Alright! The 3D objects are done and ready to be animated! Before that however, I'm now in PreVis/Layout Mode setting up camera positions for both Maya (3d software) and Toon Boom (2d software) to match so I can jump into animation soon enough.

I'm currently needing artists, as the poster illustrates. In my PreVis/Layout Mode I'm only going as far as putting a basic ground plane to act on for animation because I gotta get things moving. This is where YOU as an artist comes in and saves my day.

So, wanna work on my short?

Hand Composite Test 2

The Hand is RIGGED!

This is a composite test of a pose.

Next I'm going try to render a short animation scene or go right into Layout/ Blocking. There's just not a lot of time left in the quarter.

The short will also be at night so I played with grey purple/blues for compositing.

Reference Images Used

These are the reference images I used to model the bolt and the hand. I was able to find them on Livlily.com, a great site for animation reference material and art.

I also found many model-sheets for Hogarth which will come in handy for animation later on. What was even more useful was finding the original animation drawings with the peg holes and all, rich with expressions and emotions! Some drawings you could even flip through and see some animation magic!

Next Heading #1

So after having done the Rough Animatic I've been in PreProduction mode for this small short.

The Bolt is Modeled, Rigged (using grouping), UV'd and textured.

The Hand is Modeled, UV'd and textured.

After the Hand's RIG, I'm going to jump right in to figuring out Key Poses in Layout/Blocking with

both Hogarth, the Giant's Hand, and (hopefully) rough layouts.

Giant's Hand Composite Test

Current composite of the Giant's Hand

Bolt Animation Composite Test

It's been a challenge achieving the 2D look for 3D objects.

Maya's Toon Shader was just not cutting it because I had very little control of the lines and edges.

Lines would render based on the distance from the camera, and there were many problems.

Eventually I achieved this finished look Compositing a Maya Vector render for the line, and a Mental Ray render using surface shaders linked wit texture maps for lines insides the shapes (like the arcs on the head of the screw/Bolt) and for the fill.

These two renders were then composited and color corrected in After Effects.

I also tried playing with the line making it more gray instead of pure black (seen in the image)

Rough Animatic

This is the first rough animatic. Done using Photoshop and After Effects