New robot, new script

Currently trying to finish up a new bot before thanksgiving break, a new script has been written, with more character development and a clearer concept.  A mad rush of texturing and rigging for thanksgiving eve!

 The new bot is Ambriel, and he's currently in texturing + rigging stage.  Texturing will probably take a few days, and rigging about one or two days, depending on how well it works.  Ambriel features 6 wing lasers that can transform into various formations.  He flies around mostly, hence the underdeveloped legs.

Three shots completed

I completed three VFX shots already for the film, suffice it to say, they were fairly straightforward except the third one which was slightly more complex in that it required 3D tracking & rotoscoping.  The changing depth information was a challenge to match in Maya, but thankfully my job was made easier due to the parallel nature of my 3D camera.

I fly to Korea tomorrow to be a part of the Pusan International Film Festival director's training program, so who knows?  Perhaps this film can gain some traction in Asia.  The shots were farily easy to render, standard passes, beauty, ambient occlusion, ambient occlusion for the floor and shadow.  Lighting was simple, a directional light to simulate the sun and an HDRI.  At every location I shot at, I made sure I took an HDRI picture.

The spider mech was modeled, textured and rigged in only two days, whereas the big Bobo robot was created in like 3 years...He is truly the hero robot and every part of him is accounted for, texture, model, rig, its all well thought out with plenty of TLC.

 I wanted to create a few battle shots between Mihael (aka Bobo) and Sariel but these shots once again took longer than I expected.  Working with only one computer (no render farm) definitely has been a limiting factor in my workflow, not to mention the linear nature of my 3D pipeline.  But for this project, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Here is a VFX demo of these shots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrFXXQKeGU

September Update

It is September, time is really flying.  Looking back at my previous blog, I had set a goal for myself to finish Bobo robot (aka Mihael), as well as finish CGI characters of Xaphan and Adam.  Well, as usual, the robot took much longer than I originally planned, and so I am only about half way done with modeling Xaphan.  Haven't started on Adam.  I am however, finally finished with rigging Bobo, and 99.5% done with his parts.  I have to make one more additional part for his arm and that's it.  However, the rig works, he is almost completely accounted for and it works well.  It was a lot of work to get to this point.  I shot a short film this past weekend and Bobo will make a guest appearence in it, it will be a sort of test run for the rig and the shaders.

I would say the most complicated part of the rig was trying to constrain the right things to the right things.  I would constrain some group to some joint but only find out that it wouldn't work if I moved the bot a certain way.  A lot of trial and error.

I did figure out how to rig up arms and legs with this guy though.  Next step is rigging organic humans. 

Mihael aka Bobo robot shader build

Building up Bobo piece by piece due to technical problems with mental ray.  Cleaned up the scene and removed all extra junk and geometry from previous versions.  Hopefully it won't give me any problems the 8th time around connecting shaders...

Here is a WIP.  The purple color is for unconnected surfaces.  My goal is to finish the robot completely this weekend.

Began modeling Xaphan

I've begun the process of modeling Xaphan, the protagonist of Aeon Angel, and all I have done is laid down the image planes.  I am thankful for the excellent reference Miss Sasithorn has provided.  It will go a long way!

I don't have too much experience modeling humans, so this will be a first.  Actually, it will be a full, model, texture, rig thing for this CG asset.  Definitely won't take as long as a robot for completion, but it does present a whole new set of challenges, hair, organic smooth binding, and the usual rigging challenges of a biped.  All stuff I don't do too regularly.  It's okay though, I have to learn all of this at some point.

Current State of Affairs

Sariel, the main hero antagonist angel

The production hitherto has been all over the place.  Two years ago the seed of an idea popped into my mind.  What if I told a story about invisible guardian robotic angels that fought demons who were trying to kill humans?

I wrote a script and set out to shoot it guerilla style with my friend, who happened to be a Thailand movie star and filmed it in 3-D, using my rudimentary HD 3D camera that I built.  (It's pretty crazy when I think about that)

Over the next two years, I would rewrite, rewrite, rewrite the script many times, even though I had no idea how I would refilm anything because my movie star friend had returned to her country, and created my CG robots.

I wasn't doing this full time, of course, as I was permalancing at the Mill NYC as a 3D artist for about a year and working gigs at various post houses around the city.  I also had another film of mine in post, "Sketch" which ran about 20 minutes and had many CG effects that I had to make.  I'm a man of many interests, and more often than not, Aeon Angel had to take a back seat.  Even so, I believed in the project and squeezed in as much work as I could, and here is where I am now:

CGI
- two main hero robots nearing completion (modeled, rigged, textured)
- four other robots modeled only
- two human characters not started
- various CG aspects not started

WRITING
- on the 15th draft or something like that...forcing myself to finish the final script within the next two weeks.

FILMING
- because my thailand movie star friend is in Thailand, I don't know what I am going to do.

EDITING
- the original version of the movie based on the original script is edited together, but of course, all that is going to change when I redo the movie.

Where do I go from here?  
- Aside from finishing up my robots, I need to finalize my script.  And that script needs to be short, concise and cool.  I may need to cut out a lot of things in order to finish my movie by January 2011, while still maintaining a very high production quality.
- the centerpiece of the film is the battle on the bridge.  it's really about getting to that point and giving the audience someone to root for and a context for why the battle is happening.
- I need to start animating my robots fighting this battle, but before I can do that, I must whittle down my script to its final, concise form.
 - I have another script to write for my AFA fellow project, which is also due in two weeks, but I am fairly confident that I can finish that in a reasonable time.  Perhaps I can set a double goal, to have both scripts finished by August 14th, 2010.
- After that deadline, it must be locked, meaning, no changes.  Have to move on...

 AUGUST goals
 - script finalized
- hero robots finished and ready to be animated/rendered
- Adam CG character
- Xaphan CG character

I'd be in very good shape if I was successful in completing these goals for August.  Basically, all my main assets would be ready to go.  I'm not going to plan out the next 4 months because it's still too early to and I might just be setting myself up for failure.  So, I will do everything I can to finish up these lofty August goals, get in a good place and onwards from there.

SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER

Aeon Angel Xaphan 3D

Starting a blog to document a very complicated and time consuming artistic and technical process of finishing an independent stereoscopic 3D movie of mine.

Attempting to do all the CGI myself as a personal test of dedication, discipline and will.  Can I pass the test?  Self-imposed deadline/release date is about 5 months from now, January 2011.