The iPhone Game is done!

Awww, finally I can show you a gameplay vid from my latest project! Our team made a real effort in getting this thing of the ground in time. It's available in the appstore for free, so check it out if you get the chance.
Cheers
Happy C

why you shouldn't animate dramatic escape-runcycles while listening to reggae music:

Done rigging the main character!

Phew, I'm finally done rigging my main character for the short. Took me a while due to some technical hickups, but now it's all working, even the fingers work splendid.
I should call him Clint Eastwood or something like that, what do you think?! As you can see I made some retouches on the model, too, it looks a lot more natural than in the earlier version below (if you could call this guy natural looking).

It was kind of a weird evening, modelling & rigging characters for my horrible heartbreaking horrorstory. But then it's horrorstory with sort of a positive message. And I was listening to old reggae and ska all night long. Jeez, I feel even weirder now that I think of it.
Well anyway, I'm tired (guess you noticed...).
Tomorrow I'll be animating him, that's going to be fun! Run Clint Eastwood, Run!
C

I've got a candy store for a brain!

When it comes to having ideas and then making them happen I'm very much like a kid in a candy store: Going crazy and running from a shelf to another without touching anything, because as soon as I see something that looks appealing and approach it, something much tastier catches my eyes and I turn towards that new shiny piece of candy.

I always felt kind of depressed about my unability to bring all my brainchilds to life and being lazy when it comes to making things happen. But I think my time at Animation Mentor was kind of an eye opener in this aspect.
It's the getting it done part where I'm struggling, and Animation Mentor is really all about getting a huge pile of work done in a short amount of time, week after week. Learning under those circumstances is probably the most valuable thing I'm getting out of my studies apart from the exquisite animation training.
Once you're wrapped up in work, executing one of your ideas, you don't bother about all the other things you might come up with in the future. You just care about getting it done properly and then move on to new things.
So it's all about deciding, executing and moving on.
And as soon as I'm done with one thing I've got a bag full of candy to choose from. Pure luxury, ain't it?

Talking about getting things done: Here's a new still from my 'make it grand' short. have to get it done before I get back to my studies at AnimationMentor in January, or I'll never get it done. Tight schedule, but I guess it'll work out somehow.

Piano

I stumbled over this short on M dot Strange's Blog and was blown away, check it out:


Piano. from Paul Rayment on Vimeo.

New stuff coming soon

We are just about to complete our first iPhone game at Feinheit. Well actually we already submitted it for the reviewing process, but we're working on a first update, which will contain much more eyecandy and extras and stuff. Which for me feels like the "real" version. We were on a very tight schedule, so to make sure we could make the release in time we made a version on which we focused on getting the basic game to be fun to play and create a solid product that's cleared of bugs and other evil stuff. Now it comes to make it a shiny bling thing, and I'm confident it will add a lot to an already very cool little game.
I'll post a video as soon as it's ready. Hopefully we're talking about in two weeks or so, I can't wait to show it! stay tuned!
C

Offroader Clip Making Of

Here you'll find a little story about how the offroader clip I posted earlier was made. It's in german though, but still has some nice pictures in there. Go check it out here.

And in case you feel like you rrrreally neeeeeed to rrrreeeaaaadd it (karmapoints anyone?), but can't, due to a lack of knowledge of the german language, don't be shy, let me know, and I'll put together an english version.

aight, goodnight
C

Yo, I just realized that I didn't loose a word about Animation Mentor yet, even though it says in the title that I'll mainly use the blog as sort of an AM diary... Eeerrmm, so where did that part go?
Well here's the deal: I took a leave of absence from october until january to review all the things I've learnt in the past nine months and to recharge my batteries. Animation Mentor is super intense, especially when you have a job at the same time. So I don't have no work-in-progress school stuff to show right now, for that matter.
I'm really looking forward to get back on the ride though and get to see all my school buddies again. For now, this is my progress reel. It might be still a bit rough around the edges, and I hope I'll get some of the animations smoothed out before January.
Enjoy C

Hai Doggy!

A few days ago I stumbled over a movie called The Room. It's super mega awesome; great acting, lovely dialogues and a compelling script make this one a thrilling rollercoaster ride!

Make It Grand Stills

Here are some stills from a short called 'make it grand' I plan to come up with. There's still a lot to do, but I'll keep it nicely unpolished, simple and short so I get it done in a reasonable amount of time. Time to get things done and stop thinking about creating the perfect movie/rendering/animation/whatever.

Goodnight C

Some Jobwork

Here’s some work I made at my office: Feinheit. It’s part of a political campaign and includes the possibility to personalise the video with pictures and names. Go check it out here, if you want to create your own movie!
I was responsable for all the 3D Content and worked on concept, storyboards etc.. I learned tons from this project, specially when it comes to design, storytelling, camera and cut. There still a lot of room to improve, but I feel that the work on this short took my abilities up a notch in several aspects.
Luckily I had a friend who offered to animate the character and car crash sequences and took a lot of weight from my shoulders by doing so. I’d love to give a shout out to him, but unfortunately I can’t mention his name, since he’s actually not allowed to animate on other commercial gigs then for his studio by contract. Animators are crazy! Working illegally just for the heck of it! If you’re reading this, kudos to you mr. animator!
I’m preparing to write a short making of entry for later on, stay tuned!
Any comments or feedback is most welcome. Thanks

Starting over

Time get this blog started. I'll start with moving some of the posts from my old'n'dusty blog, just to fill my brand new shiny blog with some sparkling content and as well to show you some of my previous work.