Since the tutorial with Phil this week I've been thinking a lot more about the way I want my character to move and the variation he needs to stay interesting throughout the story. I've been slowly going through the shots and figuring out his shapes and movements. This is something that is going to take a lot of refinement but will hopefully be completed the week after next, in order to meet my timetable. I've also been trying to get as much production done as possible, so that when I have completed these animation guides, I can focus on bringing the character to life.

I'm still aiming to have my environments and props all compiled and ready before the end of the next week (9 days time) This includes the train, which I'm hopefully going to focus on this weekend, with the help of a Gnomon texturing DVD that Alan thankfully lent me for improving it's texture. I'll be using the post to update on the environment stuff. Below are some props, which I've tried to keep a theme through of desaturation. These won't be focused on much, but they need to be there. I've got a few more to do, two of which are quite important : The hand-car and the luggage trolley.

I've been modelling different parts, both environments and the train. I'm hoping to get most of the modelling and texturing finished by the end of next week. Below is what I currently have, the texturing could do with work which I'll focus on this week. There is still quite a lot to model, so I'll be trying to tick all the props off the list soon. Each prop will be quite simple, as they won't be focused on too much. Each has a colour and a bump map.




Door window will be textured with Western-font 'Staff Only'

Boring (But necessary) wood plank





I've started to block out the train carriage also:


As well as some early work on the station building:




The train-track environment is more or less where I left it, except  bit of foliage that I added near the foreground:


More to come soon.

This week's dynamic tutorials were more advanced, moving onto controlling particles using multiple ramps, plugging in textures / colours and emitting particles from other particles. The scope for the dynamics seems to be huge, hopefully I can take advantage of these tutorials in my Transcription.

Coke Can



Barrell


Fireworks

 

The Steam Train is going to be a huge part of my animation - it is the main goal of the character, meaning it is in shot a lot and therefore needs to be very functional. The final scenes are set inside and on top of a carriage of the train. I need to spend time on making it in a style that will fit the environment.

The train model I have at the moment is from the summer, and since then I have learnt a lot with Maya, especially about organising scenes. This means that I am revisiting the train, cutting out parts that need to be remade and salvaging what I can.

Below is what I've currently have, I am UVing it as I go, making it ready to texture once the mesh is finished. I'm splitting the train into three sections: The Engine (Below) a coal cart directly behind the engine, and the carriages. Most of the detail will be added with texturing. I'm aiming to have it done, textured, lit etc. by the end of the weekend, meaning I can crack on with the environments. I'll be updating this post with progress.

Edit:I've added a quick colour texture to block it out. I'll be changing the colours before adding more texture detail, such as dirt, sand and rust.








 

Concept
The Station


The Train


The Train-Tracks

I've compiled a couple of influence maps; one for the environment of the animation and another for the character (movement / personality) I'm sure I'll post up more in the coming weeks.

Here are the second set of Dynamic tutorials: A Firework, a firey shockwave and two curves emmisions; a letter and a wave-effect on an island.