Major Project Reflective Statement

We did it. I did it. I made it. *waves white flag*

This sums up yesterday's mood: exhausted, bruised (metaphorically speaking), but smiling through the pain (and the gain that comes with it).

3 years... Wow. When thinking what to write for this reflective statement the first thing that comes to mind is how appreciative I am to everyone that's got me this far. My family and friends for their support and belief in me, to Alan and Phil for their kindness and knowledge, for always giving me help when I've needed it and for not once making me feel stupid for asking - this knowledge will change my life. When I was at school I had teachers tell me I wasn't anything special and that I was not capable of going to university because I struggled - that stung but more importantly they were wrong. Right now, I feel immense happiness for what I've achieved and the person I've become since then. People may not view me as anything special but what I've managed to create in the last year is pretty damn special, I've immortalized part of my family's history through animation. I've become my characters in order to understand and animate them, I feel like I've got to know them too even though I never knew them myself in the real world.

Thinking back to the beginning of premise, I had no idea the events that would unfold. The second most traumatic thing after losing my Nan was having the panda mockumentary idea rejected (that was a joke) but looking back I'm glad it was, otherwise I wouldn't have discovered my Grandad's story. I have learned so much I can't even begin to describe not just technically in Maya but about myself as a person. I think one of my strengths is that I never quit and I think it's because I have genuine heart about what I'm doing. From blocking out animation I've learned how to animate and how the mechanics of living beings work, I've been observing the life around me and projecting it into the film, I'm surprised with how well I did with some shots (such as Fred on the doorstep, how he wakes up when the milk cart arrives and how I created a character from half a body, implementing behavioural traits in the host using just her lower body), I exceeded my own expectations at times. However, I have shots that are quite bad too and obviously need a lot more work (such as how the milk bottle leaves Fred's hand).

If I were to do this project again... I wouldn't change a thing because I gave this project every bit of me and that's how I went from being behind for minor to on time for major.

I'm looking forward to what comes next which is... 3D PRINTING!!!!

MAJOR PROJECT FINAL SUBMISSION 10.11.2019

A TIME APART - POST VIZ FILM

A TIME APART - MAKING OF DOCUMENT (INCLUDES LIGHTING EXAMPLES IN CHAPTER 3)

Note: The family photos are in the document but my family prefer the photos to be kept offline.

A TIME APART - CHARACTER DEMO REEL: 

Note: I haven't put in the poorly version of outdoor Fred in this showreel because the model hadn't been changed in anyway only the textures whereas the indoor versions of Fred have different shirt models.

A Time Apart: Post Viz Film Complete

Here is my submission film!

There is a shot I wanted to have after Fred steals the milk and before he starts guzzling it down where we see only his lower legs walking (because I wanted some sort of walk cycle in this film). Below was my best attempt but I felt like the poor blocked out of it ruined the entire scene which I think I blocked out fairly well, my first attempt resulted in a strange forward shuffle.

A Time Apart: Post Viz Progress 4

Since my last post I have now animated the abuse montage, modelled the kitchen set (when I texture it I will post renders and apply post VFX), I've also received the first two minutes of my soundtrack from my composer and put in a few more sounds. I still need to put in some unsettling sounds to contrast the uplifting countryside ambience/tweeting birds heard when Fred is rescued by his family. The shot that transitions Fred from the church to the kitchen (Act 1 into Act 2) obviously needs more work but for now here's what I've got!

Like the last post I've put in bits of my pre viz to fill the gaps of what's left to animate which is just Doris's search and finding Fred. I plan to have all scenes animated by Friday.

UPDATE (10/05): The audio in Act 2 where lines seem to layer over each other this wasn’t meant to happen, I was up very late and got muddled up with my nest groups in premiere.

A Time Apart: Post Viz - Progress 3

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd put together what I have of my post viz (with sound) so far with my pre viz filling in the gaps of shots I have yet to roughly/block animate.

Note: I've just noticed a couple glitches in the first act so I will be fixing that when I get home tonight (03/05).

A Time Apart: Act 3 - Doris Peeking Shot Redo and Letter Box Shot

The letter box scene isn't 100% done yet, I still need to put in a camera shot showing the letter in Doris's hand, a close up of Doris's face before the shot below where we see her put the letter in - I have to make a rig to actually exchange the location of the letter within the scene from hand to letter box. The animation itself is a bit off with time and a bit floaty but this is something I'll have to come back too.

The shot below of Doris peering is more blocked than refined animation - it still needs work but again this is something I'll come back too.

A Time Apart: Act 3 Progress 1

Here is a chunk of Act 3 put together, before this chunk is the letter box scene (mostly done) and before that the reunion/milk bottle scene. The first shot in this video that has Doris needs to be reanimated as I accidentally deleted the head/face controls before I finished and saved over when I had it last before I realised they were gone... 

A Time Apart: Major Project Character Demoreel

This is the character reel I intend on submitting in May, I would like to do another reel of all the best objects I've modelled throughout this project but I'll save that for another time.

A Time Apart: Act 3 Scene 2 Shot 1 + Reference

Today I have been working on Scene 2 of Act 3, the reason for not diving straight into Act 2 is because I haven't modelled the interior of the house yet, I have the characters ready just not the set so until then I decided to crack on with Act 3. The first scene of Act 3 is the letter box scene which I have started and been working more on but it's proving to be more difficult than expected so I've moved on to the next shot and will return to that scene on a better day, (plus I was excited to start animating Rosa). I'm quite happy with how well I've kept to the reference, it may be a little bit of film but I feel it's a big step for me especially compared to my early animation posts for this project with their references.

"Is this the place?"

Note: I may be a couple frames off when putting the below video together.

2019 Showreel

Here's my 2019 showreel (not my character demoreel that I'll be submitting for Major). I also made a portfolio website which can be found HERE.

A Time Apart: Indoor Freds Ready for Act 2!

Here are a couple of renders for the indoor versions of Fred ready to be animated in Act 2. The poorly version reminds me a bit of a TV advert I often saw as a kid 'The Boy Who Didn't Stop, Look and Listen'.

A Time Apart: Post Viz - Progress 2

Since my last post viz post I've got a couple more shots animated, a couple shots rendered and composited, a couple more voice actors in there and thanks to Phil I've discovered a lovely effect in premiere called 'vignette' a subtle effect around the edges of my film that contribute to the vintage/olden timey look I'm going for.

I've only rendered a couple scenes, the first shot I did this because I want it on my demo reel and the last shot I did it for compositing the shadow. I'm aware the animation isn't the best it can be and some shots are better animated than others, but for now I'm leaving Act 1 and taking the lessons learned into Acts 2 and 3 otherwise I'll never get this film made. If by some miracle I have time at the end I will return to Act 1 and bring it up to the same standards as Acts 2 and 3 (because they should be better).

Below the video are some notes I've made for myself when I return to Act 1.

Notes: 

Scene 1, Shot 2, (Fred CU on train): Fred's rigid he needs to be animated even though he is still. Also there's something odd about this shot that stands out to me in comparison to the ones before and after, maybe it's too close to his face? Do a playblast with the camera not so close and play with scale in premiere.

Scene 1, Shot 3, (Doris CU pull out and train wipe): Doris is also quite rigid in this part I need to animate her a bit more.

Scene 2, Shot 6, (Down shot on Fred and Doris): Need to animate more overlapping actions on Fred's looking down and Doris's nodding - it's rigid.

Scene 2: Shot 7, (Fred grabs suitcase): He pulls away too quick.

Scene 2: Shot 8, (He can't come with us): Need to animate the centre of gravity and spine more.

Scene 2: Shot 9, (Downward roll shot of Fred): It's jittery - something to do with premiere probably.

Scene 2: Shot 10, (Fred looks up and shadow appears): Lower scale on sub surface - looks a bit like a static tv under the skin a bit when batch rendered.

A Time Apart: Act 1 End Shot Progress

Today I've been cleaning up the animation for the very last shot of Act 1 and figuring out how to do the shadows with Alan's help, which is basically just a animated plane and a spotlight. The shadow is rendered out as a separate pass and composited, the reason you can't do this all at once is because a shadow is the blocking of light but as you can see in the screen capture below I have lights around Fred which cancel out that shadow.

Composited + Desaturation

Composited Only

Render before composite rendered at: 2:36

Scene Set Up

For this shot I couldn't decide if the second arm action felt right or not so I did a playblast with and without. I don't know which one to go with.

A Time Apart: End of Act 1 Blocked/Roughed Out

Today I have been working on the ending of Act 1, here's what I have roughed out for me to come back too at the end, (there was another shot I did that was in my pre viz but it didn't work so I've cut it). Also I've cut out a line from the script ("We haven't got all day") because I felt like it was unnecessary to add/keep, when I come back to this shot I may put it back in or change the animation to work with it.

The first bit, the shots will be changed to include a better shot of their heart broken faces. What I'm trying to tell is Doris has to go, they both hadn't realised that Fred can't go with her, Doris being the older protective sister doesn't want to leave him but Fred decides to hide his upset and let her go. </3

A Time Apart: Shot 1 Refinement 2 + Lighting

A couple more tweaks made to the first shot.

Rendered at 7:06

Rendered at 7:53

A Time Apart: Shot 1 Refinements and Ambient Occlusion Test

Yesterday, (but didn't get the chance to post), I refined my animation for the first shot (for the purpose of my internship showreel) and tested AO composited with my render to see if it was worth my time to batch render before hand in. Conclusion: it doesn't really make much of a difference in my case and my style doesn't really require it. I still need to fix the lighting so that Doris doesnt have a shadow line going down the middle of her face and I want to try an optimize as much as I can before moving onto finishing blocking out Act 1 this weekend.

Before

Colour corrected and AO composited

I know its a bit slow but, in the final edit I plan on speeding it up a tiny bit.

A Time Apart: Post Viz - Progress 1 (With Sound)

I feel like I'm doing spoilers by posting this but, alas it's got to be done. Here is what I have of my film so far with sounds + a bit of voice acting. I've begun animating the next shot also, pictures below.


Below are screenshots of my 3 beats for the next bit, so after "Where do you think you're going?"

1. Doris and Fred initially react to this by looking at each other confused - What does that mean? I thought we had to stay together? "Well he can't come with us, darlin'."
2. Doris and Fred then respond, Fred looks to the ground not knowing what to do, Doris looks at Fred's response and uses this beat to decide what action she's going to take next. Her thoughts at this point would be, her parents told her to look after Fred so she's not gonna leave his side easily but she was also told to behave herself and do what people said.
3. Doris takes a defensive stance by stepping in front of Fred - where he goes, I go. "C'mon, don't be like that." Before reluctantly leaving him in the next part after.

I thought we had to stay together?

What happens now?

Where he goes - I go.

And finally a good ol' glitch!

A Time Apart: Scene 1, Shot 1 Clean Up

I have given it a go at cleaning up and refining the animation for the very first scene of my film. Improvements made: the way Doris turns, Fred's eye darts so it looks like he is looking out the window at passing objects, their rocking with the train I've tried to make better, I've put in/tweaked slow ins and slow outs in the graph editor for both characters to make it look like the characters are flowing through poses rather than locking which was what was making it look mechanical before... In comparison to my last post for this shot, I think it has improved??? ... I hope it has.

A Time Apart: Art Of Progress 3

I haven't posted in a while my art of which I've been working on, so here's my current progress with it. I don't really know what to have for the front cover, I was planning on using a render of my best shot but I don't think I've ever seen an art of book that didn't have a painted/drawn image on the front so for now I'm using the cover from my premise crit last year. Chapter 2 still needs my sets in it (when they're all made) and a couple of screenshots of my characters rigs. Chapter 3 will have my lighting and rendering examples as discussed in the submission briefing and at the very end I'll put in some of my glitches I've had.

A Time Apart: Scene 2 Shot 2 V4

I'm not sure if I've gone from mechanical to a bit floaty, still some work to be done. I'm going to return to the train scene because I think I can clean that up too before moving on to the next bit (final part of Act 1).