Done!....with 1 head rig

I have my first completely finished character. Man that feels nice to type. Its been a hellish process, but the next characters should go much faster now that I have a head rigging work flow.
That's it. Back to work now!

-eric

Head rigs in process, wahoo

So, rigging was never my strong skill. But, I've been forced to get better at it. For those that dont know, rigging is basically putting bones (joints) into a character so that animators can move it body parts around and make it look natural. Sounds easy enough right? =)
I was pretty confident with my body rigging before this project, but the scary thing is the head rig. In the past, I never had a character that actually talked. For this project I have 5 characters that talk. To make this work, I have to make a series of blendshapes. Lots of them! Heres the list of blendshapes that will be attached to each character. Keep in mind, for each one of these shapes I had to sculp the head into the shape. Ergo, It takes forever =P Thankfully, I purchased a wonderful book by Jason Osipa called "Stop Staring". Its been my bible these past couple weeks. I highly recommend it.


Teeth Shapes
teethUp
teethDn
teethOpen
lTeeth
rTeeth
teethFwd
tongueOut
tongueUp
tongueTipUp
lTongue
rTongue

Face Shapes
open
lJaw
rJaw
jawFwd
jawOpen
lSmile
rSmile
smile
lNarrow
rNarrow
narrow
lWide
rWide
wide
lFrown
rFrown
lSneer
rSneer
lUprLipUp
rUprLipUp
lUprLipDn
rUprLipDn
lLwrLipUp
rLwrLipUp
lLwrLipDn
rLwrLipDn
mouthUp
lMouth
rMouth
lSquint
rSquint
browsMidUp
browsMidDn
lBrowOutUp
rBrowOutUp
lBrowOutDn
BrowOutDn
browsSqueeze

Eye Shapes
lfLidBlink
lfLidBlinkDriver
rtLidBlink
rtLidBlinkDriver
lfLwrLidUp
rtLwrLidUp
lfUprLidDn
lfUprLidDnDriver
rtUprLidDn
rtUprLidDnDriver

Visemes
B/M/P/Closed
EE/Wide
F/V
OO/Narrow
IH/T/S
R
L/N
D/SH/NG/Soft G/H
TH
AW/OH/UH
EH/AH/UH

One character down, 4 to go.

-Eric

What have I gotten myself into?!

The title says it all. But, do I plan on quitting?! No way. This is to fun. Here we are, over 6 months into production, and I have yet to animate a scene. Hell, I dont even have a fully rigged characters. With that said, I couldn't be more happy with how things have gone so far. True, a bit slower then Ide like, but things are developing wonderfully. The screenplay is done, the 22 minute detailed animatic is done, the preliminary voice overs are done, the characters are modeled and textured, the environments are modeled and mostly textured, all the body rigs are complete. Things arnt so bad. The problem, really, is that this thing is so huge. So ambitious.
So, what left?
I have to finish modeling and texturing the environments. There is still a lot of work left in that department. We're talking about 10 heavily detailed environments. A forest, a neighborhood, an insane asylum, etc.

I have to create the head rigs for all 6 characters. The game plan is laid out. This area is much more important then it was in my past film. These fellas talk!

Animation. Lots of dialogue, lots of action, lots of work. I have 2 animators already interested in helping out. Both extremely talented. The problem is, I simply dont have any work for them to start. Soon i hope. I dont want to loose these guys.

Lighting. Most environments are still not lit. Im going for lots of atmosphere in this film. Fog, rain, underground caves, etc. Lighting is important and will be a large task. One I look forward to.

And much more =)

Radicool!

-Eric

Animatic

Hello everyone and no one =)
Ive spent the past week painstakingly putting together a full animatic of the film. This is a step I always skipped in the past, and my films have suffered because of it. For those that dont know, and animatic is basically a virtual version of a storyboard. Timing, camera angles, even dialogue can be tweaked here. Right now i have about 1 minute of a 15-20min film. It takes time and that sucks, but its fun to see the film finished before its finished. If that makes sense.

-Eric

Story is king

Ive spent the past 3 weeks working on the story. The first thing I did when I started this project was write a solid summary. I then moved into writing the script (about 20 pages). After working on the characters and environments for a while, I decided to revisit the story. Basically there was one aspect bothering me. It was part of the ending. So, I went back, took my time, and came up with something that I think works great. So, with all that said, Im finally back on track. This weekend I plan on doing some voice recording and also plan to start the animatic/storyboard. Thats it!

Eric

Some more fun props

Rigging Shmigging

The rigging process is going great. So far I have completed the Body rigs for 3 characters.

Donate to the cause

If you would like to help fund this film, please go here to learn more.
http://www.indiegogo.com/Radicool

"This is my 3rd animated short film and my most ambitious one to date. With the ambition comes the higher budget.

The donated money will be used to help pay for Film Festival entrance Fee's. Festivals cost about 40$ on average just to enter. And your film may not even be chosen. On top of that, you have to pay for shipping as well as a press package. Donations will also be used to help pay for a rendering service such as the one offered at www.renderrocket.com. Keep in mind, this is a one man project that has 0$ funding. Every little bit helps.

Thanks!
-Eric the salesmen

Character Lineup

Character Lineup

update

MODELING/PAINTING

Environments -
The Lighthouse Ext. - 5%
The Lighthouse Interior/Underground - 25%
Small town streets - 5%
The Forest Path - 0%
Kids Bedroom - 40%
Living Room - 60%
News Room (Int) - 0%
Power Plant (Ext) - 0%
Insane Asylum (Ext) - 0%
Retro Video Game Environment - 0%


Characters -
Timmy - 100%
Simon - 100%
Jocks - 100%
Holly - 100%
News Man - 100%
The Creature - 100%

Props -
Mongoose Bike - 100%
3 seat bike - 0%
Shovel - 100%
Cassette tape - 100%
Reebok Pumps - 100%
Barrel - 100%
80's glasses - 70%
Slap on bracelets - 10%
Highheel lamp leg - 80%
Skateboard - 80%
Vintage TV - 70%
Beanbag chair - 0%
Magazine - 0%
Chest - 0%
NES - 70%
Viewmaster - 100%
Trapper Keeper - 0%
Vintage Lunchbox - 0%
Bunkbed - 50%

Character modeling/painting done!

Character modeling/painting done!

Happy happy yay

Its been a wonderful,inspirational, and productive past couple of weeks. The characters are starting to come alive, the story tweaks are working well, the look development is extremely promising, and the passion I have for this project has never been stronger. It really is turning into my vision. I feel like my past 2 films got away from me to early in the production. I had big visions for them, and then I gave up on 90% of the visions because they were "impossible". Well, theres no "impossible" on this project. Im making the film I want, and the way I want. Its gonna take longer, its gonna be harder, but its gonna be a lot better in the end.
Wahooo.

Updating myself

I'm putting this here mostly just to keep myself updated on were I'm at. I'm currently finishing up look development/texturing on all the characters (6 total). This will take about 1 more month. At that point I'm going to start rigging them. I'll also start putting together an animatic of the film. This time I plan on putting the entire film together in storyboard/animatic form, complete with sound, before I move into animation. This will help with the pacing of the film, and help me notice any problem areas well before they are in animation (too late to fix).
So, thats the plans. Things are moving right along. Slowly but surely.

Thanks for reading,
Eric

Look Development

Recently I've been toying with some ideas on a fresh new look for this short film. This is a quick test I did that I'm very happy with. It looks extremely cool when animated. I'll upload a vid soon.

Back from Italy with much gained inspiration

Well, I'm back from a 2 week vacation in Italy. What an amazing place. Everything there just oozes inspiration. I'm moving right along with the short film. Lots of work to go, but Ive never been one to turn down a challenge =)

Jam on it!

Mongeese

The jewel of the 1980's

Sketches

javascript:void(0)

Some storyboard shots. Also a few creature concepts.

A few more work in progres shots

News Room

Holly the Older Sister

Story is everything

My first film was all about finishing an animated short. My second film was all about film making (cinematography, production design, character design, pacing). This film is about about story. The goal is for this thing to feel like it was plucked from a teenagers vhs collection in 1988.
The story is ultimately about friendship, and Im working hard for that to come across. But, its also about the bright florescent colors and fun cheesiness of the 80's. Complete with an older sister in a pink striped jazzercise outfit, bully jocks in football jackets, a power plat operation gone wrong, slap on bracelets, mutant creature, and of course a bad ass mongoose bike.

Weekly Update

Things are moving right along. I've started to plan out the production schedule. I'm aiming to have the film done by Feb. 1st of next year.

MODELING/PAINTING

Environments -
The Lighthouse Ext. - 5%
The Lighthouse Interior/Underground - 5%
Small town streets - 5%
The Forest Path - 0%
Kids Bedroom - 20%
Living Room - 60%
News Room (Int) - 0%
Power Plant (Ext) - 0%
Insane Asylum (Ext) - 0%
Retro Video Game Environment - 0%


Characters -
Timmy - 40%
Simon - 95%
Jocks - 95%
Holly - 0%
News Man - 100%
The Creature - 0%

Props -
Mongoose Bike - 100%
3 seat bike - 0%
Shovel - 100%
Cassette tape - 100%
Reebok Pumps - 100%
Barrel - 100%
80's glasses - 0%
Slap on bracelets - 0%
Highheel lamp leg - 80%
Skateboard - 80%
Vintage TV - 0%
Beanbag chair - 0%
Magazine - 0%
Chest - 0%

The towns news man

Here's an early shot of the local news man.

Some character concepts / early images

Moving right along

Well, things are moving right along. I'm having a blast creating all these things from my childhood. Here's a first look at a few "80's" props Ive created so far.

Stats

Some random stuff to help myself get organized.

Film length - 11 minutes (1 episode)
Production length - 1 yr
-Character Dialogue (4 speaking characters)
-Screenplay is complete
-Will be hiring animators once I get to that point.
-Animatic/Storyboard is in progress

MODELING

Environments -
The Lighthouse Ext. - 0%
The Lighthouse Interior/Underground - 0%
Small town streets - 0%
The Forest Path - 0%
Kids Bedroom - 20%
Living Room - 60%
News Room - 0%
Power Plant - 0%
Insane Asylum - 0%
Retro Video Game Environment - 0%


Characters -
Timmy - 40%
Simon - 70%
Jocks - 80%
Holly - 0%
News Man - 0%
The Creature - 0%

Props -
Mongoose Bike - 100%
3 seat bike - 0%
Shovel - 100%
Cassette tape - 100%
Reebok Pumps - 90%
Barrel - 100%
80's glasses - 0%
Slap on bracelets - 0%
Highheel lamp leg - 80%
Skateboard - 20%
Vintage TV - 0%
Beanbag chair - 0%
Magazine - 0%
Chest - 0%

step

There was a point I hit with my modeling and illustration work where I had to make a giant step from trying to be as "good" as other artist, and into trying to create what I like. Into creating things that feel like "me". Once I took that step, I started to flourish. I became much more happy with the work, and more people responded to it in a positive way.
When it comes to film, I'm very happy with my 2 previous films. But I dont feel like I've made that step yet. I don't feel like either film was completely "me". Both films catered to what I thought people would like and not completely to what I like.
This film is an attempt to take that giant step in film.

Animated short

This is just a place for me to keep things organized. And by things, I mean my new animated short film "Radicool".
The story is based in 1989, and revolves around 2 kids who go a after a treasure that's hidden in a haunted lighthouse. The feel is very much like Goonies, Monster squad, and The Gate.