I have also been working on an A3 portfolio which features most of the stuff found on the blog. It also shows in further detail some of the stages of development I’ve been through both are worth looking at collectively.

I’ve also been thinking about my degree show and with assistance from university staff  now have a good idea of how to use the space I’ve been allocated. After the deadline i will begin work preparing for the show on which falls on the 28th and 29th of may.

This process has been an enriching one.

I’ve shown stages in development – LINK

I’ve taken into consideration advice from peers and made important changes – LINK and LINK

which have resulted in a far more polished artifact – LINK and LINK

Links that have inspired me can be found on the right hand side of my blog.

All of my posts fall into different catagories which can also be found along the right hand side when searching for specific themes.

The process has been relatively straightforward i used Adobe Soundbooth to clean up and adjust the audio tracks. I could  then quite simply import them into flash. Artistically however, it has been more difficult. Mostly because new doors are opening to me rather than closing so i am finding ways to constantly improve the impact of a scene through minor adjustments. Many sounds have been chopped up for seamless loops and others for one time fade out pieces, it hasn’t been easy, but i feel enough progress has been so far.

Other jobs have also been done, for instance i have added a number alpha fades for parts of the animation that require text and also those that need to give the impression of considerable time elapse that way they soften the impact of certain images appearing on screen. I’ve also removed a few buttons as i felt that once certain scenes had there dialogue added they’d look better flowing seamlessly into the next scene rather than isolating it as its own mini movie. Removing buttons and tweaking action script hasn’t been without its problems, I’ve had to deal with sound running through scenes that they shouldn’t have and also sort out problems where clicking a button to go to the next scene seems to skip ahead parts of movie clips as if it had been running in the background.

Today has just been a day for odd jobs and just making sure every last detail has been examined i am constantly learning and getting more comfortable with this way of working so new problems always seem to be popping up. This is essential to ensure my work looks as good as it can, but also so my sound level are correct and most critically the interactive parts are all functional.

Another take on my desert background, very similar although i removed the lizard and increased the size of the mountains to give the impression of looking from a different angle.

An example of the typical sound layers in my work. The top layer stops sounds carrying themselves over into new scenes. However, sometimes i want ambiance to carry over when i use the same location across consecutive scenes.

A black layer that has a fade in and a fade out point. For this particular scene, I’ve kept it at 80% opacity so the user can still make out the characters whilst being able to read the text comfortably.

I’ve uploaded a still from the scene i’ve been working on, also showing the older version to make clear the changes i have made. I basically wanted to make it more obvious the dog was being taken away opposed to appearing already tamed, without a leash and walking aimlessly across the screen. I may upload a moving SWF for you at some point but dont want to spoil all of the surprises.

Changed Scene

Original Scene

It was made entirely in photoshop, the main point of concern was making sure the colour palette fit with the rest of the animation but i was able to match it sufficiently to the work i had already made. I found the little Lizard to be the most time consuming part of the process but overall i was pleased with the outcome. I may have veered slightly off track as i haunt planned to make another backdrop but i felt the final parts of my project needed more attention.

I’ve uploaded it in for you to have a look at.

Another thing i’ve been looking into is Fair usage policies on Copyright material. I have a small audio clip from a movie soundtrack i really like, and will  be reading into these laws further to see if i am able to use it within my piece.

Anyway, i hope this post can demonstrate some improvement in my work.

There has been a  change to one of the scenes which has involved a brand new piece of work. Its  the scene where the Vizier hands over a precious jewel. I had originally drawn the hand in flash but it now felt somewhat crude considering the new direction my work was going in.

I happened to have photo references of arms and hands as well as faces which i took during my preparation work so i decided to create a hand and forearm based on a photograph as i felt i could do a much better job and provide the user with something far more visually appealing.

I had a session with my tutor directly after to get some much needed feedback on specific problems. We decided on a few fundamental tweaks. To incorporate my backdrops into most of the scenes to fill out the atmosphere. At first this seemed quite trivial, however, my flash file incorporates many graphical assets which haven’t been cleaned up properly and these are also involved in animation loops. This would prove to be one hell of a task.

I can report that i have implemented some of these changes into my opening sequence and i have also tried it out on one of many scenes that i have animated, i feel the changes have improved the look of my work drastically! Its bringing things to life even before adding any ambient sound or narration. .

I will host 3 versions of my opening sequences for you to take a look at. This will give you an idea of what changes i have made.

The file order is oldest at the top then the newest at the bottom.

VERSION 1

VERSION 2

VERSION 3

The second picture was created right at the very beginning of the project. I was breaking down the different key areas of my project to help me understand what i needed to achieve. I also began to jot down ideas for the scenes i wanted to create.

The last picture would seem to bare no relevance to this project at all but helped me hone my marker rendering skills. During my project whilst working on the backdrops  i contemplated using marker rendering in my final piece so i decided to practise this skill in case i decided to go ahead with it. The reason behind the car theme of this drawing is simply because my dad was a automotive designer for 20 years and he provided me with some guidance on using the markers.

Image 2. In this second drawing i began planning how i would segment the body parts in order to animate them individually. This hasn’t materialized in my project quite how they appear in my drawings but i gave it consideration and found a use for this technique in specific areas of the project that i initially overlooked. I cannot emphasis enough the difficulty in planning a project thoroughly having never used the software it is being designed for.