Atom Pancakes - Typewriter Progress

While writing my dissertation, and working on an animatic, the typewriter has been slowly coming together. This has got to be one of the most complicated things I've ever modeled! Anyway, here is are a few sneak previews of what to expect when its finished.

Since this image was rendered, the proportions have slightly changed, but it does give a good impression of what it will look like. The middle section, (one of the most complicated parts) has been modeled separately, and then attached to the rest of the typewriter. Having done that, I realised that I should have modeled the middle bit first as I then had to tweak the main structure to house the middle bit, which couldn't be changed as that part was functioning correctly.



and here is a close up of the mid section.

Notice the many keys that are centered around the ribbon that is suspended in the middle. (not that the ribbon goes anywhere at the moment) Well, as you will see in the next image, the letter blocks have been added and rotated so that when the keys rotate to the center, the block always hit the ribbon upright, and unfortunately for me, the long metal bits had to be manually bent to the position of the blocks one by one!


I had to spend hours looking at so many typewriters before I fully understood the mechanics of the mid section, and only then could I have modeled this, but it was well worth it. I just need to keep seeing where things can be simplified, but remain functional, while adding small amounts of details, like the screws. I'm aiming to get this finished by the end of Friday so once the typewriter is finished, I will be in charge of rigging the character.

I may as well post these too.

The books!


and a filing cabinet.


Later this week all the props will be uploaded to the Atom Pancakes blog with wire-frames and uv's.


A Flock of Pixels

Atom Pancakes - Props

The animatic is almost ready, so just a little bit longer to wait! At the moment the sound is being added so hopefully it's going to be uploaded by the end of the day. Meanwhile I've been modelling some props!

First we have the lamp. This is finished apart from organising the uv's onto the map area, but it is unfolded!




This is what it looks like from the back.

and under the light. (the bulb isn't exactly fixed to anything but no ones going to be looking there!)


Here is the switch for it.


and some clean beveling.


and another fancy connection.


and amongst all this greyness, a nice clean blueish render. All it needs are textures and shaders.



Then we have the glass and bottle. Both finished, but need to be uv mapped.







The pencil sharpener is a work in progress.

Not sure about the side bits though. hmm.



Then we have an alien battle fleet!

Actually they are the buttons to this typewriter.

Again, this is another work in progress. I've stopped working on it for a while because I was unsure of how to model the complex mechanics on top. However since then I have found even more useful references, which should hopefully make the process easier.


Of course our typewriter doesn't need to be quite as complex as this, but at the same time, it needs to be fairly realistic. At least its not necessary to model and rig the complete mechanics of the typewriter. That would be a nightmare!

Ruben is going to start modelling the character tomorrow so, it wont be long before I'm rigging that!

Don't forget to visit Atom Pancakes.

A Flock of Pixels

Untitled

As some may have gathered, my blog has been inactive recently. I've been spending a lot more of my time working on my dissertation, so there has been little to show in terms of project work. Although very soon I shall be posting an animatic for the animation, but at its current stage, it doesn't actually make any sense. Missing boards, no sound effects and music make it only watchable to me and the rest of the team. We are running about a week behind schedule due to needing to spend a little more time on the story, however we are all confident that we can catch up. Next week we aim to get started on production, while also finishing off whats left of pre production.
Although I have had less input in pre production artistically, I have done my best to keep the project on track (being the time manager!) and as some may know, my dedication to the story hasn't gone unnoticed! Although the last couple of weeks I have been trying to be more open to other ideas and have been seeing how things pan out.

Once production is underway, I imagine this blog becoming more active and as soon as we have our first draft animatic, you can be sure it will be posted here first!