Quick note on problems I have overcome

One of he problems that popped up towards the end of the project came from the system i had set up that allowed me to be animaing with references even before the final character models ad textures were complete.

The idea was that i would animate with the most up to date models available and simply update the references each time. This all worked without any problems until it was time to add the textures to the the rigged and skinned models.

I gave Dan, Anna and Jake each a version of the character they were to texture un-rigged so that the history could easily be deleted after they had added all their UV unwrap nodes without destroying the skinning I had. I gave the team specific instructions to follow so that things would work properly when the models were handed back to me. I then took the unwrapped models back and transfer the the UVs over to my skinned versions of the characters. This worked perfectly with only a couple of button presses for Lee. However, once receiving Cho back i found that somewhere along this process the mesh had been combined and separated a number of times resulting in a mesh that Maya considered different from the skinned version despite the topology being identical. This mean that the attributes could not be copied across like before.

One solution that didn't work was to export the skin weights from the skinned version and apply them to the unwrapped version. This did not work because both models need the same uvs for the weights to be transferred properly which of course they did not have (the problem in the first place!).

After a couple of hours trying to find a solution through trial and error, I went online and found a plugin which exported skin weights relative to their global position. So I skinned the unwrapped model with the default settings making sure that it was set up in exactly the same way as the rigged version had been and then had to mess around with the script for another hour or so to get the desired results.

There was a similar problem with kitty but it was on a much smaller scale so I just re unwrapped the problem areas as Jake's original unwrapping was basic and easy to reproduce.

Just one of the many stress inducing problems I faced every day that stopped me from doing what I had scheduled to do!

Time scheduling

Here is my schedule for term 3 put together by Anna.

scene 8

first scene comp tests

grave yard last shot

Due the the giant zombie hand being way to giant, the only way I could get it to grab the cart made the shot afterwards pretty much impossible. So I told Anna the next shout would have to be behind the cart rather than in front of it but I was unsure on how to end this last shot. Anna suggested seeing them get pulled into the mausoleum and the doors slam behind them.




OK its way dark but you get the idea.

hair rig

Using this tutorial:

http://rancie11.blogspot.com/2007/10/dynamic-hair-and-spline-iktogether.html

I made Lee's hair dynamic. It seems to hold up to fast movements will probably have to tweak it on a shot by shot basis.

cart rig

I found a plugin on highend3d for vehicle rigs which ithough would be quicker than working out the expression for getting the wheels to turn the right amount. The plugin also makes suspension and controls yo turn the wheels, we dont need any of this for the carts however.





I also "rigged" the buttons! i rigged both even though one of them get pressed.

left overs

Aim of the day 23rd May

• Scene 2 animate kitty -
  
• Zombie hand -

UPDATES

Zombie hand displacement mapping.

This is Dans original modle which he tookinto mud and painted textures and displacement.


I extracted a displacement map through mud box and applied it in maya.



Displacement+bump+colour+spec rendered in maya.


Zombie hand rig


I decided to do an IK rig for the fingers as they will need to stay fixed to the cart




This is a walk test dispite the fact that the hand does no walking in the film....

Aim of the day 21st May

• get animation done for scene 5 - √

UPDATES