The Light Within

Beach scene

2009-06-21T11:18:00.001-07:00

The beach scene comes after the credits, and it shows the continuation; it shows the cycle of life, as the seasons, and the representation of it with the autumn leaf in the hands of the grown up boy. now he admires the stars with a beloved in his side and suggesting that the cycle would continuous repeating itself through time.
This is the final scene and it has given me a lot of problems when rendering it from after effects. I dont know why, but to render the high quality scene from AE it takes ages... days. while the film it self has more complex scenes and did fine in the render.

Below is the beach animation which was quite difficult... as it has this timing that is difficult to get.:

end credits!

2009-06-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Danny has worked in this part also. We had a limited time to make the credits, because i have given the film to the sound designer already, meaning that i couldn't change the time of any scene !
Before we were fading in and fading out the information, but there was no time to read them properly! so we decided to scroll it and yes, is readable! After all this work... we got to be able to read the names involved on it.

Stars go up scene

2009-06-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is the last scene before the end credits. After the credits there is one more scene, showing a couple looking to the sky when they see a shooting star.
By this stage I am already rushing with all so that I can acually finish the film in time. I though at one moment that I wouldn't make it in time for the sound designer... that it wouldnt have sound.
Danny also worked here in the animation of the stars going up.

I painted a day light version of this background originally:

Becoming a Star scene

2009-06-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

With the time passing by the boy grew into a man and his parents got older; their time in this world had finished and they shall become stars and go back to the sky.
In this scene i had the help of Danny to do the FX of them becoming energy while the light spins around them. His help towards the end of the film in this production timeline was much appreciated and I wish he had been present since the beginning:

run cycle sequence

2009-06-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

i though this sequence would be extremely challenging... as I needed to make the little baby morphing into the adult in the same run cycle. I think this solution works fine.
I have to say that I am not happy with the 3d character of the humans.... they don't fit the film and I had a lot of problems with their rig. I will talk more about this subject in the post called "Team Work".
here is the first test of the sequence. Pardon me for some crap animations such as the leave on his hands... lol... i just didn't have time to finish it better by this stage as I was rushing so much to finish the film for sound. I promissed I would give the film for the sound Designer a good 3 to 2 weeks before the hand in. But becose the work was done mainly by me, when animation is a collective art, I just didnt finish by the time i wanted. With a lot of night woth no sleep and s bit of stress here and there I manage to give to him one week before hand in.

Here goes the final version of this sequence:

Time passes by scene

2009-06-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

This scene was and still is a little problem. in this first test the pick of the day light and the night light are not correct... even trying many different ways of color correction in After Effects. The solution was to re-draw the the painting of the light in the day light, as the original painting I did was very darkish light... but still it hasn't reached what I expected and wished.
He it goes, the first test:

And now the Time Passing by as final in the film:

humans creation

2009-06-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the previous video posted, the light would come down after flying up, and a explosion would occur, something i was thinking of to create the humans from. I though of making it slower, with the fire bubbles slowly growing to fade in to the 3d humans. After speaking with Dan Dalli we though that i could find a nicer way of doing that, as the creation of the human is a crucial moment of the film. Below is the solution I created, as a first test (the video got squashed when i upload it here...):

This is the final version of this scene:

Scene: Creation of snake and +

2009-05-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

Creation of Snake followed by explosion to created the humans: male/female

Scene: Creation of birds and butterflies

2009-05-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

First 1 min and 25 sec of the film

2009-05-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

Off course there are still somethings to be fixed, in terms of animation and colors, but i put all the scenes together so far, from beginning until the creation of the trees and flower (spring).

New Scene - Creation of the Land

2009-05-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

The complete cut 4. 5 and 6 ; Creation of the land

first test:

The Light Within Film - First 3 Shots.

2009-04-30T03:57:00.000-07:00

I have posted previously older versions of these 3 shots. They were improved quite a lot with the new "light", ""energy" being decided. That's the shot's I have recently made, a from the creation of the light until the creation of the water!!! Enjoy.

MAIN CHARACTER - The Light

2009-04-24T07:03:00.001-07:00

This is how the energy/light that creates the world will look like. In both videos they are slightly different... so that it wont be the same all the way through the film.

Thumbnails of the new Story

2009-04-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday me and Danny set down in the sun to fix the story, the little parts that wasn't clear. We made this thumbnails to visualize each scene, camera angles and cuts. The main change is that the Angel, that was once the main character, doesn't exist anymore. It will be only the light (a magical energy) through out the entire film.

Scene 1 and 2 Test

2009-04-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Here it is, from the beginning until the creation of the water! I hope everybody likes it... After here he will start to look similar with what he just created... so that after the creation of the man he gets to be the angel... more human. There are still a feel things in the animation that need to bit fixed, but here it goes:

Team Work

2009-04-02T14:23:00.001-07:00

CHARLIE:
Charlie was in charge of rigging the male and the female characters that Ajdin modeled, and give it to me straight away, as we were already running out of time. He then decided to use a plug in called Anzove - the face machine. He came to my house to install it in my computer so that I could start animating his rigs., otherwise I wouldn't be able to work on it. The rig was kind of cool, but there were some problems in the weight paint, that I was happy to fix, but the joints did not appear in the side window, so I couldn't do it my self, and I would need to send to him for fixing. This happened a few times. Bellow are example of images that I have made to explain my point. I realised that this was the best way of making myself clear:

Below is the picture of the problems I was having when animating his rigs. The controls were really nice, after the file traveled from me to him a fell times and it was considerably good to start animating I started to have problems. The hands would sooner or later explode as shows the picture, in the early stages of this "explosion". I know Maya is temperamental, and sometimes thing go wrong with not apparant reason for it... but at some point I would key frame the arm and the feet would also move....
-I had to re-rig both of this character at the end, as I didnt have more time to wait for a fixed file from charlie. At somepoint he also didn't know the cause of the problem. I have though been able to make use of his facial expressions controllers, that were quite nice!

Here was when he was modeling the fish for me. My read mark show how I wanted the film, together with the original design.
- At the end I had to model the fish myself because his fish didn't get approved...

MOE:
I have quickly made a expression shit to Moe, as he is working on the blend shapes of the main character.
Moe rigged the little boy for me. Our combination originally was that he would rig the main character of the film. But then the film has changed quite a lot, although it kept the main story, but the angel that would be the main character become a secondary character. I have used him, without the wings, as the boy in the film. His rig was really good, I haven't had any problems with it, and I was quite please working with Moe. Below is some of the images of his work:

DAN E.:
I can say i am learning how to be a director. and probably getting better on it. I find that drawing and illustrating clearly what you want is the best way, otherwise you can't complain if the team work is not good or not what you wanted. Here are some examples of how i have been working. Dan Elvins sent me the textures and i have pointed out some of the changes i though appropriate.
I have painted this fish to give to Dan Elvins as reference for texturing.

AJDIN:
Originally I made drawing for Ajdin tht wasn very clear, as the 3D models werent as i wanted, ans it might be that the fault was mine as I just sketched the character to give to him. One more thing I hav learned!
Here are 2 drawings for Ajdin, so to guide him when fixing the female 3D model. I have to say that the problem in the model was in part my fault as the first drawing of the female i made was not detailed and clear enough so to give to a modeller. "Living and Learning"

Water

2009-03-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

That's the water that was approved for the film. I hope it was a wise decision. I made it using photoshop and affter effects.

Bellow are the first water style i attempted to do. But I have realized it doesn't suit the film.. but is interesting what so ever.

Film - First SCENE Test

2009-03-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Background Painting

2009-03-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

Light Creation
Land Spring (close up)
Land winter (close up)
Land winter (close up)
Land 1

Water:
Scene 1, sky background:

After Effects Studies

2009-03-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have been collecting plugins for after effects, and also watercolor brushes for Photoshop, and studying a lot how to make the best use of the such for the film. The film will be a mix of 2D and 3D and a lot will be done in compositing. Below are a few studies i made, and cool results. I was also watching the film Mulan, and i got quite interested in their introduction, therefore i have decided to try out if i could reproduce it. Here are the results of such studies:

Texture Test

2009-02-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

We have downloaded watercolor shaders... and some of them look pretty cool as an option we could go for... Here are some option for the Angel-star, the Main character of the film... I have given Charlie the model, so that he can pass on to Danny and Dan to try out some more options for him. It was decided that we don't need to use what we don't like, therefore we would pick the best one... Here is what I played around with him... and also the Male Character, using Toon shader.

Narration

2009-02-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

We have decided that narration will be essential in the film... Maybe a very old male voice... wise... or a very young and naive voice.. we need to try out and see how it goes...
Here is the first draft I wrote, that need to be improved a lot... I know it can get much much better....

"There was a time when the Universe was still very young… and an important star was formed… a star that can be seen and honoured by all living things.
(Title sequence)
The Sun and the Moon were often together and from their Union, they gave the Universe a Gift. A Being that would unfold the most well-know history… the one of creation!
For some… it was destiny, it was already written. For others it was scientifically explained as a combination of small particles of dust…. Neither changes anything…
By waking up to this world the star calmly starts to change its color and form, while a blue light start to emanate from within, so to transform it self in liquid… water floating in the emptiness of the space. Flying through it and diving in and out the water, fishes start to swim in a dance of magic.
Raising arms upwards the star join the hands and bring it closely to the eyes. The light emanates from it, spinning and reflecting in the water. Slowly the star opens the hands… and we see a man, a human being. Creation and creator exchange one look… before it gently drops him in the water.
The man enjoyed the water shortly before tiring out… it was never its perfect habitat. So land is created… and trees and flowers start to grow everywhere.
The man is happy being on firm ground and is fascinated with the flying living creatures of this realm.
A big light comes from the beach, and when it dissipates the man falls in love with what he sees. A female. The female was concealed in this world, for every single creature that now inhabit the space.
After this glorious time the creatures start to multiply faster and overpopulate the world.
The Star flies to the Father Sun and the Mother Moon and tell them what happened…
They know what must be done and start to spin around this world, creating the day and the night. And now the creatures start to get older… When it come to the right time, they become a star and go back to the sky, the place they originally came from.
This is the story of a star that shines the most in the sky… the start that is always looking towards us; the only star that will always be found at the same place. Travellers, looking up at Her, can always find their way. Because this Star is in the true north all the time, The Star is now called, the North Star."

"A lua é nossa Mãe, O Sol é nosso Pai
E Nós somos as Estrelas, só nos resta agradecer"
(quote from Francisco Corrente)

translation:
"The Moon is our Mother, The Sun is our Father
And We Are the Stars, we can only be thankful."

Tree 3D Growing

2009-02-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

I have modeled the tree and tested if it could grow in maya easily, and.. yes... it is possible!
Dan Elvins was supposed to make it but he was having difficulties with Blend Shapes. I have also tried out watercolor shader and toon outline. I will give it back to Dan E. as he is one of my textures. Below is a Playblast of the tree growing animation:

Lotus Flower animation

2009-02-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

Just finished the animation of the Lotus Flower growing... We were going to do it 3D... but it would be too much effort as we wont have a close up in the flower, and is not something really important in the film. Then was decided that would be easier to animate it 2D. Here it is:
(It would definitely be much better if it was slow, but for the film it might be even faster)

Design for modeling

2009-01-30T04:49:00.000-08:00

These are designs I have made to give to "the boys" (Charlie - fish and bird, Danny - plants and flower, Dan E - trees and bamboo and Ajdin - man/ woman and main character) so that they can start modeling. The backgrounds will be 2D.
The trees will be 2D in Maya
Plants will be 2D in Maya
Flowers 3D with toon lines
Fish 3D with 3D lines
Birds 3D with toon lines
3D with toon lines 3D with toon line

ANIMATICS

2008-11-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Animatics FINISHED!

... It took quite a while to finish the animatics, just because when I started working on it I felt like changing and improving most of the shots, camera angles and links between the scenes, so that I needed to make a lot of new drawings - character poses and environments - and apply them to see if it was working...! I felt this was a chance to explore After Effects a bit more, as I will need to use all this tricks in the compositing for the Final animation anyway.
Because I started it very polished i need to go until the end the same way... it took me around 2 week working on it full on...! But I feel the story has improved a lot.... Much better then the storyboard at the moment, more interesting. And I hope it is clear enough to understand the whole story without any explanation.
We have decided not to use Narration. We will use it only if the story isn't clear by itself, visually.
The Film is 3:52 minutes... which is quite long! and means more work... A LOT of work.

I hope everybody enjoys this animatics. Please leave your comment if you have anything to add.

Sorry it is squashed! The film is widescreen and it gets like this when i post here... I will fix it but meanwhile you can check it out.

Moodboards

2008-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Character Design

2008-11-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is the main character, The Light Being, God of Light. I have changed the character a fell times, and also the story. The character now is shown in 3 stages through the film. He starts more as a light being, with not much definition of his human form. He also glows more in the beginning. He get more and more human towards the end of the film, while he gets passionate with the world created. His wing are a beam of light, where the colors dance while it moves.... Below is a drawing of the 3 stages he goes through in the film.

STORYBOARD

2008-10-31T05:44:00.000-07:00

References

2008-10-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Amazing Animation :
http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/opinion/sightlines/1194811622301/index.html#1194838010399

2D look from 3D * PERFECT FOR US, that's what we want!

BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUNDS....

THE 2D IN 3D!

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL... EVERYTHING CAN BE USED AS REFERENCE FOR US. THE MOVEMENT, THE FLOW, TREES GROWING, WHEN SHE FLIES IN A WIDE CAMERA ANGLE... JUST AMAZING!

TREES GROWING, ABSTRACTION, SCENES AND THE MULTITUDE OF BIRDS (it would apply for when the creatures multiply fast)

THE SIMPLICITY, TRANSITIONS AND BUTTERFLIES EXPLODING INTO LIGHT

THE WATER AND THE COMBINATION OF 2D and 3D

ENVIRONMENT LOOK

BEAUTIFUL WATERCOLOR TEXTURES. MARRIAGE OF 2D and 3D

ENVIRONMENT, CAMERA ANGLES AND MUSIC
please ignore the character animation and the mantra...

BACKGROUND IMAGES AND LIGHT BEING AT THE END

In the beginning two spirits appear as radiating bodies...
... and then in the middle you have drawing in shape of a cherry branch.
very interesting...

Synopsis

2008-10-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

THE NORTH STAR

The Sun and the Moon make love and the fruit of this love is little being, the light spirit.
From a clash of light – eclipse - the spirit is created; the light dissipates slowly to show him.

He has the wings as beam of light, where colors dance in a beautiful movement. By this stage he is still very much a spirit of light with just indications of his human figure.
He gets more human towards the end as he gets more and more involved with the creation.

He looks to both sides; all he can see is this empty space. He dives into the air flying with his hand creating the water. Cut to his hands and back to the water it self recently created, still calming down.
Putting his hands together he makes light, when he opens it, it is a fish, that jumps from his hands to the water.
The fish comes from sketch to full colored drawing while he swims.

With the hand together above the belly bottom he makes light again, brings it to his face and opens it. We see this little man, very simple shape. He shows him the water and the man dives into it. The man enjoys it for while but the man gets tired of swimming for long.

He creates the earth! With flowers and trees.
He draws it magically, from one hand it comes the flowers, from the other hand it comes the land and trees.

The Man swims to the shore and get to the land happily.
He creates the butterflies!
Butterflies flies over the man’s head. Close up on the man, sad and lonely.

The spirit of light creates the woman and gives to the man. The man gets extremely excited. We can see quickly man and woman in love, butterflies flying in couples and fishes jumping happily in two’s.
Cut to wide view of the world, more creatures start to appear – humans, buterflies and fishes. Camera view is wider and wider to stop over the spirit’s shoulder. They are multiplying so quickly that the shot is getting dark, as it is so many of them.

We cut to his face watching it. He turns to sun and moon and starts to push both to move around the globe, creating day and night. Like this, the TIME is created in the world. We see the man getting more and more curved with the passage of time (day/night/day/night). We cut to the man really curved and the spirit looking at him; accompanying close by the first star being formed.
When is finished the period of time of creatures in the world –when they die – they became stars going back to the sky.

We see a wide view of the world with stars going up to the sky, from the sea, the mountains and the sky. We cut to the spirit of light’s face and we see the stars going up through reflection on his eyes.

He flies over the world, now he is already becoming more human and less spirit. He dives into to the land to walk a little bit and shoots of to the sky again, creating the birds! He keeps flying through the world, now heading to the sky.
We now see him from the earth flying away to become the star that shines most in the sky: THE NORTH STAR.
Cut to the sky, with the North Star shining – we can see the little dipper and the big dipper - that points to the North Star - and the moon and stars.

End Credits

After the credits we can see a man and a woman contemplating the stars and the North Star that gives direction to all of us.