Last night I have finally finished my worm character, I layed out it's UVs and fully rigged it.
Worm UV Map Layout
I have also created a special control for the worm so he can squash and stretch, here is a video that demonstrate it.
Creating the squash and stretch was not very hard to make in my opinion, because the way the control was done is the same way as creating the mouth blend shapes controls.
I have made three wings designs for my bird to see which one will be the right one for me to animate.
First Design
Second Design
Third Design
I did have a chat with Alan about the wing designs, and we descided to go with the third design because it looks like it would animate the way I want it to when compared to the other wings. The first design was too chunky and the second one has a big dip inside which would look odd when the bird is flying. So I am sticking with the third design, which seems to be a mix of the two.
Once that was settled I can now finally start focusing on finishing my bird :).
Also the other thing that is left to do is to name my worm, which I would like you to think up. I have thought of naming it Alan but lets see what names you guys can think up. You can even send in your name as well if you want, just don't write anything inappropriate. The winning name will be credited at the end of my animation.
This animation is about the animator drawings 12 times everyday for 3 years. What makes this animation interesting is that it is all instinct with no plan besides drawing 12 frames a day. Give it a look it is brilliant and fun.
Here is the latest update on my work progress. During last week I have started modelling my bird and I just recently finished him. Modelling the bird was actually very hard, because he has more parts than the worm and they were very tricky to make. Although I am very glad on how he looks, but I think I need Alans opinion on the way my bird is modelled. Mainly on his wings because Alan and I had a discussing on how to animate my bird's wings, from folded around the birds body to spread out. He advise me to model the wings folded around the body first, then when I see him he will help me to make my wings operational.
The next image shows what the body looked like without the details on the body. I thought this would be interesting to show because it really is surprising how much better it looks with the extra details applied the birds body.
Bird Body Mesh Not Detailed
Bird Complete Mesh
Bird Complete Mesh Wire
Bird Body Mesh Detailed
Bird Body Mesh Wire
Bird Top Beak Mesh
Bird Top Beak Mesh Wire
Bird Bottom Beak and Tongue Mesh
Bird Bottom Beak and Tongue Mesh Wire
Bird Foot Mesh
Bird Foot Mesh Wire
Here is my bird's wing that I need Alan assistance on. In my opinion it looks fine but I do not know if the wing will work well when my bird spreads it. I have an idea on how I will make the wing looks like it is spreading but I think I need to ask Alan's help on this one.
Through out the week I was finishing up on my characters designs, background design, a new animatic and my first 3D model. For my character design I first picked out the colours for my two birds. I chose the colour schemes 12 and 13 because I like the variety of the colour tone for both birds, I actually did gave the individual feathers on the wing different variety of shade to make them more interesting. Another reason why I pick one blue colour and one red colour because from watching a lot of shows those two colours always seem to rival each other.
Bird Chosen Colours
Once that was settled I then made the turnaround for the bird character to look at him from different angles.
Bird Turnaround
Next I was finishing up on my worm's design, I did some research on different lip styles for my worm. I was looking at the way blues singers pose their lips and Mick Jagger lips. I also used Audrey 2 and the piranha plant from the Mario games as reference for my worm because my character looks like them a bit.
Worm Lips Influence Map
I then made a colour palette for my worm, they are a mix of natural worm colours and a mixture between the two birds colour scheme. Out of all the colours I chose the first one, because that one has a nice natural feel to the worm. However if I had to pick a runner up it have to be number 3 and number 5 because I like how they feel as well.
Worm Colour Palette
When I have finished up my worm's design I then started working on his turnaround to get an idea of what he looks like from different angles.
Worm Turnaround
When I finished all of my characters designs I then started working on the scenery for my animation. The type of scene I was going for is that the entire conflict between the worm and the bird takes place in the woods or a field full of trees. I had some references on fields of trees as well as my first storyboard images to show how my scene would be layered out
Trees Influence Map
First Storyboard Concept
I have made a rough thumbnail of the scenery to be my starting point to design.
Scenery Concept
I thought for the type of style for my scenery it could resemble that of Charley Harper's style, for the simplicity of the design of the objects in his arts and how he uses the colours to make his pictures interesting to look at.
Charley Harper Influence for Style
This is what I have developed when bringing everything together, giving the scenery a simple look but you can get the idea of what is going on in the scene.
Scenery Concept Art
Once I have done all the post production it was time to make the characters and the object for my animation, I first started with the worm character's model. I started with him first because he was the easiest to make. I done most of the modelling but I am going to see Phil about this to see if he needs some more work.
Worm 3D Model
Complete Mesh
Complete Mesh Wired
So far the only change I have done to the worm was the shape of his body, I was first was going to give him a pointy body. However when I had a meeting with Alan he said that the Worm looks better with a thicker body, I did the edit and it does look slightly better but this is one of the time when I need to see the tutor for help on this one.
Old Body Mesh
New Body Mesh
New Body Mesh Wire
Head Mesh
Head Mesh Wire
Half Head Mesh
Half Head Mesh Wire
Finally to finish up I have done another version of my animatic, hopefully this is the winner because I really need to start focusing on making this animation.
Bird Food Blues Animatic 3
For the future I think I will use Audrey 2 from the 'Little Shop of Horrors' as my main influence for my worms lipsync because like I said my character looks a bit like him. I have found a video that has a good amount of lip animation on Audrey 2 from the film.
