April 11, 2012 : Ninja Tales Animation Work Flow
There hasn’t been much talk about Ninja Tales lately, but that isn’t because production has slowed. In fact, it is still in high gear. The seventh short (out of twelve) is now complete. Rather than show a finished still, below is a screen grab of animation in action for one of the early sequences in the short.
The plan is to begin releasing Ninja Tales a little after the eighth short is completed. A new video will be made viewable each week. The hope is that there won’t be any interruptions during this release period. Instead it will be twelve straight weeks of ninja goodness!
posted by Pi Visuals at 4:38 pm
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March 1, 2012 : New House Establishing Shot
Reusing establishing shots is a commonly used technique in animation – or at least modifying existing 3D models. Creating a new one just for a few seconds of air time isn’t the most efficient use of time. Still, every so often a scene occurs in a new setting, which necessitates an entirely new establishing shot. Below is a quick render that was needed for the fifth Ninja Tales short.
It’s nothing special, and it only took a few hours (and probably a few more to iron out the details). However, I like how it came out particularly since I used the house I grew up in as a reference. Sometimes working on a standalone 3D model is a nice change of pace from animating – assuming it isn’t too involved.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:17 am
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February 20, 2012 : Oh, The Drama (Underscore)
The fourth Ninja Tales short is wrapping up. Animation is complete, and a few post-production items remain. One of the recently completed tasks was to compose a quick dramatic underscore to accompany a rather tense moment. I considered purchasing stock footage, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I did a little research and wrote my own – with the help of MIDI software of course. The end result is below:
[audio:http://www.pivisuals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sc4_SuspenseUnderscore.mp3]I’m pretty happy with how it came out, particularly since I don’t score too many orchestral pieces. The file will be edited a little for the short, but the full version is pretty nice, too.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:57 pm
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February 12, 2012 : Short Number Three Complete! Bombs Away!
The third Ninja Tales short is complete. This one was definitely a fun one to animate – in addition to the regular cast, there was a one-off character thrown in the mix. Below is a screen shot (which explains this post’s title).
Storyboarding for short number four will begin soon, followed by animation. The next short should go fairly quickly. Unlike the previous ones, this is predominantly a two person scene – so less people to animate. But it’s still a goodie.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:41 pm
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January 28, 2012 : Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
The good news: the second short of Ninja Tales was completed yesterday. The bad news: something bothered me after watching it. It has to do with the texturing of the ninjas. It’s not a huge issue, but I know it’s something that will bother me if I don’t correct it. Sadly, the perfectionist in me realizes I need to fix the previously finished short (and Intro Animation) as well.
The end result is I need to re-render every frame with a ninja in it. This includes the Intro Animation, the first short, and the second. This isn’t a huge time drain, but it will take a day or two to get everything taken care of. Fortunately, I can set up a few renders and begin storyboarding the third short in the meantime.
Still, things are moving forward.
posted by Pi Visuals at 2:59 pm
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January 25, 2012 : Ninja Tales Headquarters
Animation for the second short of Ninja Tales is wrapping up, and it should be completely finished within the next day or two. This short was one of the longer ones and had several characters in it – so it was much more time consuming than most of the rest of the Ninja Tales. Below is an establishing shot for the short – the building where our ninja do their magic. It was created by Moridin.
It’s tough not to love this shot – unless you hate ninjas. At which point, I’d wonder why you’re on this site at all. Anyway, once a few more shorts are in the can, the release of Ninja Tales will commence.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:53 pm
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January 20, 2012 : Archer’s Return
Last night was the season 3 premiere of Archer, a show that keeps getting better and better. The next 12 weeks will certainly be brighter because of it. I haven’t had a chance yet to watch the new show following Archer, Unsupervised. While the commercials haven’t been all that impressive, I plan on giving it a shot. In addition to being created by producers from It’s Always Sunny (including Rickety Cricket), the creators of both Archer and Sunny serve as Executive Producers. So it definitely has potential.
As for Ninja Tales, the second short is moving along. If all goes well, it should be complete early next week – then onto the next one. Below is a render from a few days ago.
Plenty more to come.
posted by Pi Visuals at 2:57 pm
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January 6, 2012 : Second Ninja Tales Short Coming Along… Slowly
The second short for Ninja Tales is moving along, although at a slower than desired pace. The storyboarding has been completed (outside of a few minor tweaks here and there), but animation has only just started. Below is a preliminary render of one of the few completed sequences.
I enjoy the staging of the characters in this shot as well as their expressions. There are also a few nice small props that I like. This short is one of the longer Ninja Tales’ shorts. In fact, it is the second longest out of the 12 that have been written, clocking in around 90 seconds. Therefore, I expect it to take some time to complete this one.
posted by Pi Visuals at 9:16 pm
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December 28, 2011 : Holiday Cheer… Ninja Style
Well the holidays have come and gone; and as usual, things have been pretty hectic. But don’t fret, production of Ninja Tales has moved along quite nicely. In fact, the first short is nearly complete. As previously stated, it won’t be released until a few more of them are also done. In the meantime, below is a screen grab to tide yourselves over:
Normally, I would be content sharing a screen grab with everybody and call it a post; but it’s the holidays, so here’s another present – the title of the first short… Taking Aim. That clears things up completely, doesn’t it? Of course not. You’ll just have to wait a few more weeks to watch it.
posted by Pi Visuals at 7:33 pm
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December 19, 2011 : What’s Up, Ninja?
Animation is moving along for the first short of Ninja Tales – albeit, slightly slower than desired. Even still, it only felt right to share a preliminary screen grab to everyone.
The background for this shot hasn’t been rendered out, yet – but I really I liked the staging of the characters. At the risk of jinxing things, there haven’t been any major setbacks thus far. Although, it’s still early on. Even though the first short is expected to be completed within a week or two, it won’t be released until after the New Year. The hope is to have a few shorts in the can prior to putting them up for everyone to ridicule… I mean enjoy.
posted by Pi Visuals at 4:46 pm
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