End of 1st Semester Results

Here's all my animation so far this semester. Grading is tomorrow, so I got it done just in time. The rest of the animation? It'll be interesting cramming it in... I also have to finish the background of the first segment (this video) so it won't look like a random clock in the middle of a barren plain. That would be optimal.

Flight Progress Video

I've started to make my bird fly (this shows all the targas I've rendered so far) and the end of this film is the beginning of the fall I'm going to have Prometheus do. Pretty soon I'll be done with all of it up to the disappearance into the clock, and that's my goal for this semester.

Flight Animation Progress

I just started animating Prometheus for flight, and here's a frame of him taking off for the first time. It's taken a while, but so far so good. :) I'll have to add more texture detail later though.

Addition of Berries/First Lighting Test

I imported the berries and set up my bird's beak to hold the stem, then arranged for them to have a separate set of joints so I can just translate the joints when I need the berries to fall and switch from one bird to the next. I set up the lighting so that most of the sky is about the same color, but the top part is extremely dark. I'll fix that later once I've finished animating everything. Right now I'm just worried about getting my bird to do something other than cock its head, look around, etc.

Preview of First Camera Movements

Here I've made my first basic camera movements from the storyline. It basically showcases the clock in all its glory and gives the observer time to analyze the atmosphere, while letting them catch a glimpse of the hole in the clock face and a little of the bird during the first rotations. It then zooms in on the bird, who is cocking his head to the side and doing nervous little bird-like actions that will hopefully convince the audience that my bird is actually a bird, and not a copy... Hopefully. I'm very tired right now, having gotten over some nasty food poisoning, so I'm trying to get back into the groove of animating... It's pretty hard, since I don't remember what all I've done.

Working on Wing Poses

Here I've found a slightly "natural" pose for Prometheus when he's not flying. I can't fully fold the feathers into the body since the rigging doesn't work that way, and I'm having issues with how the feathers go through the skin (you can see a bit of this on here) but I'll work it out and just be careful how I pose him when I'm setting keys down.