MP - Attack!!! Of the Virus! - Misc Modelling

While modelling the three main ships for the animation (which are coming along) I took some time to model the 'miscellaneous' aspects of the animation. These are the parts that I haven't designed on paper but kept there image in my head. The reason for this is that they appear on the screen for a small time and feed the narrative. These objects include the bomb that the WBC drops into the power core, the Parasite Toxin that the Mothership drops out etc.

The Cel/Toon shading applied here is the default Maya one to try and imprint some of the art style onto the model. This will be modified at a later date.

Red Blood Cell

Nothing too special here. It was important that the Red Blood Cell looks like one. This will help the audience identify where they are and understand the biological nature of it.

Virus 'Parasite'

This is the parasite that is dropped from the Virus Mothership and absorbs other cells. I made it as spiky as possible to show the 'evil' nature and its infectious nature. The purple and green is a combination of the colour of the virus weapon and Virus ship.

White Blood Cell Bomb

This is the bomb that the lone White Blood Cell ship drops into the power core of the Virus Mothership. It was originally a lot more pointed but that made it look more like a drill. I wanted it to be more pointed then the WBC ships to show the immense power of the bomb. I based the look on a Tactical Nuke. Like the Parasite, the colour is a combination of the White Blood Cell weapon (Yellow) and WBC colour (White)

Vein Interior

This is the vein interior. I wanted to give it some contours so it wasn't just a smooth line. This will be brought more to life with the movements of the Red Blood Cells

Virus Interior

This is the current state of the Virus Interior. This will be featured when the WBC flies into the Mothership through the exposed vent. I made the inside similar to the outside and further vents on the wall to show where the parasite toxin was coming from. This will be enhanced by adding elements to the walls and changing the look of the vents.

MP - Attack!!! Of the Virus! - Interim Crit Presentation

Earl Mills Interim Crit

MP - Attack!!! Of the Virus! - Previs V4

After a fantastic Easter Break, I have returned to the CG world with a modified Previs. The changes in this one is based on what Alan said in our last tutorial.



Next up is prepping for full Production and the Wednesday Crit. After the crit it's full steam ahead into Production.

MP - Attack!!! Of the Virus! - Complete Previs

I've been working on the second part of the previs and combining the two seperate parts together. I've applied the camera movements suggested by Phil but left room to change things up.

Complete Previs:

EDIT:
The original video was not displaying in 16:9. I've now fixed that:



One Aspect already set for change is the establishing shot of the Red Blood Cells. The Camera is too close and doesn't show its surrounding. I may change this in another version of the previs, or I may save time and make a note of it for later in production.

Also, Production is now in full swing with me cracking on with models. I'll upload these as soon as there at a level ready to be shown.

MP - Attack!!! Of The Virus! - Pre-Vis Part 1

This is the current progress of the Pre-Vis. Its coming along well, but slowly, as I'm trying to incorporate elements of the art direction and see exactly how they work. Because of this, it's been split into two parts.

Part Two is coming in the next day or two.



As you can see, the Halftone effect can be pretty overpowering, but I can tone that down with the implementation of Part 2. The general look of the effect needs to be edited too, but that's the point of previs, see what works and how things work. For example, the dots need to be larger, as at the moment they look kind of like cross stitching.

MP - Attack!!! Of The Virus! - Designs V3

I've combined the look of the more organic ships with the look of the more mechanical ones. This led to a slight overhaul of the Mothership.

I havent changed the White Blood Cell Ship as I couldn't find any further way to combine both arts. I fell it already combines elements of the organic and the mechanical.

Regardless, here are all three:

White Blood Cell:

Virus Fighter:

Virus Mothership:

MP - Attack!!! Of The Virus! - Animatic V3

This is my second animatic. I've been trying to further refine the animation and the actions there in but I think I would be able to get my idea across much better with a pre-vis to really show the action of the piece.
I've started to prep for it.



Apologies for the lower quality at points. I've been wrestling with Premier Pro.

The footage is from a 1930 film called Hell's Angels by Howard Hughes. My drawings and the footage have been spliced together to create the finished effect.

MP - Attack!!! Of The Virus! - Story Overview

This overview shows the story outline of the animation and how the animatic will follow it. It may be a bit confusing to follow, so its really for my benefit when I put the drawings and 'Hell's Angels' content together. This allows me to evenly distribute the time over the animation.

This will be shown better in the animatic which is coming very soon...

MP - Attack!!! Of The Virus! - Designs V3

A new take on my designs with more of an emphasise on the organic side then the sci-fi side.

White Blood Cell:

The White Blood Cell ship has been rounded out to more closely resemble the original source. It retains the white look and simple styling, with the spaceship look but the overall shape of white blood cell.

Virus Fighter Ship:

The virus fighter follows a similar styling to its larger counterpart. The spikes at the back give it an 'evil' look as well as staying close to the tentecaled look of the Mothership. The bacteria is more 'pointed' and focused as it attacks the body, so this is represented with its slimer body and pointed extremities.

Virus Mothership:

The Mothership follows a more stylised look of a bacteria, with the tendrils flailing behind it. It instantly gives it a more parasitic look and evokes danger. The tendrils also act as the hanger for the smaller virus fighers and when entering into combat, they are released from there. The difference between the mothership and fighter is that the mothership has a layering of armour around its center. It also releases the toxin thgrough its vents with leads to the narrative. During the animation the ship will use its tendrils to cause a 'Shockwave' attack leading to the 'What If' moment.

Scale comparison:

I have also watched the aerial combat in 'Hell's Angels' (1930) to see the filmic language use. As suggested by Alan, I'm going to combine a new animatic and these scenes into one. Along with this will be a 'Story Overview' detailing the Start, Middle, End and 'Not Sure' moment.

MP - ATTACK!!! Of the Virus! - Ship Designs Part 2

Along side my Animatic and Art Direction I have been fine tuning my designs for the central ships. I have added Gray silhouettes symbolising detailed or different areas then then black area. This is mainly changes in width and height as the point of these ships is not to be super complicated and detailed. The main point is to differentiate the two factions and the feature strong colours and bold lines. I have painted onto them to give a sense of there colour and Cell shading.

The added detailed areas are inspired by both realistic aircraft's and sci-fi influences by there placements. The Mothership is the greater deal of detail due to its larger size and focus in the animation. I have also not added any details that detract from there bold shapes and strong colour palette to keep with the target audience (10-15/12).

I have also detailed the inner tube that the lone White Blood Ship goes through the reach the core of the Virus.

The painted ships each have there unique colour applied to it and are shaded in a similar way to Cell Shading, with strong lines between shaded and not shaded. This gives a clearer definition of each respective ship then the Comic Concept.

The texture that the ships will have will be metallic. The WBCS will be clean and pristine whist the virus will be scratched and scuffed.