So I decided to create this thread so as to upload my personal work (not paid) from time to time.

First let me introduce myself. The name is Akin. And I basically do storytelling as mainly a hobby (although I have monetized my work due to popular demand...lol). I adopt 3D animation as a tool and I am into character animation. I have been animating for a while now. A few of myy work have appeared online but nothing serious yet.

Everthing I will be showcasing was self taught. Aside learning the required softwares, I had to learn scriptwriting (still terrible at it), cinematography (getting better as I watch hollywood movies keenly now especially camera positioning and camera movement), modelling (i can model a matchbox )

For a start, I have a 3-4 minutes movie in the pipeline. I will not bore you with too many details. I hope to upload my progress starting right now. And also the finished job after the job is done.

If you have not heard about this movie, please you can google it. THE SECRET PRINCESS. It is a feature animation movie by Nigerians (mainly freelance animators like us). Since I have come across this movie, the motivation to do better multiplied by a billion. We may not have the required resources to pull a job that big off yet, but it is realizable with every click of the mouse.

Stay tuned and dont forget to click the follow button at the bottom of this page in order to get updates.

So this short movie will have 2 main characters and about 5 scenes. I am not following a written script. Usually I leave scriptwriting out of personal work because of flexibility. Please I animate as a hobby and criticism is allowed (constructive preferably).

The above picture will make sense as time goes on. When I am done, I will talk about a few limitation to the short movie (before the criticism anyway).

Now let me breakdown my workflow (personal work). This is usually different if it is a paid job.

1. Resources Pooling (props, characters and sometimes motion files (for those complex motions)
2. Scene creation
3. Lighting and Camera (this may be part of scene creation as it usually doesnt take much effort like others except if the will be too much camera effects like camera shakes during a fight scene for example)
4. Character animation -body movement, facial expression and lip-syncing (camera can come here too sometimes or alongside)
5. Rendering
6. Editing (this is where video cutting, joinning of scenes, little effect if any and most importantly sound come in)

Well the first scene is almost done. It has our main guy (lets call him Max) sitting down on the floor of a dark-lit living room. We will find out what is going on during the animation stage. The scene is almost done except 2 items - the video displaying on the tv and a gun on the stool somewhere close to Max.
There isnt much to the scene. I may not be able to walk us through the scene creation because it was dug out from my previous work. But simple living room scene, Max has been positioned in his default state, lighting has been done (look a little dark in the picture though) and cameras have been added.

I will walk us through the creation of the second scene tomorrow.

Nice work Akin!

Thumbs up. Self tutoring ain't easy

Observing with keen interest

SKhanmi:
Thumbs up. Self tutoring ain't easy

Nonso92:
Nice work Akin!

Thank you both

nijabazaar:
Observing with keen interest

I hope I will not disappoint

SCENE TWO

Let me first state that these scenes may not appear in order of their creation in the final video. For example, it occured to me today that I could tell Max's story better if the very first scene I created appear a couple of times in between the different scenes. Like I said earlier, this is a no script movie.

So let us talk about the second scene.

An outdoor. More like a busy commercial neighbourhood. Here Max and his girlfriend (Kate) are out having coffee. Something romantic. I had a choice of making a night scene to set the right tone, but lighting would take quite chunk of the time I dont have. I can work easily on this project because I wouldnt be resuming at work until the following Monday.

Scene setting is pretty much pick and drop in iClone. I have been asked a lot of questions about not having a sound knowledge of modelling and being an animator. Well, the answer is here again, if you want to animate without a sound knowledge of modelling, you must have a means to access lots of models. Quite a few site offer free models online that you can download for free. The other option is to buy models online or pay someone close to model for you. For paid jobs, depending on the amount involved, sometimes I just scanvenge models online to use and other times when good money is involved, I pay for model. But let me state here that having some sort of knowledge of modelling is a plus if purely character animation is what you want to do.


So back to our scene. I will briefly explain the pictures below

Picture 1. The street is a low poly prop. I need to make use of about 4 to get the appropriate base.
Picture 2. Duplicating the street prop and properly positioning the appropriately
Picture 3. The building out of place is our main scene where Max and Kate would be having their coffee. The sky tool was used here too to set the right atmosphere.
Picture 4. A view from above after arranging all the necessary props. You should be able to see Max and Kate from afar facing eachother in a T-Pose

Picture 1. A closer look at our scene.

Picture 2. I have to position Max and Kate in their default positions (both are still in T Pose position). Notice Kate is wearing an evening dress

Picture 3 I wish to use this camera angle in the movie. Anyway, both have been positioned. Notice Kate is wearing casual now. A jean and a tank top.

Picture 4. A close up shot of both of them. So much will not happen here, but just like in any movie, even if its a 10secs scene, the scene must be properly arranged.

Now you are wondering why we need to build a large scene when all we need is the close up shot in the last picture. Well, something I learn in movie. You show the environment and the atmosphere to put the audience in a certain right frame of mind even if what you need is a close up shot. Plus I haven't decided what will be shown in this scene, so its good to always have them big so you have flexibility in placing cameras however way you want to.


Alot will still be added to this scene. Like cars and pedestrian. I wouldnt be adding that yet until I set and animate my cameras. Because its a no budget movie, there is no point recording from different camera angles. Plus its a small scene. After the cameras have been animated, then I will populate the scene to depict a busy neighborhood truly.


Anyway, see the look on Max... wondering the kind of igbo he dey jampack ontop Kate head.


I will drop another scene tomorrow. Or maybe two. Have a lovely night rest from here

Dope work., Which software r u using?., It kinda look like a software from REALLUSION package

amijid2012:
Dope work., Which software r u using?., It kinda look like a software from REALLUSION package

Well isnt it obvious . The one up there is iClone 6

SCENE 3

Here is also an outdoor scene showing Max and a Police Officer.

This will not be a busy scene but like always, the scene is set beyond what the cameras are likely to capture.

Picture !. The appropriate terrain is used

Picture 2. Building added

Picture 3. Here I added a police car, changed it to night time, did some lighting.

Picture 4. The 2 characters in this scene are positioned.



With the completion of this scene, there are 2 more scenes to create. I however will not be displaying one of the scenes. Simply because this is a story, and showing it all here will not keep the suspense. I however will design one more scene and upload here and thats it.

After the scene creation, we can start animating one scene after another. Hopefully, this weekend will come with a lot of free time to work further on this project.

Another scene.

Outdoor.... A park actually. Max's and Kate's love affair continues here.

Picture 1. A panoramic prop

Picture 2. Park prop*4

Picture 3. Max and Kate was introduced to the scene.

Picture 4. Both have been positioned in their respective default positions.

The past few days have been a little tasking but it doesnt stop us from getting this job done. The first scene has been animated. I will drop a snippet soon. A few adjustment was made to the initial setup. Like Max having a drink and a smoke.

Plus you will find what was showing on the tv screen interesting. Because its a solemn quiet scene, what better thing is there to watch than Arsenal getting thrashed by Liverpool. Btw I am a die hard Arsenal fan. However, it has been pathetic watching this team for a long time now. Anyway, I will upload the snippet soon.

akinolaa76:
The past few days have been a little tasking but it doesnt stop us from getting this job done. The first scene has been animated. I will drop a snippet soon. A few adjustment was made to the initial setup. Like Max having a drink and a smoke.

Plus you will find what was showing on the tv screen interesting. Because its a solemn quiet scene, what better thing is there to watch than Arsenal getting thrashed by Liverpool. Btw I am a die hard Arsenal fan. However, it has been pathetic watching this team for a long time now. Anyway, I will upload the snippet soon.

Good morning Akin, pls check your dm

invinzible1:

Good morning Akin, pls check your dm

Replied your mail already sir.