Nightmare

On Monday we got given the task to create a character out of our chosen disciplinary. My second disciplinary is turning more towards nightmares than the broad 'Dreams'. It was really fun making the characters!!

But ok, so like the top left one looks like a sheet over a tomato. The skull concept reminds me of Ghost Rider. The star just. What. The right concept looks like a chili worm and the bottom right looks like someone experimented on Pikachu. The top right ...Idk. Just. I was on a drawing roll...buuuuut not a good one.

SO I want with the 3 horned character concept which I based on Gastly, who is a ghost type Pokemon (and one of my favourites!! YAAAS).

The 'horns'on the head represent part of a star while the head is like a moon. In recurring nightmares, there is a repetition of an item. For the character it can be seen as the 3 horns 'repeating'.

And because I'm hella original, my character is called Nightmare. His ability is giving people nightmares by flying through them. Flying through the victim gives Nightmare all the knowledge of what the victim is afraid of along with all negative thoughts the victim has had in their lifetime. The nightmares loop in said person's head, but it changes ever so slightly each time it recurs.

I couldn't think of a final coloured version, so VARIETY. Perhaps depending on how strong the Nightmare/ Creature is, will depend on the colour. Yellow being a pre chill nightmare, but the kind of nightmare that repeats an embarrassing event reflected from reality. Light blue being something the person is worried will happen. Dark blue is the same as light blue, but more realistic. Purple is about a loved one that has passed on. Red is what the person is scared of.
So I'd say mainly stay away from Purple & Red D:

Character Expressions

We have our final design for our character! Designed by our wonderful director Taylor!
It shows Holly's features very well.
-Long eyelashes -Round face and cheeks -Exposed Forehead -Curly Hair etc.
Below is the final design drawn by Taylor and below that are expressions drawn by Taylor and myself. I couldn't quite figure out how to draw her well in front on, so Taylor did those, thank you Taylor!!
These expressions show the nature of the character which is kind and loving. We did think of drawing angry, but she isn't a very angry character and we show no signs of her being angry in the script. Also Taylor's style and my style are different. It is noticeable in the expression sheet. I will continue to practice drawing the character to capture more of Taylor style. Especially how we need to be in model and have consistency through out the animation, so practice is a must!

Final Script

Script 2 (Final)
So I haven't written a script in a while and I'm pretty bad at them...hopefully this is alright D:

Vending Machine
Live action character name will be Bob and 2D/3D character name will be Fluffball. (Just so I don't have to type them out every time).

INT: SPACE SHIP
MID SHOT
Fluffball is looking left and right around a spaceship and sees a button on the wall. The button is red and says 'Don't touch'. Fluffball then sneezes and accidentely head butts the button causing the ship to teleport to another world.
The ship and Fluffball shake until it disappears with a flash of light.

INT: HALLWAY (DIFFERENT WORLD)
FULL SHOT
A vending machine takes place in the hallway with Fluffball inside. Sparks of light shoot around the vending machine. The spaceship has transformed into a vending machine as a form of defence to blend in with the unfamiliar environment. 

PANS FROM RIGHT TO LEFT AS BOB COMES IN VIEW. STOPS PANNING ONCE BOB IS BY THE VENDING MACHINE.
A student named Bob walks over to the vending machine and looks puzzled as the vending machine wasn't there before. He shrugs and pulls some coins out and puts them into the vending machine. He buys a chocolate bar, but it doesn't come out. 

CLOSE UP
Fluffball is holding onto the so called chocolate bar as it is fake and part of the ship. 

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT FROM BOB'S SHOULDER
Bob waits for the chocolate bar and spots Fluffball. They make eye contact.

CLOSE UP OF BOB'S FACE
Bob's eyes pop open in surprise, but then furrows his brows. He doesn't care that a never-before-seen creature is there, he just wants his chocolate bar that he paid for. He is angry.

FULL SHOT
Bob grabs the vending machine out of anger and starts to shake it. As the vending machine shakes, the environment changes. Bob looks amazed as he looks around while still shaking the machine. The environment changes from the hallway, to a beach, to a waterfall then back to the hallway.

The vending machine, Bob and Fluffball are all back in the hallway. The world starts to shake, there's a flash of light and the vending machine along with Fluffball are replaced with smoke. 

CLOSE UP
Bob's eyes are closed from the bright light, after a few seconds he opens his eyes to see the vending machine gone and a chocolate bar on the ground in it's place. 

FULL SHOT
He shrugs, picks up the chocolate bar and walks away.

INT: SPACESHIP
The once before vending machine is back to being a spaceship. The spaceship and Fluffy are back in their world. Fluffy faints overwhelmed by his little adventure.

Script: First Draft

This was my first try at the vending machine idea before the tutors gave me feedback. Definitely not the final, but it has a rough guide to my original idea. Annnnnd hopefully it makes sense.

Based on the vending machines on floor 10 lul
note: no dialogue

INT: IN HALL WAY (FLOOR 10 OTAGO UNIVERSITY BUILDING)

FULL SHOT OF VENDING MACHINE.
A figure walks to the vending machine and pulls out some coins to buy a chocolate bar.

CLOSE UP OF CHOCOLATE BAR IN THE VENDING MACHINE.
The chocolate bar gets stuck due to a small animated character holding on to it.

CLOSE UP OF FIGURES' FACE AND SWAPS TO THE ANIMATED CHARACTER
The live action character and animated character make eye contact and the live action character gets angry.

FULL SHOT OF FIGURE AND VENDING MACHINE
The live action character grabs the vending machine and shakes it. Angry because he/she wants his/her chocolate bar.

[Each time the vending machine shakes the location/ environment changes. This is due to the vending machine being a ship in disguise of a vending machine - to blend in with the environment. The location changes 3 times: to a beach, forest and waterfall until the environment changes back to the original setting.]

CLOSE UP OF CHOCOLATE BAR AND ANIMATED CHARACTER
The chocolate bar and animated character fall down in the vending machine. It looks really intense when the bar and character fall up close, like sky diving since it would be scary for the little character, but from the live action characters POV it looks pretty normal. Just falling. The norms.

SHOT OF FIGURE GRABBING THE CHOCOLATE BAR ALONG WITH THE ANIMATED CHARACTER.
The live action character brings the chocolate bar up to his face with the animated character holding on to the chocolate bar.

WIDE SHOT OF THE 2 CHARACTERS PLUS THE CHOCOLATE BAR
The characters are making intense eye contact , even squinting. The animated character growls.

MID SHOT
The live action character swings the chocolate bar causing the animated character to let go and splat on a nearby wall (or outside of the vending machine?).


Here are the notes again for it 
Backstory:
The animated character is from another planet or dimension. The vending machine is just for show as it is sort of ship or transporter for the animated character. The food in the vending machine is all fake. The reason the animated character holds on to the chocolate bar is because it isn't real and it part of the 'ship.

Possible idea for the 3D object - the chocolate bar. 3D for when the animated character is holding on to it and a real chocolate bar for when the live action character is holding it.

I originally wasn't going to have environment changes because I felt like it would be too dramatic and quite random. Saying this, I thought of a reason as to why the environment would change quite dramatically (backstory).

The amount of times the environment would change would need to be taken into consideration with the audience understanding what's happening as well as the time limit being 30-40 seconds. 10 would probably be too much as eventually bore the audience plus it would be too much in 30-40 seconds. Roughly 3 times would be good as it would still engage the audiences' interest. I picked locations that can actually be filmed (a desert would be difficult).

The alternate ending was that the intense eye contact between both characters causes the animated character to 'poof' away because he was scared. This ending isn't as strong as the current ending plus it makes the animated character seem like he gave up too easily.

Finalish Vending Machine Concept

I came up with this before my brain broke down.
HERE GOES

It starts off with a character/ creature in a ship on his home planet. He presses a button which says 'don't touch' the ship teleports to floor 10 of University of Otago building. The ship transforms into a vending machine to blend in with the environment.
'Bob' goes too the vending machine to buy a chocolate bar. The chocolate bar wont come out because the creature is holding on to it. Also the chocolate bar is not real, it is just for show and it actually part of the ship (cords sticking out the back of the 'chocolate bar').
Bob sees the creature and they make eye contact. Bob gets angry and shakes the vending machine. Due to the aggressive shaking, the teleportation is activated again. The shaking causes the vending machine to teleport to different locations (beach, forest etc). It teleports 2 or 3 times then finally back to the original place that Bob is from. The vending machine 'poofs' away, back to the creatures home and a real chocolate bar comes out of thin air that Bob catches. With this both Bob and the creature are happy.

( I feel like the end for Bob getting a real chocolate bar is a bit weird and random)

Tutor Feedback

My tutors came round and gave me feedback for my vending machine story concept.
I need a beginning and an end. To be honest I didn't consider this in the first place...just an interesting idea really.
I've thought of an ending, but I'm STUCK on the beginning. How the flip did the vending machine and little creature even get there in the first place??

Possible ending
The creature is stuck in our universe/ world/ planet in a vending machine and doesn't know how to get home. Bob comes along and activates the vending machine by putting money into the machine to buy a chocolate bar. After the vending machine has teleported to different locations, it appears back to the original environment (where Bob came in) then the vending machine 'poofs' away back to the creatures home and a real chocolate bar appears for Bob. Win win for Bob and the little creature.
THIS IS GETTING REALLY COMPLICATED. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!!

Possible Beginning ?
Starts off with the creature at home in a ship and he presses a button that isn't supposed to be pressed. This teleports the creature with the 'ship' to a foreign place and the ship transforms into a vending machine as a defense to blend in with the new environment.
What on earth is this nonsense.

Why a vending machine?
To blend in with the environment, being a school environment.

What kind of world is the world from? 
.....I will..think about ...that.

What does the creature look like?
I have an idea in my head which resembles this character from a game I played when I was younger called Chuzzle.

http://www.wildtangent.com/games/chuzzle-deluxe

I simply wanted the character to be cute in a way. there's no real reason as to why that is. 

New Year, New Stuff

Production Cinematic
Week 1, Friday
I need to get back into the habit of blogging more frequently, hopefully daily as I slacked off a bit with blogging last year. This is the last day of the week and I'm only blogging now...good thing I started though!
Live action footage with animation assets
I had quite a few ideas run through my mind as the tutors were telling us about our group project (On Monday) I wrote them down and expanded on only 2 as these ideas caused me to carry on thinking about them and had my interest.

IDEAS!
note: instead of typing out 'live action character' every time..his name will be Bob. 
1) Character coming out of the TV screen/computer. phone →
The phone alarm goes off and Bob doesn't wake up. A 2D character 'morphs' out of the phone screen, yelling at Bob to wake up along with a 3D megaphone to help wake Bob.

2) Favourite soft toy coming to life...

3) Find a 3D egg in a park and hatches into a 2D character.

4) Bob is at the dairy and doesn't know what to buy out of 2 items on the shelf (and they happen to be the only things on the shelf) A 2D/3D character appears on Bob's shoulders telling him what to buy, like a conscience. (Even a mini version of Bob would be neat like in Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack is in Davy Jones locker and there are multiple Jacks. A little version of Jack appears on his shoulder and pushes a dread out of his way) The little creature ends up arguing with himself on what Bob should buy and has the personality like Golem (Multiple Personality Disorder). Bob and the creature don't take notice that the 2 items have both been bought by someone else, as the creature is too busy arguing and Bob is just baffled. Guttered.

5) Little creature 'living' in a vending machine. →
Bob is at a vending machine wanting to buy something. The purchased item gets stuck in the machine. A small 2D/3D character pops up (from behind in item inside the vending machine) and tries to push the stuck item out. The character succeeds and Bob gets the purchased item. Ending? The little creature 'poofs' away ?

Different approach on 4)
I quite like the idea of a little person living in a vending machine (thought of the vending machine idea simply from seeing the new vending machines on floor 10), so I want to expand and change it around, make it more interesting.
Bob buys a chocolate bar at a vending machine. The chocolate bar is stuck due to a small 2D/3D character holding on to it. Bob and the character make intense eye contact and Bob gets angry. Bob grabs the vending machine and violently shakes the vending machine. The shaking causes the chocolate bar and the character to fall down. Bob grabs the chocolate bar out of the vending machine and holds the chocolate bar up to his face with the creature holding on the the other end of the bar, almost dangling.
I have 2 endings, 1) Bob and the character stare at each other and the creature gets uncomfortable and scared and 'poofs' away. This is a similar, if not the same ending to the original vending machine idea. 2) Bob swings the bar causing the creature to let go of the bar and splat on the wall nearby.

NOTES TAKEN FROM SCRIPTING
Backstory:
The animated character is from another planet or dimension. The vending machine is just for show as it is sort of ship or transporter for the animated character. The food in the vending machine is all fake. The reason the animated character holds on to the chocolate bar is because it isn't real and is part of the 'ship'.
Possible idea for the 3D object - the chocolate bar. 3D for when the animated character is holding on to it and a real chocolate bar for when the live action character is holding it.
I originally wasn't going to have environment changes because I felt like it would be too dramatic and quite random. Saying this, I thought of a reason as to why the environment would change quite dramatically (backstory). The reason the environment would change it because the disruption of the shaking to the vending machine causes it to transport to different locations then finally back to the original setting.

The amount of times the environment would change would need to be taken into consideration with the audience understanding what's happening as well as the time limit being 30-40 seconds. 10 would probably be too much as eventually bore the audience plus it would be too much in 30-40 seconds. Roughly 3 times would be good as it would still engage the audiences' interest. I picked locations that can actually be filmed (a desert would be difficult).

The alternate ending was that the intense eye contact between both characters causes the animated character to 'poof' away because he was scared. This ending isn't as strong as the current ending plus it makes the animated character seem like he gave up too easily.

3) Arriving home to find your pet turned into a 2D/3D character. if 2D, turns on the side and you can't see the pet (like paper).

YAY Vending Machine transporting idea it issssss.

Final Animation!!

YUS! I didn't think I'd actually finish today! i'm so stoked!!
After many weeks of frustration on Maya, here is my final animation. There's lots of things I could've fixed up on, like how his arms are shiny xD But the time limit didn't allow me too.
Overall, i really like it :D
Thanks everyone for your help!!

Start of lighting

Chucked a spotlight in and straight away I rendered the frame.
I might use this for when he gets caught and hold it only few seconds.
FREEZE!
DROP THE SPOON AND BACK AWAY FROM THE BENCH

Smooth Animating

WOOTWOOT My smooth animating is complete!
I added a few things such as a blink in shot 2 and delayed the left foot when he's slipping. Looks better with more stuff going on :)

3D Animation at it's finest

Accidentally turned the lighting on while I was smooth animating. Bit of a shocker. Oops.
The lighting isn't finished! Just had to add some lights so I could see my character when previously rendering.

First shot complete for stage blocking

FYEAH first shot complete with the much needed help from Taylor!! (thank you so much!!!) featuring a gnarly environment :D If I have time ..which is hella unlikely, I'll add more pots and pans n shizz.

Skinning

On about Wednesday, I thought I was doing ok and was up to date UNTIL one hand's finger rolls were lost. When I tried again, the constraints weren't working properly, so I duplicated the hand over and re-orientated the ctrls to the finger joints AGAIN. Then I sorted out the finger rolls ONLY TO FIND that the ik rig for the right arm was out of whack SO I had to redo that. THEN the joints for said arm flew off in the other blooming direction.
Thanks to Michael and Keat's help, my ctrls are all good and working properly!
NOW I CAN FINALLY START SKINNING.
for goodness sake.
Due tomorrow.
FML.

Adding Eyelids

Keat suggested adding eyelids to my character as a squashed eyeball wouldn't look like he's blinking.
Just need to duplicate the first eyelid over!

Controls and IK Rigging

So I keep forgetting to blog stuff...
I completed my joints last week. The fingers were frustrating because the axis' weren't following through a lot of the time. BUT I finally have an understanding of joints. At least I think I do :P
Started putting controls on this week and I've got the steps on lock now. I've been checking the rotation and it's all going swell!
Today I gave IK rigging a go on the left leg and arm. AND IT WORKS!
All is going pre good so far :)

Now for the fingers D:

Cleaning Up

Naming and cleaning up the outliner to rig!

3D Character Turn Arounds

I finally finished the turn arounds for my props & character. I suck at 3D, so this was quite a challenge for me & is also why it is being posted a day late. I really wish I caught on to Maya quicker, else this would've been up sooner :(

3D Modelling Process

Some screen shots of my process so far with my character.
I've had tons of help from Ethan, Taylor & Keat because 3D is still quite difficult for me to grasp, but I'm getting there!!

Final Story Board

Just added the timing in. It's roughly 20 seconds long, which the final product will definitely not be. Just a little estimate of how some parts of the scene will go. Timing is prone to changing in animation!

First Attempt Storyboard