o...was'accuring?

exactly.

today grigsby and I met up to go over what we'd been up to. Dan has been focussed on modeling our environment as well as experimenting with textures whilst I've been working on the model of John. 

Dan's environment is basically there now, Im pleased he's kept the set to a minimum so that we could really focus on a few key but stylised elements within it. As we wanted a hand made quality to the textures, Dan's initial experiments involved using pastel. However, these seemed a little flat even when combined with an occlusion layer. Dans new test with oil paintings give more depth to the piece but still reflect a child like created set. Overall im very pleased with what hes produced.

We then discussed the model i've been working on. Currently im not overly happy with it as it doesnt look as good as its 2d conceptual work, it seemed to have lost some of its charm when transferred to 3d. Dan and i noted a few things which needed changing:

• john's body shape needs to be more cone like, currently hes looking too considered in that his shape changes over his height.
• model is too fat...john is distinctly long and thin, he's a tired run down clown who could never put on weight with all that stress
• johns trousers are too low...not like that! the concept requires for an awkward high trouser line though
• thin down john's legs
• work on sleeve/arm
• get rid of the weird bend in his head, its not needed.

Apart from that though the rough is not looking too bad, and i was glad Dan was particulary pleased with his face as Johns features such as his brow and nose are key elements to his character.

We had a discussion with jared over project. Much of his comments were similar to what Dan and myself had noted about our work, however he also added one or two pointers about our animatic sequence when i mentioned we were currently running over on time:

• need to introduce Benny earlier - this will lead to more overlapping animation, more can be fitted in to the 30 seconds. We'll be able to see more of Benny's character
• ending needs to be changed instead of going back to juggling, think of something else John can do to spite Benny so the piece doesnt have an anti-climax (ideas include john winding up Benny's propeller hat and letting him fly off...Benny's ice-cream lands on John's head)
• Be playful with what we have in the set...use it wisely (we discussed ideas of Benny emerging from different parts of the set)
• pacing needs changing...a lot of the shots CAN be quicker than they are currently

Other than that...again the basics are there and just needs a little tweaking, and myself and Dan a little pushing.

The rest of the day we spent fiddling round with the set in order to correct some of the noted issues. The floor wasnt receiving shadows even though the rest of the set was, but after a mass of routing round, we discovered the texture file resolution was too high, so needed changing in photoshop. Other than that, I've asked Dan to move just a few props such as the hula hoops so that the framing of the set is ready for the characters.