Lately I’ve started tinkering about some old ideas that was initially meant for short films. While my current job at GRIN takes up allot of my time I have to admit that I don’t have the energy to do any big projects on the side. On the other hand I could use the plots and ideas in a new medium. Books for children could be a perfect project to do in my spare time. I get to tell my stories and use my CG knowledge to illustrate the stories, this could be seen like a type of storyboard for something that might make it back in short film genre in the future. Anyway the story I would like to experiment with is Joel, a frog that lives in a old shoebox. Joel dates back to 2001 when me and Tobias made a short demo of Joel and also a promotion film with the main characters.

The story is written but has to be adjusted to fit a book of 32 pages. In meanwhile I will do some render tests of his house during different times throughout the day. I’m so glad I managed to dig up these old files hidden on a unmarked CD .

Well three different settings.

For a long time I’ve had the idea to create a film to be viewed in a 360 degree angle. At my University we have the opportunity to step into a cave and experience anything from 3D rides in a roller-coaster to fire fighter training. The first draft of the film was to be placed on an island spawning strange creatures due to sub oceanic volcanoes. The idea was unrealistic in relation to my amount of sparetime. I developed a new shorter story taking place on an alien planet during human colonization. I gathered a group of interested students and began planning the film. Again time was not on our hands and we ended up with a basic prototype in order to test if the film was going to be as exciting as we hoped it would be.

Yesterday we premièred it and the feedback was very positive, hopefully the film will be completed in a next coming year. As the film is supposed to be viewed from inside a box you wont get the feeling of being in the environment. Hopefully these clips will give you an idea of its potential.

Inside the cave

Outside the cave

View half the movie

The first 375 frames has been completed for my personal showreel. The final 125 frames will be animated in the near future.

Gamer

We are creating a new showreel at work and needed an opening shot for the reel. I was asked to animate something funny with the pirate guy playing with a handheld device. So far I’ve blocked out the animation and then animated the first 200 frames.

First draft

First 200 frames

After being forced to reconsider my scene setup I’ve scraped the original idea. I browsed youtube for a reference, something I should have done a long time ago. My new idea is to create something more subtle and a little less advanced. The flow of the avalanche has been animated to mimic the friction from the underlying surface. I’ve ditched the idea to have 3D rendered shadows, they are now animated masks in After Effects. The reason for this is that the 3D rendered version contained gaps in the shadowed area. Gaps that I couldn’t solve.

Anyway, enjoy Avalanche render