I just finished one test but there are still more coming!
UPDATES!
* The only progress for this week is the completion of one of my tests before plunging in to the main projects. This test is the recreation of Olaf from Disney's Frozen! (Click here for more details!)
(an animation by Walt Disney and Doodle Notes)
(a compilation of how I made the animation)
Watch them both by clicking the link above!
* The next test that I'm going to take is remodeling another character from an animated film and this time it would be a human character. It will help me practice how to have a great topology of a human character when modeling them. I also want to create ways to improve my characters' rigs since my rigs are not really that excellent. And of course I have to animate more for improvement and for me to get use to its tedious process.
* I also want to note that I decided to model existing characters from a famous animated film because I get enough motivation to finish them. And because I can't really sleep without pushing my skills to the test by remodeling an already prominent character. And also... they help me gather audience. :)
ANYWAYS!
If you want a heads up when my tests results are uploaded just follow the blogs or subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Since Disney's Frozen became a trend, I was really itching to watch it!
And when I did, I can't help not admiring the awesomeness of the characters especially Olaf!
Every time I watch a Walt Disney 3D Animated film, I really can't help the urge of wanting to do an animation myself.
It all started with Tangled, but my 3D animation skills are really poor those days so making my own animation was all but a dream.
But during the Frozen days, I already gained enough knowledge and skills to create my own animation and also, I want to do some tests before creating an original animated short, so without hesitation I remodeled Olaf!
Olaf (right), Olof (left)
I tried so hard to copy Olaf but I failed and ended up creating a new character! I named him Olof! Olaf's older brother.
It was actually going to stay as pictures of Olof posing with Olaf:
or Olof posing with my pal, Doodly, which turned to be his bestfriend:
but the urge of making Olof move just won't stop bugging me so I tried to animate Olof...
BUT!
I modeled him poorly the first time so I remodeled him to have a more decent topology. :)
This time I made him older looking. And unlike the first model, I rigged this one completely, including the Facial rig.
Oh! If you don't know what rigging is then I'm obliged to tell you:
In 3D animation, characters are modeled (usually) from a cube to a full body model of the character (usually on a T-position like the image below)
In bigger production, the position of the Modeler, Rigger, and Animator are split into different teams. In my case, I have to do everything alone. So after I modeled Olof, I rigged him or put some bones on his boneless body which we, the CG fellows, call "mesh".
Oh! By the way, I used a free and open-source 3D Animation suite called, Blender.
I rigged Olof, first the basic bone structures (head, neck, upper body, lower body and the limbs) then the facial rig which enables him to smile and then some additional rigs that would enable me to flatten his face and deform it in a cartoonish way.. :)
Basic Rig
Facial rig
Additional rigs
If you're a pro animator and a Blender user already, you might notice that I didn't create custom shapes for the bones. To give you my excuse, I don't really need to customize it since the B-Bone structure is already comfortable for me. :)
SO YEAH!
This is the OLOF model! You can download the .blend file(Blender file) on the link below.
I don't want to continue with the main project yet without doing more tests...so yeah...
UPDATES!
* The Battle is still on hold since I want to make more tests to really bring it out as awesome as possible and as perfect as God will enable me to. (More explanations here: The Battle Details)
I'll be modeling other characters in the future as well, Humans most likely, for practice because Olaf's topology is obviously not of a human.
Rigging
After modeling Olaf, I rigged him.
Rigging, in 3D animation, means to put bones to a modeled mesh(3D object) enabling you to move, pose and animate it. An excellent rig gives ease for an animator while animating. Excellent topology(mesh composition) is also essential to have an excellent rig.
Animating
I'm currently animating my version of Olaf, which I named Olof, blending him in one of Olaf's short test animations that Disney made. (Watch it here: Dancing OLAF! Note: Not my animation ) I'll try to insert Olof in that video and let you guys comment on it. See if my animation skills have improved. :)
ANYWAYS!
That's all for now. You'll be seeing the results of the test as a video in the near future. Until then, you can go check out my YouTube channel here: Doodle Notes' channel! Consider Subscribing!
* I recreated Olaf of Disney's Frozen using a free 3D Animation Suite called Blender! I didn't really copied him perfectly so I named my model, OLOF! Check him out!!!
Real Olaf(left) OLOF!(right)
Some Blender workspace...
Olof's Cameo!!!
"Yeah! Why?"
"Put me in summer and I'll be a..." Olaf pauses. "Puddle." Olof continued.
I've done some tests for the short, The Battle, and I've encountered a lot of issues that I should take into account before pursuing the project.
I already finished establishing the story and the characters and also created concept arts for everything.
CHARACTERS
STAGE
Basing on the concept arts, I modeled and rigged two of the main characters in a free and open-source 3D animation suite called, Blender and test-animated them.
I actually modeled the characters in 2D since I planned on having the camera to only move in one spot, not changing it's angle, and just track on the characters.
As you can see, it turned out awesome but when I test animated the YOU character holding his weapons and attack with it, I encountered some issues.
It looks a bit fine but the issue is...
Notice the arm, rotating in an awkward way? It's because I modeled the character in 2D which means the characters are only 2D planes and not in 3D objects. Since the camera stays on one angle, I didn't bother to model them completely in 3D. But after this test, I find that my resolve is not really as awesome as I expected. Because of the inverse kinematics modifier that I added on the rig, it's difficult to fix the issue.
So I decided to re-model the characters and this time they will be in complete 3D. The camera still stays in one angle though. But this time, I have more freedom and fixing future issues will be easier.
I don't really want to rush this project because I've rushed my past projects and I never liked the results. I want to do it excellently since I want to bring forth glory to our awesome God for the talents that His given me. Can't really glorify Him with a crappy fruit, can I? So yeah...
Just wait for the final product and I assure you that it will be worth waiting, watching and sharing for.
