Animated Life

when I used to model more and didn't know how to animate I made stuff like this

2010-01-17T05:46:00.000-06:00

writing, writing, writing.. rawhide!

2010-01-13T12:26:00.000-06:00

I have started scripting my first episode. I finally have the character figured out and some of the stories and experiences I would like to share in my animation. The hardest thing to me is getting my ideas that I want to share into a concrete form that I can then weave into a story. Metaphors and the likes. I guess it's kind of like writing poetry. What I'm planning on doing is let the character tell the story mostly with body language and actions. I might do some voice acting but I will probably have to hire someone because my voice is not so great. I'm also learning how to setup a nice rig as I go along and settling on a style is a hard choice. All of the choices I have to make at the beginning means I need a good road map and to plan ahead. So I'm not going to worry with the modeling or rigging really until I get the script in a final draft and the storyboards started. Any tips guys?

Alive and living

2009-11-27T17:25:00.001-06:00

So here is some more teaser footage. This is just a test render and animation. I’m still working on the rig. The scene was rendered with some node setup I have been testing. Not sure how I will render it out when it’s done. I maybe use a good amount of post work to allow me to do less detailed textures, this allowing me to turn this into webisodes.

Still alive

2009-10-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

So I'm working in Blender again. Doing some game work for a friend. Also working on my secret project still and I'm working on a 2d game! I'll post some teaser images or something up soon.

Instead of making a new post, I've just added to this one.

Revelation of Pi

2009-05-18T16:42:00.004-05:00

Life has been interesting to say the least. Much thought has gone into consideration. I have came to the decision that I want to create what I want! Much as any artist does. What format shall I choose? As many as I can.

On the animation side of things, all is looking on the up and up. Still struggling with still poses, but I just need to loosen up a bit. I did some straight ahead animation for practice this weekend and I must say it felt good. I enjoyed it so much. All this pose to pose nonsense has been making me feel like a machine. I broke out Dick Williams' book Sunday and brought it to work with me to read over for another time. Doing so I rediscovered his section on straight ahead and pose to pose. Using both of them to there advantages. When I originally read this part I didn't quite understand using the mixed type. Now I do. So here's to you Richard, thanks for reminding me that the wisdom of past and great animator's should be devoured over and over again!

I also forgot to say I built a new PC. This time I have a quad core! Specs are as followed, q6600, 4GB Ram, Nvdia 9800GTX. Very nice system, a great upgrade from my single core AMD 64bit 3000+! I've always been an AMD man until recently. A few reasons; 1) I got a deal on the Intel, traded most of the parts for an Amiga 4000. 2) Intel is now faster and the price gap is really close. 3) AMD now owns ATI and I've always been a Nvidia man.

New AM assignment!

2009-02-11T00:17:00.006-06:00

For this one I choose to use Blender as my animation software and the Mancandy rig as my characters of choice. This is my initial blocking stage. Mainly rough story telling poses with facial expressions for a more final feel.

Been a while

2009-01-21T23:57:00.002-06:00

Ok, it's been a while. I took two terms off from school. But I'm back. Here is a light pass I did on my last shot. The timing of the mouth is still way off and I've got a lot to fix. But I have fresh eyes on it and it should be better. Expect more updates soon! I will show you a sneak peak at my side project.

more progress on facial animation

2008-04-06T22:21:00.001-05:00

Here it is. Latest progress on my shot. Still got a good bit to learn, and to work on.

here is my latest progress reel

2008-04-03T00:37:00.003-05:00

As you can see, I am improving. But I still have a long road ahead! BTW, loving OS X!

Mac and Me

2008-03-29T23:41:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I decided to give Mac OS X a try. Boy this sure is a nifty operating system. It's pleasing on the eyes, which means the interface doesn't get in the way. It's easy to use. I think I've figured out everything I need to know now after a few days. All my software I need runs natively on Mac as well! Maya works great, Blender, etc. I even get to try some really new peachy keen applications. Overall my experience has been nice. I also ordered another gigabyte of memory, which will bring me up to two gigabytes! That will be very helpful for multitasking and animation in general. I will post my progress reel real soon. (haha, reel real, hahah!! :O )

Updated Harvey Animation

2008-03-18T21:07:00.002-05:00

Here's my progress. Still needs plenty and we don't have full facial controls yet!

Jimmy Stewart Talkie

2008-02-27T20:43:00.001-06:00

So this clip is with youtube, sorry it's just easier. just blocking out my first voice shot , or a "talkie" as I like to refer to it. Lots of work to do, but this is the general idea of my shot. Some of it will be removed, some will be change. You will have to see the next update!

Time for a wordy update

2008-02-10T17:00:00.000-06:00

So as you can tell, most of my posts lately have been just videos. I haven't typed very much. The reason is I've been pretty busy. I have moved to a new place, getting a new job, and working on side projects. The most recent project has emerged from a good friend of mine. We are slowly trying to work on a large animation project, but we've been busy with school and work so we've not put too much time into it. Well, he has a small freelance web design thing going on besides his day job. He is needing some coding in php. I have a bit of experience in programming qbasic and C, among trying out others. My most successful being a C game engine. Which got as far as being able to move sprites around and some crappy collision detection. I do however understand functions and how computers work, thanks to a book Write Great Code, which is an assembly book at heart. It goes in to great depth to explain how a computer works (thinks). A great buy even if your motives are not to program, just the information about how things are managed by a computer can help you in your everyday use.

Now for my real reason to update. I'm working out a webisode type animation. Format is unknown right now. But I've been doing tests in 2d and building a 3d set. I think I might change the medium per different episodes. This could possibly strengthen my techniques and my demo reel. I of course want to do stopmotion too. So, I am to model a 3d set, draw a 2d world, and build a real set. I just hope I can keep the look consistent enough. I know minor changes will be good. I'm not exactly sure how the stopmotion pipeline will work. So it will be new to me. I really hope to get into stopmotion professionally. Adding some stopmotion pieces should help me land that kind of job. Well, hopefully I will upload some teaser images of some concepts soon. Till then, happy animating.

Newer update

2008-02-06T22:36:00.001-06:00

latest stage on 1s

2008-01-26T15:22:00.000-06:00

Ok, so here is where I am now. What do you think? Still got lots of work to do.

Latest Blocking

2008-01-19T22:48:00.000-06:00

This week's WIP

2007-12-09T01:34:00.000-06:00

Not finished. WIP. What do you think?

2007-12-08T21:25:00.000-06:00

Since I've gotten the new mouse, I have been using my wacom more. How ironic is that? What I want now is probably a Wacom Cintiq 12WX. Which is a tablet lcd screen, if you didn't know. I think it would be the best and allow me to do 2d and 3d work faster with it. Still debating on whether or not I will get a new pc or this Cintiq first.

I got a new mouse and I love it.

2007-11-24T20:27:00.000-06:00

I have been using the brand new apple mouse and keyboard lately but the mouse has been bothering me. It has these side squeeze buttons that I accidentally use all the time. It is very frustrating. So I decided to buy a new mouse. So I buckled down and purchased this Razer Death Adder because it was cheap at BestBuy (openbox). I bring it home and hook it up. Wow. This is the best mouse I have ever used. I have gone through many mice. This one takes the cake. It glides smoothly with its teflon feet, the feel of the plastic is warm and inviting, the precision and smoothness hasn't been matched by a mouse I've come across. I highly recommend purchasing this product.

This week's blocking

2007-11-24T15:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, so here is the blocking so far on this weeks assignment. I'm not really happy with it. It seems wrong but I am not sure what. So I can't wait for my critique!

2d animation

2007-11-23T18:18:00.000-06:00

CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW ANIMATION
Messing around today. I might finish it some more, rough blocking today. Was fun. What do you think?

Body Mechanics of jumps.

2007-11-10T16:27:00.000-06:00

So from my experience and from what I've been told jumps are not easy. Here's my try of the "blocking plus" stage.

Long time no see

2007-11-03T17:24:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I haven't updated in a while. I've been real busy. It happens. Here is my latest, blocking in my shot and last weeks sidestep that still lacks but I'm moving on for now. It needs curve tweaking and that annoys me. I should have layed out the breakdowns better.

Standing up stop motion

2007-10-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

Here is some stop motion I did today. It's just a test of the armature. I haven't made a set yet so i've just used my desk for now. It's looking decent imho.

side step/jump

2007-10-20T22:02:00.000-05:00

Here's my latest.