Ronnie Leah, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

 Today I continued rendering the final part of the animation. Due to the lighting used as well as how close the camera gets to the characters, the following scenes took the longest to render compared to the rest of the animation. This threw me off a bit as the time I wanted to use for the art of was slightly taken up by rendering.  For this shot I made use of the Dutch angle to frame both the character in the scene. I could also use the Shinto shrine and bridge to frame both the characters in the shot.  I really like this shot as it neatly shows both characters actions, without overloading the audience with information. This is something I definitely had to learn to overcome since animating the beginning of the animation. When two objects move at the exact time it looks unnatural. Its good to have characters move one by one at their own pace.  I added in this shot after the initial stages of the animation were completed as It seemed like the Samurai just teleported t...

 Today I continued rendering the second half of the animation.  This is one of my favourite shots of the animation as I feel like I conveyed the fluidity of the characters movements really well. The idea was to emphasis that the Cyberpunk character is more interested in obtaining the item, therefore any opportunity to get it, it will take. This leaves it vulnerable for an attack which the Samurai takes advantage of. However due to its inhumane reflexes the Cyberpunk character is able to block the attack in time. 

 Today I continued rendering the second section of the animation Below shows a clearer shot of the Japanese Palace in the background. I am really pleased with how it turned out and feel it adds a completely different mood to the shots when compared to the first section of the animation. If I had enough time to redo the first half of the animation I would go back and add in more buildings in the background now that I have seen how effective it could look. At least I was able to include the building for this section of the animation. I was also able to use the Shinto Shrine behind the character to help frame up this shot.  The sequence in which the Samurai trips the Cyberpunk character over while it is distracted is one of my favourite parts of the animation. This scene replaced the Cyberpunk character sweep kicking the Samurai. Although it was awkward to animate at first, I kept changing tiny parts of it until it looked more natural. I think its a really nice sequence of events...

 Today I continued rendering the animation. I really like this shot as you can really see all of the effort put into texturing the characters.  I had now completed all of the first section of rendering. Now I had to prepare the second environment which contained the stairs which lead up to the Japanese Palace.  I had made the decision to return the palace back to its black and white look, just like my drawings. This way it could look shrouded in darkness in the background. Although I like the textures I had made for the Palace, I understood that It would be a lot harder on the renderer.  One of the main plot points I had yet to address was the the fire which is engulfing the Japanese Palace. In the story the Samurai has been betrayed and what is left of his world is set on fire. This is quite a bit plot point in the animation so I knew I couldn't just skip it. After thinking it over I remembered Maya has a content browser full of premade objects and effects. As I was...

 Today I continued... rendering In this shot I took advantage of the white hillside to really shine a spotlight on the two characters. The reflection of the white on the floor, back onto the characters creates a more striking shot.  I still wanted to include remnants of the cyberpunk world in the background. I only did this however when it did not take away from the shot. I really liked the composition I drew in Minor, however was unable to use it as I removed the shot. I decided to add it into this shot instead.  For some shots I used the lights coming from the cyberpunk world to frame the character of interest.  Its a subtle detail which can be used to help balance a shot out.  I like how the hard horizon line points to the character in this shot  This is one of the shots I added in after watching back the animation blocking out as the original version did not transition to the next shot very smoothly. It was a very simple shot to add and offers more cont...