ONLINE DEBUT OF CONCEPT ART
NEW PHOTOS FROM THE SET OF THE FILM
For more Concept check it out Here:
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| Walk Cycles are one of the most difficult tasks for an animator. This is because both mechanics of motion and character AND personality must be infused into that walk through your timing, spacing and poses. A solid understand of technical shifts in weight and acting choices are key to making a successful walk cycle.
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MECHANICS OF A WALK CYCLE: Walk cycles encapsulate all of the principles of animation. They also deal with complex issues of weight and timing, in order to be convincing. Offsets, Overlap and Follow Through on every joint are what will keep the motion natural and prevent it from looking robotic. |
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TIMING AND PACING OF A WALK CYCLE: The timing or pacing of the walk can define the character and personality of the walk. The posing of the body and what part of the body that leads the walk also defines the character. Timing, Weight, Posing and Mechanics of Motion all factor into a good walk cycle and this is why it is a great exercise for learning these principles. To illustrate the difference in timing and pacing think about a mosquito on the surface of a lake flitting across the water. Now think about the timing and poses in an elephant's walk across the sierra. The weight and body construction will define whether or not you could tap the object with your finger to knock it over or if it would take much more effort to do this. Timing and Poses will define the weight and construction of your character and even add elements of character as well. There are plenty of tutorials online and in books on how to create a good walk cycle. There is a comprehensive list of walk cycle explanations at the bottom of this page for you to check out. Since the mechanics of the movement has been covered most everywhere, let's talk about something more difficult to infuse into a walk cycle than the believable mechanics of motion. |
CHARACTER, STATE OF MIND, AND PERSONALITY: Character and personality are what make the walk real and make the audience identify with it on an emotional level. Disney always said "the mind is the pilot" and that is where every motion you create must start. Before even drawing a pose, you need to establish in your mind where your character's head is at. The lead is one quick way to establish this through the posing of your walk cycle. Remember this is a very simplified approach is not the "end-all be-all"...only a stepping stone to understanding how to infuse character into your animation. There is one little trick that can help you find your way inside the character. This is just one little trick, there are many other facets to a walk that also contribute to a personality, this is just one suggestion. THE LEAD tells the audience where you character's head is at and how they view themselves and their place in the world. Actor/Actress/Musician/Personality examples below illustrate how the lead in motion can define a character and state of mind. After you familiarize you with the lead of a walk, try walking around the room aware of what part of the body is leading. Observe how this changes your attitude and sense of self. |
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Chris Farley, Roseanne Barr |
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John Wayne, Jeneane Garafalo |
MORE ON WALK CYCLES:
In closing, below is a list of sites that all explain the walk cycle and how to create a good one - step-by-step.
Idleworm Tutorials - How to Animate a Walk
3D Animation Tip: Walking the Walk
Learning to Walk
Animating a walk cycle in Anim8or
Animating a walk cycle for Animals
These site are good for reference of mechanics of motion. Remember these are strictly to understand the actual locomotion of a walk and not adding character.
As a follow-up to the successful project Orange’s “Elephants Dream”, the Blender Foundation initiated another open movie project. Again a small team (7) of the best 3D artists and developers in the Blender community have been invited to come together to work in Amsterdam from October 2007 until April 2008 on completing a short 3D animation movie. The team members will get a great studio facility and housing in Amsterdam, all travel costs reimbursed, and a fee sufficient to cover all expenses during the period.
The creative concept of “Peach” was completely different as for “Orange”. This time it is “funny and furry”!
The Blender Foundation and Blender community have been the main financiers for Peach. As for the previous open movie, a pre-sale campaign to purchase the DVD set in advance will be organized.
Additional support from sponsors and subsidy funds has been realized as well.
Peach also was the first Open Project hosted by the new Blender Institute in Amsterdam. This will make the project more independent, without much involvement of production partners, and also will ensure continuity.
What movie should you see this weekend? Wanted is surprisingly good, and will likely beat your expectations. I can honestly recommend it… but the clear winner is WALL-E.
So far the little robot that could has a 98% tomatoemeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes with over 40 reviews. Actually, only one reviewer gave a negative critique. It helps to know that Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star also gave M Night’s The Happening a three out of four star review… Point is, WALL-E is the best reviewed mainstream release so far this year. We’ll see how it holds up after the weekend as 100-150 more reviews will likely be added to the database. But I’m sure it will remain above 90%. Wanted is currently scoring 68% on the tomatometer.
Best Reviewed Mainstream Releases of 2008 (so far)
1. WALL-E 98%
2. Iron Man 93%
3. Kung Fu Panda 88%
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 86%
Pixar is known to fill their films with fun easter eggs and WALL-E is no different. Here are some of the things you probably missed:
The Pizza Planet Truck: The truck has appeared in every Pixar movie since Toy Story (although its pretty hard to find in The Incredibles as its pretty much a blur in a car sequence). “The Pizza Planet actually has a very obvious shot, it’s just probably so quick people aren’t paying attention to it.” The trcuk can be found in the first 20-minutes of the film as EVE scans the truck as part of her “directive”. It’s really big, almost the full frame on screen.
Hammy: The character John Ratzenberger voiced in Toy Story appeats in WALL-E’s truck. See the photo below, Hammy can be found right to the left of EVE’s head.
A113: What started as an inside joke of CalArts alumni (a reference to the classroom number that was used by Animation students) has been present in not only every Pixar film, but Disney movies, Iron Giant, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Powerpuffgirls and Tinytoon Adventures. “A-113 is obvious in this film,” Stanton told /Film. “It’s the most obvious we’ve ever made it.” In Wall-E, A-113 is actually part of Auto Pilot’s “directive” outlined by BuyNLarge CEO Shelby Forthright’s (Fred Willard) video recording. “Directive A-113” is also one of the tracks composed by Thomas Newman for the WALL-E soundtrack.
2001: Auto Pilot is an obvious homage to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
John Ratzenberger: Pixar considers the actor to be a “good luck charm”, and Pixar actually has a rule stating that Ratzenberger must be in all of the studio’s films. “John Ratzenberger is probably pretty obvious,” Stanton told /Film. And he is. John Ratzenberger voices one of the few human characters in the film, not so coincidentally named “John”.
Apple: Pixar’s history with Apple is a long one. Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak, bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division in 1986, and served as CEO until Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006. Apple has been featured in previous Pixar productions like on the hood of one of the race cars in Cars. There are several references to Apple in WALL-E, the most obvious is when WALL-E watches Hello Dolly on an older video iPod. Also, when WALL-E is done charging he makes the Mac startup chime.
Eve was actually designed by Apple’s behind-the-scenes design guru Johnny Ive, the guy responsible for the design of the iPod. Andrew Stanton told Fortune: “I wanted Eve to be high-end technology - no expense spared - and I wanted it to be seamless and for the technology to be sort of hidden and subcutaneous. The more I started describing it, the more I realized I was pretty much describing the Apple playbook for design.” Auto’s voice is the creation of MacTalk, Apple’s text-to-speach program. An old mac keyboard can also be found in WALL-E’s truck (photo below)
Button: A BuyNLarge advertising jingle can be found at the conclusion of the credits, right after the Walt Disney Pictures logo is displayed.
Orange Caution Cones: The Orange Cones from Toy Story can be found all over abandoned earth, and inside WALL-E’s truck. See photo below.
Skinner’s Scooter: The scooter Skinner used in Ratatouille can be found in the trashpile early in the film. See photo above.
BURN-E: The DVD release of WALL-E will include a short film would be “very connected to WALL-E.” Pixar has done this in past releases with Mike’s Car on Monster’s Inc, Jack Jack Attack on The Incredibles, Mater and The Ghostlight with Cars, and Your Friend The Rat on Ratatouille. The short film on WALL-E will be titled BURN-E. In the feature film there is a sequence where Eve and WALL-E fly around the Axiom Starliner, and enter through a door locking a poor welder bot on the outside of the ship. The bot bangs his fists against the door after he realizes that he has been locked out. You can watch a clip of the sequence here. Apparently the welder bot is actually named BURN-E, complete with a logo on the side of his head. If I were to guess, I would say the short film will follow BURN-E on his journey to break back into the Axiom.
Hidden Mickey: A subtle formation of a silhouette of the head of Mickey Mouse and his two ears can be found in many Disney films. In The Incredibles, when Mr. Incredible was launched off the airplane to the island, several trees on top of a hill form a hidden Mickey. In WALL-E, a hidden Mickey can be found in the background of a scene on earth (seen above on the upper left corner)
Crush the Turtle: Finding Nemo’s Crush the Turtle can be seen in the animated credit sequence.
Incredible Humans?: /Film reader T-Mack writes: “During one of the introductions to the sedentary humans, there is a Sigurney Weaver voice-over detailing cool new fashions - where a quick shot of a billboard featuring three thin models in red jumpsuits appears. The models are uncannily done in a style similar to The Incredibles, with one of the models looking very much like Mr. Incredible.”
Rex: /Film reader Alex saw the Rex the dinosaur toy from Toy Story can be seen in WALL-E’s truck. /Film reader RageTreb confirms “He’s pretty obvious– seen on one of the first shelves seen in WALL-E’s truck at the beginning of the movie. He’s behind few other items, but it’s a close-up so he’s hard to miss.”
Bird from Bug’s Life: Alex from FirstShowing says the bird from A Bug’s Life appears in the animated ending credit sequence.
And these are only the easter eggs that we have found so far. Find any WALL-E easter eggs? Post them in the comments!