July 8, 2014 : DBZ Animated Movie Hitting Theaters
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, came out in Japan March of 2013. This is the first movie in 17 years for the series and will now have a limited English dub release. It is set to premiere in 350 North American theaters from August 5-9. You can check out the FUNimation trailer below:
The plot seems pretty much on par with a DBZ movie – that is to say, ‘meh’ – however, the animation looks very crisp. In addition to seeing a fair amount of 3D in the trailer, I am willing to bet this is the first movie in the franchise to be done digitally (versus the old school cel-shaded method).
While I will go in with relatively low expectations, it will be nice to see some new material from the DBZ franchise. Also on the plus side, series creator Akira Toriyama was involved in the production – which will make me overlook the fact that some people call this movie in-canon (having taken place after the Buu saga but before DBGT). After all, I’ve said it before: the series ended after the Cell Saga… at least that is what I tell myself.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:33 pm
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July 3, 2014 : Jurassic Park’s CGI Decision
Below is The Academy of Motion Arts & Sciences’ short film detailing the decision to switch from stop motion and animatronics to CGI for much of its key dinosaur scenes. It’s a quick, but interesting, 10 minute watch.
I did not realize the decision was made during production, which that alone is interesting; but the whole process of how it came about for the film is an intriguing narrative. While it doesn’t go into much technical detail about the CGI, it does have some old school 3D footage.
This is currently the only Moments That Changed The Movies video on AMPAS’ channel, but hopefully more are set to come out.
posted by Pi Visuals at 9:05 pm
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June 28, 2014 : Ultra’s Intro Animation
I meant to share this earlier in the week, but apparently it slipped my mind. Below is the Intro animation for Ultra.
It was created entirely in After Effects and took several iterations to get exactly how I wanted. This is also the first Intro Animation of mine that isn’t accompanied with music. Instead, I chose to use strictly sound effects. It was a decision I went back and forth on for quite some time, but I ultimately feel like the right choice was made.
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:59 pm
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June 20, 2014 : Closing Days For Ultra
Things are wrapping up on Ultra… and quite nicely, in my opinion. At this point, it’s a matter of getting the final specs on the rendered clip. Sadly, things like this always take longer than expected. Still, the hope is that everything will be completed by the end of the weekend. Below is an establishing shot of the store:
The shot is the first thing you see after the Intro Animation. I like its simplicity. For some reason, I originally intended to have outside, ambient noise playing over the shot. Instead, I decided to create a quick establishing musical number. This can be heard below:
[audio:http://www.pivisuals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Scene1EstMusic.mp3|titles=Ultra Est Music]In the past, I would record these short establishing pieces at the very end of production, and several times I felt the music suffered because it was rushed in the process. Not having identified the need for this piece until last week, I didn’t have much of a choice in prolonging the writing/ recording of it until the end of production. However, I like how it came out. I think it goes well with the theme of the short – and thus it helps establish things.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:19 pm
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June 14, 2014 : Ultra’s Title Card
I haven’t revealed the name of the short I’ve been working on these past few months. I suppose it’s been intentional, but it is mostly because I was waiting to complete the Intro animation before doing so. Although, technically if you were observant enough, you would have seen the title since it was the tag for each post about the short.
Anyway, the Intro animation is complete, and below is the Title Card for the short:
Intro animations are always difficult. They are the first thing the audience sees; but since they are often not part of the original story, they are put together more as an after thought. In my opinion, the importance of the intro cannot be understated. That is why I try not to rush them, which is also why it took so long for me to complete it – it took me a while to come up with the look and feel that felt right.
Overall, I like how the Intro animation came out. Unfortunately, it is not yet online for anyone to view. Perhaps, I will share it in the next few weeks, but no promises. At the very least, you were able to check out the title card for the short. So… you’re welcome.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:50 am
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June 10, 2014 : Establishing Crowd Shots… Such A Pain
Establishing shots are necessary at the start of a scene to tell the audience where they’re at. They sound simple enough, but I hate when this shot occurs in a crowded area. This requires a great deal of time (and resources) to adequately convey a populated location.
This new short starts off in a store, which is supposed to be pretty busy. Audio can help with setting the tone, but fortunately I had enough models from previous projects to throw into the scene that created a satisfactory crowd scene.
Can you determine how many previous projects, excluding this one, are represented in this shot? Here’s a hint: it’s not three.
Several of these models will be used as additional non-animated background characters to help keep the illusion of a crowded store. However, this initial establishing shot was the only one that needed to have all these characters in it – and that’s a good thing because my computer does not like loading very many models into one Lightwave scene file. I was forced to break it up into sub-scene files, which required that much more time to generate this shot. I guess that’s just another reminder I need a new computer.
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:59 am
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June 5, 2014 : Post-Production Underway
A few more establishing shots and re-renders need to get taken care of, but that hasn’t stopped post-production from getting started. As with many of my projects, a decent amount of After Effects work is needed to put everything together. A few of the shots in this sequence will really depend on After Effects to sell what’s going on.
This is especially true with the first non-establishing shot of the short. Below is a composited render, which only takes the various renders from Lightwave and puts them in the necessary order.
At this point, without the audio, it isn’t entirely clear what’s going. Once the necessary After Effects layers are added, the audience gets a better feel for the world presented to them:
While I like this still, I think the animation for the entire shot looks even cooler. Sadly, that is something I cannot share at the moment.
Here
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:33 am
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May 28, 2014 : First-Pass Animation Wrapping Up
With the exception of a few lingering establishing shots, the first-pass animation is complete. Some sequences might need to get tweaked once reviewed, but hopefully these changes will be minor.
This short has more characters than several of my previous projects, and each has something I really like about them. Below is a render of one of them:
This character required some extra time to figure out how to facially animate (for his dialogue). Thanks to Moridin, a solid solution was found.
There are still plenty of items that need to get done: background renders, sequence reviews, plenty of After Effects, sound effects, and song mixing to name a few. With the deadline for the short under four week away, busy times ahead.
posted by Pi Visuals at 11:03 pm
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May 24, 2014 : Production In Full Swing
The last few weeks have been pretty busy – getting back from an extended stay in Chicago, spending a weekend in D.C. as well as NYC, and doing an in-town move. Between all this, I have spent a good amount of time animating for the new short. Nearly 7000 frames have been animated. Excluding backgrounds, much of it has been rendered. Below is a quick screen grab.
The short is about 5 1/2 minutes long; and even though animation should be completed next week, there is still plenty more to do. The hard deadline is June 27th, but I hope to get everything completed by the 20th. My goal is to make more frequent posts in the upcoming weeks detailing the progress of things. So stay tuned…
posted by Pi Visuals at 7:55 pm
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May 12, 2014 : Dexter’s Lab Makes A Cameo In Chicago
Last month, I was in Chicago for a few weeks doing some TCB (taking care of business). On several occasions, I would ride the rails out to the burbs; and while on the Blue Line, I came across this little gem. Keep in mind, I was only able to get the shot while the train was moving.
I’ve stated before, I’m not an advocate of graffiti. However, it’s tough not to appreciate any homage to Genndy Tartakosky. Had it been Samurai Jack, I might have gotten off the train to get a picture with me in it.
posted by Pi Visuals at 9:42 pm
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