Patapon

[Masna]

Hey everyone,

 

I went out and got a new PSP game called Patapon. It's another fun, stylized game from Japan Studio. Playing it and looking at the 2D stylization got me thinking. "I wonder if I could make a 2D animation in A:M. Of course it's simple in Toon Render but I mean actually 2D. So I made a model of a Patapon off the top of my head. Everything is going smoothly so far but if anyone has any suggestion or ideas feel free. I attached some pictures of the project. ( I'm also working on TAO of A:M on the side lines; only four more lessons left.

 

Thanks for your time,

Masna

[thefreshestever]

i think if you only move your camera in right angle position to the character and toon-render it with the right settings (no lights, shadows etc...) you will propably get what you want....

[Masna]

i think if you only move your camera in right angle position to the character and toon-render it with the right settings (no lights, shadows etc...) you will propably get what you want....

 

Hey thefreshestever,

Thanks for the suggestion. I made a test in a choreography. I made the characters flat, I turned off shadows, but I didn't use toon render ( It didn't look like the right stylization). I did like the results however. I attached a picture of the choreography.

 

Thanks for the help,

Masna

[robcat2075]

I like the semi shadow puppet look! Keep going with it.

[DarkLimit]

-Really nice model, great job so far-

[Masna]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the encouragement. I am having some rendering problems though. The rendered version in the choreography differs from that in the movie file. I've checked that the rendering in the choreography and the movie are the same. I posted the pictures of the two different renderings. If anyone has any advice, that would be great.

[Caroline]

I like this.

 

Do you have the alpha channel turned off in the rendering options? That would cause the black sky. The option is under Buffers.

 

Edit: I meant alpha ON would cause the black sky

[mtpeak2]

If you do not have lights in the scene, you need to set the global ambiance type (global color, and set a ambiance intensity) in the choreography's properties.

 

But it does apppear to be the alpha channel is on in the render options.

[KenH]

Yeah, this is looking very endearing. Can't wait for the animation.

[Masna]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the all the help. You were right Caroline, the alpha was the problem. I finally finished the project. Suggestions and critiqing are encouraged.

Patapon.mov

[Caroline]

I like the cutout style on the orange - it is very effective - you could have much more complicated lacy type characters too.

[johnl3d]

very nice ...if your not talented enough to model..thats me... you can get some flat models easily if you have photoshop you make a path around the shape/character you want then export it as an illustrator file and paste the original on as a decal I think there is a tut by Gene explaining how

 

 

here is the imported illustrator file model without the decal

 

 

pnemo.mov

 

pnemo1.mov

 

 

another

 

 

kenny.mov

[Masna]

Hey, thanks for the advice John, I'm not very good at modeling myself so that might come in handy.

 

Caroline, your right I should try making more intricate characters using the same technique.

[KenH]

Nice work Masna.

 

I wonder......

 

Would it be "better" if the whites of the eyes were transparent/cut out and showed the background. It might make it more cut out like.

 

I think some black cutout clouds floating by would add to the animation.

 

Edit: I did a mock up of what I mean. It's a subjective thing of course.

[Masna]

Hey Ken,

Thanks for the suggestion, I like both the cloud idea and the cut-out eyes idea. I don't quit know how to cut out the eyes because it's all one spline ring. Maybe I could use hooks somehow. I'll definately try both these ideas.

[Masna]

I added some clouds in the background, your Ken, it does add a certain effect. I did't rerender the animation with the clouds just yet but I took a picture of it for you to see. As for the cut-out eyes, it was a good idea but when I tried it messed with all the rigging. Some patapons ended up with swords and axes sticking out of thier heads!

[KenH]

Actually, you could group the eye whites and make their transparency property 100%. But only if you want to. The clouds look good! They fill up that space abit.

[Caroline]

I like the whites of the eyes. The clouds are an improvement too.

[Paul Forwood]

This is very inspiring! I hadn't heard of the game before so I Googled "Papapon" and found some examples on YouTube:

 

Keep expanding this, and maybe introduce some of your own characters later. Good work!

[Paul Forwood]

I had to try something with this 2D method so I modelled and animated this simple scene in about two hours.

 

 

 

Flat World #1 :

 

 

I kept the models very rough on purpose for simplicity and to give it more of a handmade look.

[Masna]

Wow Paul, thats great! Hey that gives me an idea! I could make a whole world for the Patapons to interact with. It would be challenging, but worth it.

[Paul Forwood]

That's the stuff, Masna. The more of your own characters that you do the more freedom you have to use them.

Mimicking the Patapon's world will be a very good execise in developing skills and ideas for this style of animation. That was great fun being able to work at such a pace and much more spontanious.

[Masna]

My next Patapon project (using a Patapon styled terrain) will be the Patapons history. It's going to use some new Patapon characters and backgrounds. Hopefully now with spring break ill be able to work on for a while.

 

Right now I'm just making the first chapter, depicting the once great Patapon army, now on the brink of extinction. But

the great god Kami takes pity on the Patapons and takes them under his reign.

[Masna]

I'm having some problems with the lighting. Could you take a look at this shot and tell me if i'm doing anything wrong? All I did was set the camera background to orange and then it somewhat enveloped the screen.

[JohnArtbox]

I read an article on Gamasutra about the original designer

Patapon Designer Interview

It's a fantastic little world that looks like a lot of fun. Cool thread.

[mtpeak2]

It looks as though you have fog turned on in the render options menu or the camera settings.

[Masna]

That's a cool article you found, John. It's very interesting knowing that the game's style originated from a french artist.

 

Thanks for the help MtPeak. It looks like turning the fog off worked.