Programs learnt this year

I've some how gone through quite a number of programs in a year o.O

So heres a list:
Here are the TWO Japanese programs I've grown to LOVE, personally I now prefer using SAI instead of Photoshop... IllustStudio is like SAI and photoshop put together with tools you would need to illustrate in general. It has amazing rulers and perspective guidelines that are all adjustable!

• PaintTool SAI - http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/
• IllustStudio - http://www.illuststudio.net/
• TVPAINT - http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/
• ToonBoom - http://beta.toonboom.com/

(Ive had the chance to play with ToonBoom in first year, but never really used it.)

• FinalCutPro 7 - http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/
• AfterEffects - http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html

(I've only had experience in making particle systems and title sequences in AE)

All the programs listed will be mentioned in my technical folder, for the less famous ones I'll show an interface session so that you can see its abilities and to prove I can use the program. So I might create a crap bouncing ball in 2 mins or something just for you to see how it all goes =)

Since Im doing 2D films its really hard for me to evenfill this folder in. Apparently learning new softwares count, and thas exactly what I've been doing throughout the year!

Things I will attmpt to fill this folder in:

• Leaf animation in AE
• Glowing luminous moon + a night sky
• Making of the CREDITS. (Ive even written Iredias name in chinese =D)
• Panning
• Filtering
• Using the LUMA key
• Compositing
• Colour changing.
• Use of all the programs above

8th June Update

I'm sorry my posts these days hasn't been as visual as they usually are.
I've been recovering from my trip abroad and frame painting at the same time.

Shot 2 has been completed. I'm currently half way through shot 4. Me and Iredia had a very detailed meeting on the 4 other shots waiting in line. It gets complicated since theres a change of time, so the colours of the scenes will gradually fade from the greenish greys > blues>orange>reddish tones>purple to then finish off with darker contrasting purples.

The Mayfly is supposed to reflect the traditional arts of Chinese calligraphy, however, By keeping to the grayish green principles our film overall will have a dull impact. Which is why we want to bring in lovely animated time changed. Since this is all colour, It is my job to get this right. I did a few tests in Hong Kong, I took a few days away from going out, locked myself in the hotel to get work done. It was hard, and so tempting to drop the idea of working on holiday, but I really couldn't leave Iredia like that. I constantly emailed Iredia and Michelle from team smitten to constantly get updates on our teams progress, and what I needed to get done for them. Smitten has been done, so I've had nothing to submit to Leader Matt.

I've had skype meetings to discuss changes to the Mayfly shots. There was one time we had a meeting while Iredia was at Ravensbourne. But it was so laggy we had to switch the screensharing and webcam off. This then delayed a days worth of time since theres an 7/8 hour difference in the two countries.
Even though we all took my personal trip in a professional manner, and continued to work as if I was still in London, it seems there are people within our COURSE that's got so stressed with their own projects they've stuck their noses into our business, spreading rumours like I've ditched Iredia and Smitten. Its upsetting, and really hurts my team members especially. I only found out after coming back. Its disgraceful and immature. I wished they would just butt out of other peoples business. I took the trip as a BUSINESS trip, taking 3 of those days to do official things which required lots of waiting time in government buildings..not fun. Then I had to lock myself in my hotel room to get work done. So I believe I achieved working in a professional manner. I didn't want to go in the first place, but for my own future I had to. And definitely don't deserve to be bashed at like that, especially behind my back its just not called for. Its frustrated Iredia since he knew what was really going on. The extra stress was seriously not needed, I feel really bad for stressing him so much. I'm really sorry dude T_T

And for that, on Monday, even though I was jetlagged, I planned to have a meeting with my EnE group, printed posters and had further discussions on our product and expansion. Plus what we needed for our summative and presentation. We then went out to the london graphic center to get a few materials to finalise our product (OUR KEYRINGS NOW HAVE FACES!!^^) We all went to eat, went to play child of Eden together, which really brought back the fun, and was a great way to de-stress ourselves. Personally I felt it was a great way to catch up with everyone^^ It seems people have been going nuts, but we believe having a fresh head and actually moving, doing a bit of exercising instead of locking ourselves in makes the pace of of work faster and more accurate.

Enough rambling,

I've sorted my 3 folders out for submission, I had a few bits to transfer from my laptop, work to finish.

Todays Task:
Finishing Shot 4
To start and finish the EVOLUTION shot (not sure what shot that is)
Leaf animation test.
Clean up 2000 words for EnE Report + sort out everyones slides (copy n paste their slides onto the presentation.

5 things to do, that's more then enough for the day =) Its not even 10 yet and I've written so much^^

Shall blog my process throughout the day (its a nice break from frame painting =P)

31st May Update

Shot 2 has been finished, so Im waiting for the appropriate time to have our next meeting for the Mayfly. I've been given the crying shot of the nymph on megauploads, but im currently having technical issues - I cant seem to get onto MU or download direct links from it for some reason. So I'll wait a day or better, I'll go over to a relatives house to download it. So I hope its not a MU problem.

Smitten's Opening shot ( the last background im going to be working on) just needs lighting touched up. And thats about it =D

If things dont go accroding to plan, I shall be practicing animating for my animation folder.

At the moment, I have 3 head turns, one leaf fall, nymphs parody of cyclops from xmen, and a colour change ( just a blob of colour)

I will be working on a slower leaf fall to possibly put into the MAYFLY film. And a shot where the nymph lifts his head up, for a cut in shot, which should technically fit in between two of Iredias main shots!^^

Times running out so dont know if theres going to be much to blog, but i'll try to update this as much as possible!

Le Opening Shot Progress...

This pretty much counts as my last full day in UK, before leaving for HK that is. I've blocked out the opening shot, and im trying to get it done by tonight,plus finish an animated shot for Iredia. I'll be having meetings with my leaders today to discuss what I need to get done whilst in HK.

Iredia has giveen me the option of animating in my time in HK, but I personally dont see that possible since I wont have much reference, or would I be in the right environment for me to purely concentrate on thinking up fresh keyframes for animating. Frame Painting seems like the best choice. The same goes for SMITTEN's backgrounds. Everything but this shot has been finished. I made sure this was done so that Matt has the backgrounds ready to animate over =D

I shall Upload my timetable for the next 10 days later on today.

This Opening shot alone needs more shadings and detail like bushes and flowers. The tree branch in the foreground will be on a seperate layer for matt to play with overlapping movements in that layer. So yeah. shall update on the progress soon...

Weekly Update:

Its seems like ages since I've been stuck into "painting" and working, but here goes!!
After the group session with Dan, Its now clear what we are expected out of by the end of this term. Although its been a long struggle, It seems to have gone very well! And at the same time, ignoring how our personal lives have distracted us from project work, on the side units such as IPP and dissertation, everything for both my films have been planned out so detailed, there doesn't seem to be a worry anymore.

I have in fact come across a few technical issues such as the aspect ratio of shots, like the opening shot in smitten. Since its a 2D film, we've had to make the tower much bigger then what its expected to look like on screen. Manipulating a complicated camera movement with various layers moving differently. This shot is a collaboration between me and Michelle.
I will be dealing with the exterior shots again. And Michelle will be/ HAVE drawn the tower and the inside of the princesses room.

I originally thought my exterior backgrounds would have to be the same, or not BIGGER then the towers measurements which was something ridiculously stupid like 5000 x 11XXX =S This was the impression I got from our last meeting. My digital painting software's could not go above 10,ooo. I guess I misunderstood the technical complications of this shot.

I messaged our leader - Matt. and have now confirmed, I am drawing the layout of the shot 1024x 576 but extending it to the right a bit for the camera to do its thing. From going going the animatic with Matt, I figured i would have to extend it by around 300? So that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

SooooOOOO...

An update on my status as a member of SMITTEN.
All my backgrounds have been given the green light!!^^
wooooOOO!!^^
However, there are still a few tweaks to fix. Like adding the missing chains in the drawbridge shot. colour tweaking, and making the path a bit smaller in one 2 other shots. All jobs can be done under an hour all together, so I guess thats still a weight lifted from my shoulders.

Main job to do:
-2 layers for the Opening Shot at 1024 x856
-Bridge Chains
-Path tweaks

MayFly:
For the Mayfly, I've been working on another swim shot.
I JUST came across a major problem last night in fact. Whilst frame painting I found 2 empty frames withing the "Body layer". (While frame painting I switch the Antennas and leg layers off to avoid confusion.) Since there were two empty layers, I gave Iredia a call to check what was going on. And was told it was fine to just delete them. So I did.
After going over the body frames. I switched the other two layers on. (so the Antennas and Legs)
But then in the middle of frame painting I found the missing drawn body frames on the LEG layers. APPARENTLY - Iredia drew these two inbetweens on the wrong layer. Which was why, after I went over the frames the legs seemed to be left behind in the middle xD

Its taken me 30mins to realise and fix this issue. I also just had a meeting with Iredia over our other shots. So i hope this problem doesn't happen again. But I dont blame him, we're all just so tired!!

On a side note.
I will be going HongKong this coming Thursday for personal reasons.
I'll be gone for 10 days. 10 days of which I wont be needed in TEAM SMITTEN.
However, to keep to schedule I will be taking my gear (laptop, wacom, HD's) with me. I dont want this trip to interfere with my films. Nor do i want to let down my teams, reason why I got the backgrounds for smitten over and done with, ready for Matt to animate over. Preparing for this trip makes me feel a bit more professional .. especially dealing with my responsibilities as working for TEAMS. I've discussed this multiple times with my team leaders in order for this trip to not get in the way of our films. And I have generally worked alot harder and tighter to schedules as planned.

Iredia's got and is still working on shots for me to get done while I'm over broad so its ok. I'll have meetings with him over skype when needed since theres Internet at the Hotel.
My plan is to do the official things I have to get done. Then go back to the hotel to do work. I'm obviously going to do a bit of shopping too, but it shouldn't get in the way of work time. We've calculated, I should be able to get 4 shots done by the time I come back. When I do, I will have the Mayfly fly shots to go over. So schedule wise I'm sorted. I will create an updated Gant chart just for them 10 days.

If Im needed urgently, I've told my tgeam members to contact me through email or facebook. Facebook being the best since I get updates straight to my iPhone. This trip to HK does not count as a Holiday, nor for play. I have official business to deal with. And even though I dont want to go in the middle of term. Its something I cant avoid and still feel REALLY REALLY bad about >< So.. I've taken these 10 days a business trip.. PURE WORK .. and..eat.. =P

But yeah.

On a plus side, I can do more research and find cheaper products to develop my E&E project which is going PRETTY WELL right now =D estimated to make £700? out of.. £50 of investment? Not bad at all! If things go well, it may also be a side company I carry on with after graduating. I've even found licensing and manufacturers in HongKong and China^^ But I will try focus more on Frame painting for the Mayfly film as much as I can! T_T

Finished the last PAN^___^

Theyre waiting to get the green light but heres what the shots look like in order of appearance anyways =D The shot with the bridge is missing chains... but thats a minor thing to add =D

I just wanted to upload the shots in order, so that we can get a look of how the atmosphere would be like. From looking at these images, then going back to Michelle's entrance backgrounds, its a really nice contrast! As a team we've discussed the possibilities of making an artwork for our degree show, as in leaving it on our desk as an open MAKING OF type book =DD Ive worked out its around £18 for 22 pages for a HARDBACK book =DD Nice investment indeed, after 10 years.. we coluld look back n prob go, hey, I was kind of rubbish then! =P But it seemed like the best back then xD Its da same type of feeling we have for all our past work now so.. =P nostalgic yet.. hmMMM

Forest Pan finished?

Heres the finalised shot of the forest pan for the start of the film! Im proud of this piece the most, only because its shown my improvements as a digital artist, IT IS BECAUSE of this background, and matt forcing me to push boundaries, I have learnt more in terms of colour and perspectives. The composition is so powerful in comparison to my past work, i've improved creatively. As shown, the layers in the foreground has been kept, for the detail and beauty to shine through the shot. Where as the grass has been cutout, as well as the bushes. Anything with leafy detail basically.

I decided not to cutout the castle, since the filter would look overused. The castle itself has its own brushed our style, which I've I've planned to keep. It also corresponds to Michelle's tower painting which was originally based on my basic castles colour and painted technique. So I left the tower as it was.

I've also extended the trees down the background for a more 3 dimensional feel. or the forest would cut very hasrshly as seen in the past images. After having a meeting with Matt, we decided. the cloud sitting on the hills at a distant seems a bit odd since the space was so empty. So I came up with the idea of extending the forest ROUND the "hill" then bring the perspectives in - closer and BIGGER to the castle, pretty much touching from the view of the camera. Its brought the overall scene together so that fix up went better then expected =D