Character: Klondike Bear

[Rowsby]

This should be easier to view:

http://www.rowsby.com/images/Klondike/PR_SlimABall_406.jpg

[elektronaut]

really nice work ! i like the appeal of this char.
respect !

marco.

[wolver1ne]

Heh.. the fur looks rather carpet-like tho, but other than that nice job!

[danne82]

ah excellent:beer:
for me his fur is the most faschinating part :)

[kfc]

Cool~!!
:thumbsup:
the bear in the mirror seems ok to me. maybe the flame guy just want to keep it that way so that the bear in the foreground can stands out better from the bear in the mirror.
without using the shadow pass can slightly tint the bear in the mirror down so that it looks flatter as mirrored image.
:D
cheers~!:beer:

[Rowsby]

Naw, the flame guy missed the shadow pass on the scene when the bear's sitting on the deflating exercise ball. There isn't any shadow in the mirror in the animation I have a link to. But the still I posted here, is fine.

[Rowsby]

Originally posted by wolver1ne
Heh.. the fur looks rather carpet-like tho, but other than that nice job!

Well, when you do things for clients, you have to give them what they want. *shrugs* I had gone to the Portland Zoo to look at their polar bears and dispite my research, the director wanted a much more contrasty look for the character's pelt.

One of the more freaky things that we found when lighting shots with an all white bear, was that he looked better with less realistic lighting on his head. I suspect it was partially due to his toony nature, so going more flat with the lighting worked for him.

Dark eye sockets made the bear look creepy with those beedy eyes of his. So a gradient map was created to control how fibers self shadowed, how sensitive to direct lighting & how translucent the fibers were, so his face was always readable using the same basic light Kit.

[xtrm3d]

masterfull use of lightwave !!:beer: :bowdown:
the bear look really nice and friendly..
i like it

[GrafOrlok]

Fur looks fantastic! I always felt fur becomes a little to soft, fluffy and undistinct, but this, just because of the "rug"-felling, seems incredibly realistic.
Top job!

[Sqwall]

Nice! He looks friendly enough to have a beer with it.

Nice work man. :thumbsup:

[kicit]

The bear's fur looks fanstatic, may be behind the mirror got something to show up the personality of the bear, coz hope can know more on the bear characteristic on your CG.

:p good job man...

[deathblood]

*^_^*
I like this bear....cool

[SharkyBlue]

woo nicely done. Can't complain much about the fur except it looks a little like carpet. Nicely done in all respects :applause:

[zoehenriques]

Great in almost all levels... i really loved but there are two things i would like to say... one bad and the other good... i tink the ball is kind of stuck in the middle of the picture quality, because the ball is a little toon in oposite to the everything else... the good is that, a really like the fur you putted, maybe isn't exactly a bear fur, but is a wonderfull fur that really works with the scene....

great work!

[decipleofX]

the amout of secondary actions were much appreciated

[Remi]

Saw the character a while ago....love it...good animation as well....:)

[Slurry]

from the camera angles used, i didn't really notice that the shadows were missing in the mirror. his feet are cut off in the first shot that you'd see shadow, and in the final one the mirror is raised off the floor enough that I wouldn't expect to see it either. if you didn't mention it off the bat, i never would have known.
do you have a jpg that shows how you think the shadows should look in the scene?
i like the fur (looks matted) and the animation is really nice. I'm not sure about the jiggle on the face when he says "...so creamy." - is that because of the fur?
nice work though - great spot!

~S

[FloydBishop]

Very nice. You've got a lot of golden poses in there. Almost any frame could serve as a publicity still.

I also like the fur. It feels like a polar bear.

One of the best uses I've seen of CG fur here on the forums.

[tubby]

Nice work! The animation looks great. The fur doesn't bother me that much, I like the fact that he's not a glam bear with bleached fur. Great work Bent!:)

[Rowsby]

Yes, Bent did a great job, and I want to thank all the guys there, and even those I cannot confirm nor deny assisted. ;)

I look forward to seeing the 3rd spot airing when the weather gets warm enough to sell ice cream.

[Gomez_Jonathan]

Awesome and funny

[samuraislayer]

i remember seeing this at newtek discussions a long time ago, wasn't there also something about the fur not getting mirrored?

i like it, either way

[Rowsby]

Correct. The Sasquatch fur software isn't a volumetric class plugin, and can't see rays being cast from lights, so it does not reflect or refract.

Christian Smith came up with a clever way to parent a scene to a null and invert everything, so we had a mirror pass for the composites. The body mesh also had to have it's normals flipped, for the surface to end "right side out".

[David Daniels]

Wow, what a joy to read all these great posts. The compliments to the character animation really made my day.

The agency wanted a non-glamour bear you could 'sit down and have a beer with' -- they used those words to me in the first phone call. To see someone posting that idea back as what they got out of SLIM as a character was just fantastic.

He was very intentionally very frumpy. They wanted a 'WOOLY' coat of fur. So this is what we came up with. A normal coat of fur --- something that Rowsby could have easily done a great job at --- wasn't what was asked for. If the character is memorable, it's because we were trying to make him less synthetic or predictable, or obvious. (part bear, part dog, part human) The essence of character is those things that make a creature different. There is always a danger in going against expectations -- and we struggled to walk a tightrope between oddly charming, and merely bad -- but conventional was always not an option.

Rowsby is right. There were small things missing in the comping of certain shots. The first spot (RUNNERS) suffers a lot more from unrealistic bright fur and mediocre compositing than the one from the posted image -- Slim a Ball -- which overall (my biased opinion) was respectable.

The shadow missing at the end of the spot in the mirror happened for lack of time and money. I knew it when it was sent out, but had to make the hard decision in post of where to put the effort -- what would be noticable to an average audience, rather than experts. We just could not spend almost forever on it, much as I would like to have. Sorry R.

The level of less shadow in the mirror was an intentional choice to go more ariel perspective and 'flatter.' I agree the compositer made many small errors all over the place, but right or wrong, this one was my fault. We also blurred it a bit because the fur was one pass with no anti aliasing (the render farm deadline was too last minute on this) and it was less distracting in motion, making the FG more prominent as it should be.

The ball was a bit too toony for my taste as well, there is a vinyl aspect we were trying to capture, but perhaps missed just a touch. But I must say, everyone tried their hardest!

Considering the circumstances -- we're a small, (very small) shop starting up with next to nothing 18 months ago -- and I am more of a character director and animation style inventor than a hardcore CG TD type guy. (though I am learning fast and much better at the arcane issues now) It was crazy-hard work to get it done last summer. Painful, but a great experience, a lot of learning by all.

BTW, the third spot coming out in a couple of months maybe the best for realism and compositing -- It was the same kind of 'curve' when I directed M and M's in 95 and 96. The first spots have the most flaws and are the most unfinished -- by spot number six or seven, they were starting to hit stride.

Rowsby is a lot more versatile than just fur. He did a great job with his specialty, but also blossomed as an animator of several nice shots, and was totally dedicated to the larger project, nursed render machines all night, and was a spotless clean house guest. It absolutely could not have been done without him. I'm totally grateful.

I must give a shout out to Galen, Christian and Jeffrey B who were the other core team, and lot's of goodwill under intensely difficult circumstances, and great effort on a list too long to name.

Thanks again for the kind posts from all of you. It's put smiles on all our faces here at the Image Lab for today.

Klondike Director,
DAVID DANIELS

[Phugative]

Nice animation and posing, the bear looks pretty good in terms of "living" in that environment. But I'm sorry, I think the commerical concept is terrible!

Nice work in a techinally and artistic sense though!

[Rowsby]

Hey Dave!

Great seeing your input here!

Yeah, the shadow thing bugs me cause it was on the shot I got to fully animate from start to finish, but it's fine. Most people don't notice.

And don't forget Pascal's contributions and his great "Momma Bear" pic! :)

Please pass along my "Howdy" to the rest of the folks in Portland.

I'm really curious to see how the last spot rendered after I left to go back home. :)

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.