Short Film : Holiday Shear. Blender project

#1

Hi, well I have finally started this project that I had posted about. This is a short film that I have been developing for 4 years now, but because of my lack of certain skills (namely character modeling) I haven’t been able to do it alone. So I came here in hopes of completing this dream.

This short is about 3 “toonish” characters in their teens, late on Christmas night in a boring town… with scissors. It is intended to be funny, and is not geared for children really. Not really violent, but deals with adult themes for lack of a better term. Something that could fit in well on [adult swim]…

This short will be done with Blender primarily because it is free, open source, and available to everyone. It is constantly being updated, there are countless projects being done for it, and usually if there is a deep rooted programming problem - there is someone to help. Not to mention it is very powerfull, it has been proven to be usefull.
However the key is that it will most likely be rendered with Aqsis and Pixie, both Renderman compliant open source rendering software. To date this project will be the first time either has been used to render that many frames for a film, nor to render the ENTIRE film. It will also make use of the Neqsus/BtoR script suite so the Blender to Renderman bridge can be done.
Other open source software such as GIMP and Jashaka will be used in the process too.

Right now I am scanning all the character design sheets, and will have them up here in the next day or two.

As of right now I am looking for help in the following areas…

Character modeling, rigging and animation
Environment modeling
Python scripting
And if possible as many Renderman artists as I can get

I have the story pretty much done, only a few changes in minor dialogue left, but otherwise it is set. I would like to get this done by Christmas of 2007, considering it is based around that time, but it really depends on how well this goes. As for the final product it will be released on the net for free, and maybe even DVD. As for following in Elephants Dream’s example of releasing the content - that can be decided later.

Well hopefully this will be a great time! Lets see if this can get started. :slight_smile:

Thanks,
Ted

#2

Hello! My name is Oskar and I am really interest in doing this project. I work in Blender. I wold if it is possible do some character modeling and environment modeling. I think this can be a really great short 3d movie. :thumbsup:

#3

Awesome! I actually do need help in the character modeling area, I am not very good at that. I should have the character drawings I have done online soon, just scanning them in and cleaning them up right now. Most likely in the next day they should be here (tommorow is the first day of school…), and then we’ll go from there.

#4

I could lend a hand in modeling some environments or modeling characters/rigging. I haven’t bene using blender long, but I think I can do it…when you post the character sheets i will try to make some models and we’ll see what you think.

#5

hey guy :slight_smile:
if you need help with any modeling, I could try, but it has to be mentioned, that i´m not that good in Blendering, because i´m still fairly new to this programm.

But if you don´t mind that, I´ll be in :slight_smile:

Greetz
Michael

#6

I would love to work on a Blender project like this, but my work/family life take up soooo much of my time that I could’t contribute a whole lot.
To say my character animation skills are not very good would be a bit misleading…I totally suck at it right now. But I’d be glad to do some environments/props if you can’t get enough other Blenderheads to join.
If nothing else you could use me for rendering. Just have the team send me files that are ready to go and I can let it render at night. That may let others, who have more time, spend more of that time working instead of waiting on renders.
Just a thought.

#7

Cool. Hey do not worry about your skills in Blender, for the most part there won’t be much complex modeling other than the characters, some of the key environments (and even then it won’t be hyper detialed), and the vehical they drive around in. Most of the little things, like lamp posts, fire hydrants, misc props and stuff like that should be very easy for anyone.

Things like trees will be fairly easy to model, because it takes place in winter. I didn’t even think about how less modeling would have to be done due to that fact, it just came as a realization much later - most of the areas will be snow covered, trees won’t have leaves. Thus less polygons, and less render time.

Anyways, very cool to have you aboard. All I need to do now is to post images here from my blogger site for this short and then start planning what needs to get done first.

Well I would HAVE to test that out, considering that this will be rendered with Aqsis (and Pixie if possible). That means all RIB files, plus the object archives, the shaders, the textures and so on would have to be exact as well as current (such as if I add something to a shader it would have to be on your system too). I have been thinking of this, and might use some CVS or SVN host somewhere. I would buy a cheap system to run a Linux SVN server, but that would drive the electric bill up the roof and I can’t afford that considering school tuition, rent and so forth. If ANYONE is able to do that, I would be in their debt - but untill then I am stuck with something like a free SVN or web host for now.

Anyways, if you feel like doing props that would be great. As mentioned above there will be a need to have a lot of props, even if they get duplicated (as in the case of lamp posts).

I understand about the lack of time, I just started college again and for the past few days have been stressed out of my mind, running around everywhere getting money, supplies and whatnot - then homework. So for the past 3 days I have had little time to do anything, although I did manage to find time here and there (mostly 1 AM :D)

So don’t worry, to be honest in the past 4 years since I thought up this idea, I haven’t had this much help ever! I only had one dude who was into it for like a month before he got caught up in UnrealEd.

Well I am off, I am going to post some pics soon of these characters.

#8

OK! So now I have finally scanned some drawings, cleaned them up in GIMP and uploaded them to my blog site. Here they are in very low fi drawings (hehehe).

This is T-Bone. He is pretty much designed after yours truly. So what you see here is what I used to look like as a teen (aside from the fact that it is a cat). Yes these are "Disney"ish like designs, but don’t let that fool you, this short is very much adult oriented.

This is DZL (as in diesel). He is modeled after my best friend. Again - a cat. A fat cat. The perspective of the legs vs. torso is a bit off, but you get the idea. BTW in real life this dude is 6’8" and 350 lbs - he is massive.

swamprat_layer.jpg600x800

And finally - SwampRat. This too is a friend of mine. Now as opposed to the cats, this is a rat. Kind of obvious there, but it makes sense. He is actually smaller than T-Bone, and is kinda pudgy.

Now - before I get laughed at, the reason for the animal "Disney"ish design is simply because at the time I knew that making a short using human based characters would be harder to do simply because of the facial expressions. With animal like characters, it won’t be too much of a distraction if it’s not perfect, it avoids that “Uncanny Valley” issue simply because it is animal like. Plus this also offers a chance to do this in a stylized manner, so it won’t have to be super detailed.

Also another note, and I am sure this will come up - the names. These were our actual nicknames given to us by friends of ours that stuck. A chef named me T-Bone, an old friend gave the nicknames DZL and SwampRat because of their physical appearance. DZL because he is huge, and SwampRat hehehe - well lets say some girls said he looked like a rat that came out of a swamp. These stuck for years, and now 10 years later we have not used them because it is kind of stupid but when you are a teen it’s cool. There.

Well I do have some work to do, as in 3D work (finally!!). So again check these out, if you still feel like staying, awesome, and if you think this short is kinda gay and want to leave - I won’t hold it against you. :smiley:

Till next time,
Ted

#9

Well, I can´t see any pictures…
Is your Blog down??

#10

No, it should be fine, just checked it. Um see if you can go here - http://holidayshear.blogspot.com/

#11

ok :slight_smile:
your Page works, now I just have to find time, trying to start modeling^^

#12

Maybe I could help with environment modeling in my spare time, becouse I like the idea of animation made with free software. And maybe I would be able to help with rendering, I used to study pixar’s renderman specification, but I’ve never made it to the RSL specification, but now i should have more time, will see.

#13

I am making a list of models that should be done first, I am working on one of the main houses right now. I should have this list available soon, in some format (PDF?).
I also spent about 3 hours trying to find as much reference pictures of Pontiac 6000’s (there are not many) for the car that is in this as well. I most likely will end up modeling that since I already have an idea of how it is going to be rigged up so it moves like a car should.

Great! As much as I know about RiSpec - I still don’t know enough hehe. So if you would like to help out there, that would be great. If you want to model that would be cool too. Again I am making a list and finding reference pictures of the misc props. so in the next day or two (I want to get this done over the weekend) it should be online.

#14

http://www.the-blueprints.com/index.php?blueprints/cars/pontiac/
well here you can find many pontiac references, but unfortunately no pontiac 6000 :frowning:

#15

i would be interested in this project
whats the level of expertise? i still consider myself beginner…
heres my portfolio : mrchairman08.deviantart.com
the 3d stuff there is blender

#16

I wouldn’t think that there is much restricting anyone from helping out, it is still in the very early stages and I am not going to refuse help from someone who is just beginning to do 3D. That is the great thing about Blender, since it is open source anyone can get it and learn 3D art. I myself have been doing 3D for a number of years now, but I am not an expert at everything. I guess this short could be another mark for some people’s resume, even if it is a little bit.
I did check out your portfolio and it’s not bad. I would not mind having you on. I do have a question though is what do you consider your strongest skill? Modeling, animation, texturing, lighting???

#17

I have a quick question for everyone. How many of you can open PDF files? I have just completed a short list of models (as mentioned above), and since I am using OpenOffice I exported the doc into PDF format. But if you can’t open it I will save it into a format you all can read. Let me know ASAP so I can do that.

#18

Thanks. i guess i can model okay. i know how to texture, light and animate but it wouldnt be strong points.
if we need any basic modeling to start us off i could give it a spin?

and i would really like to see these models. where is the pdf?

#19

I think most people can open pdf format, it’s quite widespread. But I think You should publish the list on the net as a web page, so you can update the list, f. i. add new positions, mark already done ones or attach some notes, without much work.

#20

OK! Well I finally got the first list done. I got a free web server for now, at least till a better option comes around - or untill I buy a domain and space. The space right now is about 2GB, with a 2GB bandwidth so for now only images will be up. Check it out, and there are many ??? in the Who column, only because I have yet to assign models. I will be doing that soon, unless you want do it - just let me know.

Over the next week this list will have more additions to it, so by no means is this complete.

http://www.freewebtown.com/holidayshear/pre_production_list.html