Update

More background progress..

The changes to the princess tower! Me and Matt decided on the colour scheme for this, and using different layer options and opacities in Photoshop managed to make the bricks blend into the walls a little better. We also changed the colour of the duvet, added a headboard which was more ornate and matched it with the table and the poles around the bed. Definately looks more regal now at least;


Tried adding the finished princess tower into this scene.. Mainly a colour experiment.. it works I think;


A longer version of the outside of the tower for the end scene when Don is climbing up!


And some more banquet hall work.. This is the pan across the table!
Using this old concept of mine as reference;

But bear in mind since I drew this we changed the colour of the table to white.. and the pillars to green :)
Initial sketch;


Initial attempt at colour;

Which looks okay, but still plain!

And with the addition of bricks along the wall!;

Will get Matt's feedback but I think it's improving some..

Additions to the entrance hall.
Proper staircase at the back. Dan pointed it out that before the back of the hall seemed too cold but since we have now completed the inner staircases we can change that quite easily;

Although he also advised that this scene seemed different from the rest of our film because the colours weren't as warm, so I went back into Photoshop just now to try and warm it up by sing adjustments;

but I don't think this is the right way to go about it! Just spoke to Matt who thinks we should change it later when compositing in After Effects so will concentrate on the other backgrounds and doing some more animations for now!

Dust Particle Practice

Trying to learn how to make the dust particle effect on after effects..

Here is my first try using this tutorial video (http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/ancient_titles/)



Its a little faint and messy and I think it needs a bit more 'fine tuning' but it's not bad.. Not sure if it's the look Matt's going for but I'll mess with it a bit and upload another one later... If you can't see it, I don't blame you! The dust and streams of sunlight are coming in through the window and onto a part of the stairs.

I'm also going to try this again on the entrance hall since that's the best place for this effect to be used. Here's a screenshot of me working on it in After Effects..

I'm using the 'mesh' tool to change the direction of the particles so they look like they're falling a little more randomly and naturally..

Also another background.. Can't finish it until we've decided on the interior of the princess tower though;

This is one I started a few posts ago but have only just got finished. I added a lot of shading and some red hues for the bricks to give it the warm feel our film has throughout. Matt seems happy with it at least :)

more work!

Have been working on the princess tower recently, using these pictures as reference;

Heavily inspired by the film 'Tangled' of course.

Went through a couple of different attempts...


But first of all I made the roof look a bit too thatched and the colours didn't go so well... but here is the final one! And all of these pictures are printscreens of the princess tower... it's real size is too big to upload;

The hardest part of this was the bricks. I didn't want them to be too detailed, just like splashes of colour but still neat since the camera will be zooming in very close to them. Also the file size is so big that it lags most of the time I'm trying to edit things. The colour of the roof

Changes to the stairs (should be complete now);



The edits on these were very small since last time, it was mainly adjusting the banisters to warp the perspective and the shading to make them reflect how far down in the stairway Don has reached.

And the changes to the end of the banquet scene;

Have added bricks onto the wall there in Photoshop since they don't look so plain and it seems like its a success :D

Backgrounds..

My attempts at changing the princess tower background so far.. Not very happy with any of them..

I mentioned in a previous post the walls were a little plain and I wanted to put bricks on them, but this method doesn't seem to be working so well, was a good experiment though but I want them to blend into the wall rather than pull too much focus.

And the finished staircases;

Have basically just darkened them in parts and added the staircase pattern to the banisters.

ToonBoom reference

I'm going to try and animate some leaves falling to the ground in ToonBoom for the beginning of 'Smitten'.

Here are a few refs;

(from 1.31 - 1.34)


(most notably 0.27-0.35)

here are my attempts so far.. I've tried to animate 5 falling leaves for the beginning scene quite quickly when Don first appears.


Trying to juggle the layers..!

Sorry for the small file size.. still trying to get my head around ToonBoom;


and with the background and 'Don'


I'm quite happy with how it's come out. Matt says it's perfect for the secondary animation which makes me feel relieved.. but I really must keep going with it. Just like with After Effects the program is very unfamiliar to me and I still haven't got the hang of much in it. I'm so used to using Adobe Flash.

After Effects Tutorial

Today I am refreshing my memory of After Effects by doing pan and zoom tutorials and in the afternoon I am going to try my hand at ToonBoom.




My first very quick test at panning..

I am ashamed to say this took me almost an hour.. I really have forgotten so much about After Effects but by closely following the above tutorial was able to eventually come out with this.

And testing out how to blur;

Again it took me quite while..
I used this 'tutorial' for learning about the blur..
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/help.html?content=WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a9d3c597-7ba6.html
But if I keep practising should be able to do this much quicker in the future!

And how to blur a specific area;


Tutorial from here;
http://www.fanhow.com/knowhow:Blur_a_person%27s_face_in_After_Effects_CS3_40014630
This tutorial was very difficult to follow and did a lot of it by experimenting!! I don't really like using After Effects but I think it's because it's all quite complicated to me at the moment! If I spend more time learning the controls I should get better.

It's a slow process!

More WiPs

Had a meeting with the team today and there is still looooots of work to do for the background. I really dont think I will be able to complete them all in time for the next time I see Dan but i am damn well gonna try anyway..

Here's some of the progress..

For this one have gone into the sketch and coloured most of it. It is looking a little plain though so it's not finished yet.. Maybe some brick textures on the wall, suggests Matt.

What I've done so far for the top of the princess staircase! Just to check with the team if they like the colours, which they do, so will keep working on it..


And Matt's edit of the bottom of the princess stairs! I finished colouring it and he drew over it to estimate which parts would be covered by the guardians and thereby how much negative space we have and what needs to be filled in. I think this has the same problem as the princess' room in which the walls are a little plain so will see to that soon..

I've actually started a few more backgrounds but the files are too big to upload apparantly!! D': since they are huge pan shots..

Need to start balancing my time a bit better, have 3 things to think about at the same time; this project, E&E and creating an A3 portfolio in time for when I leave~

Also had a small ToonBoom tutorial from Matt today so am gonna try out some animating this week as well! Wish me luck, it's gonna be hard..