star light IT IS FINISHED!

the battle is over! chloe is done, and i can sleep tonight. i'm completely satisfied with how everything turned out, i can't really think of anything that i would change. comments and questions are welcome.

for a higher resolution video:

http://vimeo.com/8020601

opening & ending credits

opening title screen



ending credits:

starLight - work in progress

obviously, this isn't finished. it will be completed by monday, so expect an update soon. things that will be different

1) the first shot will have color and shadows
2) the star's glowing will be better
3) the dog will start glowing in the 7th shot
4) there will be music.

enjoy.

i create fire!

i decided to not take my parents' advice and i have been playing with fire. this is pretty much what my final animation will look like, and i'm excited to have finally made it to this point.

fly around

this is a quick fly around of the scene i created in maya for my studio project. the majority of the lights and materials are finished, everything just needs a little tweaking. i'm overall pleased with how all of it turned out, and i can't wait for this thing to be complete.

for a higher res version of my turntable:
http://www.vimeo.com/7769030

a few stills:

by the light of the silvery moon (and fireplace)

more lighting key

i painted out the lights a little bit, even though i already have a few images posted already with maya lights installed. any help anybody can give me on what to do with the fire, let me know. suggestions are welcome. i'm working on the christmas tree lights, hopefully i can figure those out soon.

even though you never really see the couch, this is it.

no lights

the default light was not working, only turning everything black, so i put 2 directional lights in the scene.

the room in progress

the lighting is extremely rough, but it's enough to give you an idea of what i'm going for. i'm still working on most of the materials, also. so tedious...

final animation finally!

the only thing i plan on changing (or have changed by the time i'm posting this) is her blinking eyes. i will still give her actual eyeballs, but i have other things to do first. enjoy.

lighting key part 2

the third image for my lighting.

lighting key

two of the three lighting key images i whipped up in photoshop. i really want it to be low lit, only by the fireplace, the stars outside and, in the beginning, the christmas tree lights.

19 seconds & counting

here's the first 19 seconds of my animation. there is one slight mishap with her neck turn when the camera changes angles, so please ignore that. and enjoy.

blocked out take 1

i finally got my story blocked out. i may still need to play with the timing of everything. the second time you see the star, he'll start glowing as if he's conjuring up his powers. when the camera begins to zoom in on the dog, he'll begin to glow as well. the dog will be in a seated position, not standing, so when he starts rotating back and forth, it will only be his tail moving as if he's wagging his tail. the last shot will be of the dog looking down the hallway to the girl's bedroom. i'm considering having her head popping out around the corner as if to see what's going on. you would only see her silhouette, possibly just part of head like a pigtail.

this video is saying it's 37 seconds, but it's only 891 frames. i'm not sure what's causing that.

comments are most welcome.

the first 300 frames...still rough

a starry skeleton

i worked on my star tonight. i realized after i finished skinning him that i probably should have given him a backbone of a sort. i did not. oh well! the first image of him still looks a little rough, i'm working on smoothing him out.

bonus!

for those who haven't seen chloe's hands. they're adorable.

more modeling - den scene

i finally started getting my den put together. the two big things i hadn't modeled yet were the were the window and the fireplace. the window plays an important role in the story, thus, it needed to be somewhat special. the fireplace is one of the main sources of light for my scene. i'm contemplating putting up a screen over it, so i don't have to actually render fire. thoughts on that? the couch also took a while, but i really like how it turned out.

12 principles of animation applied to my story

i couldn't find a good example of bullseye running, but basically i want my dog to run similar to him. when bullseye runs, his legs are fly way up and all together. he also flings his legs as if they are made of cloth, which they are.

chloe will use the arc motion when she's turning away from the dog to look out the window at the star.

anticipation is key in my animation. chloe is waiting anxiously for her stuffed animal to fetch. however, he never moves.

chloe's running will also be very over exaggerated, girly, and kind of off balance. because her head is so huge compared to her body, that won't be difficult to achieve.

rigging the dog

he's a stuffed animal that turns into a real dog. just like pinnochio, except without the lying and the long nose.

final model turntables

chloe looks a lot better than this. i had to render showing the span lines, but if i smoothed her out completely, you wouldn't have been able to tell what was going on. she's not this blocky.

some concept art

i finally decided how my story starts.

chloe and colin are trying to play fetch with their stuffed dog. however, because he is not real, he cannot fetch anything. this is when they see the first star and wish for a real puppy.

this is a floor plan for the den. however i decide to position the camera, i will be sure to show the silhouette of the parents in the other room keeping watch. the two key lights will be coming from the fireplace and the room with the parents....at least that's how it works in my head.

meet chloe. colin will look the same, minus the pigtails. his pajamas will be blue and read "dear santa, i want it all!"

storyboard