I’ve decided to use the models I’ve developed up to this point to create a short trailer that sets up the story and action, introduces some of the main characters and gets the ball rolling.
What I’ve found to be a real challenge is to see just how much of the story I can tell without any dialog. Obviously at some point there will need to be some exposition in order to advance the story, but the opening I’m developing is a straight-ahead action sequence depicting the iconic theft of a Jetwasp by Skarab. This has been the starting point of the story for a long time now and it’s pretty exciting to see it come to life as an animation!
For some unknown reason, all the Bugbots (the machines built by Weevils for transportation and industry) have become infected by a computer virus that has been dubbed Beetlemania. Skarab is the chief Bugbot inspector for the entire planet, but because of the danger to the population of these giant machines going berserk and killing Weevils, Biff, who operates some of the biggest corporations, has taken it upon himself to confiscate all the Bugbots, literally leaving Skarab with no machines to inspect for his investigation.
With his hands tied, Skarab has no choice but to infiltrate the Weevil Hive, the very heart of Biff’s fortified corporate headquarters. With the aid of his wife and partner, Midge Lacewing, Skarab manages to steal a Jetwasp, but before he can make his escape, both Skarab and Midge must face mortal peril.
This is Arthropoda, the planet of Weevils. This is a rotation test showing a couple of the planet’s moons, although the day/night division may not be accurate as Arthropoda is a three-sun system, and there is rarely full night on the planet. However I did want to test the effect of a “displacement map” on the surface, which is what enables the surface to have an irregular, bumpy surface.
The Shuttlefly is one of the additional Bugbotz I will be modeling. The Shuttlefly is the commercial airliner of Weevil civilization. Most Weevils have access to personal flying machines, with the Jetwasp being far and away the most popular, but flying from city to city is easier in the enclosed comfort and stability of a Shuttlefly.
Weevils design and build a whole range of giant bug-shaped machines to do the work of industry and for personal use. We’ll be seeing more of these in the future.
Here’s the latest finished model, Odyl, head of the Enslaver Ants. Odyl’s the real villain and the power behind the throne.
I had wanted to post progress shots of the modeling and decaling process, but I found that once I was in the zone, modeling, rigging and decaling, I didn’t want to stop to generate too many renders because it was going so smoothly.
In general, the process goes like this: first, sketches to use as templates in the modeling process; then modeling the forms that make up the character. Then rigging, easily the most complex and demanding part, and finally, decaling and texturing.
Previously, with Skarab and Midge, I decaled and then rigged, but this slowed down the latter step because the decaling includes a type of decal called a “displacement map”, which has the effect of actually deforming the mesh so that refinements of the surface don’t have to be modeled manually. This is how the surface of the arms and legs achieve the appearance of “muscle bunches” (for want of a better term).
However, moving forward from that step, viewing the model while working bogs down because the deforming of the mesh has to happen on the fly even for simple viewing while modeling. So from now on, decaling last!
I’ve been working on a short flying sequence for Midge and came across a problem with the beating of her wings. I wanted them to have a blur like insect wings but it appeared there was a limitation in the software that prevented me from doing this in s straightforward manner.
However the terrific users forum over at Hash Animation:Master came up with several potential solutions, and I’m happy to say that a fix is in the works!
Animation:Master will have a booth at the San Diego Comic Con, and they’re soliciting user contributions for a demo reel that will be shown there. The short sequence I’m preparing is for the reel.
Walk cycles are a staple of animation, and should vary from character to character and mood to mood. It’s called a “cycle” because in general you just have to animate one full step, then “loop” it to suit the length of a scene.
Here, Skarab walks across the flag of Arthropoda (it’s motto: “Don’t step on me!”). I try to test walk cycles against a texture or image, because one of the chronic problems of walk cycles is foot slippage: unlike the real world, in computer animation, feet don’t automatically stay rooted to the floor. It’s up to the animator to get the feet to stay put when necessary, and to move when necessary. By placing an image or texture on the floor, it’s easier to detect slippage and remedy it.
Skarab is the main character and hero of the story. Bugbots were invented by Skarab’s grandfather, Grandaddy Longlegs. Skarab was just a grub of five when he witnessed the first Bugbot prototype in his Grandaddy’s lab.
This is a test of his face rig. It’s still in need of some refinement but it’s functional enough for moving forward with building and animating other elements for the trailer. His body rig is also close to being finished.
I’ve been drawing these characters since the early 90’s, but once I started animating them I had to consider a whole set of things that I hadn’t thought about before, such as how a Jetwasp comes in for a landing.
The Jetwasp is the main form of transportation on Arthropoda, powered by a single Waspjet engine, with auxiliary power provided by the wings which generate solar power from the planet’s three suns.
Here are the additional characters I’ll be creating for the short depicted in the storyboards. Odyl, head of the Enslaver Ants, and Biff, aka the Exalted Grandragonfly are the main villains. Although Biff is the leader of the Weevil Legions, Odyl, with his Enslaver Ant powers of persuasion, is really the power behind the throne!
Odyl, head of the Enslaver Ants, and the real power behind the throne.
Biff, The Exalted Grandragonfly, evil leader of the Weevil Legions
On the side of the good guys, Centipete is a high-energy, high strung computer geek and, as his name implies, super-fast on his feet. Colfax is the lone human in our story, an Earth trader trapped on Arthropoda when war broke out, and an unsuspecting pawn in the power struggles between Biff and Skarab.
Centipete, super-fast, high strung computer geek.
Colfax, the lone Earth trader who was trapped on Arthropoda when the war broke out.
Here’s a rough test of Midge’s rig, putting her through her paces using a martial arts video I found on YouTube. this is a quick render in wireframe mode, which is why she’s covered with those blue mesh lines.
The process of converting from the video to this animation is a strictly hand-drawn approach to a very technical problem.
My first step was to find a demo video that had moves that I thought lent themselves to this test. Breaking boards was right out! I was looking for some self-contained moves, not fights or movie sequences.
My process works like this: once I have decided on a sequence I want to use as a model, I sit at the computer with a sketch book. Advancing the video a few frames, I do a simple sketch of the posture I want. I advance a bit more, and do another sketch. In this way I’m attempting to “learn” the body language, moves, balance and rhythms of the subject. Some of this is pure drawing know-how, as in a video many frames show only a blur where the arm or leg is. So a good bit of it is instinct.
For this sequence I used a sequence of 28 small sketches, not much more than stick figures, and as carefully as possible matched the character’s poses to my sketches.
This method will by its nature result in some mechanical-looking animation, but once the basic poses are in place, as long as the keyframes are created in an organized manner, it then becomes a matter of trial and error to give some life to the animation through timing adjustments, hold keyframes, and just some sense of judgement.
