My Animated Life

Audi R8 Reel

2009-07-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking: Isn't this R8 something you did a long time ago? The answer is, yes, I modeled an R8 in 3Ds Max previously. However I lost the file when I formatted my pc. Therefore I decided to model a brand new one. In Maya. This was done during my internship in Flystudio, and previously I only rendered still frames of it. But I decided to make it into a simple video so that I could present to some companies with the hope that they'd be impressed and hire me, haha!

So here you go: My R8 reel.

Cast The First Stone

2009-07-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Finally my MMU years have come to an end. The initials that everyone's most afraid of, F.Y.P, has also been defeated. I still remember the day we presented our project pitch, the road ahead was uncertain and I was really afraid.

I wanted to do a motion graphics, but then after quite some consultations with lecturers, my story slowly became more of a character animation. And the worst part is, there were a lot of characters I had to animate. That only translates into one thing: Rigging and Weighting!

Well, glad to say it's all over now. I have no experience in character animation, but I did my best to tell my story in a toon-shaded 3D animation. Hope you all like this.

Here are some images of my character line-ups:

War is never the answer

2008-05-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is the motion graphics I did for this semester. As many of you would know I derived the silhouette idea from the ending credits of the movie 300. All of it was done in 3D Studio Max and then composited in After Effects. Most of the elements in this animation were flat planes but the Humvees and tanks and cannons are 3D. A newer and improved version of this animation will be uploaded later. Hope you enjoy this.

My Own Sin City Comic

2008-05-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is the final assignment for Storyboard class. Basically we were required to tell a story in 12 frames, and since I've always been inspired by mafia and hitman stories, and of course, Frank Miller's Sin City, I decided to adopt his style of drawing in this assignment. Here's the story:

3D Modeling

2008-04-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to 3D modeling and animation about a year ago, and it's now one of the things I love to do most, even though I still have a lot to learn. Here are some of the works that I have done so far. Some are assignments and some are just experiments on my own.

Here's an Audi R8 whose license plate bears my initials and my birth date. I love cars and this is one of my favourite because it looks futuristic, but not ridiculous. It's actually still a work in progress as this car still has no interior, no engine and no wheels, as shown in the second image.

For one of my assignments we were told to model our own heads, which I did. I was too lazy to figure out a creative texture for my head so I simply painted myself into Homer Simpson, which is very befitting, because I failed to put any brains into doing the texture.

Well, it might not look perfectly like me, but at least it looks like a human, so I guess that's sufficient for now.

While experimenting with 3D elements, I realized that one of the most intriguing part of it was lighting. I have always been fascinated by how different lightings can make your image look either photorealistic or fake. I like to create photorealistic photos, and here are my shots at it:

I tried to light up the condo with daylight and then create a night scene using interior lightings. The experiment went pretty well, I guess, and I'm looking forward to doing some architectural jobs or interior designs if given the opportunity.

Throughout my experiments with lighting and all, I never really understood caustics, what it is, why do we need it, etc. However I gave it a try anyways, and even thought it looked nothing like a gem or glass or any of the things they show in the final outcome in tutorials, I guess this turned out ok.

Anyways I'm sure some of you might think I totally suck ass in 3D, and some of you might wonder how I did some of the works, so feel free to leave comments, I'd really appreciate it.

3D Modeling

2008-04-03T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a model of a keychain that I did for my VFX assignment. It's not super detailed but at least it looks like the original one. Done in 3D Studio Max 9.0 and rendered with mental ray.

And here's the original one:

SPCA Promotional Video

2008-04-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

In case you don't know what SPCA is, it stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Here's a promotional video I did alongside my girlfriend and 4 other girls with whom I've been working closely ever since.I was the main animator and compositor of this animation, and this animation, from pre-production to post-production, was done in about 28 hours. It isn't perfect, but I'd say for a work done in such a short time, it's one of the animations I like the most. Basically all we did was create those individual elements in Photoshop or Illustrator, then place them in 3D layers in After Effects to give a false sense of perspective. Then we added the song L-O-V-E by Olivia Ong just to make things sweet. Here's the outcome :D

Here are the wonderful people with whom I worked to make this video possible:

Rong................... Carlyn................. Shin.................... Ah Val

... and Heng Xiao Wee

Lopo II

2008-04-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

Alright, here's the fun stuff. This was one of the most difficult but most rewarding projects I've ever done. It involved loads of books, some mounting boards, batteries, light bulbs, a refrigerator, and a whole lot of clay. The whole process took approximately 6 hours, and I could tell you that this was one of the funnest projects I've done to date. Basically it was shot frame by frame and then composed into a video, which is what you're seeing now.

In case you're wondering, Lopo is the name of the main character in this animation. This name is derived from "Low Polygonal Character", the reason being the character has only simple geometries to it. The reason it is called "Lopo II" is because Lopo II is actually the successor of Lopo, which is the first model we made, and destroyed in the process of animating because the clay was too soft whilst the skeleton was too hard.

As a result we asked Agito (one of the "A"s of AKKA Studio) to make a more flexible skeleton and I made a new Lopo around it. Process of animation was pretty smooth except the clay is somewhat too soft, and in order to animate it properly, we had to freeze it to harden it. Overall I'd say it's an unforgettable experience.

Snakes and Ladders

2008-03-31T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here's one animation I did based on the famous board game, Snakes and Ladders. As usual, the 3D elements are done in 3D Studio Max, and the particles in the buildings were done using a plugin in After Effects. The buildings were rendered in green colour which was then keyed out in After Effects so that I could mask the particles in it.

Below are the concept and design boards of this motion graphics. They might differ very much from the final output but I prefered the style of the final work, which was why I changed the style from the one seen in the concept boards to the final work. Soundtrack was taken from the ending credits of the movie, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events".

Concept Board

Visual References

Visual Theme Studies

Execution Plannings

Design Development

You Got Cubed

2008-03-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

This is probably the first motion graphics I've ever done, featuring a Rubix Cube which shows all the things that I like - cars, computers and movies. The cube was done in 3D Studio Max 8, and then composited in Adobe After Effects.

And below is the concept art of this motion graphic.