Chipmonk Update
This is a new pass focusing on just the chipmonk’s shape. One of the tough parts of 3D is that rendering takes a lot of time especially when a character has hair, bouncing light sources etc. By the time a short stretches into the 7 minute area, you’ve got a pretty unwieldy project.
Most entertainment projects aren’t a whole lot of “fun” work. I got into animation because I liked making critters come to life, not realizing that I was going to go through 15 years of hell learning how to do that. While the Redeye-animation boys build these models, they aren’t doing any of the “fun” work of moving the character around animating, making it come to life. Nope, they are rigging models, shaving polygons, building rigs, testing lighting etc.
See the little kid above the chipmonk? His name is “Ned”…he’s the real little boy in the short. We spent a lot of time making him look good (We haven’t even started on the hair yet so shut up right now). I hate the way most 3D modeled humans look…kind of hellish. I think it’s because artists go for too much realism instead of thinking about the character as a good piece of art. That’s the difference between Woody in Toy Story, who looks really cool and the humans who look horrifying. Woody looks more human than the humans and that’s because our minds are accustomed to translating cartoon imagery of humans. When our mind does less work, like in the Final Fantasy movie we get this feeling that something isn’t quite right…we see a body that moves like a person but there’s no soul rolling around in that body.
Okay, I’m floating way off topic so I’ll wrap this up.
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On March 15th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I completely agree! That is a main reason why I didn’t like 3D at first. I thought every thing looked so stiff and with ‘no soul’. It really has been comming a long way though. Thats why when those 2D qualities are brought into 3D sucessfully, it really is amazing!
I love 2D, but I am excited to see some 3D shorts in the circle. It’s really looking great so far! I can’t wait to see the finished project!
On March 15th, 2006 at 12:00 am
3D hasn’t come a long way, the artists have come a long way. Lo and behold, 3D ended up being just like a more complicated Photoshop…a great tool can only help bad artists so much. When an art medium first meets art culture the best artists don’t necessarily adapt to the medium first. In the case of Photoshop and 3D I think tech-heads found an easier time grasping the tools while the artists (let’s face it, most of us are dummies) had to have the medium forced on us. Today’s best 3D animators are from kids raised on the medium.
I can’t wait to see this project done too! This is one of the few times where I couldn’t properly imagine what the end goal would look like. I’m on unfamiliar ground here but I like what I see from my artists, which gives me confidence…which I promptly convert into cockiness.