Rhia Crouch's Blog

I've been thinking about the style of the background for the animation. I havn't had many ideas as to what it should look like but I know that it should fit around the stage that the characters stand on. Background Test 1 The first background test is acting as the place holder while I animate the characters. It was also the first ideas that I had about what the background could look like, following along the lines of it looking painted like the characters. Background Test 2 The second design is based off of the first idea but I wanted to try out a different patten style. I'm not too fond of this one as I feel that it looks too much like the night sky with stars which shouldn't make sense in my story. Background Test 3 I did get some feedback after I post some renders that showed the place holder background I was given the idea of useing shapes, as this would relate back to the shapes used to build up the characters. This could be where I go with the ba...

After I tried out the colours for the pop-ups I designed to try them out on the stage to see how they would play out. I also wanted to see how the dome in the middle would look as the Earth, as the Moon and Sun would mostly be on either most of the time along with adding a nice centerpiece. I might redo the Earth abit more so that the pattens on the texture have more shape.

Testing out what the base colour should be for the pop-ups. I was thinking of useing colours that seemed similar to different types of wood, but I feel that these colours are abit too strong so I might have to tone them down a little bit. Any feedback is welcomed. Farmer pop-up and Corn pop-up Can't sleep pop-up and Jack Frost pop-up Lovers pop-up and Sleep pop-up Travelers pop-up and Waves pop-up

I seem to be having a problem with the eye textures as a white ring appears around the eye where it should be blending in to the base head texture. White rings on Moon White rings on Sun I did have this problem before with the Sun model and the way I fixed it was to redo the eye shapes so that they were saved with the base texture when I flattened the image. However, it seems that this has no lasted as both characters have this issue after I imported them in to the stage scene to started animating. I might resave the textures for the file and replug them in, but I'm worried that after I start to move the files uni to home and back again the problem might happen again.

Sun's facial rig for the 2D textures is on the model. I don't see any problems with this one but I have had trouble when I have had to reload the textures when I have moved the files to a different computer. However, after working on it for a bit the textures do reload. Sun Face Rig Test from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo .

Moon finally has her face textures on her model. It was alot easier to set up than I throught and I was able to make changes to the textures if I notice a mistake with them. I have notice that in the video below Moon's left eye moves up slightly higher. I havn't been able to work where this could be happening in the rig as the values seem to be the same. Moon Face Rig Test from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo .

Sun's facial expressions sheet to show the different eyes and mouths that will be used to show the different expressions that I will be used on the character during the animation. Just like with Moon, I might create a list showing what the different shapes will look like when they are put together.

After getting some feedback I've re-coloured Sun and Moon's eyes so that they are not as bright. I've also gone over the colours on Moon's eye so that they match the colours of the rest of the textures. I didn't change the colours on Sun's as they seem to already match the texture colours.

Moon's facial expression sheet. The top line shows the different eyes for Moon (Open, Blink, Shocked, Angery and Sad) while the bottom line shows the mouths (Smile, Open Smile, Sad, Open Sad, Basic and Gritting Teeth). I might create another sheet showing what they look like combined together.

Fixed Moon's eyes so that they fit better on the model. Fixed Moon Eyes

I been working on the 2D face textures for my characters but to make sure that they fit on the models I did a quick test to see how they would size up. The Sun's face seems to be working fine but I might have to rework Moon's eyes a bit more as I feel that it's a bit too big and make her look like a bug. Her mouth also seems to be too big. I also feel that they look a bit cross eyed but this might be due to the fact that the eyes are in the middle and not relaxed. Moon Face Texture Test Sun Face Texture Test

I have been trying to work out the lighting for the stage that will be the main location for my animation. I've been playing around with useing colour lighting to help add another element to my characters. This will hopfully give the idea that they are glowing with light on their side of stage, it will also give the idea that they have some type of power behind them. Sun light colour test Moon light colour test I also been trying to work out what the background should look like and how it will help to light the stage. I've added in a test background sot hat I can see how the texture would effect the lighting on the sky dome light. Lighting background test Moon light colour test with background Sun light colour test with background After feeling that this was abit too dark I added another area light over the stage to brighten it up and it seems to be the closest to what I want to achieve. Lighing test with background 1 Lighting test with ba...

Pop-ups for the animation have been UVed. The textures for these should be alot easier as I plan for them to be soild colours with the wood textures. Farmer and Corn Pop-ups Can't Sleep and Jack Frost Pop-ups Lover and Sleep Pop-ups Traveller and Waves Pop-ups

I have finally fixed up the characters' textures so that they look better and match up to each other. Some of the patterns on the Sun don't 100% match up but as the edges are in places that are hard to see or places that would not seen at all, I didn't spend forever trying to get them perfect. Now that I have gotten the colours worked out I can now start to work on them looking more look wood. Moon textures 1 Moon textures 2 Moon textures 3 Sun textures 1 Sun textures 2 Sun textures 3

I have started to work my characters textures. They are still a little rough around the edges as I was trying to see how they would work on the characters first and what changes I would need to make. Moon texture 1 Moon texture 2 Moon texture 3 Sun texture 1 Sun texture 2 Sun texture 3