Bleep

Update time! New robot pictures!
Ofcourse it's not done yet.. this is just a dry assembly, I need to gleu some of the joint parts to the puppet and make sure the joints are nice and comfy/tight.











As you can see I still have to finish the mouth replacements, and the eyelids.
I'm still surprised that I made the robot so heavy, shouldn't have used that much wood. I'll need to build a supporting rig in case the robot needs to stand on one leg.

Also, I had my first exam last week, but they gave me half a year extra to finish my film. Which I'm glad about because I became too stressed out lately.
It's good to know that I have enough time to animate properly and fine tune my film :)

Post Annecy update

I'm back on track a bit, had a few busy days not working on my project. I'm still working on the puppet ofcourse. I picked up the armature supplies at the Animation Supplies at the MIFA in Annecy. Got to speak with Andrew who designs the armatures himself. Nice guy, I even got to buy the armature for a lower price :)

Anyhoo, here's a pic of the robot so far.



I'm still working on assembling the joints. Been glueing and sawing like a mad man for the last two days. My first deadline is next tuesday, I hope to get some animation tests ready with soundeffects before that time.

Pre Annecy update

*EDIT: added some more photo's*

Well, the puppet's not finished yet. I wanted to finish it earlier this week, but I've gotten pretty tired with working on this film the last couple of days. I wanted too, but I could only pull off a couple of hours a day (instead of like 8 on a normal work day).
But luckily I'm going to leave for the Annecy festival today, I really need this vacation, RIGHT NOW. So I'm glad my little "setback" in working on this project came now, and not 2 months before or after the festival.

Anyhoo, here's some pictures of the robot so far.









I rigged the legs, but I discovered the puppet's body is actually a bit too heavy to support it. It works fine when it's standing on both legs, but when I need to animate a walkcycle or a dance, it tends to get a bit wobbly. So I decided to order a ball & socket armature at Animation Supplies. I started using aluminum wire because I thought a professional armature was too expensive.
But since this is my graduation film, and I want the robot to animate properly without falling over, I decided to order one.

I should have avoided using wood for the torso, but I couldn't really find a material that was easy to handle and as sturdy as wood. All the other parts are quite heavy too, it was a bit naïve of me to think the robot wouldn't get too wobbly this way. At least I learned something :)
Hopefully the re-rigging process won't take long!

Well, I'm off to watch animations and enjoy the sun in France.

Au revoir!