Nyair Animates: The Resurrection!

  This Week's Work: Monday (12/13): Finish working on second body Tuesday (12/14): Work on boots Wednesday (12/15): Finish working on boots; Begin beard Thursday (12/16): Work on beard Friday (12/17): Work on beard ~ Character Designer, Heidi Smith: As I move into modelling my other characters, I wanted to do more research on how professionals create intriguing character designs.  I gained interest in Heidi Smith for her character work on Laika Animation Studio's 2012 film, ParaNorman . Laika Studios has always had fun designs but I especially like ParaNorman  for its unnerving designs (while still being available for younger demographics). Heidi Smith joined in on the production in 2008, just three months after graduating from CalArts. Her art in her portfolio displayed "scrappy and unhinged" designs which resulted in Laika picking her up for the project (Arrant). Smith claimed the asymmetry, a recurring characteristic in her art, created a mood that would be perfect...

 This Week's Work: Monday (12/6): Finish robe Tuesday (12/7): Work on fur coat Wednesday (12/8): Finish fur coat; Test finished armature Thursday (12/9): Begin making second character Friday (12/10): Continue to work on second character (body) ~ How to Create a New Character Model (from an Old Model!): In order to speed up the process when making multiple characters, it's best to not start from scratch. Instead, use a pre-existing model and mold it into what new character needed. This will not only save time, but also prevent you from having discrepancies in a new topology. The first step is to use your original base for the parts of the new one. Segment the mesh into four parts: The head, body, arms, and legs. To do this, select a loop and highlight the part that you need. From there, press "P" to separate and choose "Selection". This will (as advertised) make the part into a new mesh. It is best to apply the mirror modifier for all the parts. This can be d...

This Week's Work:  Monday (11/22): Continued to test face armature; Troubleshooting Tuesday (11/23): Troubleshooting face armature problems; Fix lips Tuesday (11/30): Testing body and face armature; Attempt robe with cloth modifier Wednesday (12/1): Research how to make cloths; Fix IK + FK bones Thursday (12/2): Experiment with robe (physics and different ways of making clothes) Friday (12/3): Restart robe (modeling) ~ As I finish up my main character model, I continue to work on my plans for the environment. I changed my original plan. What I was going to do was create three separate scenes: one in the royal chambers, one a hallway inside the castle, and an exterior shot of the castle/village. I shortened what I had to model down to one, the royal chamber. I combined the function of the hallway (where the painting was gonna be displayed) and the royal chamber (where most of the animation was gonna take place). I did this because, due to the gaudiness that I want from my king's...