Major - Twinkle Maps and Curtain Movements

Glow and twinkle maps tests in After Effects to create emotion in the opening scene. The twinkling needs to be a bit stronger and as these was just tests, the render sampling was kept low for quickness. Also, a simple rig for the curtains movement to reduce the stillness whilst a stool rig was made for later in the animation.

Major - Adding Rivets to the Jacket and Revamping Bed Control

 Coming to the final steps for the jacket rigging, the blendshapes are now all complete and rivets have been placed for the buttons. The pocket has been skinned.

Also, I was unhappy with how the squash deformer worked on the bed, so I placed in a few joints/ controls to do it instead. This also allows me to have a little movement for when the "stealer" is shuffling around and trying to get out from under the bed. I only used 3 joints for the bed, 1 as a base and the other two in groups so not to cause any trouble when being connected to the controls.

I am debating whether to make a a small rig for the curtains so to create a little movement to the room during the first scene.

Major - Jacket Testing 01

Having taken a small break to work on thesis, the blendshapes and the jacket rig is now starting to take form. Overall the jacket is skinned to the body and the front has a control to create a swinging effect. This rig is far from perfect and there is a few issues that I will have to iron out as a start to animate. 

I am debating to start the jacket again and use a ribbon along the bottom hemming to create better animation, but then that may be over complicating the jacket.

I did run into some problems with placing the post-deformers, but after some research, changing the inputs on the jacket solved the issue. when being made, the post deformer blenshapes was coming up before the skinning node, causing massive amounts of deformation to the geometry. With the clavicles done, next is the shoulder blendshapes and placing some more rivets for the buttons, hopefully meaning the "stealer" is ready for animation.

I am currently running behind on my schedule, but now that thesis is getting close to completion, major will be my only focus and I intend to catch up as fast as a I can. 

Major - Reviewed Project Proposal

 Starting on Major this week, the first job was to review how the project has progressed from Minor and any adjustments that are needed. Also, the creation of a timetable will allow me to manage my time more effectively. 

Minor - Final Submission Post

KimmiKittie23 · Where Do All the Socks Go? Credits - Version 02

Reflective Statement

Starting the minor project, I felt quite confident and excited about the prospect of bringing my premise ideas to life. Starting first with the environments, I wanted to really capture a magical, child-like world where the imagination could become real. Overall, I am very happy with how the bedroom turned out, although looking back, some of the models may be far too dense and the textures too high a resolution. But I found that I highly enjoyed the texturing process and found going between Substance Painter and Photoshop becoming easier the more I practised. Moving forward, I have learnt to be more careful with the size of texture maps and the correct usages of normal/bump maps.

When it came to modelling the "Sock-Sealer" and the "Pipe-Tapper", again I really enjoyed the modelling but found the rigging process to be highly frustrating. So, to capture the patched together teddy style for the "Stealer", I decided to make the legs as separate meshes in the hope to create a pinned on aesthetic. When it came to rigging the legs however, there was quite a lot of problems with placing the correct skin weighting but using blend shapes have been a bit of a life saver. Also, the use of a ribbon spine made the body a bit more flexible but placing the weights was complicated due to his torso being so short. In my future models, I aim to work on making all the meshes a complete body regardless of artist style and use UV's more to my advance. Regardless of these issues, I do feel quite accomplished and happy with the outcome of my fully rigged character. 

To be honest, having kept running into rigging problems made me very fed up at times and wondered if I am taking the right approach to my project. Now, with the "Stealer" fully rigged and animatable, I want to keep pushing forward to see how the project continues to develop. Another area that I want to improve is my time management. I feel that it has not been my best area this year due to the multiple problems I have encountered in and outside of university. Also, moving into Major, I am going to make some changes to the project so to be able to make a completed animation rather than trying to do too much and adding too much pressure to myself. 

 

Links

Project Proposals

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-project-proposal-update.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/09/minor-project-brief-and-proposal.html

Animatic, Scripts and Storyboards

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-animatic-tweaking-pt-4.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-updated-storyboards-and-scripts.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-animatic-tweaking-part-3.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-animatic-tweaking-pt-2.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-animatic-tweaking-part-01.html

"Sock-Stealer" Modelling, Rigging and Texturing

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/minor-sock-stealer-hair-and-ear-rigging.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/minor-sock-stealer-hair-and-ear-rigging.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/minor-sock-stealer-texuring.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-facial-rigging-and-scarf.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-earshair-joint-dynamics.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-sock-stealer-rigging-pt-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-sock-stealer-skeleton-and.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-sock-stealer-uv-layout-pt-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-sock-stealer-body-modelling-pt-03.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-minor-sock-stealer-body-modelling.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-sock-stealer-body-modelling-pt-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-sock-stealer-head-modelling-pt-05.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-sock-stealer-head-modelling-pt-03_28.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-sock-stealer-head-modelling-pt-03.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-sock-stealer-head-modelling-pt-02.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-sock-stealer-head-modelling-pt-01.html

"Pipe Dwellers" Modelling and Texturing

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-pipe-dwellers-texturing-pt-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-pipe-dwellers-body-modelling-pt-02.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-pipe-dwellers-body-modelling-pt-01.html

Pipe Environment:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-pipe-environment-texturing-and.html

Bedroom Renders: 

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/minor-final-room-renders.html

Bedroom Modelling, Texturing and Lighting

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-lighting-progression-pt-1.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-room-texturing-pt-7.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-6.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-5.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-4.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-3.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-2.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-texturing-pt-1.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-9.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-8.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-8.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-7.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-6.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-5.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-4.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-3.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling-pt-2.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/10/minor-bedroom-environment-modelling.html

Ending Credit Music

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/12/minor-end-credits-music-progression-pt.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2021/11/minor-end-credits-progression-pt-01.html

Minor - Final Room Renders

Now the bed has a deformer to create a breathing effect, I have now finalised all the textured and taken some more up to date renders.

Bed Textures Complete

 

Minor - Sleeping Effect (Squash Deformer)

 For the bed, I experimented with placing a squash deformer on the duvet to try and get a sleepy, breathing effect. This is much too fast and will be slowed down for the final animation, also some other experimentation may be done to try and get a better effect.

Minor - "Sock-Stealer" Turnaround and Poses (No Coat)

Minor - "Sock-Stealer" Hair and Ear Rigging

 Starting with both the ears, I decided to use a joint/control rig so to keep the functionality simple but effective. Surprisingly, this set allows for a good range of shapes to create a fabric-like movement. 

Ear Controls Left

Ear Control Right

Following the horses tail tutorial for the hair, a range of dynamic nHair curves was made for each strand and attached to the skinned bones via IK spines. Playing around with the settings, the attraction to the original curve was set to a high level and the stiffness/bounce levels altered. This created a much better result as I didn't his hair to be "floppy" or have high volumes of movement, just a bounce when he walks. However,  some improvements may still be needed here. For the control, I only placed a on/off dynamic connection for when I'm animating as I don't really want to play around with the nHair settings too much. 

Moving on to the buttons, Rivets have helped to keep them in place effectively on both the tail and the arms. I also decided to removed some aspects such as the safety pins and cotton reel as they was just causing too many problems when trying to rig them.

Finally, on the belly I placed a jiggle deformer. This was quite fun to play around with but I feel I have gotten it a good level of movement here. Some softening may still be needed and a on/off control to be placed. 

Minor - "Sock-Stealer" Texturing

 Before tackling rigging the ears and hair, I took a break and did the majority of the texturing. There is a few more bits to do such as the pins, but I want to remodel them first.

Coat Renders

Without Coat

Face Close-Up