Value Study

Staging Life - AetherEdge Production Diary #2

Staging Life: Animatic Creation and Composition

How to create meaningful staging and acting at the storyboard and animatic phase

The animatic, or story reel, is an important phase of production. The idea behind an animatic is to convey a lot with a little. Despite their lack of polish, color, and shading, they determine the pacing of the entire movie and serve as a pose guide for animators.

A story artist is the one who creates storyboards for all of the director's shots. For this sequence, Floyd walks into the area and notices a red, pulsating object that seems to activate due to his presence. Now, our main character Floyd is still establishing himself in this new environment, so he's cautious and on guard, but his curious and explorative nature is also present.

Therefore, we want a shot that places a focus on both the environment, the object of interest, and the character in question.

Lines created in the composition stress object importance.  Notice that there is always an implied line created by the character's gaze. What is that glowing red object on the floor that has Floyd on guard? By creating an environment like this, the overriding area of interest is clear.

After several revisions, the final sequence reads well. Let's break it down!

First - Establish the environment!
Wide angle shots are great for establishing the set. You may have seen it before.

It's also a nice rule of thumb to keep objects of interest near the thirds. What are the thirds? Split your shot twice vertically and twice horizontally and you'll see them. The human eye dislikes looking too close to the edge of a picture because we feel like we're gonna miss something, and having something dead center of a picture serves an entirely different purpose.

Next, Floyd notices the glowing red object flicker on the ground. For this, we want a range of key poses for the animators to go by.

Walks in, audience anticipates some kind of reaction.

 On guard, grabs sword hilt. Diagonals lead to more dynamic pose.

 Realizes there's no present threat. Subtle shift in body language, less tense.

Walks toward object curiously.

No shortcuts!

For the next shot, I had to create several poses and seperate sprites to accurately describe the action of picking up the object, examining it, and dusting it off to reveal alien text. All of my composing is accomplished through After Effects. Keying opacity between sprites has a nice feel and adds an extra layer of polish.

Here is the entire three shot sequence.


Want to know what happens next? Keep checking our website for updates, and go like us on Facebook!

Meet Floyd! AetherEdge DevBlog

Hey guys! I wanted to write a post about the character I'm working on.

 

Meet Floyd! Don’t let his name fool you, this is one guy you do not want to mess with. Very little is known about his past (even to himself). You might see in him something of a samurai-figure, and like the samurai of yore, he often finds himself defending the weak and helpless. He is motivated toward a murky goal that even he finds it hard to explain. All he has is a direction. Consistently moving toward this location, he often finds himself entangled in the affairs of the other residents that live on Earth (not all of them human), often leading to misunderstanding and conflict.

This character, if you couldn't tell, was heavily inspired by Final Fantasy heroes. My fellow creative leads kept telling me to go back and redesign reference Zack Fair, Zack Fair, Zack Fair, so it's no surprise that my final version of Floyd turned out similar to him. However, the character has several details that are very different from Zack, and our 3D style is so different that I think we'll be okay.

I began roughing in the model as seen above. At first, the face wasn't nearly as developed and the arms were "tube-like". Nonetheless, the roughing phase is always necessary. Half of the model is missing because it is easier to model one side of the character, duplicate it, and flip it when you're pleased with your work. Then you can work in mirror mode from there.

Brought some muscle definition to the torso and arms, added the plate of armor, and for the first go around, tried my hand at having geo sculpted for the hair. We're exploring options, but we're probably going to make the hair fully dynamic using Maya's native hair system.

The model is now highly polished with appropriate edgeflow. The face has more appeal and the hands are highly polished. Modeling continues cleanup until the last minute, but at this point, I began implementing materials. Above is Floyd with his aether "veins". This is achieved with a color corrected glow map, also hooked up to a weak incandescence.

The next challenge was implementing the skin shader. I painted custom maps for Floyd's overall, epidermal, and subdermal layers. There's also a custom backscatter map so we don't get too much subsurface scattering in unwanted places.

Almost completely finished! I wanted to make sure the skin and textures reacted smoothly to something other than default lighting, so I went to the closest and easiest light rig I had: It's my Ember light rig! The skin reacts as expected, so I can move to fine tuning the material properties.

Aether Edge News!

For those of you that haven't heard, I've been working on a brand new project called "Aether Edge".



At long last, our kickstarter has launched! Check this page out, it has tons of information on what exactly this project is, and also how you can help us attain our goal: to create a proof of concept that we can eventually turn into a web or tv series that has animated feature film render quality!

On this project, I am the Art Director, but I also serve as a character modeler, texture and material artist, storyboarding lead, and lead cloth technician. There will be lots of Aether Edge news to come in the next month or so, make sure to stay tuned!

Aether Edge: Preliminary Render

ÆtherEdge First Shot! from Andy Pace on Vimeo.

Monsters University

I just saw Monsters University the other night. Very impressive movie, I'd recommend it to anybody. I might even review it on the next episode of the Solmatter Show.  The story follows a young Mike Wazowski, who from childhood is inspired to become a Scarer, a prestigious job title to hold in the monster world. Arguably the best place to study to become a Scarer is the titular Monsters University, home of the legendary Dean Hardscrabble's Scare Program.

Aside from Hardscrabble having one of the most awe-inspiring character designs I've seen from the monster world, right away the geniuses at Pixar make it clear that although she becomes antagonistic to Wazowski, she's not a villain. In her opinion, scariness is something you are born with, a trait held by good ol' James Sullivan.

Young Sulley is a character we've all met, someone who doesn't have to work hard to be good at what he does, which happens to be scaring. Mike and Sulley quickly find themselves at odds with each others' views on what it takes to be a scarer. The movie plays off of the contrast between Mike and Sulley all while throwing interestingly relatable college situations at the viewer. A great strength of the movie is its fresh and holistic take on university life and how funny it can be; the film certainly doesn't fall back on typical college jokes or crazy Superbad-esque scenarios.  Characters are vivid and fresh; archetypes that a lesser storytelling team would probably generalize are made into specific individuals that feel quite unique. And of course, the movie is visually stunning, especially as an artist that has an idea of what goes into each shot with regard to materials, effects, and lighting.

You know that feeling when you watch a movie and you realize that so much care and thought went into it? Get ready for that.

I won't go into any unnecessary plot details until perhaps my video review, but between the superb cinematography, pacing, excellent color palette, snappy dialogue, and beautifully placed nods to Monsters Inc, this movie is definitely worth checking out.

Adapting a Concept - Robot

As a designer, I try to create the most descriptive concepts I can. I've found good results painting from the 3/4 view with additional information on the side. Presentation is important too of course. Here is a concept I did of a three legged mech I call "The Gardener".

In this case, I found it beneficial to start from linework. Including human scale is important too. Still, having this view alone wasn't descriptive enough. It was difficult to grasp the style of movement the robot would use and what the back looked like. I then created a detail sheet.

At this point, I realized some of the info provided here contradicted the earlier art. Just an example of how a design can change as you grasp a deeper understanding of it. Nonetheless, I still wanted to preserve the robot's strong silhouette at all costs. Soon a demand for a new type of forearm movement arose, so I had to make modifications there. By this point, Damian Thorn-Hauswirth had already created a base model, so instead of creating a concept sheet, I painted over the forearm of a quick AO render. Can you tell what's painted and what's rendered?

The robot is nearing completion, and I'm pleased with it. Being in constant communication with the modeler has been fantastic. Stay tuned for more progress on this mechanical menace.

Friday Life Drawing Post - ON MONDAY!?

Well, I've been quite sick lately. I figured I should get myself up out of bed and put something up here...

We've got an article on Bold Red Interactive!

http://boldredinteractive.com/brand-behavior/ucfs-school-of-visual-arts-and-design-annual-student-showcase-was-super-man/

Check us out. You can also view the Super Ember trailer, a parody of the trailer for the upcoming Man of Steel! Edited by Co-Director Andy Pace.

Painting Progress and Ember's Reception!

It's been kind of busy, but here's a post!

I am very pleased with the screening of Ember at the 2013 Premiere at the UCF Center for Emerging Media. The turnout was pretty awesome. For those of you unfamiliar, Ember's the short animated film that I directed for the bulk of my upper level coursework at UCF.  We screen the movies downstairs in FIEA, mad props to those guys for letting us use their cool theatre room.

This crowd was at the first showing. It was a stunning amount of applause for a medium to large sized theatre at best.  I mean, long cheers. People came up to me afterward and told me about all the scenes they got goosebumps during.  My group should be extremely proud; Ember was extraordinarily well received. 

On other notes, I've decided that it's time to stop doing everything (just watch the Ember credits to realize how much I did on that movie).  Don't get me wrong, I always want to portray myself as someone who, at the very least, knows the theory and approach behind every single aspect of a production.  I'm totally your guy there. However, in order to really get that dream job, I've gotta be a master of one or two things. I'm working on my general 2D skills, specifically storyboarding and doing concept design. They say play to your strengths, and although I pick up 3D packages pretty quickly, my strength has always been in my eye for design and composition.

So, as I am beginning this grueling journey, I figured I'd post some recent work of mine. You can find any of my work on my website of course. Also check out my Deviantart, there's some stuff on there that isn't on the site, and vice versa. Anyway here's some of what I'd consider my best work at this point in my life.

Suppressing Darkness - Like 4 to 5 hours

Surveying the Outskirts - On and off but probably about 5 hours.

Docking - 3 hours.

Goals: I don't really think I should become faster. I think I want to focus on upping the quality first. Speed will come later.

Ember featured on the UCF front page! Soon to premiere!

http://today.ucf.edu/ucf-school-of-visual-arts-design-to-showcase-student-films-games-apps/

Today Ember was a highlight of an article on UCF's main website. The showcase is on Monday, April 22. I am very excited to have been a part of this experience.

We've been very busy preparing for this event, so I haven't been posting a lot lately. After the premiere, I will continue to post pictures and videos describing the process behind this production.

I am proud to have directed Ember. It has set a new par of quality for the films that come out of the UCF Character Animation Program.

You can view the trailer at www.embermovie.com!

Life Drawing Friday Post

New Site!

Hey all! Check out my new domain at...

http://trey3d.com/

Thanks!

Speed Paintings

Quick paintings. The underwater piece took me a little more time, like around 2 hours. The swamp piece was much faster and impressionistic, took me a little over 30 minutes.

Life Drawing Friday Post

Personal - Yurei, Bladed Wolf

Quick concept for an animal. Wanted to go for an Okami kind of feel, but with a futuristic twist?

When developing a character, I try to get into the character's head and figure out their back-story and personality.

Project Ember - Initial Story, Thumbs, and Progression

Today I'd like to talk about the first treatment of Ember. At the end of the day, Ember was a messy story to be brought on to as a Director. When it was selected as one of the top two, a complete rewrite was ordered. The script was reworked by myself and my co-director Michael Contardo, based off of a write by animator and co-director Andy Pace and lead environment artist Alex Silverboard.

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Ember Treatment 4/4/12
Sequence 1 – Man’s Prayers
    The sun eclipses the majestic Mongolian mountains at dusk. The weather is blistering cold. Snow whips around the mountainous terrain. A tired, worn man walks into frame.  Before him is a great monument situated in a mystical prayer circle of deer stones. The man kneels down in front of an oovoo to begin prayer. He has been here before as evidenced by the weathered area he begins to worship on. He is shown to be cold, as condensation erupts from his breath.  He places an amulet with a symbol that matches the top of one of the deer stones on the ground. The man stands up and gazes at the sky. He looks dismissed to the possibility of the gods ever answering his prayers. He shivers again and dismally walks away to his shelter.
Sequence 2 – Ember’s Birth
As the clouds begin to gather above this place of worship, thunder rumbles in the distance. The sky turns chaotic and begins to encircle the area. The tempo of the storm builds as the runes in the vicinity begin to glow. With the resounding clash of lightning, one of the pillars with the Mongolian symbol for fire is shattered as the pieces fly onto the ground. The shards of stone begin to gather with one another around the amulet the man left behind. They lift off the ground following the amulet, as the symbol on the amulet starts to glow. Fire emerges from the floating core to create a creature of flame.
TITLE
Sequence 3 – Ember’s Exploration
The form of fire has fully taken shape and is looking around with curiosity. The fire, Ember, looks around his birthplace examining his new world.  Ember notices the footprints the man has left behind. Ember begins his descent following the footprints. Ember travels past a huge rock at the base of the cliff and takes notice. With curiosity he touches the rock. Ember's flame rolls over, leaving a slightly blackened trail. Ember then notices a beautiful flower growing at the base of the large rock. Ember goes to touch the flower and after his flame passes through it he pulls back, shocked at what he has done. The flower has quickly become a charred stem. Ember, upset at what he’s done, wanders on following the footsteps.
Sequence 4 – Ember’s Reflection, Weakness
Following the footsteps, he reaches a riverbank where the footsteps stop. He examines the water. After bending down to look at the water he lifts his head and sees an animal on the opposite side of the river. It is drinking water from the river and when it finishes, it notices Ember and runs away. After the creature is gone Ember looks at himself in the river. He shifts his form to mimic the creature’s head and bends down to drink the water like the animal. When Ember reaches the river, some of his flame is put out as the water sizzles. He recoils in pain, meanwhile the man watches and approaches.
Sequence 5 – Man’s Meets
The man moves towards Ember in awe of his brilliant flames. The man sees the symbol of his amulet in Ember’s core and realizes that the gods must have sent him. Excitedly the man moves toward Ember to feel his warmth Ember moves away, aware of the destruction he can cause. The man notices Ember’s hesitation, and offers his staff. His staff lingers in front of Ember as Ember cautiously considers the man’s gesture. He then reaches out with an arm of flame and lights the end of the staff. As it is lit, Ember moves away quickly and then notices the man’s fascination and joy in receiving the flame. The man beckons Ember to follow him as he walks away from the water. Ember follows.
Sequence 6 – Man's Campsite
The man and Ember sit with each other, looking out onto the river next to the hut. Torches are seen behind them and Ember notices the man fall asleep next to him. The wind picks up and Ember’s flames swirl around in the wind. A part of Ember’s flames makes contact with the Hut, and it catches on fire.
Sequence 7 – Hut Burning
The man wakes up to find his hut on fire. Ember stands confused and concerned at what has happened. The fire rages on and the man drops to his knees in defeat. He glares at Ember and casts him out. Ember takes a step back then starts to move quickly away. The man continues to kneel in front of the hut as snow gusts in front of the screen.
Sequence 8 – Blizzard
A short time after his hut has been burned; the man wanders in a blizzard not knowing where to go. He is getting colder by the second. He collapses in the snow, and it is revealed that he has collapsed near the turtle stones marking the foot of the shrine. Ember rushes to his side as his consciousness fades. Ember moves close to the man but the blizzard is too strong for him remain by his side to keep him warm. Realizing what he needs to become, Ember unleashes all his power and spreads himself out as a huge crescent shaped wall protecting the man.
Sequence 9 – Man Awakens
The man’s eyes open. It is now morning, and the storm has passed. The man rises and observes the surrounding area relieved but also confused as to how he survived the night. He looks at the ground and notices the charred earth in a crescent in front of him. Snow is pushed away around the charred area. There is a faint flicker of fire left on the ground. The man notices his amulet surrounded by stones not far from him. He gently picks it up with a sad, grateful look in his eyes. He begins to walk up to the shrine
Sequence 10 – Ember’s Return
The man arrives and places the amulet in front of the oovoo. He assumes the prayer position. He looks up to the sky wishfully. He looks back down at the amulet and the glow of fire appears on his face.

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I started the thumbnails immediately after finally nailing down a successful story. Granted, it would be a lot to tell for a five to six minute animated short. Here are my first thumbs.

After the basic thumbs were laid out, it was time for some more detailed storyboards and an animatic. I drafted and led the production of several animatics before we finally arrived at a final one. I will detail that process in further posts.