Hammerhead

[Paul Forwood]

I started playing with this old project the other day.

We'll see how far I get with it this time:

 

Comp_1b.mov

 

[Rodney]

I don't need to tell you this as you've got to know it already... that is very cool Paul.

[robcat2075]

great lookin beast. wasn't that part of one of your image contest entries?

[itsjustme]

Looks great so far, Paul!

[TheSpleen]

I like it!

[nino banano]

Hi paul...good work.. I like a lot ...greetings

[martin]

I remember when you entered a completed version of that in a Mascot Contest several years ago. I voted for it, and thought the scene composition was excellent, though not necessarily a "mascot." To make it a mascot, you should include the backstory in your thread: who is that boy? What's his relationship to the shark? He looks like he lives on an island - does he have a family? Is he marooned? The submitted mascot image hinted at a story - what is it?

[Paul Forwood]

Thanks for the compliments, folks!

 

The submitted mascot image hinted at a story - what is it?

 

Story? Uh, story... yeah, there was a story. I even drew some rough thumbnail storyboards and scanned them but can I find them now? If I find them I will post them.

 

Basically the story was visualised as an ad for A:M. The mascot in this case is not one character but the team of shark and boy. The shark was to represent Animation:Master, the application. The boy is the A:M user. He is The Master and he is in control. The 'hammerhead' shark was chosen specifically to highlight the Ha:ma application which was being heavily talked up at the time.

 

That was the basics of the concept.

 

For the moment I'm just going to be tweaking and testing the models and building components for a dynamic sea world. At some point I will animate some much more interesting diving sequences, I hope.

.

[HomeSlice]

beautiful image Paul. All it needs is caustics on the boy and shark.

... and some sun rays shooting through the water. Those are hard to do well. If you get it, please share your secret with the rest of us.

[Paul Forwood]

Thanks, Holmes. The choreography does have caustics and volumetric lighting but they are disabled. I will have to look closer and see what I did to disable them and why. Perhaps the render times were just too horrendous.

[martin]

Perhaps the render times were just too horrendous.

Volumetrics got a major speed overhall in V15, (for Ku-Klip's Workshop). However, the settings need to be adjusted to get the same look.

[John Bigboote]

Volumetrics got a major speed overhall in V15, (for Ku-Klip's Workshop). However, the settings need to be adjusted to get the same look.

 

HEY! I noticed that... I did a 'spotlight' effect recently and was pleased to see the render moving swiftly! NICE!

[Paul Forwood]

A couple of frames that I grabbed from a shaded test render:

 

 

Lots to fix, I know.

[Paul Forwood]

At the risk of boring you, here is a bit more:

 

Comp_2a.mov

 

[largento]

Cool stuff, Paul. It does feel like the shark is trying buck the boy off.

[martin]

As a kid, I used to watch an afternoon cartoon called "Marine Boy," (it was "anime" but we didn't call it that at the time). I was entranced by the idea of living underwater, (Marine Boy chewed "oxygum" to breath). Marine Boy threw a boomerang as a weapon, which could simultaneously explode half a dozen submarines into huge fireballs, (underwater fireballs - a la "anime" again). What a great show that was!

 

What is this kid's name?

 

The Hair works great underwater. (Marine Boy wore a cheesy helmut.)

[PF_Mark]

Marine boy

 

Just had to Google it

 

[Paul Forwood]

Marine Boy chewed "oxygum" to breath

 

Oxygum. I love it!

 

I hadn't heard of Marine boy but there is a comic book character from somewhere early in my life that is playing around in my subconsciousness and influencing the direction that I go with this.

[Rodney]

At the risk of boring you, here is a bit more:

 

Thats a risk easily accepted.

I always look forward to seeing more of your projects posted.

 

My assumption is that you've got the Shark's basic movement animated on a circular path in these examples?

[Paul Forwood]

Yes, the shark is simply constrained to a closed path and the rest of his motion is controlled with pose sliders. I intend to animate his gills in the final model and will be puting more character and controls into his face so the amount of sliders will increase.

[steve392]

That looks real good ,the charectors really look like there under water,graet hammer head.Nice one Paul

[Paul Forwood]

First caustics test using cell turbs with A:M15:

 

CausticsTest_A00.mov

 

I will have to play with the material some more and animate it.

[TheSpleen]

First caustics test using cell turbs with A:M15:

 

CausticsTest_A00.mov

 

I will have to play with the material some more and animate it.

That is extremely impressive

[Rodney]

That is extremely impressive

 

I have to agree!

The darkness adds a lot to the scene/mood too!

 

Perhaps a mostly transparent rotoscope over the whole thing to murk it up a bit? (Turn the transparency up to 100% for any specific frames that absolutely need to be seen clearly)

 

Edit: What I mean here is to have the image move slightly to convey the direction of water in the foreground. Animating the transparency as the water moves closer/farther away.

 

That might add a bit more texture and tint all the colors a little more in one direction.

As it is its very clean and colorful and some saturation might give a sense of looking through something thicker than air.

 

Love the bubbles!

[Paul Forwood]

 

Thanks, Spleen.

 

The darkness adds a lot to the scene/mood too!

 

I'm not sure how dark it looks on your monitor but I just checked it on my CRT and it does look a bit too dark. I setup the lighting on a flat screen and I usually use a CRT monitor for graphic work.

 

Does this look better or worse?:

 

CausticsComp01d.mov

 

I need to fix those hands and continue tweaking the weighting.

[Kelley]

At the risk of boring you, here is a bit more:

Boring? This is great stuff!

[Rodney]

Does this look better or worse?:

 

While I personally prefer the first (darker) one for its mood, I'd say that within context this last one looks better. From the perspective of being underwater in a tropical place and the lightheartedness of the piece it does at least.

 

..and BTW... I saw your contest image rotate through the forum images! I was going to link that pic in here but it escaped. A quick search in A:M Stills didn't turn it up but I know its there!

 

That last image you posted... sweet.