Model Sheets

Model sheets for the Generic Human characters, the female, and the Eagle.

These are different colour schemes for the Eagle, a recent poll suggests the middle option is the best choice.  Nice dark tones, a few highlights.  CHOICE.

Eagle wings

Some research I'm doing for our eagle wings. I stopped linking once I'd found enough to play around with.

http://www.jackals-forge.com/tutor/tut1.html
http://www.max3d.pl/forum/showthread.php?t=44702
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41699&perpage=10&pagenumber=1
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=387326#post387326

And some guys general tips:
the modelling of the wings must already have it's 'volume' or 'curviness'. feathers often intersect, so it's best to help these feathers during modelling time. i modelled it flat, at first. and then i bent the whole wing so that it took the form of a large downward flat (like an aerofoil). this enabled the rig (which i also did) to be intially "flexible." anyway, the key point is: the wings must be voluminous to begin with, meaning bent and 'relaxed'.

the rigging follows closely to bird anatomy. and N-shaped structure. that's the easy part. the problem is with the feathers. i created bones for the primaries only. the sec, tert, and coverts are really just too small to be assigning them bones. let the primary bones influence the smaller feathers.

anyway, as with the birds tucking them in, it's sort of like an inverted elbow. all you will see is the outer / upper face of the feathers.

The little dot underneath the left column is KnightMouse, or just a rough size-guide I put in as a guess to the scale of things.
The black figure of a man underneath the house in the middle is a rough size-guide to the scale of the scene next to a man.

Here's some pre-viz to get a rough idea of concept art in 3D space.
I did the street scene before I'd seen concept art and am too lazy to update as of yet, so, ignore it. I figured I'd post it anyway, because it was there and I dont really see why not.

Colour Strips

Colours for different areas, characters, buildings, settings, etc.

Model sheet - Knightmouse

Opening Sequence Animatic

some rough concept stuff

ok so I thought I'd post up some rough drawings I was doing while trying to figure out some environment stuff so you guys can see where I'm at and tell me what you think. Not sure about the look of the buildings. They might look too modern and neat for the period but these are just rough initial ideas. I just got some ideas from looking at some old European cities and medieval suburbs.



This is something I was thinking as a view towards the end of street towards the castle off in the distance.



This was something I was thinking about for where the noticeboard might be situated. Thought it could be across the road or near KnightMouse's house. Maybe have it in a courtyard area. I was thinking we could set up why he's so jumpy with the shadow overhead if we have a hawk or other predatory bird perched near noticeboard.


This was an idea for a rough layout of the area of the city in which our story takes place. I was thinking if we situate the action on a corner of a street we don't have to worry about background elements such as heaps of building going off in the distance down the streets. Plus if our background is just some buildings in the immediate area it would add to the feeling of congested and populated area.



This was just an idea for a street corner and some possible props that could populate the city streets.



And lastly here's a rough drawing of what I was thinking for inside his house. I was toying with the idea of him using found objects as props in his home, sort of as a reminder of his size and place in the real world. And I'm not sure whether we're still gonna use mounted heads on the wall but if we were we could animals that prey on mice as his trophies such as cats, snakes, hawks, owls, etc.

Props and House

Another potential prop, I figure in his journeyings he wouldve encountered a wizard or two, which opens up a few more prop ideas. Not sure about the skull though, itd take up half his house. Speaking of which, this is kind of how I imagined his house to look, from what max was describing and my own imagination.


Also a floor plan, and a few shots from inside. Note the painting of father knightmouse, and the weapons scattered around the house. Dual level, so he has to climb up a ladder to get to his bed.

Props

Aaaand some props for knightmouses house.

Character Concepts 2

Trying out different body shapes.
And did up a rough 3D model.

Test Animations and Character Concepts

K, while I was trying to figure out a good aesthetic for the film, I was looking out our design for the king. He has large ears, beady eyes, and plenty of facial hair. So following that train of thought, I figured we could just make all the characters resemble mice, to an extent. That would then solve our problem of a unique design. Anyway, 5 designs here.
Also, a few animation tests in flash.