Sunday, March 26, 2006

Lie in the Bed I Made

Okay, here's what I got so far. Just a bed. But soon it will become a full room. It's a process, but that's why you're here anyway, right? I fiddled with the lighting too, because we're going for a somber feel for this scene. I'm sure it will evolve greatly from this point, but this is where it stands now. I'm kinda feeling the greenish cast to it, but I think it needs to be dimmer. Anyway, we'll see... it depends on what it will look like once all the other props are in place.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Opening Sketch

Here's a quick sketch Joe did while we were stuck in a lame meeting at work. Which should be a lesson to all you kids: Don't let the "man" keep ya down. Whether it be school, work, church, a funeral, you gotta make time for YOU. You think Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in his laboratory? Well, he did, but that's an exception to the rule. Most people of obsession find ways to work their passion when they should be doing something else, like paying attention in a meeting. We may never know what it is we were supposed to learn in that meeting, but who cares? We're all going to die of the bird flu anyway. Moot.

Where was I? Ahh yes. The opening shot sketch. This is now taking the place of the birthday scene we were going to do in his apartment. We've come up with what we think is a far more efficient introduction to the movie and bookends the short in a wonderfully symmetrical manner... Hey?! Are you listening to me? Pay attention dammit!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Dancing Shoes

What is the sound of no hands clapping? I'm still working on that. In the mean time, enjoy Morty from all sides. I know, I know, from the back it looks like he's relieving himself. And for all we know, he is. I wouldn't put it past his senility or his incontinence. At least he can get around now, if he needs. I still need to stress that he is mostly un-textured, that's why he looks a little flat at this point.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Out With The Old...

We've been busy, but we're back. It's been almost a year since any real work's been done, and now we are able to resume. The time we took off from the project, gave us a little time to reflect on the movie itself. While we are confident in our abilities, we realized some of the assets we had created thus far, have been found wanting. What does this mean? We're practically starting from scratch. In fact, we re-imagined the opening scene (our introduction to Morty). But this is a good thing. We both want what's best for the movie, and are willing to scrap any hard work we've already put in, and start over with a fresh outlook and an invigorated vibe.

When I use words like "we" and "us" and "our", I really mean "me". Because virtually all of Joe's work still stands. It's really my model work that was lacking (as opposed to Joe's illustrative work). To see what I mean, click on the first thumbnail image below. It'll show you a side-by-side comparison of the old mesh I've been using for Morty, and the fresh, new & improved, maximum strength Morty I built just this last weekend. See the difference? So do we. And now that my modeling skills have improved to a satisfactory degree, we both think it's time to move on. There is also a new rendering of the new Morty head below. He's still virtually un-textured at this point, but I'll be doing all the model building first, then move on to texturing later. Anyway, this new model will allow me more control over his expressions when the time comes to animate him. I also have most of his body built, but I'll save that for another posting. Expect to see some real progress from this point on...

Friday, March 17, 2006

Guess What?

We're ramping up again. Expect to see some new stuff within a week. Is there an echo in here?