June 10, 2013 : Robotical’s Soundtrack
I made sure Robotical had a lot of music throughout the short; and not only did I want the music to sufficiently match (and add to) the mood, I also wanted a variety of the types of music. The end result was music that I am very pleased with.
I created an mp3 that plays the music as it is heard throughout the short, and it is embedded below. Bare in mind that the file is nearly seven minutes long.
[audio:http://www.pivisuals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Robotical_Soundtrack_Compressed.mp3|titles=Robotical Soundtrack]Besides the generous use of cymbal swells, you’ll notice a few tracks are repeated (or revisited with slight variations). Just know that it makes more sense if you’ve seen the short. As expected, many of the tracks were edited in Post to better match the flow the accompanying animation. As such, I replaced some of those tracks with the full recorded version for everybody’s enjoyment.
By the way, if you stomach through the file, you will also get a chance to hear yours truly singing. I guarantee it won’t make any sense and will leave you utterly confused without seeing the short, but it’s still a cool song that I am proud of.
posted by Pi Visuals at 2:48 pm
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May 25, 2013 : Robotical Trailer
Finishing touches are being put on the new short, Robotical. In the meantime, a trailer for it has been put together and can be seen on Vimeo. Check it out.
The trailer was more of an obligatory thing (more on that later), but overall I’m very happy with how things are shaping up.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:56 am
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April 25, 2013 : Animation Complete… Sorta
The first pass of animation for the short finished up a few days ago. It’s definitely a big milestone in the production process.
Of course, things are far from wrapping up. In addition to the expected Post-Production duties, there are numerous edits within animation. After reviewing each scene, an extensive list was made of all the necessary changes… eighteen pages long, to be exact.
Still, things are moving along.
posted by Pi Visuals at 3:41 am
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March 28, 2013 : Illustrator Work For New Short
Animation for the new short is moving along at a pretty nice clip. In between sequences, I have had to work on some of the ancillary tasks associated with the project. Below is an image recently made that will be used in the intro.
The pic was created in Illustrator, and it will be accompanied by several more images with the same look. Most of these would have given up a little too much of the plot, which I’m not ready to do…just yet.
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:47 am
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March 7, 2013 : Robot Animation Fun!
The last few weeks have been pretty hectic. Animation is still the bulk of the work being done right now for the short, and it’s moving along. Below is a grab from the first scene, which was recently finished (the scenes are being done out of order).
The sequence for the still above was fun to animate – mostly due to the rig created for the robot. There are a few more scenes that I am looking forward to animating. However, there is still much left to do. By my count, animation is around the midway point – but this doesn’t take into account any edits that need to be made.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:48 am
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February 16, 2013 : Animation Moving Forward
Animation for the new short is underway. The good news: over two minutes is complete. The bad news: more than eight minutes still needs to get done. Still, things are coming along nicely. Below is a screen grab from one of the scenes.
The shadow effect was created in After Effects. It took a little testing to get the look I wanted, but I’m happy with the end product.
posted by Pi Visuals at 2:42 pm
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January 25, 2013 : Work Flow For New Short
Animation began recently for the new short. Keeping up the theme of not revealing too much, I decided to just show a screen grab of the work flow in Lightwave for one of the sequences. Of course, I made sure only one character was in the shot:
In the past, I predominantly worked each stage of the process in blocks – I did all the modeling at once, then I animated everything, then rendered the files, then added post effects, then wrote the music, etc. This time around, I wanted to have better continuity between the steps so they are all progressing together. Some modeling still needs to happen, but I have also started writing and recording music. Ultimately, animation is the bulk of the work that needs to get done. So the goal is to ensure nothing slows down (or prevents) that part of production.
I think the end result will be a better short – not only because I think each step will be better in tune with one another, but it will prevent me from getting burned out doing one part of the process. Whenever that happens, there’s always the risk of the quality suffering.
posted by Pi Visuals at 4:59 pm
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January 9, 2013 : Animation Almost Ready To Begin
While animation hasn’t started just yet, things are moving along for the new short. All of the characters are nearly complete. Below is a test render of the first character seen by the audience.
The model in this render still had a couple of tweaks that needed to be make, but I like how he looks. A few more things need to get done before production is in full swing, but things are progressing nicely (albeit a little slowly at times).
Plenty more updates to come.
posted by Pi Visuals at 7:23 am
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December 21, 2012 : Pre-Production Moving Along
The past few weeks have been spent modeling for the upcoming short – specifically, the main characters. There is still a little more to do, but it’s coming along nicely. Without divulging too much, below is a screen grab of one of the characters within Lightwave.
Who is this person? Is he the protagonist or someone else? Right now, I plan on keeping things close to the vest. However, I will say there are multiple characters, and the short is estimated to be ~9 minutes. I still need to adjust the color schemes for the various characters as well as create their rigs for animating. However, the modeling portion was much more time intensive than the remaining work. Plus, some of the audio has already been recorded. While animation might not begin before the New Year (my original goal), it should start soon afterward.
posted by Pi Visuals at 6:53 pm
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November 29, 2012 : A New Short In Development
The last month or two, I’ve spent some of my down time developing an idea for a new short. A script has been written and the design work is ongoing. Below is a compilation of some of these sketches, which is currently being used to create the necessary 3D models.
The goal is to start production (specifically, animation) sometime in December. As I always try to do with new projects, it’s going to be a little different from previous works. While I won’t divulge too much just yet, rest assured, I will periodically give updates on its progress.
posted by Pi Visuals at 1:19 pm
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