Pre-Production: Adult Barnabas 2D Turnarounds to 3D

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post as of the Major Project which means everything in the terms of the minor is finished. This is not to say that there are a couple of left over little bits and pieces from the minor Unit that went unfinished with the submission. This is where I will be correcting those little absences and to ultimately get the Major back on track (at least on any areas that are missing). One of the missing items from the Minor submission was the 2 adult character models - Barnabas and Bernard Badgersworth... They are my next exploits... Of course I have other priorities also!

Tomorrow I get into a bit of Rigging a desire which I have not explored in a while so it will be nice to see how I do this time round. Now that I have both the Benjamin and Barnabas Badgersworth models I have to prioritise getting those ready for when I am in Prague as Sammy wants to experiment with some pre-visualisation (blocking in shots, etc.). This is so that when we return we have an idea of how to shoot some of the scenes to use as reference for our eventual animation. This is the research segment as we will be using live action footage to get our animated frames.

Anyway lets get cracking on with the Barnabas Badgersworth Developments!

The image above shows my standard turnarounds with the model bound within. This is to show how close the final 3D geometry came to the 2D turnarounds. Obviously the ears were the biggest understatement within Barnabas's model. Never the less the shoes are probably my proudest achievement as they make the character look very dignified. He is much taller then you would otherwise think from these images. Once I have all of these there will defiantly be a couple of group posed shots for everyone to appreciate.


The video above is another time lapse video this time of the Barnabas model development. The duration of creating this one was much less mainly because there was no ZBrush trial and error. I defiantly learnt a hard lesson there I will never do it that way round again unless the two become more intertwined. Anyway the video above is over the course of 4 Days in which I created the character. I started him and got little bits and pieces done here and there but it just felt simpler to settle the entire duration. I made the chaptered segments more about the parts of the model then the duration.

I always like to take a silhouette rendition of the model after I build it mainly because it allows me to see what makes the model unique. For Barnabas it defiantly has to be the big shoes it really does make the posture look awesome. I actually had more fun this time round mainly because there was no floundering, I just sat down and corrected the lingering flaws from the ZBrush export which mostly meant rebuilding it in Maya anyway. Never the less I was happy with the end result and so was my partners in crime. Lets hope it continues to go well :)

Last but not least are the Planes to model, this provides a little glimpse into what constructed the final rendition of Barnabas. First you see the front and side image planes which allowed me to construct the model dimensionally along the x and z axis's. Then there is a nice transparent view of the model showing only the wire. Then the wire on shaded so you can see the model with its construction lines. Then the shaded on its own just to reveal the model. Last but not least a nice close up shot of his head in the shaded view... Its a cool thing to see...

I have a number of other posts that will follow this but some like the additional 2 Weta concepts I will be putting on the shelf for now as I really want to get Rigging sorted before I go. There will be a moment before this Unit is over for me to sit down and knock out some really nice imagery with these characters in Weta form so please keep your eyes peeled for that. As it is I will get these initial posts for Barnabas setup so there is less to do later on... Tomorrow I will begin the rigging and will be doing this until I leave for Prague in a couple of weeks.

Take it easy!
xXStItChXx