O.K, here's the bad news, it is about as bad as you can get. Basically, I had to re-model both characters bodies from scratch. I decided to start from a poly sphere this time so the roundness is intact and build the arms and legs from poly cylinders. Part of the re-modelling was to make the whole thing thinner but especially to make the arms and legs thinner. More definition on the elbows and knees where also needed as where bigger feet. The model could also not be thick at the ankles or wrists, so I had to take that into account. Mike also suggested for the rigs to add extra joints to the rigs in fat areas, not for movement but just to take some of the paint-weighting from the main joints. I will do that next and try and re-skin them again. Well here are the new models. (Thanks Mo and Harry for all your help.) Because of this I am running behind schedule and will not be able to complete any personality animation as previously planned. I might not even be able to do the walk cycles. Mike suggested that if I want to concentrate on the animation that I download a rig from the Internet and start animating. I think I will do just that. Below I have manage to find these pictures from a book Adin gave me called Digital Art Masters Volume 2. The picture is called Space Girl and it is by Andre Holzmeister. I like it because she is similar to Pocahontas especially in her legs, so I used her as a guide on how to re-model Pocahontas' legs.
Well, it's not going well at the moment. I have spent ages doing the paint-weighting and it still doesn't work right. Time is etching away, and I can't get the models to stop crumpling up when they move. I am so fed up. I just want to start animating, I can't be bovered with this. I don't know how to correct it. What am I going to do?
These are pictures from Tarzan 2 I found on the internet. They sort of reminded me of Cornelius and Pocahontas.
James and Other Apes, by James Mollison, is a fascinating book where he has photographed the faces of fifty great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos). First I must say, thankyou to Jared for lending me this book.
When you look through this book, you get a real sense of the characters of each of these apes. I have picked out a few of my favourites.
This is Tam Tam, a 4 year old female chimpanzee. What I liked about her is her very expressive brow and eyes, something I tried to get in Cornelius. This is Katie, 2 years, female, chimp. She is just so funny to look at and she also has a partially bald head. Gregoire, 60, male, chimp. This chimp is right in the age range for Cornelius. I think he is blind in one eye. I like his beard. La Vieille, 29, female, chimp. She looks so worried with her long elongated face and brow. Kind of reminds me of the face I designed for Cornelius. I like her coluring too, this lighty brown, I thought I could use that in Cornelius. Kola, 14, male, gorilla. Look at his head it is so broad. He must be huge. He has a nice orangey tuff too. Haidar, 2, male, orangutan. Isn't he cute, his small mouth and big eyes remind me a bit of Pocahontas. Kiwiti, 5, male, bonobo. I have posted this one up because it clearly shows teeth. Important for modelling. I am very grateful to Jared for lending me this book and I wish to use some of the images as a guide to the blend shapes I create later on.
Just thought I would put these up here, these are some gorilla walk cycles I found on Youtube. The first one gives the gorilla a lot of power and a really ergent, determined look to him. He looks a bit ticked off. The second one gives the air that the gorilla is a bit dopey. I will have to examine these.
I am just going to put up a bit of research that I have collected to help me design Cornelius. He just wasn't clicking for me, and has had a wide variety of different designs based on him. After a couple of dead ends, I decided to rethink his design. His character description called for him to be civilised and sensible. Now who's sensible, Gromit. And he's Claymation, bonus. So I decided to examine him, and incorporate some of him in the design.I also thought of Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas, the sensible, grumpy old man that says blooming all the time. If I was a middle aged gorilla, having tourists look at me all day, I would be a bit grumpy too. So I decided to examine him as well.I thought it might be neat too, if he had a logo of London on him, so I thought it might be interesting if he had a mark on his back in the shape of the City of London Logo. I will post the designs up soon, so I can get modelling.
The pictures of baby gorillas give a good indication of the proportions of Pocahontas' design but mostly this video was examined very closely to see how gorilla's moved. Key pictures were taken in the poses. Gorillas tend to walk flat-footed on their back legs, and their shoulders rotate forwards depending on which arm is outstretched. They usually only have one-foot of the ground at a time. These are pictures from Tarzan pencil sketches, as seen on the Tarzan DVD. Here the animators were task with taking a gorilla action and transposing that into Tarzan. This is very similar to what I have to do with Pocahontas.
Not only is the Nightmare before Christmas a Stop-motion classic, but Sally's facial construction is not too dissimilar to the designs I am coming up with for Pocahontas. Sally is also very quiet and knowing in the film, similar to Pocahontas' character description. Examining her design and how she is constructed may help me with modelling Pocahontas later on.
Hi, these are pictures I would have put up in the previous post, but for some strange reason, Google blogger that day wouldn't upload images.
Most of these images are from Disney's Tarzan, a perfect example of gorilla animation. I can get a lot of understanding about how to draw an animate gorillas from this film. Also the film gives a good inspiration for Pocahontas, because I want her to move like a gorilla, and this is a problem the animator's solved for this film, and quite successfully I might add. Look at the power of the gorilla in this drawing. This is what I need to capture for Cornelius.
Ah, Pocahontas' other inspiration. Lilo's design is so cute and appealing, I can't help but be inspired by it. In the film Lilo and Stitch, they used the round designs of the world, to create a view of the world, as if it was seen by a child. This might be a nice angle to take, to accent London Zoo's sense of childlike wonderment and discovery.
Recently I have bought this Character Design book by Tom Bancroft. In it he states the first step to good character design is to create the basic shapes from the character descriptions and do lots of research into what you want to draw.
So the first thing I did was create the basic shapes below. For Cornelius the description states he is civilised and sensible, so he is probably very restrained and proud. If you look at silver back mountain gorillas (I chose a mountain gorilla because they have darker and furrier coats), they are very powerful. However, it also states that he is middle aged, so I thought it might be a bit funny if he had got a bit fat and bald in his old age.
For Pocahontas, she's about seven and more relaxed. She therefore probably takes her time, doesn't overexert herself. Big Point here, she wants to be a gorilla. In my mind, if she wants to be a gorilla, maybe that could be shown by allowing her to move like a gorilla. I am going to experiment with making her arms a bit longer and more gorilla like.
There is a lot of research coming up so sorry if it is a bit much.
When I decided to go this route, the first thing I decided to do was research up gorillas. Adult male gorillas a saddle of silver-hair appears on their backs. This hair is really short whilst their arm hair is really long. They reach about 5-6 ft in height, have an arm span of about 7ft 6in and weigh approximately 450-500lbs.
(These images were obtained from wikipedia) Gorillas move around by Knuckle walking where they walk around on all fours with the weight resting on the Intermediate Phalanges. I have a diagram here to explain. I also decided as part of my research to look up animations. I felt that Disney's Tarzan was my best bet for gorilla animation. Glen Keene's animation of Tarzan in that film was so cool and Young Tarzan will form a good basis for Pocahontas Billams. The Claymation style wanted in the brief I believe is more of a Plasticine feel gotten through the texturing stage, rather than the character design stage. Claymation doesn't mean you have to have the Aardman mouth. These Images come from either Disney's Tarzan Special Collector's Edition book or http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/2006/05/tarzan.html.
I have also got some scans of drawings by Andreas Deja of Lilo, obtained from the book Lilo and Stitch: Collected stories from the film's creators. Lilo has that relaxed feeling required for Pocahontas and she is just the cutest little girl in an animated film.
Because of this I am running behind schedule and will not be able to complete any personality animation as previously planned. I might not even be able to do the walk cycles. Mike suggested that if I want to concentrate on the animation that I download a rig from the Internet and start animating. I think I will do just that. Below I have manage to find these pictures from a book Adin gave me called Digital Art Masters Volume 2. The picture is called Space Girl and it is by Andre Holzmeister. I like it because she is similar to Pocahontas especially in her legs, so I used her as a guide on how to re-model Pocahontas' legs.
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(These images were obtained from wikipedia)
I also decided as part of my research to look up animations. I felt that Disney's Tarzan was my best bet for gorilla animation. Glen Keene's animation of Tarzan in that film was so cool and Young Tarzan will form a good basis for Pocahontas Billams. The Claymation style wanted in the brief I believe is more of a Plasticine feel gotten through the texturing stage, rather than the character design stage. Claymation doesn't mean you have to have the Aardman mouth. These Images come from either Disney's Tarzan Special Collector's Edition book or