Monday, March 14, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Monkey fur Monday Jan. 24th



Spent five hours working on the rhesus monkey in maya. I've been having difficulty getting it into some sort t pose that doesn't look unnatural, but i think I'm finally close. We've been discussing how detailed the model needs to be for the distance it will be seen from so I put a quick texture map on my old model and it surprisingly looks decent. I think that I'm going to attempt to do some low poly video game style fur for it to break the smooth silhouette the monkey has right now. I watched several tutorials on digital tutors that were very helpful. Right now it looks like body armor but I'm working on transparency maps etc. so we'll see how that goes.






Sunday, January 23, 2011

Thingummy Bob 1-23



-5hrs
Went into ACCAD from 10-3. Worked on straightening out my documentation then onto the next phase of thingummybob after.

Ive been contemplating ways to incorporate more 'domestic' household items into the thingummybob. Today's experiment was a meat grinder. Although bringing back horrible memories of watching "The Wall" over and over again in highschool art class, I think it could work out pretty cool. It could give the actors another object to interact with as well. The "meat" cranked out of it could be pipes that grow and fade into the main box where they intertwine and create the machines underbelly. Just a thought.

I also reworked the 'lazy suzan' to better connect with the meat grinder. I've had to pay much more attention with this model to avoid messy geometry and overlapping in order to create a model that can be hopefully replicated by Matt when the time comes. We are still not sure if the wireless aspect will be stylized or if the actors will use one of the props, so i'm leaving it as is for now. Next step to finish sewing machine and figure out a way for it to attach to the grinder.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Monkey

Didn't make it to the production meeting today. I am going to Cleveland sat. so I needed the time today to work.

Spent 3.5 hours working on new monkey model. Just started placing in joints. Hopefully later this weekend I can upload a motion test video.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Thursday Meeting with Actors 130-330pm



Worked for 2.5 hours on new Thingummybob model in maya. Met with Vita to discuss it before printing out a render and heading over to theater to meet with the actors. I flipped the sewing machine to the other side so the actors could use it properly. Also explored ideas for blurring the line between "top" and "bottom" of the thingummybob.



Spent 2 hours in class with the actors.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQfYUU4tvvE

We met with the actors today to discuss ideas for the Thingummybob scene and to watch the progress they have been making. The only object set in stone for the scene is the box center stage. Random props were used to take the place of the "objects to be built later" including a sewing machine, lazy susan, mechanical pump, wireless and a couple others. After watching the actors run throught the scene, it was decided that there needed to be six separate objects the actors would use to create the thingummybob. The wireless will most likely be already setup on the box from the scene prior and will also be the last object to be taken away. The first brought on will be sewing machine. Each women, while singing their parts will sit and work the sewin machine as the thingummybob comes together. I imagine as they use the sewing machine, it will produce a ribbon that crawls across the surface of the box as the thingummybob is created as well as being the driving force behind the entire machine i.e. as the needle raises up and down the pump begins to work, pipes begin to form, gears begin to turn etc. Near the end of the song, the music stops and the men (soldiers) march across the scene from backstage, and take four items, one for each soldier, that the women had just created. The projection of the thingummy bob will wipe clean as the first soldier passes infront. At the end, the women are singing acapella and only the sewing maching and wireless are left. Finally, an actress takes away the sewing machine leaving a single actress to work at the wireless.

The actors expressed interest in making each of the four objects (besides the wireless and sewing machine) to represent some other aspect of domestic life. I'm not sure at this point what they could be. Maybe a meat grinder or some other mechanical type kitchen utensil or more gadgets pertaining to the production of textiles and clothing.