8.5 but I have had to do some heavy cleanup on the mesh when I imported it into Maya 2009.

For some reason some faces were duplicated and normal inverted. Anyway it is done I am very pleased with the freshly modeled Victorian tap. I might add a bit of texturing but most of the work will be with the rendering. I was tempted to make the props a bit more cartoony but will keep them like this for the time being.

No fancy GI and no wireframe for the moment, just a quick turnaround with Maya’s hardware render buffer (thanks Tobias!)

Victorian tap and sink

Victorian tap and sink

Shot 12 work in progress 3

Animation Mentor / Portfolio / Short film

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Shot 12 work in progress

shot12_003

shot12_003

This is one of the shots from my short film. Our little guy is a vampire who fell asleep and wakens up realising that he is burning. The shot is still in step (well most of it is blocked on ones anyway)

I have reframed the shot compared to the original version I did during Animation Mentor but something is bothering me. I am gonna keep it this way for the time being and we will see how it works in continuity with the previous and next shots.
I haven’t yet worked on the legs/steps once he lands as I am still unsure about how long he will stay in the air. Do you think this is too long or just enough?

Also the combination of legs/arms flalling makes it a really busy silhouette, should I just animate the legs and keep his arms frozen forward? I will check some old Warner Brother cartoons and try to find some answers tomorrow.

I will also do a proper rig for the long chair tomorrow just so I can give it a more organic feel to it (think Gobelins short films)

[update] looking at it with fresh eyes, I think I will start the shot a bit later and keep the take for the previous shot. The framing will look better.

Give this man a job! 0

Animation / Animation Mentor / Friends

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Give this man a job!

Turf planet

Turf planet

This is just crazy, my friend Ales Mav still hasn’t found a job after nearly one year looking for work in London! I just don’t get this!

For a start Ales is one of those very nice and humble chaps you seldom meet. Ales and I were classmates at AM and he had been one of those rare A+ student from class1 to 6.  Several of his shots got featured on the animation mentor showreel, his short film “Daphne’s new broom” got selected and awarded at several festivals, he keeps adding great new shots to his showreel month after month, he won last month 11 seconds club competition and he even started a new shortfilm “Turf Planet” , quitely, by himself.

Please! Give this man a job!!!!!!

Back from Angouleme 5

Animation / Drawings

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Back from Angouleme

Cobbled street of Angouleme

As some of you might know, during the Annecy animation festival I got myself a great gig at animation studio “2 minutes” in the capital of “Bande dessinées”: Angoulême.

Angoulême is a gorgeous historic town, ideally located between Paris and the basque country, not too far from the seaside resort of also gorgeous La Rochelle and Royan. Angoulême is a fortified town with cobbled street located on top of the “Plateau”, a huge hill overlooking the Charente river.

All the houses are made of white stone which gives it that historic middle-age feeling.

[…] (more…)

“The increasing role of character animation in games” 0

Animation / Animation Mentor / Education / Video Games

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“The increasing role of character animation in games”

The increasing role of character animation in games

The increasing role of character animation in games

Several month ago, with few other Animation Mentor graduates, I was asked to write some clever thoughts about the increasing role of character animation in games. My name got misspelt few times but the article is still a very good read.

You can find the article here on Animation Arena.
http://www.animationarena.com/character-animation.html

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Game Credits 0

Animation / Video Games

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Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Game Credits

bgbanjokazooienutsandbolts

Googling my name I realised that Microsoft had put my name among all the great people who worked on Banjo Kazooie “Nuts and Bolts” on the Microsoft website. Cool
http://www.microsoft.com/games/mgsgamecatalog/banjokazooiecredits.aspx

Banjo Kazooie is a fun little game I was about to say but it is actually a fun Massive game!!! Just like “Viva Pinata”, I think Microsoft could easily make a TV series or even a feature based on those really great characters. To me, Banjo Kazooie is probably the strongest cartoony IP on the Xbox 360 at the moment so whywnot a true plateformer in the meantime?