REFERENCE MATERIAL

Reference material that I used for my animation concepts

FINAL PRESENTATION - ANIMATION

After deciding on using a CAT rig to animate with, I went back to tidy up the motion. However, it became apparent that there was no real emphasis on movement, so I created the following piece;

To make this, I used different clips and edited them together to show more principals of animation, like easing in and out, squashing and stretching some secondary action and Pose To Pose (the magazine falling), arcs and anticipation.

I used the Spider based tank in this animation, using the preset motions for the spider CATrig and editing them to move more mechanically (plus adding the compartment the pilot/driver would sit). Using paths for the movement, and the close up section of the human entering the tank being Pose To Pose.

FINAL PRESENTATION - Assets

This is the original set of designs and workings for the logos of Van Laaq, both the official, corporation logo, and the Agent/operative logo.What started as a military style symbol became a 50's American Letterman jacket style symbol, but this would not fit right, so it was back to the drawing board. I liked the idea of the logo spelling out part of it's name, and I settled on "VAN". The tough part was making the letters fit together and make it look natural. I opted for the DNA strand logo, as it was in keeping with the Science tone of the corporation. I considered some of the earlier logos for the Agent logo, testing some as patch designs for uniforms. I looked at several uniform logos and the EMS medical logo struck me right away. The use of snakes would be a good patch. Taking the medical symbol and using it for an agent group who deal in extermination of "assets" seemed quite a nice piece of irony. I quickly found I could make the snakes twist like the DNA strand. But I didn't like it. After a bit of looking, I felt it made no real sense as to why the team would be using that, rather than the main logo, so I set about making a new design. The interlinked snakes came up. I tried different positions but I didn't like that it had no real way of saying who they were for, then it caught my eye. The snakes made a crude V and A, with the space between forming the N. I knew then that I had it.

A DNA strand image and a bit of information about it.

I changed the design slightly for this version, making the N into a mutated strand, as if to suggest that the company's science research is altering mankind, making them better. I changed the colours of the proteins to suggest a mutation, also.

The Snakes emblem for the VAN LAAQ enforcers, plus an example of it used as a patch on a sleeve.

The Lasgun is a basic weapon for Chigusa Kamome agents. The top two images were initial design ideas that I had, but as I'm not a weapon smith, I looked into the M16 and M4A1, two of the most commonly used assault rifles used today. I labelled the image to note the key points which I think would be used on the Lasgun. For the Lasgun, I kept the basic shape of the M16, plus the adjustable Car stock and shroud. Removing the Magazine and installing a Horizontal feeding mechanism for the Laser Power Pack, making it a secondary Foregrip. The cocking mechanism became a valve piece for the vents, in the event of overheating from prolonged firing. Adding a Picatinny rail to the bottom of the shroud allows for attachments to be placed on it. Plus, with a rail on the top of the body, I added a Red Dot Sight (RDS).

A Perspective view of how I think the Lasgun would look, plus some information about Bio enhancements within agents and varieties of weapons available through them. 

An example of the Sword arm, with muscle showing to give an example of how it joins to the host, also allowing swapping weapons depending on the mission they embark on.

For this piece, I looked at using the Lasgun as an arm mounted weapon. The initial design (top) was taken directly from the original weapon drawing, but shortened to accommodate being used under a membrane skin. I added some history to the updated weapon as if it was a weapon report by Chigusa Kamome, stating improvements in technology through acquiring companies.

The original design of a wrist mounted keyboard that would be used for a stealth mission (rather than taking a weapon arm, they could use this to hack systems). It shows the fingers being used as cables, plus a little information about the mod idea.

A more detailed version, featuring a flipdown keyboard and a screen used to access systems. I took this idea from using my Nintendo DS as a prop to get the opening motions.

FINAL PRESENTATION - Environment

The first totally digital environmental design showed the front of a compound. 

Being my first real attempt at Photoshop, this was mainly to get used to the brushes and layout of the program.

 From here, I developed the following;

Another Compound front gate, but this time showing a cityscape in the background. I wanted to add this to show that the compound was a central location in the city, that it is a headquaters for Van Laaq Sciences.

Further implementation had me designing a Comms Array, which would be used to keep in contact with support troops and agents in the field. The idea of the Comms Array in the film would be Chigusa Kamome attempting to destroy these to prevent reinforcements arriving.

I thought the background looked quite bare, so I added more Compound structures to it, another watchtower and some labs/buildings to populate the horizon.

An early design of the new Tyne Bridge coloured using Copic markers and fineliners (For the light array)

This is the hand drawn section of a cityscape environment. It is based off of 74 Broadway and Pine in New York, New York. I will be adding this to Photoshop to digitally colour it.

At some points I used "Paper terrain" for Tabletop games (one I play called Necromunda, from Games Workshop)

Used are two models from House Orlock (Necromunda gang) and two kits from www.Worldworksgames.com (terrain website) called Outpost 105 and Abbandonned (the brown building in the back)

Biped Vs Cat Rig

It's getting close to final piece hand in time now, so the heat is on to get this done!
For my final video sections, I did tests to see what model I would use, CAT or Biped?
Here are two tests!

This is the Biped test. It is unfinished as I realized two things. One, the animation was running at 30FPS and the images used were exported at 24FPS. Animating with the Biped rigs are a bit tricky in some respects, features on them are smaller, like the hands (Where as the CAT rigs have larger squares), which made some of the animation tweak out and flip around slightly.

The CAT rig test for reloading. This is just a quick bash at using the CAT rig. For the final animations, it shall be smoother and feature secondary actions and what not. The image you see in the background was made using Tabletop terrain I use for Necromunda (Games Workshop). If you would like it, www.worldworksgames.com allows you to buy the .pdf and you mount it yourself. This particular one is Outpost 105, with Abandonned Building in the back, on the left. 

Like above, I used images rendered from a video at 24FPS, but had 3Ds running at 24, also. Like I said, things will be altered in the final piece, secondary animation, and possibly a prop of a weapon and magazine (as this clip shows reloading).

From these tests, I found that CAT rigs are easier to work with, and I shall be using these for my final piece.