Final Train Rig

This is a video showing the final train group. Each section moves on the principle of groups. I tried working with a joint chain through the carriages using rigid binding but this appeared to affect the wheels and the axis on which they would turn depending on the translation applied. This works much more successfully where rotating one wheel on each section turns all the other wheels in that section, or in the case of the engine, animates the pistons which is rigged using an array of constraints.

Train Interior...Continued

Some more shots of the modeling in progress. Trying to make this look like it used to be plush but now its battered. Ajdin will be texturing this also so that should get it looking nice. Going to keep working on adding detail and get thoughts of group as I'm going also. Don't want to overload it with props either though as there need to be room to move around. Will probably add things like bottles which will roll around the carriage during the fight sequence and these can be picked up and thrown also.

Windmill Rigging

Me and Sam got this sorted today. Some speedy texturing from Mr King got it looking very nice and then some basic grouping in order to rig it means we can animate this very subtly in the final scenes to add more character and secondary animation to some of the backgrounds, especially in the early scenes.

Train Joints

Went back to the train rig to find we were going to have some problems. Basically the rig went weird when you applied any kind of movement to the train so I've gone back and rescaled it down to make everything smaller. Then basically I've grouped the sections and added a joint chain with rigid binding so now we have this really simple way of twisting and turning the carriages which will be so important in the mines. Also means we could do more with curves in the desert scenes if we wanted to add more. Basically I now have to redo the rigging but it will make the rig much more intuitive and easy to use. And we can have much more fun with it animating!

Steam Train Rigging

Finally got all this working with some wicked pistons! A lethal combination of constraints and combining elements and we are sorted. Just need to duplicate this onto the other side. Sweet!

Schedule WC 02/03/09

Ok, reworked the schedule again. Good thing is that dissertations are almost out of the way and PPD isn't a big hurdle so everything is going into the film and the degree show. Texturing is taking longer than expected, obviously with Sam being our main texture artist, he's doing a very good job also. As soon as the bandit rig comes back then Matt will be animating. Hopefully he will get the sheriff and marshal rigs done by then. From this we should still have 10 weeks of animating with plenty of time in post-production to bring everything together. We also have a 2 week barrier before the submission on the 19th in which extra production and finishing can be done which could extend our animating time as well to perfect elements. Good times!

More Water Tower Environment

Here are some more renders showing additional assets to the environment. I will be putting in more assets such as cacti and rocks once they are modeled just to add more detail and interest to the shots.

Jail Model Renders (from Ajdin)

Some lovely shots courtesy of Ajdin. Really simple design and lighting is pretty much as we designed it even in the early concepts. Just need some gritty textures now.

Marshal Mesh Changes

Some slight changes made to the marshal to make rigging easier now we have learnt mistakes from the Sheriff. Have made the cuffs and hands completely separate elements which can be joined to the wrist and the collar is now separated as we was getting alot of deformation with this.

Prop Modeling

Some basic props and a nice windmill to fill the background with Kanika's buildings. Also barrels and crates are good scene fillers to make nice compositions in shots.

Schedule WC 16/02/09

Really important few weeks especially with texturing. Mo has taken the bandit rig off us and Sam has done the texturing although this may get changed later. Ajdin is doing more modeling which is good although texturing and rigging are going to be big mountains to climb so we can move onto animation. Also dissertations at the moment are starting to ease so time is coming back into our hands!

Water Tower Environment Modeling Stage 2

Some more modeling on this environment. Added the terrain using sculpt geometry tool and created a kind of valley with the bridge across. Also added some details and props around the water tower aswell as reducing the poly count of the whole environment to get it running quicker. Will be adding telephone poles and other props accordingly and have also decided that some props should be 'free-to-roam' is a sense that we use them to benefit the shots and cheat the environment so that it always looks good in camera and not necessarily as a whole environment which may not be entirely seen. Will save time also!!!

Water Tower Environment Modeling

After a day modeling I've got this far by modeling the track with some nice detail and the water tower with shack. These should texture up quite nicely and are fairly low poly with some nice little features. Also the track is in small sections which can be grouped and duplicated!

The Whole Gang

Finally all the characters modeled. Looking good and think the style is good. Think the texturing will be what makes them all look stylised the way we want and bring them alive a bit more!

Final Bandit Model

After a whole day of tiny changes and tweaks we are happy with the Bandit model. Spent alot of time working on the torso and the gap between the legs. This is now perfectly ready for Mo to rig and for Sam to texture. Sweet as a nut!

Bandit Model Alterations

Ajdin did a great job with our Bandit model. However me and Matt wanted to stylise him a bit more and get him away from looking too generic in terms of proportions, so to fit in with the other exaggerated characters I spent time making his nose more crooked, making the boots pointier, shortening his torso and giving him a little belly resting on his belt, giving the scarf a point and removing the collar and styling the hat better. Generally hes looking good now and fits in better with the overall style.

Also Mo should be rigging this guy and Sam will be getting on the texturing!

Steam Train Wheel Rigging Test

This is a little test I managed to put together using a combination of constraints, basically by turning one wheel it turns the others and the bar connected to the pistons. Should be nice and easy to translate this into Ajdin's model!

Steam Train Mechanism Rigging

Found this an thought it might be useful reference for the train when we come to rigging it. Also there's a tutorial in Introducing Maya 8 which I'm going to get from LRC and try and rig the pistons now before we do anything else.

Schedule WC 09/02/09

Last 2 weeks have been mainly focussing on dissertations so this week we need to get back to work. Looks like we have lost a week or so of animating but if we get the rigging, texturing and environments all nailed quickly then we should start to claw back some time when it comes to crunch time later on!

From now on my main responsibility is environments, Kanika is on props, Sam is on texturing, Josh and Matt on rigging and Tony will have some say in the texturing also if he's doing the photoshop side.

Then when we start animating roles will change again.

Train Model Modifications

Ajdin has modeled our train for us but I've made a few small changes. Seems some parts were not mirrored onto the opposite side of the train so I have sorted this. Also small things such as exaggerating the main funnel slightly and changing the driver compartment slightly so that the bullet ricochet section can work as easily as possible. Also made the coal cart smaller as this seemed overly large and unbalanced the main part of the train.