Diesel Update: #12

OK. Here is, pretty much, the final look of 'Diesel'; the character from my film. Anyone who has looked at this blog before will notice that this was to be one of the general robots, not the star.

This one was the last to be made, so it is the best as I improved as I went along. From the point of view of the story, Diesel has to look cobbled together, a bit home made and rough around the edges. This robot fits the bill. The original one looks too 'production line' (that one will be one of the general lifting bots seen throughout the film.

Diesel has lots of protective guard rails near his joints. This to too protect people from his moving parts when his is near them.

The other robots do not have many of these as they have to appear more of a threat.

The two devices on his back are mad-professor type generators. They should have Metropolis like electricity effects running up and down them.

The spine has cable joining each part, again this makes his systems look raw and exposed.

These are the hands from the original Diesel. So I swapped them over. He needs them for expressive movements and gestures. This robot also has a second set of smaller arms, with very basic fingers. Should be fun to animate (I hope).

I also swapped heads. This head has guard handles top and bottom that pivot where they join the head. The top one will act as his brow, the bottom as a chin.

The four arms radiating out from the eye are independent, each one holding one quarter of the eye ring.

To allow him to blink there is a small windscreen wiper type device mounted to the right of his eyeball.

Extra heel-toe for stability. It will clunk down on every step.

Diesel Update #11; New Loader Robot side view

This is the third robot. Made partly from other robots bits, this one started as a rig, to which I am attaching the geometry.

It has two pairs of arms, but the smaller ones are barely visible as they are unfinished.

Should be fun to animate.

Drawing at Conwy Castle, April 2013

I was lucky enough to get a couple of hours in Conwy in North Wales, at the weekend. This is a fairly unique town; still nestled within the outer walls of the castle. The town has never really strayed beyond this boundary which gives it a fantastic atmosphere.

The first drawing is from outside the walls, looking up at the highest tower. The second is the view from within the tower, with the castle itself just visible in the distance to the left.

Diesel update #10

Rigging begins for the Stalker robot.

Diesel_update_#9

This should be the final head design for Diesel. The eye has a rotating focus ring, and the outer circular guard is split in to four independent pieces. This is so that I can get some facial expressions without him actually having a face in the traditional sense.

The arms sprouting out of his back look like guns, but aren't. You will have to wait to see what they are really for.

They will magically fold out of two lockers on his back, very Chuck Jones.

I grouped the geometry so that I could pose him prior to rigging. This brought up a number of problem areas; so more tweaking. This also applied to the welding robot, now referred to a Stalker.

The Stalker had very noticeable cables for a while.  I felt that they took something away from his deliberatley angular styling and poses, generally upsetting the shape hierarchy, so I ditched them.

 

I have started adding some much subtler cabling detail to Diesel, they add detail and functionality without effecting his shape hierarchy.

 

This is the first time that I have applied a material to Diesel. I am torn between detailed worn-robot textures (time consuming) or black-&-white simplicity (below, achievable). I think I know which way that will end up going.

Jabberwocky in Stop Motion at Staffordshire University Stop Motion Animation & Puppet Making degree course.

These are some stills from the student short film version of Jabberwocky; currently being filmed by the level 5 Stop motion Animation students.

The trench was built in forced perspective to create depth. The. Trench is only a couple of feet deep, but looks much longer.

This is the young soldier who is the hero. The Vorple sword is now a rifle with a bayonet fixed to the end.

The no-mans-land set starts off as an eerie white, in stark contrast to the muddy look of the trench scenes.

I decided to make the Jabberwocky myself, as the students had plenty to do with the two sets and the soldier puppets.

The Jabberwocky was just going to be a cross bred world war 1/2 tank, but it developed into a machine that transforms as it rolls towards; sprouting four legs to walk on.

Initially it would have looked too narrow if I had stuck to the original designs, so I made it wider on Photoshop.

The tank is very light weight. It is mostly made from hard foam and foam board with slim wood supports.

Since the tank is quite complex there is only one size. Originally it was going into two different scale sets. Now it will be filmed against blue screen for all of its shots.