Trailer for the Fall Show

Watch in HD in the link at the bottom!


stagefright trailer 3 H264 from Rachel Cunningham on Vimeo.

More Texture Adjustments/Issues

12/8
We found out the fingernails have crazy reflections - need to come up with a better long-term solution, but for now I just gave them a diffuse color.

reflecting the notecards

diffuse is too bright without subsurface

  I just darkened the color until there is a better solution....

Cassie has been working hard testing out different lighting

Earlier experiments: The spotlight is in the correct place, but the shadows get a little long and distracting.

Tried moving light to another angle: direction doesn't make sense, the light needs to be more frontal

Same as above.  However the contrast and the background are looking really nice.

11/13
The material in the occlusion pass suddenly started acting weird - now she looks like metal

Also the eyebrow/eyelash textures/geometry keeps detaching/disappearing

Eyebrow textures were an easy fix - still working on the eyelashes - but Cassie got the spotlight looking really nice

11/6/14
The eye is being weird again......I feel like we have fixed the same pieces of geometry over and over and over and it never ends......

Out of ideas...I have deleted and replaced her right eye.  We will see if that solves the problem.

11/2/14
In lighting, Cassie noticed the eyes turning strangely dark.

The eye geometry has 2 clear outer layers to create the refraction needed, so we thought the problem might be the direction the normals were facing (the normals were spontaneously reversing anyway, which was strange).  We tried different combinations and kept getting weird results.

 

This picture wasn't an error, I just included it because it looks cool

After hours of troubleshooting, I thought to look at the render stats.  It turns out that the settings don't necessarily transfer though referencing, so the layers that were supposed to be transparent were casting/receiving shadows (among other issues), which was causing the darkness.  Problem solved!

THE STAGE:
Trying to add more texture to the floor - it was looking too smooth before.

Trailer Prep

We weren't sure how many shots we would be able to render by the deadline, so I planned for 2 scenarios:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAU5u2oJ6uI&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o0fUs-s4ZA&feature=youtu.be

The above videos are just to get the timing down.  Sound and more developed visuals are in process and will hopefully be ready by the fall show.

I'm still trying to pick a title, but here are some tests I made for the trailer....

I spent some time researching handwriting analysis and how it relates to personality.  *Supposedly*.....according to my findings......:
left slant, small and delicate letters - shows reserve
a 'cradle' on the lower stroke of letters g, y, p, etc. - avoidance of aggression and confrontation
a full loop on the lower stroke of letters g, y, p, etc. - need for security
narrow left margin, wide right margin - caution, wanting to avoid being pushed, fear of the unknown
high dot over the letter "i" - great imagination

I experimented with some "character inspired" handwriting.  I like the concept, but in the interest of having an eye-catching, legible title, I may not use them:

For the final animation, however, I'd like something with a little more impact.  I plan on making a painting with the text incorporated somehow.  Caleb showed me some "Adventure Time" title cards, which look great and are kind of what I have in mind. EXAMPLES HERE

Boyfriend Animation

The leg-popping is definitely caused by the IK pole vectors, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to fix it!

First 2D Animation

Way overdue, but here's it is!