Peyman Salehi

Artefact 1 progress part 2

2012-02-14T13:41:00.000Z

artefact 1 progress

2012-02-01T16:45:00.000Z

my first artefact is a still image from the movie crazy stupid love, this is an ambient occlusion styled test render of the work so far. the finished scene is at night time with rain and will hopefully portray a lot more mood and atmosphere.

Stadium

2012-02-01T15:53:00.000Z

Thought i should update on my client work, this is the 2nd of 3 stadiums im creating, not finished yet but this is progress.

v-ray rendered house

2011-11-28T18:14:00.000Z

first time using v-ray, its complicated, but il get used to it i hope

Mustang

2011-11-19T17:17:00.000Z

old man part 2

2011-11-17T01:44:00.002Z

piano part 3

2011-11-16T22:12:00.001Z

Not sure if i prefer this one or the previous one.

random old man face

2011-11-15T23:29:00.000Z

Z brush and Max were used, im trying... lol

piano part 2

2011-11-15T22:44:00.000Z

i re made the scene for the piano i made earlier in the year so it has outdoor lighting with windows rather than a closed off room.

Kyoto lounge computer room

2011-11-15T18:29:00.000Z

its the computer room of my cousins gaming lounge in manchester, i thought id model it in 3D.

room and sun

2011-11-15T00:04:00.000Z

Looks better from a distance, need to work on textures.

research question + topic

2011-11-14T11:47:00.000Z

question

Romantic Comedies are targeted for a more mature audience, can an animated romantic comedy create the same emotional connection with its audience, using traditional animation techniques, and therefore be as successful commercially compared to movies with real actors.

topic

I believe that it shouldn't matter how a movie is created, whether it is a 2D cartoon or a film with real people, it is the story line and the directed techniques and elements shown within the scene that can make a movie great. This has been proven with great family movies across all styles of film making. From 'Toy Story' or 'UP' being 3D animated movies, 'The Lion King' being a hand drawn animated film, and films such as 'Forrest Gump' or 'Back to the Future' which are great family films with real actors.

This ideology however doesn't seem as present with other genre's such as Romantic Comedies, or the Horror/Thriller genre. Aside from Family/Kids animated films, it seems there is not as much of a connection to the audience with Animated films.

I would like to look at the film techniques and elements that are evident in existent 'Rom-Com's' and 'Horror/Thriller' movies and see what is used to connect with their target audiences.

I would also look at the more successful animated films and what techniques they use, what animation styles gain more attention, and what makes them so successful.

Then I would like to look into how the film elements and techniques used in the other genre's can be integrated into an animated piece.

If there are existing animated movies within these genre's then why aren't they as commercially aware, I do believe that because the animation industry, especially 3D animation, is still in its infancy and is still growing and developing with technology advancing rapidly, that the films being developed for the box office are very similar to what is expected of animated movies such as 'The Lion King', it is still in the 'comfort zone' in making movies for the same demographic, so it is a possibility that over the next 10 years, with techniques advancing in animation, that studios could start taking higher risks and developing high budget, different 'themed', animated movies.

Exhibition images

2011-11-12T13:02:00.001Z

For context 3 I have to use 5 images for a fake exhibition as a sort of practice for our real exhibition, showing 5 images which show what we want to do and our strong points.
I am still unsure as to what I want to get into, but I think something in the modelling side of animation rather than the animating, so character and environment modelling either for games or film/tv.
So for the 5 images I think a strong representation of modelling and visualisation skills, well rendered and lit scenes as well as some z brush examples, to show my skills in modelling and more realistic renders.

Research project

2011-11-08T15:35:00.001Z

For my research project I am going to look into animation genre and why the most successful commercial full feature films are mainly in the kids/family genre.

I want to see what makes a successful animated film and then look into successful romantic comedies and horror movies and what makes them successful commercially.

Looking at techniques in production and development, I want to see if an animated romantic film or horror film can be successful and whether it will work in the cinema like films such as shrek or toy story.

I would like to see a development in animated genre's and an expansion into more genres such as romantic comedy or horror, more adult themed animated films, because I believe people still think of animations as kids movies, I want this to change.

Live Client

2011-11-07T18:32:00.000Z

I had a couple of ideas i wanted to do for the live client, both of which are now out the window because i have something else i want to do now.

my initial ideas were either, creating some sort of virtual tour etc for my cousins gaming lounge in Manchester, either in real time or with a character giving a tour.
This idea would have been OK but it would have had very little animation, and i want to incorporate and focus on animation as well.

My other idea was to approach Omid Djalili because i have contact with his daughter so thats a bit of a connection, and i would have proposed a cartoon style adaptation of some of his sketches that he does in his stand up shows.
This would also have been good as far as animation is concerned but i feel contact would have been a bit difficult.

Then today I saw the competition briefs for both YCN and DandAD and saw a few things which interested me a lot, so i thought i would go for a competition entry for the live client.

Aside from the fact that it may look like iv'e done little client research and little practice in approaching real clients, the only downside i can see with competition, is that the deadline is a month earlier than the university deadline, this doesn't mean i cant keep working on it and hand it in a month later to university too, but if i was to fully enter the competition i have till the end of March rather than end of April.

These are 3 that highly interested me from YCN.

ESPN

Develop a brand affinity campaign to inspire younger audiences to engage with ESPN on any platform.

The Feel Good Drinks Company

Get fruity, make people smile and kick start your career.

SEGA

Create a piece of communication that celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Sports Interactive, the studio creators behind the Football Manager series.

Context StartUp Factory project

2011-10-08T21:11:00.000+01:00

basically my idea is to create a digital menu for restaurants rather than having a waiter write down your order, you just press what you want on the built in menu, which will be part of the table. I believe this can reduce waiting time in busy restaurants, and can be quite a different and enjoyable experience considering touch screen menu's are taking over everything.
This is a concept.

Simulated Client Project

2011-10-08T13:03:00.000+01:00

I have chosen to use the cancer research section of the alumni client project and produce an advert for it.

My main idea is to produce a pin ball machine, with the camera following the ball as it goes through the machine during gameplay, then at some point it attempts to go through a wall but can't go through and eventually the ball gives up and goes to the end, the wall says cancer and the advert will read something like 'help us beat cancer'.

Guitar

2011-09-22T21:24:00.000+01:00

Piano

2011-09-21T19:25:00.000+01:00

keeping myself busy...

2011-06-07T18:41:00.005+01:00

a few screenshots

2011-05-27T10:04:00.000+01:00

screenshots because i dont want to show my actual video

this yoda one isnt exactly a screen shot as he doesnt play fifa in my film

500 word rationale

2011-05-21T16:31:00.003+01:00

This project's brief was to re-interpret an existing script, we were given 3 samples but I chose my own script, the Pod Race Scene from 'Star Wars'. By making it a bit different I wanted to do it in a city rather than in the desert, and as the story goes on you realize it's a game in which Yoda is the player in real life.

I chose to do this, not only because I wanted something different from the main examples we were given, but a lot happens which tests my abilities, I have had to create fire, an explosion, pod racers, a city, and I also took a different route with texturing from what I normally do. There is a cartoon/game effect in texturing, making it look less realistic, so when it shows Yoda playing, there is a difference between the game play and real life.

Within the first few weeks I storyboarded and planned exactly what I needed to do, this definitely helped me do things in the right order, I was a lot more organised than the first animation I created.

I feel I have improved a lot on this project, my modelling of the pods and characters shows this. I also found it a lot easier to rig the characters this time. As I mentioned the texturing is different, and is split into two different styles, the main piece is cartoon like, and the scene with Yoda is more realistic, this tested my ability to texture but I feel I have accomplished the difference in textures and I am very happy with how both turned out in finished renders, and best of all neither style had a big impact on render time, unlike my first animation which was taking up to 5 minutes a frame, most of the frames in this piece took a maximum of 50 seconds a frame.

There weren't many big challenges I faced in this project, I did believe I would face a few, but I managed them quite well, for example creating fire from the engines, I set this aside and worked on other parts first as I thought it would be difficult, but creating a blizzard particle system and making it look like fire, still in the cartoon effect, was very easy.
The sound was the biggest challenge, as i did not spend enough time on this and i feel it may have ruined the animation, my lack of sound editing knowledge may have let me down on this project, none of the sounds matched up with what i had created.

In conclusion I feel I could have planned the rigging and animating a lot better, I feel they may have let down my finished piece, especially if I want to become an animator. this project made me realise that maybe I should work more in the visualisation side rather than animating as I enjoy making realistic images, although I liked the cartoon effect I gave this piece. I do feel I have improved from the robot project, but I definitely have a lot more to improve on and learn before the final year.

fully textured pods

2011-05-12T18:29:00.000+01:00

i haven't shown much so here is a preview of the final looking pods, and yes iv cut it down to 2 racers, things piled on and i realized iv managed it badly so instead of 5 racers there is just these 2, the good guy and the bad guy.

Yoda plays Fifa

2011-05-09T18:32:00.000+01:00

2011-05-04T12:44:00.001+01:00

Flickr Material Library

2011-03-22T17:54:00.001Z

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60837426@N07/

my website

2011-03-22T17:51:00.000Z

www.wix.com/peyman89/peymanimation

I know Wix isn't that good but its only a temporary website until i learn to make a proper site, and get better at the work i do.

Also you can see my showreel on the site.

update on what ive been up to

2011-03-06T23:36:00.001Z

iv'e admittedly been very lazy over the past couple of weeks, i have barely done any work, and any work i have been doing has been working on my showreel, so i guess all i can show are little things ive been adding to my showreel, only stills as you will have to see the showreel when its ready for the full thing.
(I decided to go all out on the poker chips, i made the pattern myself, i didnt google the image!)

today we learnt how to make sky scrapers

2011-02-22T15:39:00.001Z

since josh did a poster i thought id do one too

2011-02-18T22:06:00.000Z

games console and my game

2011-02-14T11:53:00.001Z

yoda's hands

2011-02-13T21:29:00.000Z

Nothing overly complicated but its Yoda's hands for he is playing the game in my animation, thought id have a concept render of him playing too.

i umm... drifted away from the project for a bit - living room

2011-02-12T22:09:00.000Z

I started by making the tv for the end scene of my animation, then i drifted off and made a living room, it wont be used for anything, but i thought it looked cool.

the fireplace is supposed to be one of those fake ones thats like, on a screen.

dont pay too much attention to this, it was just a time filler.

3rd alien head - white eyes or black eyes white horns?

2011-02-11T18:34:00.001Z

Toon shaded

Alien Helmet

2011-02-09T20:52:00.002Z

My original sketch of the alien helmet i wanted to create...

My pretty much completed helmet (without body) which took me from 12.30pm till 8.30pm (not including gym which was 4-7)

It was very hard to model but i feel iv'e captured the concept sketch pretty accurately.

Toon shaded - how it will look in my animation

Nas & Damian Marley - Patience

2011-02-08T14:30:00.000Z

this is the new video for one of my favourite songs of 2010, 'patience' by Nas and Damian Marley. I love the video and its just brought back memories of my summer as i saw them live, which was great. But yea this is the video for it, which looks similar to the 'Power' video by kanye west, a lot of layers overlapping, very arty.

Directed and shot by: www.NABIL.com

Editor: Eric Greenburg

Post/artwork: Gustavo & Clara

Producer: Nabil

add Prod: Kathleen Heffernan

thx: kathleen Heffernan, Marc Antoine, Jodie Smith, Sheku

Damian Marley & Nas are Distant Relatives

Pod racer and character 1 in 2 locations

2011-02-04T19:27:00.000Z

cartoon textured 1st character

2011-02-04T19:25:00.002Z

lumpy skin texture man

2011-02-04T17:33:00.000Z

a quick scene test

2011-02-03T22:17:00.003Z

I actually like this image, i think its a good concept image of what i want my finished animation to look like, so im happy woop woop.

Also the 'walt disney' signs are purely for their glow effects and to represent street signs, nothing more.

tunnel 1

2011-02-03T22:15:00.000Z

I made a practice tunnel, more of a base tunnel, just to see how id like it to look, and even though i do like the bricks, i want a more flat/metal look going on, a futuristic feel. It did take 2 minutes to render this frame, mainly because of the lights, so work is needed on that if im going to need more lights.

making my own textures - road

2011-02-03T22:11:00.000Z

I couldn't find a road texture in the maps already on MAX, so i made my own road map with a bump map, obviously since the road is mainly flat, the bump map wont affect much, but i think it has caused little road lumps to look a bit better.
You can use it if you like, its all about sharing :)

Normal Road Map

Road Bump Map

lighting test render 1

2011-02-03T01:48:00.000Z

few things obviously wrong but also some good parts to this, keep in mind its only a lighting test, not an animation test.

1. the texturing of my pod seems to lack depth when there arent any lights.
2. yea my bad, the camera movement messed everything up and you can barely see the lights hitting the textures when it does look good, but if you pause it when the light hits it, thats the look im after.
3. this environment is almost how i would like it to look, it kind of matches the pods texturing in that its not exactly realistic, its got a GTA feel to it, still needs a lot of work but im happy with how the texturing and the lights work, just need the texture to work when in shadows.

side project - z brush man

2011-02-01T14:45:00.000Z

im learning Z brush on the side, so this is a man im working on, hes not finished but i thought i would show him being created.

creature start

2011-02-01T00:31:00.000Z

Kind of like a base mesh for a creature, needs a lot more work obviously, but initial design is getting there.
and he has no legs because all my characters are sitting down inside a pod racer, no need.

start of light testing

2011-01-31T22:58:00.002Z

Ok this isn't how the environment is going to look, this is purely a test to see if the glow on the words can illuminate the scene, and they can, (the words represent glowing street signs/shop signs etc) there is no sunlight, only a skylight, and the words with SI, the floor being reflective also helps.

The environment will hopefully look a bit more cartoony, 2.5D, GTA style, as ive said before. I do like this floor though, a bit less detailed and it will look a bit more game like, but im happy that the scene is illuminated well so far, gotta keep goin, but for now, back to modelling.

Pod race scene - update

2011-01-31T01:23:00.000Z

ok so im around 4 weeks into the project, which is scaring me because the work i have produced so far doesn't seem enough, then again its still pre production in my head, im still designing particular parts before i model.
In the past i have gone straight into working in 3D, but i want to get my workflow correct and professional. I am still doing 3D work as i sketch out designs though.

I have begun making another base mesh for the creatures, i think i can use the same base for all 5 drivers, but i want another big character for the guy who hits the gong at the start.

I also tried some lighting tests today, i built a simple environment, but then i got lazy and didnt do any lighting, il do it soon.

as far as pod racers go, i still haven't completed the first one i posted a while back, but as i said, still designing ideas, so once every design is complete, it should be easy to work from, rather than finding what i like in 3D.

so thats where i am right now, im also learning zBrush on the side, for me.

iPad

2011-01-25T16:48:00.000Z

iv'e begun modelling some of the smaller parts of my scene, this is the iPad which is going in my scene for like, 2 seconds.

what ive done so far

2011-01-20T00:13:00.001Z

This is mainly for me to look at and see what iv'e done for my project so far, you don't need to read this.

WHAT I HAVE DONE

- List of every cut that need to be storyboarded.
   - Storyboarding should be done this weekend, ready for presentation, no need to go back and look over, every scene has been accounted for and written down. Except end scene which isn't scripted in original star wars anyway.
- List of everything that needs to be created.
   - this includes fire and smoke.
- Visual style and references for how i want it to look.
   - many many many referenced images - for environment, characters, pod racers, fast and furious cars, rockstar games images (texture reference), tunnels.
   - found my texture.
- sketches and drawings have begun.
- story is finalized.
- low poly base mesh model - first attempt created.
- 1 pod racer is 3/4 complete - done before hand.

NEED TO DO - BEFORE PRESENTATION

- possibly a mood board of styles and references
   - Id rather just print screen my folders of images as creating an actual mood board holds no significance to me, it only presents what iv'e looked at nicely, which is in no way helpful to my production timeline, i would rather just show the images, and move onto real work.
- Storyboard.
- make the presentation
- Project plan
   - A schedule of some sort, to help me sort out what needs to be done by when so i don't go over the deadline.

Low poly human figure - first attempt in 3DS max

2011-01-19T17:46:00.001Z

i say first attempt, the first 2 times i tried to make a guy, i kept trying to bevel in some abs, but it failed, so i started over, so this is my 3rd attempt, nothing special, just a simple model.

I call him

ceramic mow-hawk man

texture style example

2011-01-18T21:14:00.003Z

OK so after like, 6 hours straight, i think iv'e got to a texture style close to the GTA style i was after, I'm happy with how the pod looks once textured, i can definitely improve on some parts, but in general, its the look i was after.

I also did not use Ink n Paint, as i find it very limited, instead its another shader i found and worked on to give the look i needed, using mental ray, and so the texture isn't as limited.

Don't think about this environment too much, it was just a quick scene i made to give this image more depth and to see how it would look in a 'city'.

Now that i have this visual example of the style im after, i can go back to focusing on the start of the project as i need to now storyboard everything. This texturing was mainly for me to see if it was possible and find out if i should do the whole scene this way, and i would prefer this way over the 'live action' background. I do feel having images as the background would be easier, but i don't want easier, i want to be able to show my capabilities of creating a city in 3D, so this is the path im going for. enjoy.

Oh and there was also the option to give the texture a black border or a 'contour' over every edge, but i felt it looked better without it, a tiny bit less cartoon'y.

stuck in 2 minds

2011-01-17T01:24:00.000Z

ok so im going backwards a bit now, i have 2 different ideas for how i can do this project.

idea 1 - the same way i have explained, slightly cartoon-y with a 3D modeled environment.

Idea 2 - a bit more tricky, but if i was to texture my pod racers how i had originally done it (if you go back a few posts you can see my original pod racer almost complete)

but then use a live action background i.e photo's of a city. This could be very useful, and look a lot more realistic, as i could use Nottingham city centre for the race track. The only fall back would be camera movements. If the background was a picture, then obviously the camera would have to be still, otherwise the background would just move with the camera (unless the picture was massive and i panned across it).

The only solution i can think of would be to simply have a lot of cuts, meaning no camera movement itself, but lots of different angles (would mean i need a LOT of photos).

And for any extra scenes where i want a close up of the pod or racer in motion (the scene where the 2 pod racers are talking to each other for about 2 seconds) i can simply make a 3D environment, as it would be motion blurred anyway, and hopefully i can match it as close as possible to the actual environment.

Thats my thoughts, enjoy.

visual example for my scene

2011-01-16T18:29:00.001Z

I was using my existing pod racer and a quick street scene i created to get an idea for how i want it to look in style. So i re textured my pod using Ink n Paint and got the style of paint i want to make it look quite similar to the theme i mentioned earlier. so as far as texturing it i think i know what i want to do, but there was a MASSIVE problem, and that is the lighting situation, Ink n Paint seems to have a lot of problems with lights and shadows and stuff like that, even with a lot of paint levels, there was no depth in the scene, 1 light would illuminate the entire scene rather than the part i wanted, and that is a problem if i want it to look like night time, so im going to need to do a lot of research on either how i can get accurate lighting with this material, or find a way of making normal textures look slightly cartoon-y, which seems like the more obvious option, so we will see.

This is similar to how i want it to be textured, its still a bit cartoon-y, but im working on it, this style could even work, but we will see how it goes.

pod racer - extract from Wookieepedia

2011-01-16T12:41:00.000Z

A podracer was a repulsorlift racing vehicle piloted duringpodraces across the galaxy, though specifically in the lawlessOuter Rim Territories. The term "podracer" was also used in reference to a being who piloted these racers.

[show]

Design Edit

Anakin Skywalker, famoushuman podracer.

A podracer, or "pod", was essentially a one-pilot cockpit attached to two racing engines via strong cables, such as those produced by Steelton. The special engines for these craft traditionally came in one of two varieties of mechanical action: internal combustion engine types or rocket motor types (engines using moving mechanical parts and rocket motors using no moving mechanical parts). At a distance, one could differentiate engines from motors by noting if there are rotating fan/turbines at the front of the craft (engines having large rotating fans, motors lacking them). Energy binders projected from each engine connected both turbines together, forming a loose triangular configuration with the pod itself, dragged behind the engines, at the highest point. A racer could commonly achieve speeds in excess of eight hundred kilometers per hour. Because of this, podracing required lightning-fast reflexes, and only species with a wide range of sensory organs and multiple limbs or durable bodies were known to race pods. Species such as Humans rarely took part in races, and never won—with a single exception.

Famous podracers,Ben Quadinaros,Gasgano and Clegg Holdfast.

Podracers were commonly customized by their owners, whether to achieve greater speed or agility, or simply to end up with a unique-looking racer. The infamousSebulba piloted one of the largest podracers on the Outer Rim circuits, complete with numerous hidden features and secret weaponry, while young Anakin Skywalkerbuilt a custom racer in his yard in Mos Espa. Many podracers were painted by their owners to symbolize different things or just to look good.

History Edit

The podracer evolved from the animal-drawn carts used in racing sports, and later, the swoop racers commonly seen in competitions on Taris, Manaan, and Nar Shaddaa following the Great Sith War. It was a daring mechanic called Phoeboswho designed the first podracer, and a pilot named Gustab Wenbus took this machine for its first experimental flight. Since then, podracing became widely popular on the Outer Rim Territories, and though it was outlawed when the Galactic Empire came to power (although some continued it illegally), the sport enjoyed a resurgence following the Yuuzhan Vong War.

pod racing - extract from Wookieepedia

2011-01-16T12:39:00.002Z

Podracing was a popular sport in the less-developed regions of the galaxy. It has been called "the ultimate test of skill and daring onTatooine," and was certainly one of the most dangerous sports ever invented, killing many racers.

Podracers were small, one-man repulsorcraft, composed of an anti-gravitypod propelled by one or more pairs of large turbine engines. The engines were not physically connected to each other, being linked instead by power couplings consisting of plasma discharges. The engines were connected to the pods themselves by means of long, Steelton cables.

[show]

Characterisitics Edit

Anakin Skywalker's Podracer.

Besides housing the racer's pilot, each pod contained a repulsorlift engine that kept the craft at a specific, low-level altitude. The turbine engines were incredibly powerful, and were connected by an energy binder that kept them from flying apart. Podracing was popularized in the Outer Rim Territories during the last decades of the Galactic Republic. Its underground nature, great excitement, and almost gladiatorial propensity for carnage held immense appeal to all manner of folk living on the fringes of society.

Because of the reflexes needed to control the pod as it raced around the course at breakneck speeds, as well as the dexterity needed to control the pod racer, all pod racers (apart from Anakin Skywalker) were nonhumans. Inhuman physical attributes, as well as extra pairs of hands, came in handy when trying to control the pod at its top speed of around 900 km/h.

History Edit

"Podracers. You have to wonder whether they have half a brain left because they used to race, or they used to race because they had half a brain."

―Ulda, 8 ABY^[src]

Podracing traced its roots back to the days of animal-drawn carts, from which evolved races with hanno speeders. Ultimately, this sport's development kept pace with that of galactic technology to evolve into Podracing. The concept of modern day podracing was started on Malastare by alien racer Gustab Wenbus. Wenbus had entered himself in a race with a super-fast prototype pod designed by a mechanic named Phoebos.

One of the most famous Podraces was the Boonta Eve Classic, held on Tatooine in 32 BBY. The spectacular race was especially notable for being won by a Human, nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker. This marked the first time a Human had ever won a Podrace. Other popular races at the time included the Vinta Harvest Classic on Malastare, the Ando Overland on Ando Prime^[1]^[2] and the Aleen Classic.

Although technically illegal (often controlled by the Hutts)^[1]^[2] Podracing flourished during the rule of the Galactic Republic, particularly among planets in the Outer Rim and on worlds such as Malastare and Ando Prime. The sport was also watched by citizens from the Core Worlds; large viewscreens in seedy establishments such as theOutlander Club on Coruscant relayed Podraces from all over the Rim territories. Podracing's popularity reached an all-time high following Skywalker's win, but as the political situation in the Republic deteriorated, so did the appeal of Podracing.

Many of the sport's generally-accepted criminal activities were exposed, and some of the most famous racers were arrested for a variety of crimes. Podracing was soon outlawed in the Core. Shortly before the outbreak of theClone Wars, it was reported that attendance had dropped more than fifty percent from the era of the Battle of Naboo, although betting transactions remained at an all-time high.^[2] Podracing soon gave way to swoop racingand other forms of extreme sports.

With the Declaration of the New Order and the rise of the Galactic Empire, Podracing became outlawed, and under the Empire's far more stringent standards of law enforcement, the sport fell out of popularity altogether, though by30 ABY, it was noted that the sport had been making a comeback in some systems.

A podrace was shown in the holoscreen in the cantina where Starkiller found Rahm Kota.

In 137 ABY, a podrace was shown on a holoscreen in a drinking establishment on Coruscant, suggesting that the sport continued to regain popularity.

Proof that im drawing...

2011-01-14T19:38:00.000Z

Creatures...

Pod Racers...

influences/inspiration for style of my animation

2011-01-14T18:51:00.000Z

I haven't fully explained my story, but i will share some ideas of how i want my animation to look and feel. Because (and im aware this hasnt been told) my animation will be within a game sequence and then end with the camera zooming out of the tv and someone is playing the game, i want it to still be visually good, but with a slight game essence (not the best quality, bit blocky maybe) so when it zooms out of the tv and shows the player playing the game, that scene will be better quality and seem more life like.

So the main animation will be slightly pop arty with that rockstar games, GTA feel to it, i dont want the bold colours that pop art uses, but the simplicity mixed with the shadows, like in most rockstar games, texturing isn't of the highest quality, but it works, for example...

So this kind of, partially realistic effect, where i believe more focus is on lights and shadows and the animation itself. This look could be achieved with the ink n paint texture, but with a lot of tweaking and getting it accurate to the look i want to achieve. But as mentioned this style will be for the in game part of the animation, the short scene at the end will be more realistic so define the difference between game and player.

I still haven't decided on exactly how i wish to style this scene, wait for another post...

original scene - pod race

2011-01-13T18:31:00.000Z

ok so the scene im doing is the star wars pod race, i thought i would upload the full scene (excluding the start which for me is important, of the pod racers warming up their engines) so here it is, keep in mind mine will be shorter, and much different.

William Basso

2011-01-13T17:36:00.000Z

i was looking at monsters and creatures, and came across William Basso, an artist who does this...

2nd term project - re - interpretation of script

2011-01-12T11:26:00.000Z

I may have taken on a bit more than i can handle, but i like to set myself challenges and not do anything 'easy', so if i fail this project, at least i tried.
My idea is to re-interpret the script of the star wars pod race scene from 'Star Wars EP1 - The Phantom Menace' and make it more in the style of the fast and the furious.
As i have already created one pod racer, it wont be as difficult to get around 5 of them, but they will look more 'street' with neon's under them, stickers, chrome, and general oversized parts to look cool.
It will be set in a city on roads rather than the desert arena used in star wars, so it looks more like a street race but with pod racers. I think it will give it a twist and portray a more visually modern context... if that makes sense?

The problem with this is that the script and pod race scene is around 10 minutes long from the minute the 2 headed announcer says 'start your engines' till the end of the race when it is announced that Anakin wins.

My solution is simply to cut a big chunk of the middle out, i wont need the parts where the guns are being shot at the pod racers for example, so as long as i have the warming up of the engines at the start, a bit of racing in the middle, and a finish line scene, then i believe i should get it around 3-4 minutes long.

Since it is going to be more like the fast and the furious, its obviously set at night in a city, so there will be a lot of street lights on and city signs with lights etc. But i do want it to have a more sinister feel to it, so the creatures driving could possibly be scarier, more danger in the driving (if possible).

I want 5 pod racers in the race, unlike the actual race which includes around 20 or something. I think less pods would make sense in a street race, there is less space to drive (fly) on. Also the pods would be more street compatible so not as big as the ones in star wars, after all, its not star wars entirely, its in a city.

I will need to create a lot of the city, as they will be driving through many roads, and they go through gaps and tunnel type areas in star wars, so if i was to use the score from the actual film, then it would make sense to include a couple of tunnels in the city, to match the sounds heard, and also to add a bit more depth in the scene, it would be a bit boring if it was all on the same looking road until the end.

Right now i'm working out what parts of the scene to cut down to get it down to a reasonable size to work with, im looking at the 4 minute mark, i know we have been told 3 minutes, but i dont feel that will be sufficient to get what i want into the scene, unless they drive from the start line straight to the finish line.

So yes, as you can tell, possibly taken on a bit much, but lets see how i get on... enjoy any updates on this.

back to neverland - animated by Frans Vischer - pencil test

2011-01-11T19:29:00.000Z

sooooo good - bulletstorm parody of halo trailer

2011-01-11T17:18:00.002Z

pod racer

2011-01-10T22:37:00.001Z

I made a pod racer over the holidays, i was going to animate it, but now i have started second term, so il delay that idea... unless i decide to use it in my new project.
Don't pay attention to the ground or the environment, it was just to get accurate lighting to show my racer easily.

other things ive been up to

2011-01-06T21:58:00.000Z

i also made a pod racer (star wars) and began a formula 1 track, but stopped that once i realised that making a pod racer was more exciting, i will upload images sooooon, once texturing and its environment and lighting are sorted, its just a clay looking pod racer at the moment. PEACE

i guess i should show something from this holiday...

2011-01-06T21:55:00.000Z

This is just something i was practicing today, its not all ive done this holiday, but i was learning about camera mapping etc, so i basically put the head i made in z brush, plus a glass, and 2 balls, and composited them into this picture within 3DS max using a variety of shaders and mapping. so basically the head and balls and glass are 3D the rest was an image.

next term ideas

2010-12-29T16:45:00.000Z

ok, as i always like to be different, im choosing my own 3 minute clip to animate for next terms project.
The project is to interpret 3 minutes of a scene from an existing film, animation style.
they have given us 3 scenes but we have the option to choose our own if its suitable, and i have a few ideas...

1 - The peeing in the bush scene from harold and kumar, but this is a problem as its only a minute long, although i can work around it including scenes before and after it, but it could be more of a side project as its short.

2 - the one shot fight scene from old boy in the corridor, i've watched this so many times and from the moment hes asking about blood type, till he's killed the people in the elevator as hes leaving, its roughly 3 minutes long, so it works as far as time, and i think animating wise it will be a test as there is a lot of fighting movement, and modeling is also going to be quite difficult, depending on what i choose is fighting, if its animals or humans, or something else, there is a lot of interaction, but apart from that its just a dreary corridor.

3 - the start of donnie darko when hes riding home, i just really like this scene, there is a lot going on.

4 - not sure what scene, but in memory of leslie nielsen, something from naked gun.

4 high res images from the animation, they are PNG so no visible background

2010-12-10T16:05:00.000Z

Onus gets new shoes

2010-12-09T14:38:00.000Z

here is my finished piece, judge for yourself, i already have.

My animation is finished

2010-12-07T17:51:00.000Z

i have completed my final Robot animation, and im both happy and angry/upset

Im happy because its over, and i dont have to see that badly rigged robot and completely unrigged cotton man again, they were a pain to animate and im glad its finished to say the least, but im upset and angry and the outcome because i think its one of the worst animated shorts iv'e ever seen. The story is lazy and rubbish, the animating is weak.

That is all, i will post it on here, but not because i want to, but because thats what the blog is for, development, and im hoping i can get better than this because i really do hate it.

i was told to post this by harvey

2010-11-30T11:27:00.000Z

Leslie Nielsen RIP

2010-11-29T11:42:00.000Z

I never had to post this, but i wanted to, because this man was a legend and the king of comedy in my eyes, and an inspirational figure for me. I take a lot of what i do from this man, he has given the world many gifts with his comedic genius through his films for many years, and i don't think we should be upset by his death, we should celebrate his life and everything he has done for us, and the comedy world.
I know I'm not the best writer, so this whole thing probably sounds amateur, but he really was an inspiration to me, growing up watching his films over and over, laughing just as much every time. Me and my friend Sina used to literally pee our pants at everything the man would say or do, just the thought of him made us laugh, and i hope that feeling will never go away. Even though the man has passed on, his life in film is still here with us, and as long as I'm alive, i hope to keep it with me to show my children for them to be inspired and laugh as much as I did.

Rest in Peace, to the man, the King, the genius, the Legend, Frank Drebin (Naked Gun), Dick Steel aka Agent WD-40 (Spy Hard), Dr.Rumack (Airplane)

Leslie William Nielsen (1926-2010)

some images from my animation

2010-11-28T23:26:00.000Z

Depth Of Field

2010-11-28T16:28:00.001Z

I have recently taught myself a lot about the depth of field features within 3DS max, the mental ray depth of field on the camera settings, the not so favourable perspective view depth of field option, and the bokeh lens option.

Rendering times takes a lot longer with the depth of field but i still want to include a scene in my short film using depth of field, so there will be a short scene with the mental ray depth of field option, it will take a while to render, but as im doing it now, i have plently of time to spare for rendering, so lets see how it goes.

I feel i should be my own critic first

2010-11-27T19:18:00.000Z

il be the first to say it, im not the best animator, after this project, i feel the part of my work that probably needs most work on would be the animating, im not saying im good in the other areas, but compared to modelling and texturing and lighting, my animating is poor, and you will probably see this when iv'e finished this robot project.

space pictures

2010-11-24T11:42:00.002Z

these are some pretty incredible photos taken from space by NASA
http://triggerpit.com/2010/11/22/incredible-pics-nasa-astronaut-wheelock/

Onus Matrix

2010-11-24T11:26:00.000Z

Another animation test, just rigged the legs and body, the right arm is still not rigged hence the lack of movement.
the legs took me a while to rig as they weren't built like the demonstration ones but i got around the issue.
enjoy.

Bossman and Onus together

2010-11-18T13:26:00.000Z

This is Onus, almost completed with him, just need to play around with the little bits to make him less symmetrical and perfectly shaped, more of a used body.

This is also a first look at his very small oddly shaped boss, 'Bossman' who is the other main character in my animation, he isn't a robot, hes a puppet type character with eyes made of buttons and a body made of cotton.

A blog about networking

2010-11-18T13:23:00.001Z

I found this off the animation mentor blog, its about networking and i found it very relevant and useful being a student. It explains how the actual quality of the work i produce is much more valuable than the contacts i know.
So again, i didn't write this, nor am i taking any credit, i just wanted to share the words of Aaron Gilman.

How Important is Networking in the Animation Industry?

The industry is small. Super small! There are tons of animators out there, but not that many studios. So it is inevitable that throughout the course of your career you are going to bump into people you've worked or studied with in the past, or know people that worked or studied with your colleagues. You know that game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? I am fairly sure the rules of that game would apply equally well to the animation industry. Almost every other day I find myself having a conversation with someone only to discover we both have mutual friends or colleagues we worked with years earlier. So having a good reputation is of paramount importance. Being professional, enthusiastic, hardworking and organized will get you very far. I once worked with an animator who believed talent should always override personality when looking for new hires. I firmly disagree with this. I would sooner take a less talented animator that is easy to work with and takes direction well, than an animator who animates excellently but doesn't gel well with the team or is difficult to deal with.

Networking implies, to some degree, that you make an effort to maintain contact with co-workers, or that you actively seek out individuals that are in some way connected to you and who can help propel your career forward. So for the sake of this discussion, when I refer to networking I am not talking about cold-calling, sending mass emails to the HR department of studios, or any other form of “telephone book networking”. To me, networking refers specifically to tapping your contacts, or people connected to your contacts.

The amount of effort you put into networking does not correlate with the amount of success you will have. If that were true then getting a job would be easy. But the reality is that you could tap a single contact for work and hit the jackpot. You've messaged the right person at the right time. The studio they work for needs people just like you, and all your positive traits become known to them very quickly. The next thing you know you have a job offer, all after just shooting off an email and a demo reel to the right person who knows you or knows of you. On the flip side, you could be an avid networker, keeping in touch regularly with friends who work in major studios, or HR personnel that have contacted you in the past. But if your timing is bad, or the right information about you doesn't travel to the right people, or anything about your reputation or the quality of your work doesn't impress the people hiring, then you could find yourself spending months to even a year looking for work.

So what does all this mean? If you don't have control over how smoothly and efficiently your networking efforts will be, then what do you have control of? Well, the answer is simple. You have control over yourself. Your behavior in the industry, your work ethic, skill level, and how well you get along with your co-workers and bosses, is what you can control. And truthfully, that is enough! You can survive without networking, and if you are really good at your job you can thrive without networking. Networking is simply a means to an end. It helps keep you active in the industry, but it is in no way the most important device at your disposal for finding work.

When I think back on all the animation jobs I've had, every one of them was through some sort of contact or referral from a connection I had. I wasn't consciously trying to network myself. I just happened to have a friend or a friend of a friend in the studio I was interested in. More often than not, this is enough. And this is often the case for most artists as they shift around from one studio to another. Most studios will tend to favor hires that have some sort of internal referral from people who have worked with the candidate. This is why your character is so important. Being a very small industry, word travels quickly about you and your work. But that isn't to say you need to always be trying to please everyone you work with. You should always try to be the professional version of yourself. You simply cannot control how people will react to you, and despite how professional you are, sometimes you'll rub people the wrong way and there is very little you can do about it.

Now for all the animation students reading this, you may need to rely more heavily on the quality of your demo reel rather than the contacts you have in the industry. Being new to the industry, you are automatically more limited in how far your networking can take you. But as I've explained, none of that really matters if you're a solid animator that's passionate about finding work.

Guest Blogger Aaron Gilman

Onus saying hello

2010-11-12T14:10:00.001Z

my robot 'Onus' says hello in this video, and some other facial expressions and arm movements, its only short, but i think its showing my development.

enjoy.

Onus - my robot

2010-11-10T16:25:00.002Z

this is a video of my robot, Onus

he isnt finished yet, iv'e rigged the arm though, so i made him wave to his lovely audience :)

just so you know, his name 'Onus', is latin for 'Load', simply because he is a fat robot, it made sense, hope you like my creation, and you will be seeing more of him over the next month.

It is in HD if you go on youtube.

Mercury Filmworks - canada

2010-10-28T13:43:00.000+01:00

http://www.mercuryfilmworks.com/
A place i like the look of, a bit out of the way, being in ottawa, but i have family in ottawa so that could be a solution if i were to get a placement out there. I think going to Canada could be massively useful also for the contact with other major studio's and i believe i can gain a decent network of contacts being out there.

Mercury Filmworks have worked with cartoon network, mtv, disney, warner bros, bbc and loads more massive companies. They are an award winning family entertainment studio is currently ramping up on several exciting new high profile animation projects.

I will try and get in contact with them about internship type things they could do, It does say on their website they are after talented people to join their team so who knows. i could be talented...

crysis 2

2010-10-26T09:34:00.001+01:00

http://www.crytek.com/games/crysis2/overview

robot preview

2010-10-23T17:57:00.000+01:00

I think i have a problem, i dont plan out what im doing in detail, i know everything i want to do in my head, so i just do it from that.

anyway, here is a sneak preview of my robot. its no where near finished so don't judge yet.

Nexus Productions

2010-10-15T22:27:00.000+01:00

www.nexusproductions.com
I really like a lot of what this company has produced, iv'e been through a lot of their stuff and its very impressive, doing work for high end companies, creating commercials and movie shorts.
Unfortunately they are based in London, i came across them in the latest 3D world magazine for a Panasonic ad they created, which is very good.

Golden gate bridge

2010-10-13T19:49:00.001+01:00

Ok so my main idea is for a fat robot to be walking a tightrope across the golden gate bridge, as the golden gate bridge will be hard to make, i've started now, so this is a first image of development of this. as i develop it more i will update my blog with images.
You can tell its still in development because it just cuts off at the end of the bridge :)

research images

2010-10-12T09:14:00.001+01:00

AMAZING

2010-10-10T19:30:00.001+01:00

I was looking through the statistics of my blog, checking out how many people have been on it, where geographically its popular, and most importantly (in relation to this post) how people are finding it in the first place.

One of the main links was due to the Thundertank i created, the Tag of 'Thundertank' linked people through google and google images to my blog to view what i had created early on.
(If you want to see the Thundertank its under March on the side bar)

So i thought i would have a look on google images under the search of Thundertank to see what came up, I saw my image and figured it linked to my blog, but instead it linked to this Sci-fi Anime website. Just go on the website, you'll see what i mean, but this made me very happy, especially the first line of what was written.

http://scifanime.com/toons/thunder-thunder-thunder-tank-hooo

Rockstar Games

2010-10-10T19:22:00.000+01:00

http://www.rockstargames.com/
If i was to set my expectations high, Rockstar Games would be a company i would LOVE to work for, they have 4 studio's in the UK; Edinburgh, London, Leeds and Lincoln, but then they also have studio's in Canada and America, so location wise they have diversity, and If i was to get a placement I wouldn't mind the move.

Rockstar Games are the creators of one of my favorite PS3 games 'Grand Theft Auto', They also develop games such as Midnight Club, Max Payne and Red Dead Redemption, its fair to say the games they create cause a bit of controversy but are some of the greatest console games around, in my opinion.

To work for a company of such stature would be incredible. A large company such as this works in all areas of games design and animation so finding something im suitable in within the company shouldn't be hard. Even now posted on their website is a job vacancy for a character animator, so if that was something i could eventually pursue i know there is my line of work at Rockstar Games.

Editz

2010-10-09T19:07:00.000+01:00

http://www.editz.co.uk/

This company do more post production animation, a lot with compositing, but they still interested me, they do a lot of visual FX and editing, still with animation but a lot more realistic compositing and post production. What they do really stood out to me and made me realise that a lot of what i see on the TV isn't actually real.

Sub. Object

2010-10-09T14:38:00.000+01:00

another studio in manchester, i'll try and research them more but i'm not to keen on them by the look of their website and work, they seem very boring unfortunately, but i'll still keep them in mind.
http://www.subobject.co.uk/

Studio Liddell

2010-10-09T14:27:00.000+01:00

http://www.studioliddell.com
Another animation studio in Manchester, but they also have a place in London.
They not only do animation but graphic design, illustration and interactive applications, this excites me because i not only have the animation interest but i also have a background in graphic design, so they are a diverse company which i could easily fit into, i hope.

Regarding Animation, they have done work for a wide range of well known companies, ranging from Vauxhall to silent night, and many more, they don't have the companies listed but the show reel they have on the website shows most of them.

Animation studio in manchester - The Box

2010-10-07T23:51:00.002+01:00

http://www.the-box.co.uk/

Box Productions, based in manchester, which would be local for me, specialise in 3D animation, motion graphics, editing and visual FX. They do TV commercials, title sequences, pop promo's, feature films, architectural fly thru's and filming and screening for live events.
They've done work for the BBC, Channel 4, Sony music, MTV2, Intel, Sky TV, Nike and Adidas.

So they look like a pretty decent studio, supplying work for major companies at high standards, so the next step would be for me to get in contact with them and find out more about them.

first brief initial ideas

2010-10-06T15:48:00.000+01:00

ok so iv'e begun to think of a few ideas for the brief, i have been told that it should probably include a banana but im going to try my hardest to work around that as i believe i can think of better scenes related to slap stick.

I have a few ideas at the moment but ive been doing a mock up on 3DS max of one of the ideas so i thought id post a picture of a mock up environment.

the idea is for the robot character to be very carefully walking on a tight rope very high in the air, struggling all the way, and then the part i havent decided is what is going to happen to him, but for now, iv'e created the environment of it, so take a look, only playing around.

IM BACK - new brief

2010-10-04T18:54:00.000+01:00

hello bloggers, I'm back, its been a while

I haven't blogged in, well, 4 months, as i've been on holiday and got lazy, but now I'm getting back to my usual self sitting in front of the computer attempting even harder 3D work.
Second year has begun and so here goes brief for this term...

The task is to Design, build and animate a model of a complex Bipedal Robot that can walk trip, slip and fall. It has to be at least 1 minute long.
Basically a Laurel and Hardy or Charlie Chaplin type sketch but fully animated, the example given was a man slipping on a banana peel, but we can create anything we like as long as its relative.

This was written on the brief about how we should go about it, from Charlie Chaplin's POV.

"Silent Comedy… Charlie Chaplin once explained that there are two ways to film the old guy-slips-on-a-banana-peel joke. The first, unfunny, way goes like this: Cut to the guy walking, oblivious. Cut to the banana peel, lying in wait. Then cut to a wide shot of the guy approaching the banana peel. Cut to a close-up of the banana peel, just as the guy's foot hits it. Cut back to the wide shot, as the guy slips on the peel and lands on his rear end, which, as everyone knows from cartoons, is the funniest part of the human body and one that registers no real pain.

The second, funnier way to film that same sequence is as follows: Cut to the guy, walking. Cut to the banana peel, lying in wait. Then cut to a wide shot of the guy approaching the banana peel. Cut to a close-up of the banana peel, just as the guy's foot almost hits it. Cut back to the wide shot, as the guy deftly steps over the banana peel, smiling smugly . . . and falls into an open manhole…
Get the difference?"

So from this, I realise that the obvious is way too boring and predictable, and over the next few weeks i will be coming up with, hopefully, some decent ideas for an exciting and unpredictable slap stick animated scene, good times.

FIRST BLOG AS SECOND YEAR OVER.

well this is good

2010-06-05T16:04:00.000+01:00

My cousin meets a lot of people at his gaming bar in manchester 'kyoto lounge' and one of the gamers that he got talking to happens to be a director of an animation studio in manchester, so my cousin has got his details for me and the man said he would try and help me out with some experience and some tips, so i'm very happy to have connections.

my quiz

2010-05-18T17:31:00.001+01:00

OK, this is my quiz, its the same quiz i made last term, but this has sound now, so there is music playing over it, making it an improvement, or an ITERATION, on something ive made.

WARNING
the music doesn't turn off once you start the quiz.
enjoy

quiz with sound by ~peyman89 on deviant ART

coming to the end

2010-05-17T14:12:00.000+01:00

Ive finished all 3 projects for this term in DP2, Im about 90% finished on the visual essay, and i need to make my presentation which shouldnt take too long, so its almost all over for my first year...

i have learnt a lot this year, and i am happy to say that im choosing virtual environments as my pathway for the next 2 years, and hopefully will guide me into an animated career.

its gone very fast, but has been a very good year, experimenting with Flash, which i now know i dislike, and may try and learn it on my own later on, but im going to stick to 3D.

Enjoy.

walking man

2010-05-16T15:38:00.002+01:00

Lowrider animation

2010-05-13T16:35:00.000+01:00

First, let me say, i DID NOT make the car, i did everything else including the animation etc.
I had no reason to make this, Just looked like a fun thing to do when i saw the model 3DS max gave me. enjoy.

pig man head twist

2010-05-11T23:00:00.001+01:00

i made this pig man type character in mudbox, il upload a proper photo of him later on, but since i dont know enough about the rest of the process of making a 3D realistic model, i thought id have fun instead, so i did this...

i think im just avoiding doing real work.

Peyman Salehi

Artefact 1 progress part 2

artefact 1 progress

Stadium

v-ray rendered house

Mustang

old man part 2

piano part 3

random old man face

piano part 2

Kyoto lounge computer room

room and sun

research question + topic

Exhibition images

Research project

Live Client

Context StartUp Factory project

Simulated Client Project

Guitar

Piano

keeping myself busy...

a few screenshots

500 word rationale

fully textured pods

Yoda plays Fifa

Flickr Material Library

my website

update on what ive been up to

today we learnt how to make sky scrapers

since josh did a poster i thought id do one too

games console and my game

yoda's hands

i umm... drifted away from the project for a bit - living room

3rd alien head - white eyes or black eyes white horns?

Alien Helmet

Nas & Damian Marley - Patience

Pod racer and character 1 in 2 locations

cartoon textured 1st character

lumpy skin texture man

a quick scene test

tunnel 1

making my own textures - road

lighting test render 1

side project - z brush man

creature start

start of light testing

Pod race scene - update

iPad

what ive done so far

Low poly human figure - first attempt in 3DS max

texture style example

stuck in 2 minds

visual example for my scene

pod racer - extract from Wookieepedia

Contents

DesignEdit

HistoryEdit

pod racing - extract from Wookieepedia

Contents

CharacterisiticsEdit

HistoryEdit

Proof that im drawing...

influences/inspiration for style of my animation

original scene - pod race

William Basso

2nd term project - re - interpretation of script

back to neverland - animated by Frans Vischer - pencil test

sooooo good - bulletstorm parody of halo trailer

pod racer

other things ive been up to

i guess i should show something from this holiday...

next term ideas

4 high res images from the animation, they are PNG so no visible background

Onus gets new shoes

My animation is finished

i was told to post this by harvey

Leslie Nielsen RIP

some images from my animation

Depth Of Field

I feel i should be my own critic first

Design Edit

History Edit

Characterisitics Edit

History Edit