Here is a quick update on our animated short. As you can see by the banner image we are now getting some early lighting renders, and all the assets are starting to come together.
It is important for me to note none of these images are final, and it is a special treat I’m sharing the work of artists before it is complete. With this said I have a lot of caveats about these images I’m sharing with all of you.
The character Bink is in what is often called T-pose, or neutral pose, and he looks rather lifeless. We actually model out the expressions you see in the concept art so the rigs work better. Animation will add expressions and cuteness back into the character later on. The surfacing on Bink is still very early, and we are actually looking into adding fur instead of simple textures. This adds a level of difficulty, so we are hoping it will all work. Our surfacer who is working on Bink is Violette Sacre, and she has been putting in a lot of time to get it to all work, and make him look amazing.
The room is currently only gray, and none of the texturing, or colors have been added to it yet. Graham Cunningham is our lighter, but will also be doing the surfacing on the room. He has been focused on getting this lighting rig setup for the other surfacers to test their work in. After he finishes the surfacing on the room he will start making the lighting of each shot look really great with lighting, atmosphere effects, focus, and other magic.
I had the pleasure of working with Linda Kurgpold on Home when we were both at DreamWorks Animation, and now she is helping us out on the short. She has done some amazing work on the surfacing of the hand and the crate. Both are also in progress, and still need work on the shaders.
In addition to the lighting and surfacing progress we are also working on the animation. Our animator Jacob Gardner has been hard at work, and showed me a rough animation pass last week. It is very exciting to see Bink come to life, and I can’t wait to start combining all these different elements we are working on(surfacing, lighting, animation).
Well, there is a quick update for all of you on our progress on the first 30 second episode. Keep reading this blog for future updates.
If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.
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