Blend shapes (instead of wraps) working really well!!!!!!

Dee is very simple with a smile and some raised eyebrows, so I quickly did her facial blendshapes, edited the membership to include only the face CVs, made a duplicate of the low-poly, made THAT a target of the original low-poly and then smoothed it. Worked like a charm.

Now, Rosa was a little different. Since I already made her blendshapes and used a Wrap deformer just on her face, I decided to keep them the way they were. Instead, I deleted the existing Hi-Res Rosa that was also connected via a wrap, and used the same technique as above - duplicate the low poly, make that a target, and then smooth it. I was still able to use the existing blendshapes, just used a different deformer to effect the hi-res.

Also, I deleted the blendshape geometry and (of course) the blendshapes still worked (another Steve recommendation) so my file was that much lighter. From 24MB to 8MB. WOW!!!

The file opens up MUCH quicker!! Perfomance wise, I'll have to wait and see, but so far, it's all good.

Plan B.

Time is becoming a serious factor so I came up with an alternative.
A little editing, a little reordering of scenes and here's a new cut:

http://64.17.142.111/downloads/3_27_edit.mov

After reviewing with Steve and hearing David's concerns, I thought I'd take a stab at some
editing, while maintaining the key points - friendship between the the two real characters. It's now 52 seconds and 15
scenes. It's pretty much the same thing but without the "conflict" -- they no longer chase each
other and then reverse. The flamingo will knock over the Fakes with her exuberent dance. Truth is, you don't even
miss the middle part and staying in one corner is easier to follow. So maybe this will work for the better - a more
concise piece that reads better.

Got some good info on wraps vs. blends from Steve. Might do some stuff with Dee, but might work on it AFTER my Thesis.

David went over Render Layers, which I was really nervous about, but will give them a try. I'll test it for the program picture.

I'll render as I go, so I think I'll be OK and I've got a nice process down for AfterEffects and FCP.

Schedule-wise, the kids are away for this weekend and I'm using next Tuesday as a full work day. CADA is having an industry critique next Thursday for 3D animation that I'd like to attend, but I'll have to be MUCH further along ... which I should be.

I'm off Good Friday and told the family I'll be working on my project through Easter. (I did this last year for Digital Production and it worked out really well).

A few set backs and a few solutions.

Quick background - I have 3 files that I'm referencing. The flamingo, the chickadee and the garden (including any props).
I have 30 scenes. The referencing has been working well, until today.

Everything was working peachy keen. I updated my model and texture, had a smoothed version of it, made my blendshapes, created wraps, and it was all working nicely. I swapped out the old file with this new, updated one, and it worked beautifully as a reference file - EXCEPT for a few pesky CVs that didn't like to be scaled (50% ). If I were to do it all over again, I'd have made characters so wouldn't have to be scaled, but it's just too late in the game to change that. I'm sure there's an easy answer, somewhere in the wraps or weighting, but the easiest thing was to NOT scale the model BUT just scale up the set and props (200%). With this change, everything works. They're not ginormous, and the info isn't all that complicated. Just a time-wasting PITA.

I figured it was just easier to start with new, clean files and fresh references. The down side is that what little animation blocking I had done won't be used. The upside is that I had only done very little AND all the testing, experimentation, camera angles are pretty much set, as well as the timing and number of frames.

The upside is that everything is working. I can animate on a low-res model and render with a high res one. I can update my reference files, and they'll update all 20 scenes. My blendshapes work. My wraps work.

Maya really is an amazing program.

One other issue, that funnily enough I fixed in a old file, but am dealing with it again, is that I have a cycle error on one joint.

Another issue has to do with the low neck position David mentioned. When I went to put a new attribute on the neck controller, it wiped out my other attributes, like neck curl and "classic" flamingo pose, not to mention IK/FK switching. My work around is to have a separate file with a low neck position and use that only on the scenes that require it.

Again, I'm sure there's an easy fix or even something that demands more explanation, but I'm just going for the quick fix and this will work.

The remaining 5 weeks will be about Animation.
Strictly animation.

I've gotten a lot of good ideas watching AnimationMentor showcase Quicktimes. Especially for acting, body mechanics and facial expressions. Even though animation is my "major" I've got so much to learn.

This week's scenes - Rosa's facial expressions for scenes:
101_LookAround, 140_smellRoses, 420_Is it dead, 360_Fakes fall down, 330_Dee angry at Rosa, 510_HopOn.

I also want to work on 355_onStilts when Rosa's on the rake and shove.

I'll try to put sequences together so I'll get a better sense of how they work.

So much to do!!

Very helpful feedback in class today.

First off, HUGE thanks to Christine for recommending "delete history" to fix my rotating texture problem. Glad it was an easy fix and that it worked!

From David: Watch weighting and twinning. Also, may not need the foot poking in on the "are they dead?" scene. Jessen had a fun recommendation ... have Rosa look up at the audience in an uh-oh moment.

From Darryl - watch the framing. Going out of frame when it's not intended just looks like "bad film making". Too true. Possible fixes - lower neck position and/or camera angle.

Went over batch rendering. I'll test that tonight.

Other than that, I think we all need to be more mindful of the time. I was sorry I couldn't see everyone's work.

Schedule wise ... tomorrow I plan on finalizing blend shapes and Dee's Rig.
I need to swap out Rosa's older model with the new one and adjust the weights. I'll try copying them again, but I've had limited success with that.

Then, I think I'm down to updating and improving my animation and I'll render everything out from now on. I have my render settings down with some testing to do in AfterEffects re: color adjusting.

I feel like I've made a lot of headway these past few weeks, but I feel very limited time wise. Once I get a few of the tougher scenes in better shape with render times worked out I'll be a lot happier. I think my render times will be around 5 minutes per frame. Maybe more the ones with water in the bird bath.

Whereever I could, I went procedural. The roses are now ramp shaders. The only textures I have are the birdbath, the bricks, Rosa, Dee and the wooden handles on the shovel and rake.

I'm really pleased with my tree gobo.

A big step will be replacing the garden sets in my existing scenes with a referenced version of the latest.

One day I'll write about my adventures in ZBrush, but not tonight.

What's left to do for Tuesday? The updated shotlist, schedule, problem areas and any new animatics I can produce.

Rosa painted in ZBrush then the texture brought into Maya ...

Dee painted in ZBrush and the texture brought into Maya - I like her back a lot. I might have one version that's lighter and switch when necessary.

I like the soft water color quality of this render, but I think it might be a little too low in contrast. I'm going to bring it into AfterEffects and see if there's an color correct. That will save me fumbling around with lighting and endless rendering settings. Haven't tested ambiant occlussion, that might be helpful, but I'm not sure I'll have time for that. I might add flowers to some sections, but will leave it for now.

Here's the latest cut, 3D blocking, playblast.

http://www.scottscorners.com/downloads/3D_blocking.mov

Some of the more complicated scenes are very rough - neck roll, dancing, balancing on the rake and shovel.

Note: I changed the rake to be a more traditional leaf rake, the older scenes have a flat rake.
Will post more on the weekend, including schedule, to do list, and some render stills.