Hey all!
Just thought I'd give you guys an update on the production. As of now JJ is still roughing out our sequences, but because of it being Christmas break (and our respective hometowns being 2000 miles apart) we have not been able to do clean up....UNTIL NOW. Santa brought me a wonderful gift this year in the Cintiq 12WX. Short translation: I can do cleanup anywhere at any time.
I am also working out the opening sequence that has consistently given us trouble. I'm exploring a lot of options and I think I might have found a great solution of introducing the Hammerfist gang.
It has also come to my attention that we now have a link at Amazingsuperpowers.com BIG thanks to Tony and Wes for that. We may actually have people reading the site now. Also, if you haven't been there yet, go check out www.amazingsuperpowers.com
Stay tuned to the site for a nice little present after the new year. Hopefully you will all accept it graciously.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Ladies and Gentlemen, there IS good news tonight...
I've roughed 5 sequences. That leaves about 145 left to rough! WOO!
That is a good thing, though. At this rate, I'm roughing a sequence in 3-5 hours. That's really good. That means we might actually finish this fool's errand!
-JJ
That is a good thing, though. At this rate, I'm roughing a sequence in 3-5 hours. That's really good. That means we might actually finish this fool's errand!
-JJ
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Messing around in Digital pro.
So we here at Hammerfist Productions are using Digital Pro for animating Hammerfists of Fury. It's a pretty intricate program, so there is a lot to discover. Now, while this render isn't really close to what the final product will look like, I decided I might as well just put it up for you guys to see. color designs are probably the only things that won't change much from this picture but no promises on that either.
We're testing out a bunch of different ways to output this short. We could go completely traditional and just color in Digital Pro, or we could rough it out on good could paper and do clean lines and color on the computer. We are also trying to figure out a color style (I think I'm making up technical terms now) for the short at this point. Animation officially underway so clean up will be coming soon enough.
For those curious, JJ will be doing the primary animation with a little help from me here and there, while I mess with the clean up and coloring/compositing on the technical end. While I may end up regretting putting this picture up because it's so primitive, I think I'll do it anyway so that you guys can see the progress as the film gets closer and closer to finishing.
16 weeks left! Whoa! That's not that much!!!
Oh and for those curious, the little blonde guy in the picture is Steve: The indecisive tile customer. His design isn't going to change at all.
We're testing out a bunch of different ways to output this short. We could go completely traditional and just color in Digital Pro, or we could rough it out on good could paper and do clean lines and color on the computer. We are also trying to figure out a color style (I think I'm making up technical terms now) for the short at this point. Animation officially underway so clean up will be coming soon enough.
For those curious, JJ will be doing the primary animation with a little help from me here and there, while I mess with the clean up and coloring/compositing on the technical end. While I may end up regretting putting this picture up because it's so primitive, I think I'll do it anyway so that you guys can see the progress as the film gets closer and closer to finishing.
16 weeks left! Whoa! That's not that much!!!
Oh and for those curious, the little blonde guy in the picture is Steve: The indecisive tile customer. His design isn't going to change at all.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Body Models!
Hey folks. None of these are finalized, but they sure are fun to look at!
I've been working on David's body model. I wanted to get away from a generic body with legs/arms all in perfect proportion, so I slimmed up the legs in relationship to the body, dicked with their sizes in relationship to eachother, and came up with some pretty cool stuff!
I experimented with giving him a bit of a belly, but I don't really like it. Anyway, for all those interested, this is what I've been up to today!
More to come throughout the weekend!
-JJ
I've been working on David's body model. I wanted to get away from a generic body with legs/arms all in perfect proportion, so I slimmed up the legs in relationship to the body, dicked with their sizes in relationship to eachother, and came up with some pretty cool stuff!
I experimented with giving him a bit of a belly, but I don't really like it. Anyway, for all those interested, this is what I've been up to today!
More to come throughout the weekend!
-JJ
Monday, November 12, 2007
Yeah! An update!
Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long between updates. JJ and I have peen hard at work finalizing our animatic. And last night we recorded final audio for the main character David. There's a lo of funny stuff that probably won't make it onto the final product, but if DVD is ever an option (maybe if the show gets bought?) we can always put it in the extras.
I wish I could make this post longer, but it's really late and I need some sleep. For the time being though, I'll leave you guys with a teaser poster. It's a bit rough, but I really want to show it to you guys. The final version should be up by the end of the month. Tell us what you think!
See you guys later!
Now THAT'S F*&%$ing sweet!
I wish I could make this post longer, but it's really late and I need some sleep. For the time being though, I'll leave you guys with a teaser poster. It's a bit rough, but I really want to show it to you guys. The final version should be up by the end of the month. Tell us what you think!
See you guys later!
Now THAT'S F*&%$ing sweet!
Monday, November 5, 2007
The next step...
Hey all! Just a tiny update: as of this evening, modeling on the 3d environments has begun! The tile store is about 80% complete. Our plan is to use 3d for all of our backgrounds and environments, but of course make them look 2d. It's basically a nice short-cut for us!
As we speak, Matt's in the lab slaving away over sequence 1. He's got some great looking revisions going, and we'll definately have the completed board by Tuesday! In the next few days, we'll be animating/3d modeling/compositing!
19 weeks left!
-JJ
As we speak, Matt's in the lab slaving away over sequence 1. He's got some great looking revisions going, and we'll definately have the completed board by Tuesday! In the next few days, we'll be animating/3d modeling/compositing!
19 weeks left!
-JJ
Friday, November 2, 2007
20 weeks left. Uh oh!
I guess it's been a while since all 20 of our loyal fans heard anything about Hammerfist 2. Matt and I have been boarding our asses off trying to get everything perfect. We've cut the film down from 10 minutes to 6:27, probably closer to 7:00 when all is said and done.
This afternoon, we'll officially have everything boarded! From there, we take the boards to Jay Oliva, who will rip them apart and tell us how to make things better. After that, we begin animation. By "begin animation" we're hoping by the end of next week.
Rumor has it that by the end of the month, Hammerfist 1 will be online, and by the middle of December, a teaser for Hammerfist 2 will be available for all to view.
At some point this weekend, we'll post some art. Maybe some boards, maybe some model sheets, maybe something we drew on the bathroom wall in the basement of St. Rob's. Anyway, it'll be something sexy to look at other than words!
Um. That's it!
-JJ
This afternoon, we'll officially have everything boarded! From there, we take the boards to Jay Oliva, who will rip them apart and tell us how to make things better. After that, we begin animation. By "begin animation" we're hoping by the end of next week.
Rumor has it that by the end of the month, Hammerfist 1 will be online, and by the middle of December, a teaser for Hammerfist 2 will be available for all to view.
At some point this weekend, we'll post some art. Maybe some boards, maybe some model sheets, maybe something we drew on the bathroom wall in the basement of St. Rob's. Anyway, it'll be something sexy to look at other than words!
Um. That's it!
-JJ
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Another Late Night of Storyboarding
Ah yes...it's amazing how quickly you learn to take all-nighters when you work in animation. I remember these type of days being a chore to get through, but now those 48 hours feel exactly like a good old 24.
I was up all night storyboarding out what we here at Hammerfist Productions call....*drum roll* SEQUENCE 06. It's really nothing special, although it does involve a Panda. Currently I've been doing my storyboards by sketching it out rough on paper first and then scanning those in and cleaning up in Photoshop CS3 using a Cintiq. For those that don't know, a Cintiq is basically a tablet monitor-which means I can draw directly onto the screen. While I do love those Wacom Intuos 3's, I just can't get a good enough control. With the Cintiq I can zoom in and get a lot of detail in the frame, and easily reuse background shots by copying and pasting. I still prefer inking on paper, but this way there is far less cleanup and I don't have to worry about those little ink mess-ups.
As JJ pointed out in the last post, after putting together our first board into an animatic, we realized that there need to be some major retooling-especially in the second and third act. So.....we're hoping to get a first pass animatic by the end of the weekend.
Some more fun news! We recorded new temp audio tracks for two of the characters and are going to record David's tonight! JJ and I are finding that these new voices are adding a lot of life to these characters-far more than the temp tracks that he and I recorded a month ago. Maybe we'll put some of those on the DVD...if there is a DVD *crosses fingers*.
Well, I'd better get back to work. I was offered to be driven out to Arizona today (I'm in Los Angeles mind you) to see the Cubs play, and I am unable to because we scheduled a recording session tonight. Oh David, the things I do for you....
I was up all night storyboarding out what we here at Hammerfist Productions call....*drum roll* SEQUENCE 06. It's really nothing special, although it does involve a Panda. Currently I've been doing my storyboards by sketching it out rough on paper first and then scanning those in and cleaning up in Photoshop CS3 using a Cintiq. For those that don't know, a Cintiq is basically a tablet monitor-which means I can draw directly onto the screen. While I do love those Wacom Intuos 3's, I just can't get a good enough control. With the Cintiq I can zoom in and get a lot of detail in the frame, and easily reuse background shots by copying and pasting. I still prefer inking on paper, but this way there is far less cleanup and I don't have to worry about those little ink mess-ups.
As JJ pointed out in the last post, after putting together our first board into an animatic, we realized that there need to be some major retooling-especially in the second and third act. So.....we're hoping to get a first pass animatic by the end of the weekend.
Some more fun news! We recorded new temp audio tracks for two of the characters and are going to record David's tonight! JJ and I are finding that these new voices are adding a lot of life to these characters-far more than the temp tracks that he and I recorded a month ago. Maybe we'll put some of those on the DVD...if there is a DVD *crosses fingers*.
Well, I'd better get back to work. I was offered to be driven out to Arizona today (I'm in Los Angeles mind you) to see the Cubs play, and I am unable to because we scheduled a recording session tonight. Oh David, the things I do for you....
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Introducing...JJ *cheers!*
Howdy all!
I'm JJ, the other half of this insane project. I'm sitting at my desk, my arms weaved through DVD boxed for movies/shows that I've watched over the last few days as research for this movie. Most of them have sword play it them, so I dunno what kind of teaser that'll be for you guys. Just know that what I've got boarded now is impossible to animate cause it's really cool, so we'll probably end up trying to do it anyway!
Matt's covered all the basics: the history, what we're up to, etc. Like he said, we're boarding still, but he didnt quite mention that we had the boards finished, but realized they sucked. We pitched our problem to the class, and voila, two more weeks of storyboarding! It's freeking sweet though. You'll see in May.
-JJ
I'm JJ, the other half of this insane project. I'm sitting at my desk, my arms weaved through DVD boxed for movies/shows that I've watched over the last few days as research for this movie. Most of them have sword play it them, so I dunno what kind of teaser that'll be for you guys. Just know that what I've got boarded now is impossible to animate cause it's really cool, so we'll probably end up trying to do it anyway!
Matt's covered all the basics: the history, what we're up to, etc. Like he said, we're boarding still, but he didnt quite mention that we had the boards finished, but realized they sucked. We pitched our problem to the class, and voila, two more weeks of storyboarding! It's freeking sweet though. You'll see in May.
-JJ
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Welcome to my life for the next year
Hello, and welcome to the official blog for David Hammerfist! This is the first post, so I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Matthew M. and this is a blog for my thesis project that I am collaborating with JJ on. Both of us are animation majors at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. This blog will basically be a production diary for both JJ and me. So you can expect pictures and maybe even video to get thrown up here.
A bit of back story on David Hammerfist..... David originated as my sophomore roomate who had dreams of saving planes from terrorists and saving buses full of orphans. Knowing that it was a great concept, I took some of those ideas and compiled them into the first film "David Hammerfist in the Final Countdown." It was my second film here at LMU and while a bit shoddy in the animation itself, it was rendered and colored pretty well, not to mention had a great lead voice actor that gave life to David.
So now it's two years later and JJ and I are revisiting Hammerfist and making a sequel of sorts. David Hammerfist: Hammerfist of Fury (tentative title) is a re-visioning of the chracters, the world and the absurdity that is David Hammerfist. This new film will stand by itself, but for those familiar with the original, they will find some nice easter eggs.
If you haven't seen the first film, perhaps I'll post the original here for everyone to watch. We are literally right in the middle of pre-production and are almost done with the storyboards. Once that is done, we will be animating in Toon Boom Digital Pro. So far JJ has taken the grunt of the storyboards, but once we get into animation/coloring, a lot will fall to my hands and it'll even out. Hopefully JJ will introduce himself soon enough since he has had just as much (even more, perhaps) influence on the David Hammerfist mythos as me! Fun, yes? Well, it will be. Talk to you all later!
Matthew
A bit of back story on David Hammerfist..... David originated as my sophomore roomate who had dreams of saving planes from terrorists and saving buses full of orphans. Knowing that it was a great concept, I took some of those ideas and compiled them into the first film "David Hammerfist in the Final Countdown." It was my second film here at LMU and while a bit shoddy in the animation itself, it was rendered and colored pretty well, not to mention had a great lead voice actor that gave life to David.
So now it's two years later and JJ and I are revisiting Hammerfist and making a sequel of sorts. David Hammerfist: Hammerfist of Fury (tentative title) is a re-visioning of the chracters, the world and the absurdity that is David Hammerfist. This new film will stand by itself, but for those familiar with the original, they will find some nice easter eggs.
If you haven't seen the first film, perhaps I'll post the original here for everyone to watch. We are literally right in the middle of pre-production and are almost done with the storyboards. Once that is done, we will be animating in Toon Boom Digital Pro. So far JJ has taken the grunt of the storyboards, but once we get into animation/coloring, a lot will fall to my hands and it'll even out. Hopefully JJ will introduce himself soon enough since he has had just as much (even more, perhaps) influence on the David Hammerfist mythos as me! Fun, yes? Well, it will be. Talk to you all later!
Matthew
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