Scene 9A Update: Lighting, Rendering, and Composite

Scene 6 Update: Matchmove and Blocking

Shot 9A Update: IK Rig

After rigging Gonk with a new full body IK rig I had to re-create my earlier work on this shot. Although my mocap actor did a fantastic job of staying in sync with the pre-recorded footage, lots of hand-tweaking was required to cement Gonk into the scene (firm hand placement, correct eyeline, etc)

The joint chains that control the whiskers are animated dynamically through a softbody particle rig that is part of the Maya 2010 Bonus Tools.

Shot 4D Update: Hand Keyed IK Rig

Now that Gonk has been updated with a full-body FK/IK control rig I am able to start hand-keying some of the more complex animation sequences. Nathan Brue, my mocap performer, did an admirable job of matching his movements to the footage but this shot requires a perfect synchronization between the live action bottle and Gonk's hands, which means lots of animation on my part.

The Kitchen Scene

Here is a quick playblast of the work in progress Maya scenes for shots 4E and 4F to see how everything looks put together. No rendering/compositing yet.

Interview Render Test

A render test to see how Gonk looks with full animation, motion blur, and displacement maps. Rendered with Mental Ray.

Procedural Compositing Test with Nuke

A short breakdown of my compositing technique using NukeX 6. A 3D camera is created for the shot and then the footage is re-projected back onto a floating card that conceals the desired object (in this case, a white brochure). I learned this trick from a video up on the Foundry's youtube page!

Shot 9A Matchmove and Animation

A raw playblast of the maya scene with low-res Gonk model to check matchmove and timing.

Shot 9A Motion Capture

Raw playblast of the Motion Builder scene for shot 9A. It's fun to see my character model in action finally! Clearly some hand animation will be required to make this shot feel authentic (ie no clipping through geometry and proper eye lines)

Interview Previs

My first animation test featuring both body and facial animation working together.

Midnight Snack & Mocap Editing

My first attempt at laying hand animation over the mocap data and "cementing" my character into the scene. Big thanks to my mocap performer Nathan Brue!

Boujou Matchmove Test

First matchmove using Boujou. The calibration and tweaking process is very user-friendly but I am even more impressed by how solid the automatic solves are!

Facial Performance Capture

Proof of concept demonstration of my facial motion capture rig. The actor's face is recorded by HD video camera and then key points on the face are optically tracked with Maya Live. These trackpoints are then used to animate locators which in turn animate the facial bones of my 3D character.

Motion Capture Test

First motion capture test using the low-poly Gonk model. I am excited by how well the legs work, even with the backwards knee.