Semester 2 - Final animation and the process of getting there

So starting where I left off last time, I had a model but no setting. This was the 'major' thing to do this side of the break.

After a few floor plan sketches I settled on this as a rough layout to get started on:

From here I want and got some inspiration from real Wallace and Gromit sets (As Aardman is quite a strong influence for me).

From these I saw that the sets consist of a mixture between sparsity and clutter. Clutter in these cases makes something feel lived in and inhabited, but as I was aiming at a gallery space it wasn't quite the right direction. One strong thing I picked up on is the obvious and purposeful aim for realism, and how the use and attention to scale can affect this.

So at this point I went to check out some real world gallery spaces:

From studying some real galleries I noticed that they all make use of light in some way, whether it is sunlight through windows or wall lights used to show off hanging artwork. Also, Pillars.

So joining together what I've learned from studying both Aardman and the real world, these things stand out to include:

-Pillars

-Make use of light

-Utilise and play with scale to aid in realism

-Add in small things to give a 'lived in' feel

(I also noticed that many galleries use a lot of glass so I checked this out too)

Right. Onwards!

So I built up the base exterior first. - dem pillars.

From this inside.

Based off the storyboard I'm seeing if it will look right for the far in the distance over the shoulder shot. Seems legit.

At this point I decided the gallery needed a big dome set piece to let light in and cast some interesting shadows. 

Frame made and putting the glass in.

Finito. 

nice.

The floor gets a shiny texture here.

In between then and now I made a lift with a glowing blue light. you can barely see it but thats what I was checking.

Testing a change in the materials.

Thats better.

Any good gallery needs a set of revolving doors.

Here's the lift doors outside of the gallery and I'm trying to get the button light to glow properly.

Now onto the paintings and interior lighting. Installed.

Perfected.

Just testing to see if it'll look like I imagined. Seems pretty good, though a change in scale between paintings would be good to implement in the future.

Right, now to find the sun and change the time of day.

Mmmm sunrise...

Things are looking good now!

Dat Mac, Dem Shadows.

Checking the second story looked proper and fitting, also checking out the blue light and sunrise shadows.

Now its time to start putting in the artwork. These are the images I deemed fitting for my gallery:

So, the artwork is sorted. Forwards we go.

Such beauty. 

Experimenting with some upstairs lighting.

It's not really lighting up much so I'm trying various things to get the light to bounce in but I can't figure that so...

Side wall lights!

In situ with the lift.

A render from the from the left rotating door.

One of the side wing windows.

Another view.

Another view.

Another view.

Filling up the gallery spaces with other models. Go star wars!

The lift at the back of the room, now with some chairs. Cosy.

The lighting is nearing completion at this point. All the paintings are in and the cases are ready to be filled.

Another view.

The cases are now being filled. You can see in the bottom right there is now a wee car.

View from the balcony. I've incorporated my other animation projects in this gallery space too. You can see Waldorf in the bottom right.

From here I play with the lighting using the filter settings and other final gather lighting options.

Another yonder window.

The back corner test.

And it is here yet again from further back. The chairs are also fixed after they broke themselves.

Pretty much ready for animation and rendering at this stage.

And so with that, the animation began... and it took a wee while with each frame taking about 14 minutes per frame to render (yeah 5 machines rendering at once!). 

And here it is, the final animation for scene 6: