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!
Oh janey!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to have missed you in Annecy, we coulda "done lunch" and got some "face time" just like them hollywood fatcats!
These guys are shaping up really well, looking forward to seeing them move!
Yes, we should have done that, I'll keep that in mind for next year!
ReplyDeleteThanks, right now I'm fitting the robot with the new armature. Hopefully I'll finally finish it this week :)