Test Animation

I'm not good at animation, so please bare with the elephant's movements haha..

-Sari

Brother Animatic

First animatic of Brother:

-Sari

Walking on Sunshine

Just thought I'd post an image from the render. I've already had to restart it at least 4 times. The reflections on the textures keep having awkward square highlights in a few of the frames. It's definitely a reflection gloss problem. I've already experienced this in my turntable render about a month ago. The env_blur node helps, but in this animation I keep having to boost the samples/the blur of the node. Well, here's a pic of the walk cycle that's happening right now.



-Sari

Rendering..

I am currently rendering an 8 or 9 second animation of my elephant. It's a really shitty animation, but I worked more on the texturing/lighting/rendering. The animation is probably going to take about 24 hours, ugh. Anyway, I should have an animatic of Brother done in the next few days.




-Sari

Sound Design = Stress and Jitters

I just finished my sound design final after working on it on and off for HOURS. The assignment was to make sound for a 1 minute trailer, no music.. It left me feeling very stressed, anxious, and jittery. And now I know, I don't really like sound design. And, I'm not even completely done because I have to mix and EQ things and what not. The teacher for my sound design class is awesome by the way, one of the best teachers I've ever had. BUT WHY DOES SOUND HAVE TO BE SO TEDIOUS!? I usually work in complete silence and I'm usually working 90% of the time all day everyday, so of course sound design would stress me out. It's constant editing of explosions, gunshots, footsteps, "pops", smacks, punches, etc. Well, it's 5 AM, and I'm not tired. Drawing is really soothing sometimes, so that's what I've been doing for the past 30 minutes. Finals are almost over, and I can't wait to start working on Brother again.

-Sari

WIP

I'm currently working on a number of projects, so I slowed down working my own thesis film. One of those projects a senior thesis film (as in film major, not computer art) where I have to model and texture and I guess light a space ship. It's a WIP but here's the current render:


As far as my thesis, Brother, I will hopefully be working on animation soon to test out the elephant rig. That should be done sometime in the next few weeks. I also received some concept designs from a friend of mine, Zach, which I should have some models of soon. The characters he drew are awesome, so I can't wait to get started on the models once I have time of course.

-Sari

Rig Test

I just finished the elephant rig. Here's a clip:

-Sari

Style Frames

Here are some style frames (mostly drawings), showing more of the look of Brother. Brother is about a boy's creation that comes to life. They develop a friendship, and in the end they realize that they aren't as different as they thought.






-Sari

Elephant Turntable

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been working hard. My story concept is almost finished; I am currently writing the script right now. I am satisfied with the textures as of right now, so I probably won't be changing them for a while. Ooh, I also got a new computer, so I probably won't be leaving my room for a while. =] .. Goodbye social life..

-Sari

Environment Test 1

I decided to sit down for a day and play around with materials, lights, and the environment of Brother. Next thing you know it's 6 am the next day lol, but I finally got the result I was looking for with the least amount of render time possible. This is my first test with the textures of the elephant (which I want to be very reflective metal) and the room, so I know it'll progress greatly with the year and a half left I have of doing thesis. After all, we are still in pre-production and this is just the very beginning. I am pretty happy with the way it's starting off and I am already learning so much. Well, it's 5:30 and my brain is fried.




-Sari

Texture Experiments and Title Style

I've been experimenting with how I want the overall style of Brother to look. I played around with some textures and lighting, and this gives me a basic idea of what to base my textures and color palette off of. As of right now, I'm liking the metal on wood and the darkness of the whole thing. ..Just an experiment..



-Sari

Concepts and Such

Okay, so I decided to name my thesis Brother. Synopsis: A boy finds a friend in his creation. I've done a few concept drawings and I am pretty content with the elephant model as of right now. I'm actually pretty excited about doing this whole thesis process. It's a year and a half long thing, but I really enjoy focusing on one project for a long period of time. It gives me a chance to really get into the characters and developing the story.




-Sari

Alien

For my advanced modeling and rigging class, I created an alien with a beer belly and some snazzy shoes. Next week, I may texture it, but I am not sure yet. We'll see how it goes, but this is him so far!



-Sari

The process begins..

The supporting character is coming together! Model is about half way constructed, given I will probably change it in the future.

-Sari

Updated Reel!

Current Reel..updated with some summer projects, but it's mostly sophomore year work.

Moleskine Illustrations

I don't draw very often anymore, but here are some illustrations..






-Sari

Thesis Research and Things

Two days into my junior year, we are already expected to have concept and basic character designs, and basic story for thesis by next week. Diving into thesis so quickly makes me both nervous and excited. I knew what I wanted to do for my senior thesis since last semester, my sophomore year. I WANT to do that story that's been in my head, and I HOPE to be able to use a live action main character with a complete CG environment and props. Now, how possible is this for a student? We'll have to find out. Plus, just because I think I want to do this story doesn't mean it will actually happen. It's going to be a long second half of college, as I am now dedicating everything I know into a 1-5 minute short animated film. It all begins with ideas and concept designs, which I will draw up this week.

-Sari