Minor Project: The Making of Frankenstylist - Part One

Minor Project: Frankenstylist Technical Document

Minor Project: Final Character Renders - Franklin and the Delivery Man

Franklin and the Delivery Man

Franklin

The Delivery Man

Minor Project: Final Character Turnarounds

These are the final turnarounds for both Franklin and the Delivery Man.

Minor Project: Franklin Complete

After weeks of work, (and absent blog posts...) Franklin is finally completely modelled, rigged and textured. 

He has a full body rig, as well as a basic facial rig (phonemes, visemes and tongue control, along with blink and brow control). I may add some additional functionality during the Major Project, if I feel it is necessary for the actions he needs to carry out.

I've had something of an issue with the IKs in Franklin's legs, which I will have to fix at a later date. Adding the constraint causes the legs to rotate and buckle, so for the time being, I've had to fasten the Twist functionality to counter this effect. It appears to be present on both my character rigs (and I remember it occurring on previous projects), so I will need to repair this before I can actually animate the characters.

As for texturing, his skin uses a basic Mental Ray fast skin shader, whilst the rest of the outfit uses basic phongs, blinns and lamberts, each with appropriate bump mapping.

The Delivery Man is 90% of the way finished, he is just waiting for facial blendshapes to be added, and the texturing to be complete. The turnarounds for both characters will be ready by the end of the week.

Minor Project: Modelling Progress - 13/12/14

The modelling for the body of the Delivery Man character is almost done now. 

The hands and shoes are on their way to being finished, although they're not pictured. The legs and tie need a bit of refinement as well, but that shouldn't take too long. 

The modelling for the body should be finished by the end of the weekend, so I can move onto modelling the head fairly soon.

As for Franklin, the skinning is about halfway done, so that should be finished sometime Sunday evening also.

Smoothed, No Wireframe

Smoothed, Wireframe

Unsmoothed, Wireframe

Minor Project: Touchstone Submission

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 4/12/14 - Franklin Complete and Delivery Man Progress

I've completed modelling Franklin more or less now. His teeth and tongue will be added when I get rigging.

I've also made a start on the modelling of the Delivery Man character, blocking out the general form. I plan to have the Delivery Man modelled before the Christmas break.

Franklin

3/4 Smoothed, No Wireframe

3/4 Smoothed, Wireframe

3/4 Unsmoothed,Wireframe

Delivery Man Progress

3/4 Unsmoothed, Wireframe

3/4 Smoothed, Wireframe

Minor Project; Modelling Progress 1/12/14 - Sprouting Limbs

This is my progress so far with Franklin's construction. 

The general form is there, although several details are yet to be added. I've yet to add his hands, although they'll be there soon. I think the next thing I'm going to model is his undershirt, which is mainly a collar and some buttons, as well as refinements and a bit of asymmetry on the folded and ruffled sleeves.

3/4 Smoothed, No Wireframe

3/4 Smoothed, Wireframe

3/4 Unsmoothed, Wireframe

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 27/11/14 - Franklin's New Do

Below are a few screenshots of Franklin and his roughly modelled hair.

I've yet to include some of the details, including how the hair will interact around the ears, although this gives a rough idea of how the hair will appear overall.

3/4 Unsmoothed

3/4 Smoothed

Front Unsmoothed

Front Smoothed

Minor Project: Rough Delivery Man Design

I've put together a very rough design for the Delivery Man character.

After researching what a 1970s delivery man would look like, I came to the conclusion that being that it is a British setting, the most suitable choice would be a run-of-the-mill English postie.

I may alter the outfit slightly, give the impression that the man works for an independent delivery company, although I think the familiar Postman appearance is a bit more humanising and helps represent the audience more effectively. 

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 25/11/14 - Adding the Ears

I've added Franklin's ear and neck now, as well as restructuring a lot of the geometry. 

The ear will predominantly be under hair, so I've not provided it with a huge amount of detail. Also, I've added an image of the head without the wireframe and I'm starting to worry that its all looking a little too flat. Whilst I work out how to provide the model with a bit more depth, I think I'm going to start constructing the body.

3/4 Unsmoothed

Side Unsmoothed

3/4 Smoothed

Side Smoothed

3/4 Smoothed, No Wireframe

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 23/11/14 - A Touch of Rhinoplasty

Franklin has undergone a little facial reconstruction, coming out with a brand new nose.

It has shrunk somewhat compared to the drawing, but I think the smaller size suits the overall appearance a bit better. 

Next step is to tidy up the geometry and graft on some ears. 

Unsmoothed

Smoothed

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 22/11/14 - Defining the Eye

Now that Alan has adjusted and repaired the general layout of my mesh, I've began to define the eye.

The eye is getting there gradually, although it needs to be polished a bit. I think this may be best left until I've established the general appearance of the other facial features, otherwise I feel I may end up having particular features which don't sit well with the others, i.e. super refined eyes next to a soft and stylised nose.

The mesh is still pretty untidy, but at least the right loops are in the right places. I think some digital rhinoplasty is the next logical step.

Unsmoothed

Smoothed

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 20/11/14 - Adjusting Franklin's Cranium

The overall construction of Franklin's head is more or less there now.

I've adjusted the overall shape of his cranium using a lattice deformer so that its all a bit more proportionally uniform, so it looks like I can move onto the refinements, most notably, the gaping void in the middle of his face just begging to become a nose.

I'm unsure of the spacing between the eyes, also. Although this may correct itself when the bridge of the nose and the eye socket are blended together a bit more.

Unsmoothed

Smoothed

Minor Project: Modelling Progress 18/11/14 - Revising the Topology

After receiving feedback on the topology of the eyes, I decided it would be simpler to completely restart the modelling of Franklin's head.

This time, the essential edge loops appear to be correctly placed, its now just a case of completing the general construction and finessing the details. 

Unsmoothed

Smoothed

Minor Project: Franklin Modelling Progress 16/11/14 - Starting to Model the Head

I've been tweaking the orthographic for Franklin this weekend, but in the meantime, I've started modelling Franklin's Head.

I've opted to use extrusion methods this time around, ensuring I get the appropriate topology from the outset. At this stage, I've yet to add definition to the brow line, cheeks or nose. That can wait until the necessary topology for the rest of the head is in place. 

Unsmoothed

Smoothed

Minor Project: Franklin Outfit Finalising and Hairstyle Possibilities

After posting the various colour scheme options for Franklin and receiving feedback regarding the most appropriate selection, I've decided on the colour scheme below.

In this design I have also added a simple pattern to the woollen waistcoat, as well as a tartan-like pattern on the shirt. As before, I've tried to strike a balance between unsettling, fashionable and period accuracy.

As well as the colour options, I also received feedback regarding the appropriate hairstyle for Franklin. 

I couldn't decide between two styles, nor the final colour, so I've posted several variants of both styles below.

Stylistically, I think the brown option is most suitable, as it doesn't clash with the other colours in the design. Although, from a narrative perspective, I am quite fond of the ginger option, as the associated stereotype plays into the 'social outcast' aspect of Franklin's backstory. Although, this pairing of style and colour scream Little Orphan Annie a bit too loudly.

This is quite an adult hairstyle, which plays to the incongruous nature of the character's construction, as well as the 'amateur hairdresser' aspect of Franklin. There is also something quite unsettling of seeing a young child with such a mature and well kept hairstyle. In terms of colour options, I feel the brown works quite nicely, although the implied 'Aryan' aspect of the blonde helps up the unsettling nature of the character. 

Minor Project: Floor Plan of Franklin's House

Before I can begin designing the aesthetics of the environments, I've had to work out some of the general logistics.

There are several different environments in my animation, though they are all sections of the same place; a row of Victorian terraced houses. 

As a result of the cramped nature of these houses, I've had to generate a logical floor plan for the house so that the transition from exterior to interior doesn't give the house a TARDIS-like appearance, i.e. interior spaces that don't appear to fit within the already established exterior space.

I've also theorised where unseen areas of the home will be. This will help to give the rooms on camera logical scale and a more realistic, natural construction. The idea with this being that whilst the spaces are unseen, in the audience's mind, if they were to walk through one of the closed doors, they would find themselves in the appropriate room.

The neighbouring houses have also been included, as well as the alley leading up to and including the garden. This is to dictate how the houses will naturally connect together, helping inform and encourage a logical exterior design of the buildings.

In short, the purpose of this plan is to dictate and encourage the construction of a natural and realistic environment, both inside and out.

Minor Project: Franklin Outfit Colour Options

Below are a selection of colour options for Franklin's outfit. The colours are picked directly from fashion items of the period and matched somewhat accordingly.

Some of the options are more outlandish than others, pushing the concept of pairing unsettling colours to imply a perpetual sense of dread an unease. Others are more muted, more in line with the muted colours of 1970s Britain.

Reading from the top left to the bottom right, I'm quite fond of the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth options (which doesn't narrow it down by much, but still).

Each of these options seem to lean more towards a muted colour scheme, although I feel as though I need to retain a sliver of the 1970s brightness to prevent the outfit from drifting into the 1940s.