Wooden Renders

some shots from my animation

June 17, 2013

I’ve found animating to be a very lonely, tedious thing. But also extremely rewarding. It suits me fine, being the introvert that I am. Sometimes I worry that I’m spending too much time alone, at my desk, while the world marches by outside my window. But this is what I’ve chosen to do, and perhaps been chosen to do.

And it’s not like I don’t go outside. I just prefer being in my imagination than anywhere else.

So I am feverishly trying to finish the rough blocking (with minor polishing) of the “Dining Room” scene. This is where Collinsworth sees Stockpot for the first time and gives his great monologue. I’ve loved animating this character, based on Mark Rolli’s performance.

The following are some test renders that I’ve done at random times during my rough blocking phase. The lighting and background and detail will be updated at a later point. Now, I’m just trying to flesh out the performances.

And yes, Mr. Brahms was originally in the background. I am aiming to put him in the doorway (stage right), with maybe an animated bird or cat at stage left.

dining_room011

dining_room002

dining_room004

dining_room007

dining_room009

dining_room001

More to come..

Cheers,

Wooden Update – May

a progress report on my animation project

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June 4, 2013

Well, that was fun! :-)

May is over and it was a busy, stressful month. But I’m so happy it’s done and I can refocus my energy in a positive direction again. I was able to make some progress on the animation, but overall, I felt mostly just fatigued and had to hit the sack earlier than usual.

I wanted to give you a sense of where I am, in terms of animated scenes, so I thought I’d list all of my INT/EXT SCENES with a “percent complete” number next to it. I’m going to build an app for it, too, so you can follow my progress on any electronic device in your house.

Three Goons

Also, I’ve updated my old Wacom pen tablet with the Wacom Bamboo Create. It’s a larger tablet and so far, it’s been pretty great. My old tablet had a tendency to “stick” and leave tiny traces wherever I moved the stylus. I’ve been wanting to do more short, hand-drawn animations – just even quick, little things that I could go to at those times when the Wooden Animation Project becomes too stressful or tedious, so the new tablet is a very welcome addition!

I have big goals for June and hope to get quite a bit done, including setting up and starting initial animation and blocking for multiple scenes, as well as polishing and perfecting lighting.

I am also going to need to videotape reference footage for the Witch character and the puppet. Any volunteers?

Here’s a breakdown of my scenes –

EXTERIOR – WOODS
INTERIOR – COTTAGE KITCHEN (Brahms Entrance)
INT. – COTTAGE ENTRYWAY (Collinsworth Entrance) – 20%
INT. – COTTAGE DINING ROOM (Collinsworth, Brahms, Stockpot) – 5%
INT. – COTTAGE WORKSHOP (Three Goons) – 20%
EXT. – WOODS (Fairy Entrance)
INT. – COTTAGE HALLWAY (Fairy)
INT. – COTTAGE WORKSHOP (Fairy, Stockpot, Brahms, Puppet)
INT. – COTTAGE HALLWAY (Fairy, Brahms, Stockpot)
INT. – COTTAGE KITCHEN

I hope to update this list every month.

I was also looking at another site redesign. The design you are currently looking at is strange. It’s incomplete. It’s really nothing. It doesn’t describe who I am or what I’m doing, or where I’m headed, and I want it to. So that’s on my mind as well.

Thanks for reading,

Completed Project Deadline: December 25, 2013

Progress Completed Thus Far (or PCTF): 41%

Wooden Update – April – Video

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May 2, 2013

I know my site has been quiet lately. I know you’ve missed me. But the animation isn’t going to animate itself, now is it?

While it’s true I did not meet my April goal of completing the Entryway scene, I feel that what I have accomplished is to be considered a major hurdle jumped.

This entire animation process has been gnawing at me for over a few years and I’ve been extremely intimidated by even the mention of it. I was having so much fun modeling and designing the characters, and building the sets and props. No doubt I was delaying the animation out of fear I’d screw it up.

I’ve always wondered if I have a fear of success or a fear of failure, or a lil bit of both. Goals and deadlines are not the handcuffs I enjoy wearing; in my life, I’ve learned how to slip out of them, but also that they have importance and purpose.

There will be no rain cloud over my head for not reaching my April deadline. I’m really happy with my progress and with being able to break through my fears. Here’s a video of what’s what.

The live-action scene was shot in 2002 or 2003. I am so happy I have that footage as it served as my video reference. I have many other scenes on video already performed and now that I’ve figured out an appropriate workflow, I’m excited to get hopping onto another scene, and then another, and another!

Challenges of the Entryway Scene

1. Mr. Collinsworth has a cane (in the live-action video it’s an umbrella) which switches from his left to right hand, and then into Mr. Brahms left hand. There’s a great tutorial by David Ward on BlenderCookie.com dealing with this very thing.

2. Mr. Collinsworth wears a cape. The cape has both a tall collar and ties that are knotted up. All these things need to be animated. I couldn’t trust a cloth simulator to move the cape around the character and my custom armature was a joke. I had a vision that “shape keys” might be the solution and sure enough, I was right. However, these shape keys need to be applied to the cape on EVERY SINGLE FRAME!!! And there are approximately 248 frames of the cape’s cameo before it is whipped out of sight! This process is going to be tedious, but shortcuts are not really an option. Yes, I could have skipped the cape and just given him an inanimate object to tinker with. The cape stays true to the original idea and is a great bit of humor.

3. As mention in 2., the ties that keep the cape around Collinsworth’s neck need to be animated. That will be simple enough, as well as incredibly tedious.

Lip syncing and expression are still needed, but I’m not very worried about those things. I believe I’ll get them right. I’m sure you’ll trust me on this and just be happy I’m not wasting everyone’s time dissecting more scenes of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

Completed Project Deadline: December 25, 2013

Progress Completed Thus Far (or PCTF): 40%

Cheers,

Wooden Update – March

and a tangent on "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull"

April 3, 2013

I’m not worried yet. Three months in to the new year, with a December deadline quickly approaching, I still do not have any animation to show. That’s okay. I planned it this way.

Pre-production has been long and arduous, and hopefully well worth the time. However, I feel like I should have had more accomplished by today. So what can I do about it?

Here’s what Ima do about it!

By the end of April, the sequence I’ve previously shown storyboards for will be a completed, rendered scene.

I am slightly nervous about it because I hate capes, and Mr. Collinsworth wears one, (which, somehow is my fault????) and I have limited experience with Blender’s cloth simulator. Anyway, I REALLY need to start punching out completed sequences or I will never hit my deadline, so I’m starting with this scene, as the camera doesn’t move and I can focus on a simple lighting set-up, basic character movements and minimal lip syncing.

The blocking and storyboarding are done for the entire project, so I know where to put my camera, and essentially how I want to light the scenes (which I do try to take seriously, even though I haven’t in the past, and especially now that I’ve been noticing some of my favorite directors creating unforgivable lighting mistakes).

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

The best of the visual directors lock down their light sources for the scene and block around them, sometimes creating stunning images. Without this continuity from shot to shot, the audience simply experiences a jarring, bumbling mess. Even Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones cannot save this movie from Steven Spielberg.

The focus was on a beautiful image and framing regardless of the lighting.

You’ll often see a new lighting set up, nowadays, from shot to shot, especially on Over-the-Shoulder dialogues between two characters. But how often do you see the lighting set up actually change DURING a continuous motion shot?

Remember that opening sequence from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull where the Russians shoot their way in to a secret U.S. base in the desert? We see a soldier reach into the trunk of a car, grab something, and throw it up toward the passenger door. We recognize the hat!

indy_hat1

An overhead shot sets the scene (even though it doesn’t match the previous shot in terms of lighting). We know from the overhead that the sun is shining, but we don’t know it’s exact placement in the sky. And we know the car and soldiers appear to be in the shadow of a building. We accept that some ambient lighting is hitting both ends of the car. But upon closer examination, there is a streak of light along the passenger side. The light is also hitting the raised trunk door.

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Storyboards – Collinsworth Entry

for the "Wooden" animation project

3 Replies

March 18, 2013

My friend saw the storyboards I drew over the weekend and asked me, if I was the only person working on the project, why would I need storyboards? She also noted that it looked like much time and effort was put into the creation of them. Wouldn’t that time be better spent just animating?

These are good questions and she has a valid point.

For the record, I whipped out these storyboards in less than an hour, focusing on expression and movement. The camera is locked down in this shot whereby Mr. Brahms greets Mr. Collinsworth in the entryway of the cottage, who is struggling with the ties of his cape. Mr. Collinsworth snaps back, and Mr. Brahms queries further, which leads Mr. C to whip off his cape and exit down the entryway steps. Cut to a wide shot in the hallway with Mr. C continuing down the stairs and nearing the camera, and a doorway to his right.

SB_001

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Wooden Update – February

for the "Wooden" animation project

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February 28, 2013

A professor in one of my film classes once said that an audience would be more willing to forgive bad video than bad audio. I never thought much about it until I saw “The Dark Knight” and when Batman starts talking in this ridiculously hoarse voice, I was so angry! One of the worst audio tracks ever!

Back in the early 2000′s (seems so long ago now), I began filming the live-action version of this story, “Wooden”. Though the script was unfinished, my actors and I carried on as if we were really making something that would be complete. That never happened.

But the tapes exist with hours and hours of footage from scenes that would remain in the current script. They’re basically one giant blooper reel because I ruined most of the scenes by laughing, and, since we really had nothing else to do with our lives, 20+ takes for one scene was a lot of fun. At least to me.

Mark Mushakian as Mr. Brahms, a wee Irish lad hoping to bring Mr. Stockpot a change of fortunes. Circa 2002.

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Transparent Background rendered in Blender

Transparent background rendering

using Blender

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February 12, 2013

I’ve been panicked lately thinking about how to render my animation, frame by frame, without my computer exploding, especially since my sets are increasingly detailed. Then I saw the RGBA option.

Here’s what a dummy I am: I always thought I had to render everything together. OR, I could apply a green screen behind the character, chroma-key it out in a separate program and place it in front of a single background image or Quicktime movie.

Sure, that’s one way of doing it. But a total waste of time. Also, don’t ever tell people you were doing it that way because they’ll think you’re a fucking cuckoo!

Final Composite example create in Photoshop, rendered in Blender

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Wooden Update – January

for the "Wooden" animation project

4 Replies

January 31, 2013

2012 was dedicated to building my assets for this animation project. 2013 is dedicated to telling the story. Here’s an update for what took place in January, 2013, and here’s a hint: Not much!

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