If you have found yourself so bored that you've clicked onto this blog, then check out these bread-related links...
Dr. Toast's Blog - DJ and also the best bread blog on the intermoweb.
Toast Leaner's Club - The ONLY practical way to cool off toast...
Toast By Post - Yes, you can actually BUY slices of Toast...many styles to choose from...
Toast Club - MySpace-Cadets only. Check out my thread plugging this film. Shamlessly.
Live Long and eat toast!
~breadmaker
Friday, February 23, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Halfway?
Aloha!
Things are happening so quickly at the moment - it's very exciting!
You may be pleased to hear that I now have 1'05 animated so far, which is just over halfway. Distinct lack of tests uploaded here since they are not fully finalised, but I'll try to get some more shots up soon.
I did a photoshoot for the second half yesterday, including the extra elements for the conveyer belt scenes, the Toaster and the toast rack (unbelievably hard to find! and such little choice!) after some hunting around some shops.
The rest of this week will mostly be spent doing the Sandwiches scene, which has been altered thanks to some input from Leonie. It was not clear that the sandwich had been turned over halfway through to show the flip side of it, (the male face) so this action now depicts the flip moving to the other side of the screen, following the classic 180' rule. Directorially, this works a lot better now, although will have to adjust the animation a bit....
The backgrounds will also feature some hand-drawn elements within them to help blend the bread into the world I'm creating. I hope to visit IKEA in the next week or so to take pictures of some kitchens to provide the settings, which I can then manipulate later. Watch this space.
Still recieving good feedback in the studio so far about the movements and style...the studio is such a great place to work *plug* so come join in the fun!
PS: Aimee is going to print a Bread t-shirt for me as well, so I'll have a nice picture of that up soon too! :)
Things are happening so quickly at the moment - it's very exciting!
You may be pleased to hear that I now have 1'05 animated so far, which is just over halfway. Distinct lack of tests uploaded here since they are not fully finalised, but I'll try to get some more shots up soon.
I did a photoshoot for the second half yesterday, including the extra elements for the conveyer belt scenes, the Toaster and the toast rack (unbelievably hard to find! and such little choice!) after some hunting around some shops.
The rest of this week will mostly be spent doing the Sandwiches scene, which has been altered thanks to some input from Leonie. It was not clear that the sandwich had been turned over halfway through to show the flip side of it, (the male face) so this action now depicts the flip moving to the other side of the screen, following the classic 180' rule. Directorially, this works a lot better now, although will have to adjust the animation a bit....
The backgrounds will also feature some hand-drawn elements within them to help blend the bread into the world I'm creating. I hope to visit IKEA in the next week or so to take pictures of some kitchens to provide the settings, which I can then manipulate later. Watch this space.
Still recieving good feedback in the studio so far about the movements and style...the studio is such a great place to work *plug* so come join in the fun!
PS: Aimee is going to print a Bread t-shirt for me as well, so I'll have a nice picture of that up soon too! :)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Progress Report
Aloha!
This weeks activites have been nicely on schedule, despite the snow and travelling home for the weekend. I managed to get more than my 'one test done' by also completing the first of the "Mischievous Toast" sequences as well.
Today, I completed the "Barry being sliced" sequence. In animation, why does it take an entire morning just to slice a peice of bread? It's insane! Why is animation so long and complicated??? Anyway, after some initial worries about how to keep the slices consistent against the back of the loaf and falling flat dsespite my poor photography - I managed to get it looking really good.
Premiere pro is also becoming just a place where I am merely inputing the final sequences and rendering pencil tests - as After Effects is the most effective and fluent software for actually compiling all the stuff I need to. Go figure.
Still, I now have 27 seconds in total of near-complete animation - now I need to work on backgrounds and also have at least 5 sequences done by the end of this week.
Can I build it? I think so....
~breadmaker.
This weeks activites have been nicely on schedule, despite the snow and travelling home for the weekend. I managed to get more than my 'one test done' by also completing the first of the "Mischievous Toast" sequences as well.
Today, I completed the "Barry being sliced" sequence. In animation, why does it take an entire morning just to slice a peice of bread? It's insane! Why is animation so long and complicated??? Anyway, after some initial worries about how to keep the slices consistent against the back of the loaf and falling flat dsespite my poor photography - I managed to get it looking really good.
Premiere pro is also becoming just a place where I am merely inputing the final sequences and rendering pencil tests - as After Effects is the most effective and fluent software for actually compiling all the stuff I need to. Go figure.
Still, I now have 27 seconds in total of near-complete animation - now I need to work on backgrounds and also have at least 5 sequences done by the end of this week.
Can I build it? I think so....
~breadmaker.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Mesh Warp Tests
Aloha!
OK - so this week has only had 3 working days for me, as I am going home for my mum's birthday tomorrow (snow permitting) and so have been trying to complete my first test for making the bread pictures move.
I found a 2D Warp effect in Photoshop - this was good, but had to be executed frame-by-frame.
I then considered using after effects, to see if it had the same effect, but could be manipulated smoother using key-frames. Thankfully, this was the case and the work screen looks a little like this:
The grid that is supermimposed over the photograph is what I control to formulate the moves, layered over the pencil test to track the movement. I then put the eyes/mouth on another layer above the final image.
This has been hit and miss so far, and the test above represents the third attempt at getting the keyframes correct. It is tricky to do, and takes about 15 minutes to render each attempt, but it does look kinda cool....any thoughts???
Video processing on YouTube now...
~breadmaker
.
OK - so this week has only had 3 working days for me, as I am going home for my mum's birthday tomorrow (snow permitting) and so have been trying to complete my first test for making the bread pictures move.
I found a 2D Warp effect in Photoshop - this was good, but had to be executed frame-by-frame.
I then considered using after effects, to see if it had the same effect, but could be manipulated smoother using key-frames. Thankfully, this was the case and the work screen looks a little like this:
The grid that is supermimposed over the photograph is what I control to formulate the moves, layered over the pencil test to track the movement. I then put the eyes/mouth on another layer above the final image.
This has been hit and miss so far, and the test above represents the third attempt at getting the keyframes correct. It is tricky to do, and takes about 15 minutes to render each attempt, but it does look kinda cool....any thoughts???
Video processing on YouTube now...
~breadmaker
.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Photo Day
“No, that’s not a Ruth…”
It’s been a peculiar morning – since today is the day I start photographing the textures and real-life elements for the production of Bread. I searched the shelves of Sainsbury’s to find some real life bread to use, looking at shapes, colours, textures and trying to make them fit to what I have drawn.
I imagine I looked quite stupid, or student, picking up loaf after loaf and shaking my head, muttering words like “It’s just not quite the right shape...” or “Barry wouldn’t have seeds on top of him.” Calling Bread by names in public doesn’t go down well. I would avoid it if you can.
Still, after Sainsbury’s (and discovering that 90% of bread is pre-sliced, to my annoyance, as this renders it almost useless in my film) I stopped by my local, Wren’s Bakery, and the nice lady waited patiently as I leaned over the counter choosing loaves very particularly, pointing my fingers and guiding her grasp to acquire (and then wrap specifically) the bread of my choice. I did however inform her I would be photographing them, so she understood I wasn’t a nutter.
So, the film is shaping up nicely – all pencil testing completed and photography will be rendered and edited in Photoshop over the next few weeks for characters, backgrounds and then final animation production. I’m still not sure exactly how this is all going to work – but I have plenty of time to do it so I am optimistic!
~breadmaker
.
It’s been a peculiar morning – since today is the day I start photographing the textures and real-life elements for the production of Bread. I searched the shelves of Sainsbury’s to find some real life bread to use, looking at shapes, colours, textures and trying to make them fit to what I have drawn.
I imagine I looked quite stupid, or student, picking up loaf after loaf and shaking my head, muttering words like “It’s just not quite the right shape...” or “Barry wouldn’t have seeds on top of him.” Calling Bread by names in public doesn’t go down well. I would avoid it if you can.
Still, after Sainsbury’s (and discovering that 90% of bread is pre-sliced, to my annoyance, as this renders it almost useless in my film) I stopped by my local, Wren’s Bakery, and the nice lady waited patiently as I leaned over the counter choosing loaves very particularly, pointing my fingers and guiding her grasp to acquire (and then wrap specifically) the bread of my choice. I did however inform her I would be photographing them, so she understood I wasn’t a nutter.
So, the film is shaping up nicely – all pencil testing completed and photography will be rendered and edited in Photoshop over the next few weeks for characters, backgrounds and then final animation production. I’m still not sure exactly how this is all going to work – but I have plenty of time to do it so I am optimistic!
~breadmaker
.
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