The Cricket character provides both contrast and tension in this project with his innocent and playful nature combined with the annoying chirping noise he makes.
The Cricket is oblivious to the presence of the Ghoul in the graveyard and happily chirps away, increasingly to the annoyance of the Ghoul. Towards the end of the film the Cricket really cuts loose with some very funny animation and sound effects.
The Crow, like the Cricket, creates tension in the film. The opening shot shows the Crow flying in to land on a branch as he investigates the world below.
The crow also features (a little too) prominently in the special DVD Easter Egg: Creature Quartet.
The Ghoul appears cunning and mischievous, yet more sneaky than evil. This gave the character greater depth and allowed a more comical style of animation.
The Ghoul was created on a solid foundation of several years of research and practice, building characters in Maya. Realistic animation and flexibility were Integral to the creation of all aspects of the setup, including mesh topology, bone placement and hierarchy, custom blendshapes and constraints, and more.
Given the large number of character controls I sought to simplify the process of node selection and grouped the various controls under intuitively named vector icons. All of the Ghoul's controls and selection handles are selectable both in the viewport and via the custom GUI.
See the Ghoul Demo Quicktime for more in depth information.
Character GUI controls were built using the MEL script: abxPicker
CHARACTER GUI
With a focus on simplicity, I created a character control GUI that allows full access to all the character controls without the need for a viewport selection paradigm.
This allows you to really focus on the look of the shot, not distracted by overly complex rigging controls and selection widgets.
VIEWPORT CONTROLS
However, for maximum efficiency and speed when animating, I have also comprised a full set of viewport selection handles and vector controls that give access to all the controls in both the Head and Body character sets.
These viewport controls act as the core system for the whole character, with the GUI providing selection access to these same nodes as well.
Character Sets
Character sets are created for both the Body and Head, capturing the entire collection of controls in one node. This allows for a robust animation pipeline, particularly for the import / export of animation clips via the Trax Editor.
Animation clips can then be looped, stretched, scaled, and mixed with other clips. They can even be used on other characters via the Character Mapper.
Trax Editor
Using Maya's Trax Editor, separate clips are created, mixed and exported for future use, building an ever growing library of animations that can be used as required. The cycle, stretch and scale functions make the Trax Editor a great companion tool for all types of animation.
Using Character Sets + Trax Editor together is a powerful approach to the animation pipeline.
CHARACTER POSES
A library of dynamic poses were created for both the Body and Head, and continue to grow in number as the animation process continues.
Preset poses save time getting characters into the mood for a given shot. They can also serve as a strong foundation for
pose-to-pose style animation.
You can selectively apply a pose to only certain nodes of the character, as well as mix in desired percentages with other poses... Very powerful.
A large collection of graveyard assets were created that could be referenced and connected to build any scene layout necessary.
Digital photos were used for both reference and texturing.
1K File textures were used for each asset, comprising mainly of:
Colour and Normal maps.
Digital Photos + Textures:
Digital photos were used for both reference and texturing.
1K File textures were used for each asset, comprising of:
Colour, Normals, Specular, Illuminance and Ambience.
Matte Paintings:
Matte paintings enhance the drama and feeling of depth in a scene and are used in particular for dramatic skies. This provides an acceptable illusion, mainly for static shots or simple camera moves.
Cameras:
Multiple cameras placed around the Maya "Stage" allowed for the generation of interesting compositions, and also helped the process of set dressing and different geometry placements.
Wii Remote:
I use the Wii Remote along with the Maya Motion Capture Server and accompanying .mel script to record hand held camera movements directly from the Wii Remote.
The Ghoul-Vision shots are perfect for this.
DRAMATIC ENVIRONMENT Creation
The world of the Ghoul was created with a strong sense of drama in a range of different ways: environment modelling, painterly textures, effects like fog and wind blown reeds, strong and atmospheric lighting schemes, dramatic sky and storm cloud matte paintings to name a few.
The story is set during late twilight, against a backdrop of gathering wind and distant rolling thunder announcing the arrival of a storm brewing. This creates a tense atmosphere within the graveyard, along with old decaying sepulchres and gravestones and an eerie, luminescent fog. I wanted a heavily stylised look, where shadows are darker, fog is thicker and the textures take on a dramatic feel.
This was a large scale production and required the focus and detail of each individual element to be crafted with care and patience. The rewards of this approach have resulted in not only a rich landscape of graveyard assets but also a growing collection of IP for future use in other productions.
A Word on Pipeline
As with all large scale projects, the importance of pipeline is integral to the efficient and smooth running of the production. Ghoul is no exception and though a relatively simple pipeline compared with full scale commercial productions, its importance is no less crucial. Good pipeline allows you to focus on the creative task at hand, not concerned about individual assets within the scene. This also reduces the stress associated with messy file naming, multiple versions, orphaned scene assets etc.
Individual Assets / Reference / Pipeline:
Individual assets are created on a single file basis, with all required materials and textures contained within a single Maya scene file. These files are kept meticulously tidy and optimised for file referencing with a careful and consistent file naming protocol. Assets are then loaded as file references during scene layout and creation.
Inner-file node names (geometry, materials, textures etc.) all adhere to strict naming protocol which reflect the file /asset name with a logical suffix applied. i.e.
File name:
SepulchreD.ma
Node names:
Geometry:
SepulchreD_01
Material:
SepulchreD_Mat
Textures:
SepulchreD_Texture
SepulchreD_Normals
Should any aspect of an asset require further tweaking, this can be worked on separately and the results updated in every scene that uses that asset.
Modelling + Photo Reference:
The graveyard assets were based on digital photos taken at a nearby cemetery. I waited for an overcast day as this provided the ideal lighting for photo textures with soft diffused shadows. I shot hundreds of photos of graves, headstones, crosses, sepulchres and other graveyard items.
In addition to photo based textures, this also provided the reference needed for modelling the assets in Maya. I modelled for efficiency over excessive detail, creating a stylised look, as opposed to photoreal.
Texture Work:
UV layout is performed in Maya maximizing the available texture space before exporting a template to use as a guide in PhotoShop.
The original photo is then cut up and montaged together using various masks and perspective correction to fit the UV template.
Image adjustments and filters are then applied, creating a dramatic painterly feel to the texture.
Normal maps are then generated using the nVidia plugin for PhotoShop to quickly provide the "grittiness" and added detail needed.
View the following Quicktimes for more information.
Original artwork and character concepts were created for the Ghoul, Cricket and Graveyard. Black ball-point pens give subtle shading yet also strong contrast which works very well after scanning into PhotoShop for further enhancements.
Storyboard + Script
A basic story-board was created, outlining a typical opening scene for a skit. Setting the stage with dramatic environments before introducing the various characters and building tension along the way.
Ideas for various gags and skits are brainstormed and scripted out first,. Separate storyboards are then created along the way to explore these ideas. Individual frames are annotated with production notes on the shot, including lighting and camera work. This proves invaluable during the production phase.
Story Idea
The concept of the Ghoul is based loosely on the Roadrunner & Coyote genre.
This provides an ongoing stage for all types of animation and some very funny gags. It also provides an outlet to keep practicing the art of animation and the key skills:
Anticipation, timing, weight etc.
GHOUL: TO BE RELEASED ON Blu-ray DVD
A high definition Blu-ray DVD will showcase the production of this project, including behind the scenes demos, original artwork and character designs, visual FX breakdowns and more...
GHOUL DVD BOOKLET: PRODUCTION NOTEs And Sketches
The DVD booklet includes detailed sketches, diagrams and inspiration, documenting the process of character tests and Maya rigging. This booklet is a companion to the "Extra Creatures" section of the DVD.
CREATURE QUARTET
Creature Quartet is an extra music track that was created by accident when sound mixing the Graveyard Ambience track. When tuning various animal sound effects, it was discovered that these could approximate musical notes. I then set about finding a suitable Mozart piece I could massacre and voila: the "Creature Quartet" was born.
Giving the Cricket a rest as the comic focus, the Crow takes the cake in this piece as an over zealous but under talented tenor as he does his best to hit his cue...
ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS
Original music was composed and recorded in-house for the main Ghoul feature as well as creating several atmospheric soundscapes for general purpose.
GRAVEYARD AMBIENCE
The general background loop is a multi-layered soundscape of owls hooting, distant wolves howling, wind in the trees, rolling thunder, cars engines, crickets, frogs and nocturnal insects.
GHOUL SOUNDSCAPE
Chanting vocals feature on this track. These vocals were then slowed down before adding various reverb, chorus and delay effects.
Content created using the latest Adobe software:
After Effects, PhotoShop, Illustrator and Encore DVD.
Ghoul was produced using Maya for all 3D animation, Mudbox for sculpting and normal mapping, Syflex for cloth simulation, PhotoShop for all textures and matte paintings, After Effects for compositing and 2D visual effects, Sony Sound Forge, Sony Acid, Steinberg Cubase and Native Instruments Komplete for all original music creation and sound effects mixing..
