Follow me Evelyn Hernandez as I produce the animated short film COLLEGE GRIND. I will be posting everything from visual development at the beginning to Models, animated shots and finally the produced film in the end. Enjoy
here is a render I recently did with updated models of the room and the Dj mixer gear and an updated Trixie rig with cleaner topology and a better looking face
did some test animations with Trixie for video game animation. Actually had a lot of fun animating these and it was a nice break away from focusing on just acting.
In this process, I have made most of the changes I needed to make and feel comfortable with the shot. The main goal was to make things clear and to fix any parts that were not working or just didn't feel right. From here I see the polish and just pushing more of the shot.
As I continue to block, I keep breaking down the shot within the poses while also making changes that I think will help in story, appeal or just communicating the shot in any better way. In this shot Trixie is running into class in attempt to make it in time, she notices that she did indeed made it and then walks over to her seat proudly. As I continue to animate this shot I continue to make only smaller changes since I have been building up the shot in a layers format where I continue doing passes.
Work in progress with this shot. I've been working through this shot, which has been quite a hard one. It began as the shot I loved most in my film, which was the reason I knew I had to redo it and make something even better both in the animation aspect and directing choices for bringing the film to a high level. I will keep you posted on more College Grind.
This was the first pass at College Grind. At this point while in school, I had in hand a different storyboard to a 5 minute long film, a modeled environment to a school which was only 1 of many sets needed and 1 character modeled out. I also only had 2 months to turn in a film, so slapped myself a few times and decided to scrap the 5 minute story for a chance to came up with a film that would be realistic for a team of 1 and could meet some kind of quality.
In the mornings when the day would start and students would begin to flood in, I would be waking up from never having left the animation class lab rooms to grinding away on my animation projects and homework. A text from my wonderful friend Nicole would come in asking "I'm passing by Starbucks, want anything?" and my reply was always yes and even if I didn't reply she would come wake up and hand me a hot venti green tea latte and a spinach feta wrap. I could kiss her for being such a great friend, not because she brought me Starbucks or became my class alarm but because during the moment when I had in my hands a film as big as a bomb that was ready to blow up like a 9month pregnant lady, she walked in and put the fire out on the chord. No pressure at all, I sat back and conversed with her, I need to make a new story and flush this one down, not because its bad but because I want to live. 2 months left live the life of a soldier crawling through a puddle of mud under spiked wires and scattered explosive mines through out the ground. Not an idea living situation but it is living at least. I start brainstorming with classmates ideas for my character Trixie, when in to the conversation comes Nicole who comments, "Just make her sleeping since you know all about that". at this point, i let that actually soak in until it suddenly hit me. My eyes opened up in excitement that she was actually right. My great teacher Mike Dietz who I would call my mentor once mentioned in class "Animate what you know best", and that is exactly what I knew I had to do.
I thumbnailed the story and then put it together as an animatic to get a full feel of the film. It was all very rough and quick which put it all together even better.
thumbnails storyboard animatic
2016 College Grind CSUF finished version
shot after
shot I hit the road animating like a squirrel hits the road when its diving
through your wheels to fill its need of suicidal adrenaline. I would get
through shot at a time, key poses, breakdowns, and in-betweens enough to fill
in the story. Asset modeling and rigging was the icing on the cake which might
have felt like that leg someone puts on top of you while you are crunching out
your 50th push up on the way to 100. Then finally the day came, everyone handed
in their long worked on films and we all sat back to the spectacular film
festival help in 2016's production class with Wendy Grieb. Somehow the night
before I managed to put it all together and made After Effects render out this
cut and edited thing we call a film. Not going to lie, but it was actually one
of the greatest moments in my life, even if the fired burned close enough that
i was left with a hole in my pants.
Packie's early designs definitely show, that his name wouldn't of been Packie then haha. Maybe more like "Jackie". The idea slowly continued to progress as I figured what would make a better partner for Trixie as far as getting along and also having a deeper and more comical relationship.
Render Tests
Early renders to test out Fur and Hair combinations. The Fur option here was actually quite nice, but then after perusing the need to right Packie, I went for the simpler flat look.
Character Rig
A very simple yet versatile rig. All controlled by a IK bone system.
Character Model
Final Still Render. One goal in mind with this character was to also keep in mind of pushing and seeing how much personality I could pull through just one posed render.
Turn Around The final product for display in a reel. Topology came out great and as a rig he is fully capable of expressing well.
Designing Trixie too some exploring as you can see what I first began with, evolved into a more refined and simplified version.
Exploring Character Model Styles
I began exploring styles for Trixie in 3D. It was until I knew I had to stay true to the hand drawn and digital designs that I would bring Trixie to life. The first few attempts were more explorative than actually trying to hit the style. Once I dove into the modeling and was firm on the idea that I would keep this character as light as possible was when the final design came to life.
Trixie and X Gen (maya's hair system)
I explored the use of X Gen which I became very familiar with having used it for Trixie and Packie. Maya 2015 was the first year with X Gen as the new hair system which brought some bugs into my pipeline. Because of this I decided to go without the use of a hair system and count on only modeled hair. I went as far as incorporating a rigging system to test the deformation of the hairs on the rigged character which worked out well.
Character Model
I began modeling Trixie as just a nude figure to then add clothing. From the designs you can see that I went through various changes and even rigged controls to be able to swap through accessories and clothing. The hairstyle was something that I really experimented with up until I found the results that I was happy with. I began with Xgen hair, and then continued to variations of mesh hair options that lead to her current style in the end. Xgen seemed to be a little buggy at times which was the main reason why I left that choice soon enough to not deal with issues later in the pipeline.
Turn Table Reel
Character Rig
I designed Trixie's rig to be very simple, and easy to use. Using joints as the main rigging method I am able to get enough control through out the face and body to create the fleshy and cartoon styled shapes I desire. The skinning was an area I focused on heavily to create the best deformation possible without blendshapes.
Test Animation
In this test animation I was simply checking how cartoony I can push her for the style of animation I choose for the film. I was happy with the results even without using the bend controls.
As a study of animation I am replicating the animation from a shot in the film Storks in which Tulip is cheering her self on having touchdowned a letter into a machine, animated by Paul Pammesberger. It's my favorite shot in the film ha (-'v'- )
College Grind is an animated short film I am
currently working on. This began as the short film project while attending
California State University of Fullerton, and thankfully I was able to finish it then to a completed level. Because of the short amount of time and large amounts of classes I was
taking, I didn't finish the film at the quality I really envisioned it to be at while in school. Now in continuation, I have dedicated my
time to producing this film at a quality good enough to get out into the public
for the world to watch and enjoy. This film not only serves as fun experience to my skillset as an animator but also represents my work as an animation director and producer. I hope you enjoy the progress and content I
post from now up until the final product. Thank you
