Wee Eck Model

Clothes still need smoothing -got some funny looking polys but Wee Ecks clothes will be almost black anyway...

Wee Eck Final Design

Turnarounds for Wee Eck...

Gorilla Model

Still needs rigging and texturing...

Storyboard

Final storyboard with dialogue and sound effects noted.

Sprite Animation Studios

I 've searched the web looking for a studio that has the look and animation style I would like to try and achieve for this project. I like the work of Sprite Animation Studios because of the funky character designs, and japanese-style directing and animation. A couple of trailers for their works 'Monster Samurai' and 'Journey to the West', including artwork, can be viewed on their website at: http://www.spriteanimation.com/



I would also like to make the animation look as if it is shot on old film, such as that used in Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy films. I'm confident that I can recreate the look using After Effects.

Final Design for Cornelius

Final design for Cornelius including turnarounds. I intend to keep the model as simple as possible and I'm not worried about it being a little rough as he will be almost black in colour.

Parameters and Benchmarks

Following my discussion with Jared, I'm aware that this project is going to have to meet, or at least work towards, certain benchmarks of quality. I know that I want the animation in particular to be of a high standard, and I am looking for some examples of the kind of movement and feeling I want to imbue the characters with. I also intend to find some examples of the look of the final animation, either toon-shaded or shaded to look like plasticine. Hopefully I'll be able to keep within the parameters defined in the Axis brief.

I'm planning to experiment with some new software for this work- the only 3D package I have used to date is Maya, but I'm keen to try out Max and possibly ZBrush or Mudbox. The experiments I'd like to try are:

*Importing Maya meshes into Max in order to make use of 'idiot-proof' shading and rendering tools.

*Generating maps using ZBrush or Mudbox in order to create realistic looking plasticine.

*Rendering with a toon-shader to create an alternative look.