Moving On Up..

-Sari

Next Environment Test

I got my render time down by way more than half. better results, new shaders, the works! Still is a working progress. A quick photoshop comp:



-Sari

First Environment Test

First ever environment test, yay! The scene is taking a little too long to render, and I should get it down by half. Other than that, I know this will improve by the time I have to render, which is really cool. PROGRESS!

Brother's room is coming to life, and it's really exciting getting to see this world on screen. Seeing it evolve from day 1 is always so refreshing. In any case, it's definitely on it's way. It's important for me to make this environment tell a story just as much as Brother does. This is a very story driven piece, so all of the props are motivated as well as every texture.



-Sari

Expression Test

-Sari

More Tests!

This was a fun one, experimenting with how my shaders react to Brother's facial expressions.




-Sari

Brother Previz Version 3

-Sari

Crane

Brother's crane



-Sari

Everything Tells A Story

One of the most important things I learned over the summer was that everything tells a story, every object, every texture. In Brother, I definitely wanted to capture not only the personality of my character, but also the objects around him. I want to tell a story within a story, and even if Brother didn't have animation, my environment could speak for itself. This scene is about half way done, no lights, no shaders yet. As I'm modeling, I am constantly thinking about my story and my main character. How did he build these things? Did he put time into his creations? Does he care for them at all? How old are they? What are their own personal stories? And the list goes on. Things are very broken in Brother's room. I like the concept of him hiding beauty, which was one (there are many haha) theme in this short. The environment I have here is anything but "mechanically built to perfection" and I love that, given the piece is so...mechanical.




-Sari

More Shading Tests

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Rigging!

Here's some rig tests for Brother:



-Sari

Shading Update

First pass of Brother's character shading:





-Sari

Previz Version 1

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Style Frame:


-Sari

Brother, The Main Character

My main character for this film is named Brother. Zach did the concept, and I spent the summer doing much of the model. He is still in development and needs his human heart along with other details.






-Sari

Thesis Revisions

Hello!
This blog is dedicated to my senior thesis film called Brother. I will be posting much of my thesis progress on here up until the final output. Right now, I am moving to the beginning of the production phase. The story, concept art, and art direction has all been developed through out my junior up until now.

A little bit about myself and this "senior thesis film":
My name is Sari Rodrig, and I am a computer animation major at the School of Visual Arts. We are required to develop a short film (around 2-5 minutes) in the areas of visual effects, computer animation, or a mixture of both. My short, Brother, will be an all 3D short film about 2 minutes and 15-20 seconds.

Brother tells the story of a humanoid robot who can't build anything that works correctly. For his creations to become functional, he must find it within himself to give them life.

Through out much of my junior year and a little bit of my senior year, I have been working very closely with the main character of this film and his storyline. A friend of mine, Zach Brunner, has been the lead concept artist for this film. Together, we worked on creating this steampunk feel for the art direction in developing sets and character design. I will continue to work hard in production to make this film grow and develop. It's going to be a very exciting year!

Some work of mine thus far:


-Sari