A bit of final information on the 'Odd Couple' Project

Firstly I shall give details of what I rendered and if it satisfied the brief.

My Non-final clip ran to approximately 2:30 minutes

The first render was a Pal, .Mov file - the reason this was done is because it streams extremely well over the internet with great quality and sound (which turned out to be 260MB) and may be used in the future.

the second was specifically for the brief - A 720x576 DVAVI 25FPS file, the sound quality was 16000hz (standard) the file size was 440MB and the picture quality was not as good as the .Mov file , however it was observed that the sound was 'slightly' better. I have no idea how a 5 minute animation is going to fit onto a 750 MB CD as the brief states.

- Production information can be found in past Journal posts - not much has changed just further animation of character and realization of how many bugs where present - which will be explained below.

- There was some problems with textures - for instance if you look at Thomas turners hair you will notice it moves out of place when he moves. I tried to correct this with using local Coordinates and World coordinates in 3D max but to no avail. Any feedback on how to fix this problem will be appreciated.

- Textures on areas where chunks where cut out for doors and windows had very noticeable texture variatons - this was fixed by erecting new walls and 'covering the old ones with them.

You will have to click on the picture to enlarge it, only then will you see the distortion clearly.


- trying to make a cockroach with a SplineIkSolver spine ended in disaster as it refused to be resized even with bone tools active. eventually had to settle for a normal IKHI Solver spine which worked fine but did not work as naturally.

- Timing without a dope sheet was a bit difficult but acceptable - seeing as though I was not working in a team.

- I have found that it is very difficult to work on an animation (even if only 5 minutes) is very difficult and is much more suited to a team, it can be difficult to push oneself but if you have other people working with you there is no choice but to get it done in time so the next person can get their part done (in an ideal world that is)

My own review of my work:

I believe my animation could have been better with music possibly but I did not have time to make any. it could have been better if my timing was more honed, the story is great (full of action, short but you get to know the main character well and even the cockroach even though you only see him/her for a few seconds) - the scenery is good but could be improved. The characters are ok but have obvious faults. ie - Thomas turners ankles look broken (because of improper bone placement) and his hair moves with the scenery and not with his actual head. The cockroach looks pretty good but could do with more development.

The lighting was very well done for my first attempt and looks very good in all the scenes (So I think but you are welcome to challenge me on that when I post the clip soon)

Sounds to acquire:

1. Pop -done

2. Voice of narrator

3. ‘hello’ mumble -Done

4. Thunder -done

5. Background talk mumble-Done

6. Background agree mumble-Done

7. Dishes being washed tinkle = maybe water running -done

8. Sigh mumble -Done

9. Fire or explosion sound -done

10. Smile mumble ‘heeee’-Done

11. Dunno mumble-Done

12. Kettle switch on = maybe water - Done

13. Cup tinkle -done

14. Grrrr mumble-Done

15. ‘Eeek’ roach-Done

16. Hand thud -Done

17. Slip -Done

18. Woah mumble-Done

19. Boing -Done

20. Breaking, thumping , shattering -Done

21. Boom- glass explode(shatter)

22. Give up mumble-Done

23. Book soft tap -Done

24. Book thud -Done

25. Squash -Done

26. Eeeaw roach-Done

27. Vent crashing open –Done sort of

28. Lots of stuff falling out – grain? -Done

29. Nooo mumbled-Done

Props to acquire:

1. Vent -Done

2. Cabbages -* No got weeds, spade and vegetables instead

3. Hosepipe -done

4. Plate with buiscuits -done

5. Cup -done

6. Window -Done

7. Kettle –done sort of

8. Crumb -Done

9. Better roach

10. Picture- **

11. wood chunk - Done

12. catapult stuff - Done

13. random junk – Done almost

14. *look for burn overlays

15. Glass -Done

Final Script for Odd Couple

Int – Living room/kitchen

(Paragraph is narrated whilst Thomas Turner goes about his daily business)

Narrator

Thomas Turner is a slightly obsessive , wound up, widowed, mid 60 year old English fellow who enjoys having quite nights in front of the television watching the news and sports channels, he prefers comfortable clothes like jeans and a plain shirt with a small overcoat. He is quite a friendly fellow but not overly chatty, preferring to speak about daily news and finding out what is going on in his local area. He lives in a semi-detached house alone; he quite likes the privacy but still misses his wife who passed away a number of years ago in a fluke double lightning strike event. He takes pride in his minimalistic furnished home but is sometimes a little too much of an obsessive neat freak. He noticed this when one of his friends came around for a visit and strangely he couldn’t wait for them to leave so that he could wash their tea cup and plate that had biscuits on, put it back in place and then vacuum the whole room which he had been in. He is not fond of having dogs or cats in his house as they leave fur but can tolerate this; however he despises insects – once he had a minor ant infestation that he took care of with a can of gas, lighter fluid and a few matches. After setting fire to a small portion of his kitchen he still used an entire can of ant poison (which took the whole nights to slowly drip into the hole) to make sure the nest was eradicated (which unknowing to him missed the ant nest completely and went through a old pipe leading straight to his prize cabbage patch and destroying 80% of his crop) - you will be happy to know the ants escaped the initial inferno and poisoning then decided to move next door away from this half crazed fellow. Thomas Turner is his own worst enemy.

(Run time approx – 1 minute and 41 seconds)

After introduction

Scene 2 – int Living room

Thomas Turner sits in front of his television watching the latest sports news, he takes a kernel of popcorn and eats it. There is a faint scurrying noise coming from near his rug, he does not hear this the first time but the second wave of scurrying attracts his attention.

Thomas

Hmmm?

Thomas gets up and goes to the nearby light switch; he flicks it on and surveys the now lit area. Something is looking at him but he is unaware of it, he shrugs* his shoulders and goes into the kitchen. The thing (cockroach) that was looking at him follows.

Scene 3 – int kitchen:

Thomas Turner goes to his kettle* and switches* it on, he then bends down and gets a cup* out of his cupboard*(open/close) – as he is gets up he sees the cockroach on the counter holding a crumb, he instantly gets angry.

Thomas

Grrrrrrr!

Cockroach

(fright)(Squeaky) Aaaaaah!

The cockroach drops the crumb and jumps in surprise, it bolts for cover just as Thomas tries to squash it with his first, he misses. The creature bolts off the desk and into the living room, Thomas runs after it but slips on the well polished floor; he eventually gets to his feet and follows.

Scene 4 – int living room

Thomas bursts into the living room; he stops and surveys the area but cannot see the cockroach anywhere in sight. The cockroach is in front of a picture* (possibly childs drawing of him with his grandkids) mimicking one of the people in the picture, Thomas walks past and does not notice, just as he does the insect jumps off the table and scurries away, Thomas hears this and attacks.

Scene 5 Ext – House

You can see Thomas’s house and hear repeated smashing noises after a while a title fades in (20 minutes later) and you can still hear smashing; suddenly there is an explosion which blows out the windows.

Scene 6: int living room

Thomas is on the floor, his house is a wreck and the Cockroach is taunting him by blowing raspberries at him.

Cockroach

PFFFFFFFF!!

Thomas has a glass in his hand, he wants to throw it at the creature but is sure he will miss and gives up

Thomas

(Sighs)

He drops it but hits a small plank nearby which launches a piece of wood up to the top of the bookshelf which intern sends a book tumbling down on the cockroach and squashes it. Thomas is relieved and gets up, it’s all over and he is victorious. He looks around at his destroyed house sadly, he will have to start cleaning up soon. There is a rumble coming from a nearby air vent, he goes closer to inspect, the noise starts again... loads of cockroaches burst out of the air vent and cover poor Thomas as he screams

Thomas

Noooooooo!

The NeverEnding story:

I watched a brilliant movie the other day that I haven't seen since I was a small kid. I'm not too sure how many of you out there have watched it but if you haven't then definitely give it a look, it beats the living crap out of most modern day fantasy movies and it was made in 1984! This is a Movie made from a German book and was originally called 'Unendliche Geschichte, Die' - which basically translated mean the NeverEnding Story. it was written in Michael Ende (the novel that is) . the Movie was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and of course additional credits go to Herman Weigel and Robert Easton for additional dialogue and writing for the movie


It's all about a boy who end up in a book store because he is running away from bullies and meets a man who is reading a 'special' book - so he says anyways, the Kid sort of pinched the book but leaves a note behind saying he will return it.

He eventually gets round to reading the book and finds out that it's all about a boy called Atreyu and his quest to save his word called Phantasia from 'The nothing'. The story gets really interesting and he meets many strange creatures and goes to many beautiful places (the scenery in this movie is amazing) I was really impressed with the special effects and the clever ways they made the characters (Remember they where using puppets back then) - I think Collin Arthur was the special effects supervisor and sculptor. I really wish that I can create something like this in the future using modern day technology. all the scenes are perfectly lit and produce the exact mood that it's supposed to. I also hope that maybe one day I can learn to draw well enough to express such scenes in my head as the course I'm on at the moment (which is an art course and has everything to do with expressing ideas, creating character and scenes, even understanding what colours and textures to use and especially learning how to express lighting correctly) does not have our own art teacher, yep thats right for £9000 a year still don't have our own art class, resources or teacher... we can still learn by sneaking into other students classes though.

I have taken a few screenshots of some of the locations and characters - hope it persuades you to take a look at the actual movie, you will not regret it.



You can buy a new copy for a £10 or a used one for under a Fiver on www.Amazon.co.uk It's also a great movie to watch with the girlfreind.