Let There Be Toys! Part 1: CG Modeling

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Scene from "The Last Cookie"

Today we're going to give you a look into the process for creating a toy.  The first toy I'm attempting to make is a figure of the younger sister from Shiro Ninja's short film, "The Last Cookie".  The first step will be to create a computer generated 3-dimensional sculpture of our toy.

Below are a few work in progress images of the CG sculpture:

There are a few finishing touches still needed for this model.  Once done I can move on to the next step of prepping the model for a process called "Rapid Prototyping" or "RP".  RP allows us to quickly see how the character is going to look in its final toy form.  Look forward to part 2 where I will prepare the finished model for Rapid Prototyping!

-07-

Flip book time!!

Shiro Ninja sanjou! It's time to flip some pages! Below is a shot I just finished animating in which the boy is doing a spinning back kick!! (Please disregard the scribbles on the sides... This is still a rough pass, and I try to reuse paper as much as possible for our tree friends...) Animating the traditional way means constantly flipping pages to see if the motion is working. This scene will be a lot faster when it's edited in real time, but at least we get an idea of whether or not the action is working.

Spinning back kick!! from Shiro Ninja on Vimeo.

Until next time...
Nin nin!!

More messy drawings

Shiro Ninja sanjou! Hello friends. I'd like to share some more rough animation fighting scenes with you. This is a continuation of the last rough animation clip I posted. (Please pardon the extreme messiness of the drawings!!)


Fight Scene2 (Rough Animation) from Shiro Ninja on Vimeo.

By the way, the previous scene that I posted ended up being over 60 drawings for a mere 4.5 seconds of action! So, for my brother, who asks, "Why does animation take so long???" .....That is why.

Drawing the "cleaned up" version of that scene on paper presented an unexpected challenge: their huge heads and tiny arms made it really hard to punch at each other without their noggins colliding! It all worked out in the end though!

Until next time. Nin, nin!

-Shiro Ninja-

Rough Animation

Today I thought I'd show you what happened to those thumbnail sketches from my previous post. Every Last Cookie clip you've seen so far has been drawn and colored on paper. I give all of those drawings to Zero7 to scan and edit in the computer. For most animators, there's a little trial and error involved in the animation process. To check if the animation is working properly, you do numerous "pencil tests," which are basically video footage of test animation. Because I don't want to waste too much of Zero7's time, I do all of my preliminary animation in Flash first. As you'll see below, it's VERY rough... but it doesn't need to look pretty. At this stage, all I care about is how the action looks. Flash allows me to quickly draw, adjust timing, and playback the animation all at the click of a button. Once I'm happy with the action, I start working on paper, using the Flash animation test as a guide, but this time trying to make each frame look pretty.


Fight scene (Rough Animation) from Shiro Ninja on Vimeo.


Keep an eye out for some final images of this scene!
Saraba!

-Shiro Ninja-

Yattaaa!! \(^o^)/

Shiro Ninja here... just finished a scene that really kicked my butt (-_-;)

When we last left our two cookie monsters, they were staring each other down and ready to strike! If you can't tell already, "The Last Cookie" is about to get intense. The truth is, I've been dreading this next sequence for months. These action sequences need to be really awesome... otherwise I will have to commit seppuku! (>o<) I was watching LOTS of anime fighting clips, wushu choreography, and some just plain gross violence, trying to get some sort of inspiration, but I just couldn't figure out this next sequence. Then, I went back to one of the original inspirations for Last Cookie: "Ranma 1/2."

"The Last Cookie" originally came about ten years ago when I was obsessed with Ranma and also watching way too much "Dragonball Z" on Toonami. Needless to say, after watching several episodes of Ranma, I finally knew what I wanted to do with this next part, and came up with these thumbnails:



Next time I will show you the rough animation phase!

Nin, nin!

Cookie part II

Shiro Ninja, sanjou!! I have been ordered by a very high ranking ninja to post new scenes of "The Last Cookie." My mission almost failed when my most valuable weapon, the ninja light table, broke! Thankfully, some skillful technicians fixed my table, and I am able to deliver some new scenes to you. Please be sure to check out the previous Cookie post for the first part of the story if you haven't watched that already!




Saraba!!

-Shiro Ninja-

More cookie

Hello fellow ninjas. I've finally got some new scenes to share from "The Last Cookie." Thank you to everyone who's been helping with the coloring! Look for your names in the credits once the short is done. Feel free to comment, and keep an eye out for more updates. It's still anyone's game... who will get the last cookie??

Saraba!

The Last Cookie (W.I.P.)

Shiro Ninja, sanjou!! Greetings! I am Shiro Ninja, here to share some 2D fun with you. Back in Ninja film school, I made a short film called, "The Last Cookie." At the time I had no formal animation training, and it was always my desire to redo it someday and make it awesome! Now with a few years of animation under my obi, I'm in the process of remaking this short film. Here's what we have so far...







That's all for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Ninja smoke bomb!!