The Pre Visualisation Process - Characters

Maybel's Entrance and Exterior

Having trouble with adjusting a characters position, their controls seem to have a mind of their own once I adjust their scale…

I Played around with Maya’s colour settings once I had the characters basic movement key selected and ready. to remove the grey background, and change it to something more immersive. A simple sky blue. 

I key selected slightly different camera positions to create the effect of a ‘handheld’ camera. 

Framed the shot with a few more trees, I tried to improve the composition further by adding a simple path, which breaks up the flat green plane.

I found it really challenging to replicate a seated position with these characters, the controls take some getting used to. 

I ended up having some real trouble with using the character’s IK Handles, I ultimately had to use very simple movement in this scene because of the difficulties I was having. My main challenge was trying to deal with troublesome controls; the IK Handles would move without the characters. Objects would also mysteriously loose their textures. This was a very time consuming shot!

Reception

Adding characters to the reception set  involved creating two characters to sit behind the desk, looking busy.

I changed their clothing slightly using photoshop, making their shirts blue to match the community centre's uniform.

Below shows both receptionists in the scene, the camera pans across the desk.

It took me many hours of experimentation to realise that I should have been moving my characters with the ‘master control’, instead of their outliner group…

Patrick's Desk

In order to begin scenes involving Patrick’s office, I needed a modelled character. I wanted to spend a little time editing his appearance to show his significance to the story.

Created some minor adjustments to the pre-made texture for the modelled character. The clothing now resembles Maybel’s community centre uniform. 

The modelled Patrick sitting at his desk. The costume looks rough…but it gets the idea across.

I think that my ambitious idea to have Patrick doing origami is a little to tricky to show through pre-vis. I therefore decided to replace this origami with a book. 

The camera then pans across his desk to reveal the mess.

I changed the previous scene last minute...Instead of having Patrick reading a book, I decided have my character completing a different action, something that suggests has lazy personality clearer. In the new scene, Patrick is seen playing Tetris and ignoring the ringing phone seen in the foreground.

This scene in particular is very underwhelming in CG, as it focuses on facial expression. Therefore, the shots are static and boring, with little happening…

I modelled a quick toolbox for Patrick to bring to the table, a simple cube and torus for a handle.

I wasn’t satisfied with the fishing toolbox I initially modelled; the outcome was very simple and rushed as I was pressed for time. I revisited this prop and improved its appearance. I found this necessary because of how important the prop is to the main character, Patrick.

The Art Exhibition

This scene is short, but needs to communicate an argument. I found it easier to suggest a passive posture for Patrick and an angrier pose for the secondary character. The contrasting poses make this shot easier to understand in Pre-vis.

The Gymnasium

The gymnasium scene involves an immense number of characters, ideally more than what is shown. I decided to shrink the pre-set characters to the height of a primary schooler, and created simple floating movements to suggest a crowd in motion. 

Props will hopefully clarify the simple movements of my characters. The ‘yoga’ mats and future boom box will suggest that these characters are doing aerobics. 

The Burnt Ruins

When creating camera and character movement, I kept composition in mind. Along with this, I felt that continuity and accurate flow was important. Hopefully, my camera movements will feel natural and handheld.