The Importance of Strong Posing

A Robotic hello to all readers.   [] )   -robo cyclops smile

thought i'd talk a little about the challenges of posing and following the 2d drawing as close as possible with a 3d model.

In the example shown, the camera angle has changed from the 2d to 3d(less of a down shot). But the importance of Sparky's point at his detachable hand was what mattered (the arrow in the dawing below). It took a long time to get that line from elbow to finger tip as straight as possible. It's important for that finger to really be driving straight at his detachable hand. It shows who's boss and who's being told. Plus a straight line of action has more force. It's aim has gotta drill straight into his hand's chest.

but 3d models have their limitations and in the end, one just can't get it as straight as the drawing. That's the beauty of drawings vs 3d. You can push a dawn pose further.

Also, look at the two 3d pictures, the one on the left is the render cameras view. That's waht the audience will see. If we  look on the right though, we can see that Sparky is'nt even pointing at the detachable hand. Or looking at the hand for that matter. Plus his left foot has got collision issues in the right side image. But the point is, who cares. From the audiences' view on the left, it all looks correct. When I pointed his finger and gaze directly at the hand it just did'nt look right from the audience perspective. So a cheat was what was needed. Always use a cheat if it's a question of correct looking vs good looking design.

sparky design

Here's a design sketch for our hero, Sparky.

This is a final design that the 3d model was based on.

There are detailed drawings for the modeller to understand some of Sparky's features.

As we hurtle through time and space towards the completion of the ROBOT RESCUE 3d comic..... I thought I'd share some of today's efforts, direct from the RR basement.

Here we have a couple of scenes where Sparky comes face to face with Krusha's minions, the Killer-Bots.

The video sketches give an idea of the FX that will later be added in post production, after the 3d render. I could do the FX in 3d, however, i'll enjoy life more without my head stuck in maya tutorials for the rest of said life. So your just seeing the raw 3d for now.

Besides, this is a comic and i wanted to bring in some traditional comic art elements (eg speed lines) to give it the right feel. Stay tuned for the final product. Tests so far have been mouthwatering.

enjoy :{

Sparky's bumbling reaction to a Killer-Bot attak unwittingly gets him out of trouble as he smacks the crane's controls.

These space going demons of death are too smart for their own good as two of them become victims of their own aerial manoeuvres.

A busy day for the 3d comic ROBOT RESCUE today.
Spent about 6 hrs working on scenes 68-73.
These scenes are important to the story as they show Sparky's desperate situation, stuck on the crane being magnetically towed behind Krusher.

And we see this part of the story from Bella's perspective, in Krusha's clutches.
It's important that we don't just focus on action but try to convey the emotions of the characters.

note* yesterdays pictures were in reverse order. (still getting used to blogging)

make sure you sign up to be a follower of ROBOT RESCUE to stay up to date with all future developemnts coming soon.

so enjoy the sketches and maya work scenes, complete with character control clutter.

incidental colours

Here's a quick overview of the colouring of our incidental characters.
These characters will be in the distant background of the finished images, and thus can be lightly detailed.

Firstly, Brendan modelled them up using some concept sketches as a basis, plus his own imagination.
Then we UV mapped the characters.

Then after taking a UV snapshot out of Maya into Photoshop, i placed colours where we want them for the characters.


Then i applied the one Photoshop .tif file with all the different characters colours to one surface shader in maya. Which was then applied to all the characters.


The beauty of this is that by having all the characters colours on one shader, we save memory, and thus time.
Stay tuned for more robots soon.
And become a Robotic follower so you will be updated on future posts.

ROBOT RESCUE 3d comic

Welcome to ROBOT RESCUE.

A comic taken from sketch to 3d modelling and rendering, with Photoshop used in post production.

We'll take you through our process with regular updates, and stay tuned for the finished product.

Let's start with the villain of the story. Krusher!

we've included a design drawing for the modeller, Brendan Carmody, to work off and some demo animation, done by our friends Nam-roc and Brendan.

So enjoy for now and stay tuned for more robotic awsomeness.