Mid week updateroo

Well, I'm not quite where I planned to be, just in a parallel state.

I'm pleased with my progress this week so far. Scenes 1 & 2 are in the bag and I feel like I've progressed after establishing the look of the world in which the rest of the animation will take place. This now makes the creation of every other scene more viable, rather than changing everything after I've set it up and I've now dropped the new sky into scene 8 which has completed that scene.

Whilst at college I have been concentrating on creating files with the animated movements of characters which can be dropped into the environment that I have been working on during the evening.

So I'm pretty chuffed that not only have I got my characters bouncing along but also created a pulsating dust cloud similar in technique to that of cut-out animated rolling theatre sea. This would rise out of the floor as the characters moved along and would be used in many scenes. This is an important ingredient as it will be used in scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13 & 14.

I have also concentrated on scenes that are more focussed on characters and have created the animation for the main meeting point of characters and the turning point in the animation ready to drop into scenes 10 & 12.

Then the close up shot in scene 11, which I have decided can only be achieved using pose to pose animation and I have to admit I got a little carried away and produced 22 separate frames at the point where my character reveals himself. Unfortunately this also meant that due to my style of animation meant I also had to draw up 22 unique alpha channels to fit behind the colour files and then another set of alpha files to sit behind the first two for the fuzzy texture. So about 1 second of animation took 66 separate pieces of artwork, all be it manipulated from an initial couple of drawings used previously.

This just leaves the origination of the artwork for scene 9 which hasn't been touched yet but will use elements from the current landscape but with the characters viewed from above.

I've also been back over my initial storyboard, scribbled down and firmed up on the gaps and new scenes such as the latter one above so I'm clearer on what needs doing next. I do have yet another idea to add to the story if I have time but this will mean creating a smaller side character (creature).

I've discovered and enjoy the fact that the project expands and metomorphasises as it goes along, I try to keep evaluating and adding alternative solutions as I go along. (Bearing in mind the time it takes).

The introduction of the sound module this week simply covers elements that I have been working on already. I have already recorded a rough demo of the music track I'd like to apply to the animation (using Garage Band), although the sound module has lead me to constructing a list of necessary sound effects which I am currently thinking about.