Four: Texture Rework Phase One

  Some time was taken today building texture work for Four as well as creating a displacement map to simulate the texture. The greatest focus today was on her fins which graphically speaking required a complete rework. I based the design on butterfly wings, the intention of numerous patterns on such are to intimidate any larger predators but can also be used to attract a mate.

Her head fins are about done, and lay the foundation for how the tail fins work, the techniques I used ot create the textures on the head fins can easily be used to colour the tail fins.

Some work was also done on Thursday too refine the juvenile's animations to make her jump to the floor and her approach towards the incubator more animated.

Four: Refining First Sequence

The final steps are coming along with Four's adult model. With progress made on the model I returned to animating the juvenile. Focus today was on the table, where she jumps up, walks along and then jumps off. I discovered while animating that the sequence felt less jagged and jittery if the keyframes had room to breathe - expanding from a two-frame gap to a three-frame gap during the walking sequence appears to smooth out some of her animation.

Four: Weighting the Adult Fins

  Time was put aside today to work on the adult. All that needs doing so far is to get her fins working right.

  So far the current system has been to move control of the fins from the main body to another blendshape. Central controls that move the entire fin have been installed and the skin has been weighted so that any twist to the fins will be provided by the rotation of the body.

Four: Walk Cycle Development

Progress is coming along coding Four's walk cycle. Most of the bugs have been ironed out of a basic cycle that I might see about varying, the main good thing is she's coming to life. Finder details like her facial expressions will be something for later on when the bulk of the animations are down.

Indeed perhaps her tentacles could do with a bit of a bounce to them to make them appear flexible.

Four: Art Of Draft Page

I have started animating (more will some), basics but mindful of time I looked into creating a first draft master spread for the Art Of document.

The idea I have had discussed is that the Art Of resembles a dossier, a document on Four herself and the research on her, so I went with the idea of going for something that looked somewhat official. The stress David feels as the story progresses would manifest in this document as more hastily-constructed pages with more post-it notes, tilted images to reflect the pressure he is under.

Four: Juvenile On Display

  The adult is almost ready for her appearance in the pre-vis, while I worked on her I decided to create a quick turnaround for the juvenile state which textures aside is about finished. Lighting might take some playing around with as without an ambient occlusion node she appears quite dark but with some clever use of light-linking I am sure I can work around this as the model receives well-aimed directional lights very well. 

  I am quite happy with how the rig turned out. The controls around her eyes and for her tongue give some beautiful possibilities. I suppose while there is still some human-ness in her eyes, it works for her, that "glimmer of intelligence" as people say.

Four: Smithston Wessex Logos

Deciding on the font and logo image there was a slight thought. The central sphere is quite large and quite dominating so to offset the emptiness something was suggested as a 'spot' to draw the eye.

1

2

3

  While I was provided with a five-point start, I wondered about a four-point star. Which I choose (either 1 or 3), a more straightly-arranged star feels more appropriate. I have also considered shorthand formats featuring the company's initials. 

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