Luke Efrussy Blog for Couped Up

Back Plates

2008-06-11T13:08:00.012+01:00

In the film we have a lot of still shots which the character interacts in this enables us to use back plates which means we can render out the environment once and the character on a separate layer. This process allows us to tweak the environmental shots in photoshop if they are not
quite what we are after in terms of lighting or extra colour.

My role is to add detail to environments. This is the 3rd shot in the film which was rendered by Samir. It is a very nice render but i felt in some areas there was too much light piercing through in places which made it feel like it was daylight. I have highlighted the areas i changed in the second image. I also made the spot light more stronger and changed the shadows it produced.

This is a shot of inside the coop. This was another initial render by Samir to save him spending ages tweaking the lighting in Maya. I decided to do it in photoshop, as well as changing the lighting i added more hay to the scene to give it more depth.

Here is an example of how we approaching some of our rendering. Samir created the original render of the coop i took it away added some features to the scene like the hay and spider webs. Samir then rendered the character on a separate layer along with a shadow pass as well then we composite all together in adobe premeire.

Primary Animation

2008-05-27T14:00:00.007+01:00

I am not a animator by trade however in this project i have had to jump in to releive Samir of all the animation.
The arriving at bars animation is one i fully animated myself including primary and secondary animation.

Secondary Animation

This section shows the secondary animation i have been doing for Samir and Gary in there animations. The secondary i have been doing is the comb on the main chickens head, the eye blinks and some follow through on the limbs.

Turbo Shots

Look Left To Right

Look at Veteren Chicken

Working on Straining Animation

2008-05-27T11:33:00.003+01:00

Samirs animation was a really good start but there were a few places that needed a bit of work. I started by adding the secondary animation on the comb then i went about adding more weight to the character especially when stretching for his strain. There is also a part when the chicken looks over his shoulder Samir had the neck completely twisted which really distorted the geometry so I changed it so there was more twist in the body itself. I continued to make tinny adjustments to the animation. Samir felt the adjustments has really improved the animation which is a real complement coming from the animator himself.

End Title Sequence(Work in progress)

2008-05-20T12:04:00.013+01:00

I have been working on the end title credits which will consist of the names of the people in the group and there contributions to the project. We also using this time to explain alot more about character after the finale. Here are MY drawings that i have created that will be used in the end credits. The layout of the titles is undecided but we may go with names either side of each image appearing gradually so the viewer can take in the images but also the names aswell.

Here is our chicken or should say cockerel chilling with the ladies. What a playa.

The playboy bunny i have changed to resemble a chicken. This iamge will appear in the images.

Samir helped define the the look of the images suggesting we go for a washy look. he image above he started and i finished. However the image above is not quite finsihed as a background is needed.

Secondary animation

2008-05-20T12:02:00.001+01:00

We came up with a system whereby Samir does the core primary animation and then passes it on to me to do the secondary animation such as the blinks and the comb. This will hopefully enable Samir to focus more on the significant animation.

Composition of Barn Entrance

2008-04-30T01:44:00.003+01:00

Barn Entrance design

2008-04-29T15:31:00.005+01:00

Reywell laid the foundations for this design with the wood texture and i added some others details and colour grading. Still needs some work.

Working on intro shot

2008-04-22T16:27:00.001+01:00

Vetern Rigging and Weighting Finished

2008-04-22T16:26:00.000+01:00

Info

Meeting with Dan

2008-04-18T17:57:00.003+01:00

Dan really drilled it home how much work we have to do to get this filmed finished. We sat down as a group and listed key things to do and the time scale we have to do it. It looks very tight at the moment but definitely doable. We have created a new schedule till the end term which will be posted shortly.

Cockerel Tests

2008-04-13T19:53:00.004+01:00

I have tried posing the character in its cockerel pose for the finale of our film. I am planning on doing some more tests but here's a quick one i whipped up.

Main character testing

2008-04-09T17:08:00.008+01:00

So many problems have been encountered on this character its hard to remember what i have done it. I have finally binded it and weighted. They is still a few tweaks to made to the weigthing but that shouldnt take long. I decided to put him in a variety of poses. Hopefully you will like

Door Handle

2008-04-08T01:44:00.003+01:00

Modelled a door handle for the shot where the farmer is struggling to open the door. (See Samirs blog for the animation). Here is a scene shot. NOT A RENDER!!!!!Still need to add bump map. Consists of 300 polygons.

Dont shoot me im not an animator!!!!!!

2008-04-06T13:47:00.003+01:00

Here's my attempt at doing some animation for the intro where the farmer walks up to the barn. Its only the first pass and still needs a load of work to it so i might give it to Samir(Animator) to finish off. As there will be loads of animation in the film I intend to give the animators some help so i am trying to find my feet in animation again after a long hiatus from it.

Helping the Animators

2008-04-05T21:24:00.002+01:00

I have been going over the controls i built for the rigs with the animators. Explaining certain functions and how to animator certain joints and use the fk/ik blend. Whilst doing to this we found certain things wrong with the farmers rig, this ended up being a good time to fully test the rig and highlighted any issues we may have when we come to proper animating. We found weighting was wrong in certain joints and deforming badly. We also discovered problems with the fk ik blend on the left arm. We the curve of the shoulder was moving the wrist and not the whole arm i was unable to parent constrain it to the shoulder for some reason and we was left in a dilemma as to what to do to animate the arm properly. We decided to delete the fk/ik blend completely and animate the joints individually. This would take longer to animate however there was no other obvious solution.

'Back Dated' Farmer Render

2008-03-26T15:51:00.004Z

I forgot to post this a while back. I sent the farmer to Samir to do the weighting after he done that he done some test renders. I was pleased with how my textures came outon the character and baring in mind he is a very low res character he looks very good.

Im sure Samir will explain on his blog how he rendered them out but it looks like ambient occlusion with abit of subsurface scattering(SSS).

Intro Shot

2008-03-16T12:43:00.002Z

I have been playing around with this intro shots where the truck is coming down the hill. I have added animation to the windmills and the tyres of the truck. Also i have played around with Reywells barn making it more prominent in the shotvand adding other assets such as Ians wall a gate, and some other bits and bobs

Veteran Chicken Update

2008-03-05T15:13:00.005Z

To take a break from the main character i have been working on the veteren chicken. I created the basic model first then set about creating blendshapes the expressions we want. the character is only in the shot briefly(laying a ton of eggs rapidly) i realised the blendshape expression i was on working should just be the character expression all the time. Therefore we would only need a few blendshapes to create the breathing and the twitches in the face.

OH NO

2008-03-01T16:41:00.008Z

I have made a grave mistake. I thought u binded before you started doing blendshapes however that doesn't seem to be the case. Its meant to be blendshapes then binding. OH WELL on the other hand after playing around with the blendshapes they are starting to come along nicely its harder to get expressions because of the beak. but i have persevered and here are some examples. smiling expression, 2 straining expression( still needs some work on those two), worried face, thinking look. Not all perfect i know but there getting there slowly i think.

Blendshapes for main character

2008-02-29T12:56:00.003Z

I have started to work on the blendshapes for our main character. This proving more difficult than expected. I am relying on the emotion comming from the eyes.

Weighting Main Chicken

2008-02-15T01:24:00.002Z

I have almost finished the facial controls e.g eyes controls, tongues, basic jaw movements however iam still to start the facial blendshapes. I will start this as iam just starting the body weighting which shouldnt take me too long.

Texturing Farmer

2008-02-11T17:55:00.002Z

Iam having some problems with the main chicken so until i see reywel i have continued with texturing the farmer.

As he wont be seen much in the film i have cut some corners but the texturing i have done is still pretty detailed .I dont like things done by half and another benefit is if the character comes out well he can potentially be used in my showreel.

Texturing Main Character

2008-02-08T00:09:00.000Z

Before I start to create blendshapes and bind the rig i have been texturing the main chicken character. This is proving tricky as the texture is making to the charcter seem very flat. I knew that might be the case as its quite a low res model however i thought the textures and bump would bring out the features alot more. We had comtemplated a feather system for the chicken using either fur or dynamics however after some testing we found it unpredictable and something beyond our technical scope. So textures and bumps it is.

2008-01-30T18:42:00.000Z

I have started to shape his clothing and facial features. As he is not seen in the film alot i will keep the detail to a minimum.

Farmer Modeling and Rigging

2008-01-28T12:20:00.001Z

I have decided to start the basic model of the farmer. Still at an early stage but hopefully will start to develop character when modelling becomes allot more detailed.

Update on rig

2008-01-24T18:51:00.000Z

I am working extensively on the rig and controls to make sure we have something that help us create the animation we are after. It is taking a lot longer then expected however the tutorial is very thorough and has given me the incite into what it takes to create a sophisticated rigging system. This rig enables the animator to switch between FK and IK and have full control over the character. The next will be for me to setup the facial system and then blend shapes.

2008-01-18T14:24:00.000Z

I have continued to sculpt the main charcter to find the look we are after. With this settled I have started to rigg our character andwith the help of Reywel we have been experimenting with dynamics on his coxs comb which we hope will product some nice secondary animation

Updates - Intro Scene

2008-01-10T15:47:00.000Z

I have start to model and texture the intro scene.

Conveyor Belt Styles

2007-12-20T13:46:00.000Z

After showing the rest of my group the interior i had created there were some issues regarding the conveyor belt leading to the machinery at the back of the scene. Some people felt it wasn't in keeping with the rest of the barn and said it looked like something from 'Alien' the movie. I decided to do another design for the conveyor belt which i feel is more suited to the barn.

Shaping Exterior Environment(Intro)

2007-12-20T01:41:00.000Z

Refering back to the intro in the animatic i have started to blockout the scene to look like the concept i created(view post Tuesday 4thDec).

Shaping inside of the barn

2007-12-19T01:05:00.000Z

With Reywel Hylands keen enthusiasm for 3d modelling a lot of the assets in the scene were already created for me. My task was to shape the interior to the ideas i had for it. I changed the layout Rey sent me and added various other elements to it such as the big machinery consuming the eggs at the back, the conveyor belt mechanism, the coop area where our chicken is kept and various other assets.

I have finished uv mapping the coop area where our chicken is kept. It was initially modelled by Rey but i had to tweak certain areas(scale,poly count) to fit the look i had in mind

Veteren Chicken Ready for Texturing

2007-12-19T00:59:00.000Z

I have now completed the uv mapping of the veteran chicken i modelled. The next process with will now be to texture the main and the veteran chicken. Due to the demanding nature of this project i have decided on the investing more time in the interior and exterior of the barn therefore leaving Raywel Hyland to texture the chickens. Due to some members of the group not pulling there weight i have had to focus on areas that don't interest me as much but for the sake of the overall project i have sacrificed the areas i enjoy to fulfil ones that need to be achieve for this project to be completed on time.

Finished UV Mapping 2 Characters

2007-12-17T01:35:00.000Z

Here is the finshed uv maps for the main and veteran chicken. At last done. Texturing can now begin.

Also Modelling Veteran Chicken

2007-12-07T01:26:00.000Z

UV Mapping of Main Chicken

2007-12-06T18:06:00.000Z

After working on the establishing concept i have continued to model and started to uv map the main chicken in the story.

Concept piece for Establishing shot

2007-12-04T01:55:00.000Z

I created this concept with the help of Philip Straub and his artwork. I manipulated his work to fit in with the shot i wanted to create rearranging the composition and adding other elements. I really like this piece and feel it would look good for the introduction of our story. I will continue to play around with it and find other looks.

Concept for Opening Shot

2007-12-03T00:08:00.000Z

Having decided the intro for the animatic is sorted.I decide we needed some concept for what will be in the scene. Ian and myself will be doing some concept for the look of the shot when the truck is comming down the hill. I have taken some images from the internet which i think will help.

Redraft of Animatic

2007-11-28T16:47:00.000Z

This is the introduction re-done with the farmer now being use dto scare the chickens at the beginning. I like this version alot better. Produced by Gary Butler and I.

Farmer Concepts

2007-11-28T01:42:00.000Z

I have done some concept for the farmer as he will now feature more in the story than before and may need to be modelled in 3d. I have gone for the traditional farmer look of dungarees, check shirt and flat cap.

Exterior Environment Concept

2007-11-28T01:16:00.000Z

Our film starts from dusk and finishes at dawn when our chicken realises he is a cockerel and cries a cock a do doddle do. This barn was 3d modelled and textrued by Reywel Hyland and composited and lit by myself.

These are references images found off the internet. To help with my dusk time concept.

Updates on Main Chicken(Hero){Modelling}

2007-11-27T19:03:00.000Z

The model for the animatic raised some issues. I have played around with the model further elongating certain limbs and change the proportions of the chicken. However when presenting it to the group, people felt it lacked any character and that he was now too slim(First picture). I have played around again with the proportions and with fatter thighs i feel it now has more character.

Names for Film

2007-11-25T16:48:00.000Z

For some light relief after some disappointing news about the animatic. I thought i could try come up for a name for our film and the farm. I brainstormed words relating to farms, chicken anything i could think of. Here are a few names i came up for the name of the film:
Sunny Side Up, Get Laid, Hard Boiled, Shell Shocked, Couped Up, Oeuf, Chicken Scare,Labour Day, Baron. Not great im afraid

Updates

2007-11-25T16:42:00.000Z

I have been helping with doing storyboard and animatics. We have done a 3d blockout but after having a look at it completed it was obvious some issues need to be addressed. The film i felt lacked decent pace and any dramatic effect we were after. The robbery scene lack any build u pof suspense.I felt at this point we should go back to the drawing board and work on changing certain shots and cut the fat.It is a brave decision so far into the animatic but i feel it will benefit us and our story to work on getting it right now We decided we should bring the farmer more into the story. As we could have more of conflict between our chicken and the farmer. Iv been working on the building the robbery scene up and drawn up some rough storyboards. Also i have sketched a few designs of our farmer.

Animatic and Storyboard

2007-11-25T16:38:00.000Z

Here is our rough animatic. I am quite disappointed with the way its tells our story. Mike Hirsch reviewed it and said it lack the tension he was expecting and he suggested we bring the farmer into the story and try rearranging certain camera angles which will flow the shots better into each other.With the farmer more prominent in the story we could use him to build up more dramatic effect when our hero is trying to steal the egg.

Modelling Main Character

2007-11-09T12:18:00.000Z

My expertise lies mainly in modelling so i decided i wanted to model the main character. Samir and Gary had requested a basic model which they could rig to start some rough poses for the animation blockout. I gave them a rough model and it was obvious there was some issues with the scale of certain limbs that were making certain hard to achieve certain animation. I have been playing around with the character still not the finsih article but the smaller more slimer chicken prefered.

An issue was raised about how we are going to make our main charcter look more femine because the twist in the story is she is actually a cockerel. So i dont want his cox comb to be too big

Concept

2007-11-06T19:25:00.001Z

These concept pieces i created for our main chickens coup in the story. My main aim was to work out the lighting over the course of the animation. The whole story happens over the course of an evening so i changed the lighting to fit in with the moon falling and the sunrising. The lighting goes from being a purple overtone to a more redder tone this also emphasizes the anxiety he will be going through whe nnot being able to lay an egg.

The purple tone will be used at the beginning of the story.

Once the realisation hits our chicken that he cant lay an egg a red overtone will soon develop. The more golden lighting is when he realises in a golden halo moment he is actually a cockerel.
I feel this type of lighting will give our animation more depth.

Storyboarding

2007-11-06T01:47:00.001Z

The storyboarding process took longer than anticipated.We decided to blockout the scenes in 3d and layer it with 2d drawings of the characters animated for individual scenes. We didnt achieve the look we were quite after in the storyboard but it helped us find out what camera angles would work in 3d and which wouldnt.
Reywell produced the exterior look of the barn and the animation of the truck pulling up to the barn. Samir and I work on the internal shots of the barn. With Gray and myself doing the drawings for the scenes.

Formative Assessment

2007-11-06T01:42:00.000Z

We had our group assessment with Mike Smith and Mike Hirsch and they were impressed with the amount of work we had done but it was made clear by them that we need a production plan to structure our project efficiently. I produced a production plan up till January breaking down the tasks we needed to do and assigning to people whos expertise falls into that category.

Updates on pre production

2007-10-30T02:19:00.000Z

During the storyboard process we needed to sketch out particular poses for the various characters in terms of working out the story. I created the character designs for the cockerel our chicken turns into in the story. Also drawing the veteran chicken who has laid so many eggs in the years, seen by our hen during the early part of the story. Original Sketches by myself with Reywel Hyland texturing and colouring the veteran chicken .

Updates on pre production

2007-10-27T17:21:00.000+01:00

This is a drawing of our main character once he becomes a cockerel. When he realises he is a cockerel his whole persona will change his chest will expand, wattle and coxs comb will increase in size. He will become a cockerel equivalent of Hugh Hefner.

These drawings are of our chicken when he is making a last few attempts to lay an egg. These will quick cuts leading up to his last attempt to lay an egg. The final strain will reveal he is actually a cockerel.
The first drawing is him trying to use a hoover to suck an egg out.

These drawings are of her trying to use a broom and some laxative to lay an egg.

In the bottom left corner is a drawing of her checking her temperature and using a calender to check when she is due. This cuts will last longer than the others and will be a nice change of pace from the other quick cuts of her trying to lay an egg

Tasks

2007-10-20T17:44:00.000+01:00

This is a concept piece for the machinery at the end of the barn. The conveyor belt takes the eggs to this machine for processing into egg boxes

As the pre- production intensifies we have split the tasks between the group. Samir, Gary and I are doing the storyboard layouts with Ian and Reywell working on concepts designs. We have decided we are not just constrained to these tasks and we will be able to cross over if one feels they have a contribution to make other tasks. I have begin with doing some concept work for inside the hutch.

StoryTimeLine and Breakdown

2007-10-17T18:06:00.000+01:00

After going over the story repeatedly we have decided we want to completely focus on the struggle of the chicken trying to lay an egg. So we have completely scraped the beginning of the story of the chciekn being taken in the truck to the farm. We felt this was irrelvant to the story and ate into the 2mins of story time we have. We now feel we have more time for the build up of our characters emotions whe the time gets closer to when he has to lay an egg.

Story TimeLine/Breakdown

0-6 sec. Establishing shot outside of Farmhouse.
6-24sec. We are then introduced to our chicken character. He looks around the farmhouse seeing other chickens laying eggs. We have shots of the various farmhouse machinery taking eggs away emphasizing the fact other chickens are laying eggs.
24-34sec. Our chicken’s 1st attempt at laying an egg. He will;
-Stretches muscles (limbers up)
-Strains (to lay egg) No success!
-Becomes a little anxious now.
39sec. He looks up at a veteran chicken who points to a sign that reads. Chicken - eggs = roast dinner
39-48sec. Our chicken becomes more worried and nervous.
-show him thinking about what he’s gonna do.
Maybe rubbing his chin, eyes darting left & right.
48- 120sec. He then thinks of an elaborate plan. He sees a vulnerable egg, with a halo of light over it.
-Goes behind the haystack and jumps back out wearing
Splintercell -type gear.
-Steals egg but looses it on the way back
-Jumps around in frustration (10 secs).

120- 132sec.Goes into quick cuts of him trying different things in an attempt
to lay an egg.
1. Pushing a broom down his throat
2. Taking laxative.
3. Use a machine to suck the egg out.
132- 150sec. Final Stage -Becomes more and more desperate.
-Begins straining really hard.
-Goes into a series of close up cuts on the chicken, muscles
bulging, eyes watering, vies on his neck etc….
-Finally his wattle and cox’s comb pops up and he realises then
hes’s actually cockerel.
-Other chickens give him a surprised look, and then start eyeing
him up seductively.
-Our character now a cockerel turns his head to the camera and
raises his eyebrows and smiles.
Fades to credits, showing pictures of the chicken with the other hens enjoying himself (being pampered)

2007-10-13T15:30:00.000+01:00

This is a quick concept piece for the inside of the hutch. I quickly built the set in Alias Maya then took it into Photoshop to add some textures. It was a quick way to get an idea of scale inside the chicken coup.

The images here are some reference material for the inside of the hutch. we want a blend of natural wood with mechanical equipment.

Early Assets designs of Barn and Truck

2007-10-11T11:28:00.000+01:00

Whilst we have been talking about the story we have been doing some sketches to help visualize our story. I produced the original sketch of this barn and Reywel Hyland textured it.

I designed and textured this truck

I have gone for a old looking truck/vehicle which is carrying(exporting) the chicken in this story. I have hopefully achieved this with a mixture of metal and wood texture for an element of contrast

Early Character Designs and concept

2007-10-10T17:52:00.000+01:00

Character Sheet

I created this rough sketch for the main chicken in the story. Fellow group member Reywell Hyland textured and coloured it. In the story our chicken actually happens to be a cockerel so we need him to look slightly different from the rest chickens. This texture will help us experiment with the right colour for our main character

Character Expression Sheet

I done some quick drawings to gauge the expressions the chicken will go through during the story. i have drawn the expression of the chicken leaning out of the truck. This is one of the first scenes in the story as my first draft but iam not sure if it will be used as we are still working on the scenes in the story as a group.

Re working of story

2007-10-10T16:01:00.000+01:00

On the Tuesday 9th October. We had a group meeting with Mike Hirsch to run through our story. He told us to pick away at the story and find out what drives our story. What is the meaning and theme of the story?What is the motivation for the chicken? Why is he trying to lay an egg?
How are we going to make the audience care about this particular chicken?
What are the most interesting aspects of our story to tell?

All these points should help us in making a story that the audience will relate to and not just rely on the visuals of the animation to woo the audience.

After hearing Mike Hirschs the group discussed whats elements of our story we should change to tell an affective story

2007-10-10T15:55:00.000+01:00

These images are from an animation called Theme Planet by Michael Sorman. I like the textured look and hope to incorporate it into our work

Reference work

2007-10-10T15:51:00.000+01:00

Week 1- Inital story pitch to class

2007-10-10T12:10:00.000+01:00

This is the breakdown of the story i pitched to the class. I still havent thought of a decent title for it so ignore it at the moment.

Chicken Story

Set up 0-30seconds
We see a chicken looking out of a moving vehicle (her head is poked through a gap in the side, her cheeks and eye lids being pulled back in the wind (cartoony style) she looks content enjoying watching the countryside go by. All of a sudden the van she’s travelling in pulls (screeches up) throwing the chicken across in the back of the van. Camera pulls out from the van to unveil it’s actually a battery chicken exporter for Bernard Matthews arriving at a farm.
Led out of the van in military style the chicken soon realises she is not in a happy place.

Catalyst 25-30seconds
She is now dropped into a chicken coup. She looks nervously around seeing other chickens laying eggs at will, watching as their eggs fall onto a conveyor belt style contraption and lead away to a room. (the chickens will be doing this in a very laid back manner e.g. doing their nails, chatting etc)
When the chicken glances at one of the other chickens she looks very mean and immediately points to a sign which shows an equation chicken minus egg equals cooked chicken. It now dawns on her that she has to lay an egg. Something she has never done before.

First Turning Point 55-60seconds
The chicken now begins to strain trying to lay an egg jumping around doing what it takes to lay an egg but no luck. After a couple attempts she starts to think she won’t be able to lay an egg. A thought bubble now appears beside her with the KFC logo inside it the colonel laughing away. She turns to it squatting it away. The panic is really setting in now. Maybe have her trying to steal an egg from another chicken.

Final Confrontation 70-80seconds
In the process of a last final strain his cocks comb and wattle bursts out. Unveiling to everyone that she is actually a cockerel. This lights the eyes of the other chickens who now all become very smitten.

Resolution 70- 80 seconds
Relieved that he is actually a male. The farmer walks in saying ‘what’s he doing here’ yanks him by the neck out of the coup taking him through a set of doors. When the farmer goes through the door it slams shut with a sign on the door saying ‘Bernard Matthews Chicken Pie’.

The group and I decided that the best thing to do over the weekend was to think about the story and indidvdually decide if there is anything we would like to change or add. Also we decided that some early cocnepts might be a good way top get us moving on the look of the animation

2007-10-10T11:04:00.000+01:00

Enter the first week of production on our third year films. Last Monday we presented our short film ideas to the class and tutors. On the Friday we found out whos ideas were picked to be made into a short. My short is about a naive chicken that travels on a road of self discovery, finally realising that theres a reason he cant lay eggs and that hes a cockerel, not chicken. To my delight my film was one of the chosen ones. I was pleased with the level of response i had from my peers. I had alot of enthused people wanting to join my team. After an ackward period of telling some people i didnt want them in my group. I had an assembled group with a variety of skill each one bringing something different to the group. Samir Ansari who is a keen animator and technician, Reywell Hyland good texture artist and modeller, Ian Lang good modeller, Gary Butler good animator and myself overlooking the project plus offering modelling and texturing. With the group i felt i had a good blend of skill and expertise to achieve my short film.