James, Saty and Mat's Short Film

Powerless film complete!

2009-06-07T12:27:00.003+01:00

We've finally come to the end of the project, having continued to work on it for another couple of weeks in preparation for the University of Hertfordshire Animation Expose. At this event, we were awarded both the best graduate 3D film and Audience choice awards.

Many thanks to all who have helped us along the way! The final film may be viewed here.

'Gold' version of Powerless

2009-05-14T16:02:00.003+01:00

Getting to the end now!
This is the version of our film that was handed in for the gold deadline on the 13th. Changes and refinements will be ongoing until later this month when the final version of the film will be submitted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWATHW73bZ0&fmt=22

Some shot teasers...

2009-03-20T11:04:00.004Z

Further environment work.

2009-02-25T00:32:00.003Z

We're now bringing the characters and environments together. We're also working out methods of compositing the scene elements.

Lighting

2009-02-21T14:26:00.001Z

So finally the interior lighting is now completed tried to get it close to the original concept idea but felt the concept was far to harsh in contrast so wanted to tone it down a little :)

Texture work for the fairy.

2009-01-24T21:10:00.002Z

This is the final character for the film. The modeling was done by saty and the shader work done by myself. It was designed to be somewhat dragonfly-like in shape, and the glowing leafy texture re-enforces the idea that this is an ethereal creature from a mysterious forest.

More texturing work.

2009-01-07T03:18:00.003Z

The inventor character has made some progress with texturing, including altered trouser textures and new normal maps, a change in shirt colour to something less busy, and the addition of skin tone. All major texture maps for the characters are now complete.

robot texturing

2008-12-23T13:14:00.002Z

this is the current state of the robot character - all rigged up and ready to go!

The inventor [wip]

2008-12-07T19:46:00.003Z

Time to post up more character stuff! This is the inventor, which i started texturing over the weekend.

Lighting test

2008-12-07T17:10:00.002Z

Been doing some lighting tests for the films interior. I wanted to show a contrast between the left and right side of the room, the right side will have the robot on the chair i wanted to give a lifeless feeling to the interior and on the right will have the inventor sitting down beside a fire or embers (we've decided this may be better option).

The scene is set at night time with mooinlight peering through the window offscreen. Im aware the shadows on the chair on the right are going in the incorrect direction as i didnt plan this out the fire is photoshopped in to get a feel for the scene. The moonlight is coming from the right which is the keylight for the scene so thats the reason behind the shadows going towards the fireplace.

Pre Visualisation

2008-12-02T00:03:00.004Z

Here is a rough previsualisation for our film.

Environment Progress

2008-11-20T01:35:00.003Z

A good deal of the texturing for the interior scene has now been completed.. There is at least now a placeholding texture on pretty much everything, but there are still updates and changes to come, and the scene is yet to be lit. But it gives a pretty good idea of the overall look now :)

Also, following on from the cottage concept posted at an earlier date on this blog, here's an early work in progress for the workshop exterior itself. We feel that the shots containing this building are likely to have locked off cameras, meaning that I'll be free to bring in a lot of 2d elements to help enhance this scene.

We're now working on getting things organised to begin blocking out our 3D pre-vis, which will feature a number of improvements and changes made since we posted the 2d animatic. This'll be uploaded as soon as we have it ready :)

Fairy modelling plans

2008-11-19T14:07:00.002Z

I've drawn up some orthographic plans of the fairy and will shortly begin modelling it.

Fairy designs

2008-11-19T13:58:00.003Z

I have drawn up some rough designs of various fairys. We have decided to go with the bottom right design as this designs shape works we'll to be able to access the robots funel top.

2008-11-14T21:56:00.001Z

Initial rig for the robot character is complete.

Character Model

2008-11-09T22:11:00.003Z

This is the finished model for the mechanical man character.

Mechanical Man Design Process

2008-11-09T21:45:00.002Z

These designs arose after we decided a more stylised approach would work better for our film.

Animatic

2008-11-09T20:52:00.003Z

Here's an animatic for the film, created using our rough storyboards. Also included is a temporary soundtrack.

Our film is about an aging inventor, struggling to complete his latest creation, a living mechanical man. When the robot appears to come to life of its own accord and leaves the workshop, the inventor sets off in pursuit, desperate not to both lose his prized invention and the secret behind its sudden unexplained working state.

Environment

2008-11-07T20:32:00.001Z

Here is a work in progress workshop environment. At this stage, the interior modelling is almost complete, and I have settled on a final exterior design. I'm currently texturing the workshop, which will then go on to be lit by Saty.

Introduction

2008-11-07T19:34:00.000Z

We are three final year digital animation students at the University of Hertfordshire, working to develop a short film due for completion in May 2009. While our roles on the project will remain flexible throughout, Satwinder will be primarily responsible for animation, Mat will focus on character development and I'll mainly work on the environments.

Updates will follow shortly, including a full animatic as soon as it's completed :)