Mystery Post...

a hornbill walks into a bar... part 2

Here are a few more shots from the beginning of the short film. The images here are 90% done but the sound effects are just temporary (the musical score still nonexistent). There are a ton of things yet to be done but I can safely say that I am on the last few stages of making this short film.  Yay! :D

I'm already excited about the next Kaleh & Mbaki short, but of course I must finish this one first!

Oh, did I fail to mention it? This is just the first of the series : )

a hornbill walks into a bar...

I finished rendering all the layers for this particular shot and excitedly made a quick assembly in my trusty Compositing program and now here are a few sample frames. It's not final by any means but it sure is nice to see the animation in (nearly) final form :D

And when this shot is done, 54 more shots to go!

Gulp :|

Animation is Done!!! :D

Character Animation for the short is finally done! WHEW! Here are a few sample shots from the beginning of the story. Color and shading are not final of course, that will be coming soon :D

Lighting Tests!

Some preliminary lighting setups and their test renders for the first few shots. This is actually fun to do except for the waiting-for-the-test-render-to-finish part. I wish I had another computer to do that. A CRAY SUPERCOMPUTER would do nicely I think :D

Kaleh & Mbaki in Ilocos Norte!

I was invited to give a talk on Animation to a group of students studying Computer Science and Information Technology and it was to be held out of town in the beautiful province of Ilocos Norte. Who would say no to that.

I actually almost did say no the invitation. Being in the thick of things in this short film of mine, finishing up the last few shots in animation and beginning the lighting of the scenes, I thought that any distraction would be bad for my progress. But when I thought that this would be another perfect opportunity to spread the "gospel" of Filipino Animated Content and also a chance to "convert" a few students to the exciting world of animation, I reconsidered and eventually said Yes.

And so with a quick assembly of my animation lectures of the past and an addition of a few new and never-before-seen-by-the-public Kaleh & Mbaki material, I was off to Ilocos Norte in the small town of Currimao.

I'm not a fan of very long bus rides (7 hours going to and 11 gruelling hours going back home) but when I got there, WOW!

In a nutshell - arrive - take lots and lots of pictures - breakfast - more pictures - long nap - wake up - prepare for animation talk - quick lunch - continue prep work - more pictures - stare at the beautiful scenery for a long time until students arrive - final prep work - quick dinner - Animation talk.

I figure the talk on animation went well because most of the students were quite responsive and some were actually very excited about getting into animation. Unfortunately we had just a limited amount of time for the talk and the students were tired from their journey. I could have gone on for a few more hours, but hey that's me when it comes to animation.

I'm hoping that some of the students do eventually go into an animation related career and for the others who don't, I hope that they will become avid fans of Filipino Animated Content.

Merry Christmas!!! :D

I Would Like To Thank The Academy...

At last nights Animahenasyon 2011 awards ceremony, there were winners and there were... non-winners. I was both! I didn't get the prize for the Category that my entry was in but surprise surprise, there was another prize that I wasn't aware of and it was Best in Technical Quality.

I was already chatting with the other finalists and almost oblivious to the proceedings when I heard them call my name. For a split second there I expected to be told that my car was double parked but when they waved me over to the stage I knew it wasn't about the car.

So, I would like to thank the Academy...

* Seriously, I would like to wholeheartedly thank the Animation Council of the Philippines and their very hardworking officers (Grace Dimaranan, Michael Kho Lim, Ricky Orellana, Laisa Gonzles and many others) for making the annual animation festival a reality. Without you guys our animated films will probably just be floating around internet limbo. Maraming Salamat Po!

*some of the cool giveaways from the festival

15 Minutes of Warhol on the Radio

Yesterday I was interviewed as a guest at an online radio show and the topic of discussion was ME. Actually the topic was animation and the upcoming Animahenasyon 2011, the Philippine Animation Festival.

I was invited by Ricky Orellana and Michael Kho Lim of the Animation Council of the Philippines to serve, I guess, as a cautionary tale for those would be animated filmmakers. Normally I'm quite uncomfortable with public speaking engagements when there's vitually no time to prepare, I was informed just the day before, but I agreed to it since it was a radio interview and no one was going to see my face. WRONG.

The radio show was in DIG Radio, a brand new internet radio station based in Makati City and they had a WEB CAM broadcasting Live. This I found out a few second before the interview. My main thought at that moment was, "Buti na lang naligo ako bago pumunta sa studio." (A good thing I took a shower before going to the studio). Not that anyone could smell me through the cam but somehow feeling shower fresh made me a bit more confident.

So confident that I think I monopolized most of the conversation. Sorry DJ Cyrus! Living in the cave with mostly just my doggie to talk to seems to have resulted in a lot of pent up... exposition. But overall I think it went well. I was able to talk about the most important stuff - the animation festival, my animated short K & M, and the origins of my superpowers.

Special thanks to Ricky and Michael for the Invite, DJ April and Mr. Norman for giving me the tour of the PORTAL, DJ Cyrus for the great interview, and the traffic cop in Pasong Tamo for not getting angry when I almost ran over him :D

Making Your Own Musical Score

When I was making the Teaser-Trailer for Kaleh & Mbaki, one thing I forgot to include in my timetable was the musical score. So while doing the final edit for the teaser, I decided to just wing it by sampling (stealing) some music from various movie soundtracks. Unfortunately, none of them fit well enough for what I had in mind. I also didn't want any copyright entanglements so I decided to make my own.

Thank God for MuseScore and LMMS(Linus MultiMedia Studio). Both are free software for making music. The former uses the traditional notational system while the latter uses the sequencer type system plus a few more bells and whistles.

It helped that the music I "envisioned" wasn't complicated in structure. My goal was to give it the feel of the primal rhythms of Cordilleran tribal music. I'm no music major so I just tried my best and relied on instinct and intuition and a lot of experimentation. With the aid of the two programs, I was able breeze through the creation of the musical score in Three Days! Thank God I still remembered some of my piano lessons :)

I used MuseScore for the Flute parts and LMMS for the percussion parts.

Watch the Teaser-Trailer (and hear the musical score) HERE.

Hey! We Got Merchandize :)

It's not a real film project if you don't have T-shirts! And other cool stuff :)

Via the Kaleh & Mbaki Zazzle Store, You can be the proud owner of this Super Cool T-Shirt (hardsell). Other cool merchandize coming soon :)

Visit http://www.zazzle.com/kalehandmbaki

SUPPORT INDIE ANIMATION!!! :)

WARNING: Please make sure you check how much custom duties (TAX) are for importing items in your area. The shipping costs plus the tax can sometimes be as much as the cost of the merchandize.

The Diorama Look

                                 (A scene from the short film)

I've always been fascinated with miniatures and dioramas. When I was still in grade school, my parents took me and my siblings to the Ayala Museum Diorama exhibit. I was so amazed to see the small people with their small buildings and vehicles and even animals, doing their historical thing.

At that time I really didn't care too much about the historical significance of each set piece. The foremost thought in my mind was, I wish I could take some of those scale models home with me so I can play with them. Most especially the Battle Scenes. I imagined taking the Katipunero models and pitting them against the Guardia Civil or the Guerilla models against the Kempetai. I would have had tons of hours of fun playing with them if it would have been possible.

I guess that "play" impulse is still alive and thriving within me. It's the main reason, I believe, that I am now an Animated Filmmaker. I cannot think of charactesr without thinking of their story or circumstance or the world they live in. When developing the stories for Kaleh and Mbaki, I could always imagine the scenery and the whole environment they were in and with the help of CG animation I am able to make those imaginings into a reality. In pixels anyway :)

                (From the Ayala Museum - The Diorama Experience)

We Have A Teaser-Trailer!

The complete short will still take awhile (Han Solo is to blame) but here's a little something to tide everyone over till it's done. I hope everyone likes it :)

Kaleh At Mbaki Teaser (Tagalog) from Dennis E. Sebastian on Vimeo.

So What Is This Petroglyph Thingie?

Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. (from Wikipedia)

The Angono Petroglyphs is the oldest known work of art in the Philippines. There are 127 human and animal figures engraved on the rockwall dating back to 3000 BC. (also from Wikipedia)

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

What Is "Rendering" And What Does It Look Like?

I've been asked by some friends (who are not in the animation/CG profession) about what I mean when I say, all I can do is watch the screen get painted a few pixels at a time when the computer is currently "Rendering".

Wikipedia defines rendering as the process of generating an image from a model (or models in what collectively could be called a scene file), by means of computer programs. Clear? No?

The following video clip will show what the process looks like. (includes some bonus animation)

What Does "Rendering" Look Like? from Dennis E. Sebastian on Vimeo.

The video shows the render of 1 frame being finished in around 15 seconds because I sped up the simulation. It actually takes around 12 minutes to render. This particular shot has 207 frames so multiply that by 12 minutes = 2484 minutes divided by 60 minutes (1 hour) = 41 hours to render this particular shot.

41 hours of pixels doing their thing. It's no wonder that there are days when all I do is post youtube videos on facebook. :)

Kaleh Lighting and Render Test

A couple of weeks ago I started playing around with the lighting for one of Kaleh's shots. This process is paradoxically the most exciting and at the same time the most boring part of CG animation.

Exciting because for the first time I get to see the shots very close to how they would appear in final form. Boring because it's a trial and error process with lots of waiting.

Using the lowest settings, I still have to wait a minute or two for the machine to render (process) each image. At the higher settings I have to wait from 8 to 21 minutes before I can see what it looks like. Multiply the minutes by the number of setting changes done in a day and what you have is two weeks of watching images being painted a few pixels at a time. All for just one scene. No wonder they say that doing animation is like watching grass grow.

All that is worth it, however, when you finally hit the "sweet" settings and the shot begins to come alive :)

Kaleh Lighting and Render Test from Dennis E. Sebastian on Vimeo.

Hornbills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Hornbill

The Rufous Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax), also known as Philippine Hornbill and, locally, as Kalaw (pronounced kah-lau) is a large species of hornbill. It is endemic to the Philippines, where it occurs in primary, mature secondary and disturbed forests on 11 islands: Luzon and Marinduque (race hydrocorax), Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Panaon, Biliran, Calicoan and Buad (race semigaleatus), Dinagat, Siargao, Mindanao (plus Balut, Bucas and Talicud) and Basilan (race mindanensis).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan_hornbill

The Palawan Hornbill (Anthracoceros marchei), known locally as Talusi in Filipino language, is a smallish (approximately 70 centimetres (28 in) long) forest-dwelling bird. Its plumage is predominantly black with a white tail, a dark green gloss on its upper parts and a large creamy-white beak with a casque typical of the hornbill family.

These two species of hornbill were the main influences for Kaleh's design. One could actually refer to them as his parents.

Analog Mbaki

When my computer was out of commission for a couple of months, I was forced to go analog for that period of time and I'm actually glad. Not for the PC breaking down but for the opportunity to explore the character through traditional methods. There's nothing more real time than pen or pencil on paper. I still have a long way to go in terms of Drawing at the Speed of Thought like my artist friends but it really is fulfilling when you see your imagination take some physical form right in front of you. I need to do this more often :)

Analog Kaleh

I'm not very good at drawing. In fact I really only draw when I have to. Like when I have to explore what a character could/should look like and my imagination can't "conjure" anything I can turn straight into something three-dimensional on the computer.

The above drawing was done after many practice runs on the whiteboard. The drawings below are some of the more decent practice runs.

Pitching and Running

I'm late in posting for this week because yesterday, Sunday, I attended a Film Financing Forum and Pitchmart sponsored by the IFC - Pilipinas (Independent Filmmakers Cooperative). The talks/lectures were very enlightening and also sobering.

The Pitchmart was great fun but also very exhausting. There were around 20 producers in all. I was the only Animated Filmmaker pitching that day and the only short film at that. I felt like Tyrion Lannister the imp in the court of Eyrie surrounded by all of the Arryn's retainers.

The Pitch was done in the way of speed-dating wherein all pitchers had only 10 minutes to deliver their stuff and then a bell rings and all the producers move on to the next seat. It was almost chaotic. I actually botched my first few pitches but once I got warmed up I actually was able to get a lot of great response from the producers. Some of them actually laughed out loud (LOLLED) at the funny parts of the story. I wonder which of that, if any, will translate into actual funding or assistance. Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Also, I finally have real animation to show. It's just an animation test of Kaleh's run cycle but it sure beats a character model spinning in the Y-axis.

Kaleh Run Cycle from Dennis E. Sebastian on Vimeo.

Mbaki's Backpack and the Basket of Fruits

Finished the textures for Mbaki's Backpack and the Basket of Fruits. This was actually fun to do. Especially the fruits which looked delicious and really made me hungry while working on it.

Mbaki Texture Dev

Mbaki's color and texture is done. Mostly.

Again, I intend to add some weathering and imperfections but that will come later when I finish texturing the environment and props and everything comes together in the scene lighting tests.

Mbaki - CG Turnaround from Dennis E. Sebastian on Vimeo.

K & M mini-poster

still working on Mbaki's color and texture but the poster above is a sneak preview of how he will look like. the video clip below is just a series of dissolved stills showing the progression of the work.

K & M animated poster from destudioanima on Vimeo.

Kaleh Texture Dev

I think I'm almost done with Kaleh's color and texture. Will probably just add some weathering here and there to make it look less CG then on to some scene lighting tests to see if everything will hold up.

Here's a turntable animation of Kaleh showing the progression.

Kaleh - CG turnaround from destudioanima on Vimeo.

Good News Bad News

The bad news is that the Why The Sky Is High animated short film will be severely delayed. The good news is that Kaleh & Mbaki, the main characters from that story, will be featured in an earlier short film and it is already halfway done in animation and will be finished by early next year.

What does this actually mean? The story I've written has grown bigger and more complicated so much that I've decided to cut it down to different stories and therefore different shorts. The first short is tentatively titled, Feeding Time followed by Why The Sky Is High and then followed by... well, I'll let you know once the first two are done.

Funny thing about characters, you think you control them just because you created them but the truth is they have minds of their own and they'll do whatever they want. Like tell you to feature them in more stories :)


Kaleh color and texture development:
digital paint on gray shaded CG render


Mbaki color and texture development:
digital paint on gray shaded CG render

as I was saying...

Eight months and no post! Bad blogger bad blogger. In my defense I've been really busy. Not just with the film but with other projects as well.

such as...

The Green Attic project from destudioanima on Vimeo.

But the film is still progressing well albeit very slowly. I shall be posting new news very soon regarding it and this blog.

Stay tooned :)

Layout

I knew there was something I forgot to put on my to do list. Here's a quick update on the animated short. Progress is a bit slow but I am quite happy with the results so far. I just finished the layout for 2 sequences and will begin animating them tomorrow.

The following are images from the 3D Layout (Animatic) of sequences A and C. I've decided to put in some basic lighting with shadows to help me get a better feel of the mood of the scenes. I'm really really excited about these :)








There are still a million things to do for the film and for other projects also but what keeps me from going insane are compartmentalizing and taking things one day at a time.

... and naps.

Killing Your Darlings aka Writing Is ReWriting

Four weeks ago when I was preparing to animate Sequence B, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. I asked my self, "Do I really really need this sequence in the story? Want? Yes. Need? Not really. Actually, No." So with much regret, I dropped the whole Sequence B instead of animating it.

So what was so special about this sequence anyway? Well, it contains the Tribal Dance which sparked the idea for this whole animated short. It was the seed. It was the genesis. It was the answer to the question, "What animation do I want to see and therefore do."

I was really excited about it and did lots of research. I even choreographed my own version for the specific scene. But alas it is not meant to be. Goodbye tribal dance. You will be missed.

Also, I wound up rewriting Sequence A into something much better plus I finally wrote the ending for the story that I am happy with :)

So not animating for the past four weeks turned out to be a good thing after all :)

wire removal

I had my second (hopefully last) surgery for my knee this morning. The doctors removed the wire binding my previously fractured but now healed - patella. Prognosis is that with a couple of months more of therapy, I will be back to my devil may care bone-breaking jeepney-diving self again.

Oh, the animated film is moving along very well. Slowly but surely it will get made. I'll post some new stuff soon :)

Testing the Animation Rig

Hornbill Animation Test - Hop from destudioanima on Vimeo.

I spent quite a few weeks trying to get my hornbill animation rig to work the way I want it to and finally it's finished. I think.

storyreel excerpt

as promised, here's a short excerpt from the storyreel.

why the sky is high (storyreel excerpt) from destudioanima on Vimeo.

the title of the temp music is "Tongali" from the album Gangeh Di Montanyosa by the Mofamco Cultural Guild.

by the way, for those not familiar with the term, a storyreel (also called an animatic or leica reel) is the "watchable" form of the storyboard wherein temporary sound and music are edited together with the pictures. this precedes the animation stage and is usually concurrent with story and visual development.

so what you are watching is not the final "look" of the film. that will come later.

when?

working on it.

excuses, excuses, excuses...

so why haven't i posted anything for the last 5 months?

3 major reasons.

1. JULY - my computer died on me.

this is a picture of my computer not powering up. the light in the middle is not coming from within, it's probably a reflection of the light at the end of the tunnel. you know, the one leading to computer heaven.




2. SEPTEMBER - typhoon Ondoy (internationally known as Ketsana)

on september 26, 2009, the Philippines was hit by the worst flooding caused by a typhoon in 40 years. places that never had more than a few inches of floodwater were suddenly faced with waters as much as 20 feet deep. my neighborhood got off easy. just 5 feet outside on the street and around 3 feet inside the house. serious stuff nonetheless since we don't have a 2nd floor. unless you count the roof.



link to video of the floodwaters beginning to enter our house.


3. DECEMBER - diving accident ( or - don't dive into a swimming pool if it's actually a concrete pavement/ also - public transportation should not be mistaken for diving boards)

this is the xray of my knee after surgery. that roll of wires around the patella (kneecap) is holding it together so that the broken fragment won't detach itself. the surgeon was worried that it might go around sightseeing inside my body and cause further damage.





Ok, does this all mean I had stuff to post but just didn't have the opportunity to post them (due to aforementioned reasons) or am I just a big fat slacker making tons of excuses for not accomplishing anything?




here's my answer to that slacker allegation.

this is me contemplating, "wow! that's a lot of storyboards done by lil' ol' me.>"

this is still me, now trying to hold back the tears because i'm only halfway done with the boards. "sniff..."

this is my improvised light table.

this is the pile of drawings (blue pencil and inked versions) that i've drawn so far.

a very small fraction of the inked drawings taped on our main door. we don't have enough free walls for mounting all of the drawings so this is all i'm going to show. besides, i'm supposed to be making an animated short - not wallpapering the house.


in the past i've always hired professional illustrators and 2D artists to make the boards for my projects (see my other blog KARNABAL - mayo, show and tell, and tumatakbo ) but this time i decided to do them myself.

i know that the storyboard art is not very impressive but coming from someone whose focus has always been 3D CG, i must say that i really surprised myself. 212 storyboard panels and counting - and that's already version 3. version 1 and 2 were rough sketches and tiny thumbnails on post-its.

so what's next?

finish the storyboards of course, and then the storyreel. i've actually started on that. i might post a sample next time. maybe...

Happy New Year and God Bless!!!