There are some setbacks, but at the same time, some leaps forward. This week, I want to take pause and review what I've just attempted and the results of what's gone on this past fortnight.
The biggest hurdle I thought I had leaped was completing the vocal recordings.
I'm not there yet. Personally, the quality is not that good when compared to what I've received from the actors in the US. So I am taking stock, regrouping, and I will be doing it again. I guess this is the advantage of having a personal project: I have the time to do-over anything that is not to my liking. Know that in paid projects you have two choices in this situation: either offer the client a freebie and eat the cost yourself to correct your mistake, or go with the lesser quality version.
There is a saying I despise, most likely because I end up at the sharp end of the stick in the situations to which it refers: WE'LL FIX IT IN POST.
This is putting too much faith in tool-sets, filters and compressors which exist nowadays, when a whole lot of work could be avoided by just getting the best possible raw media. It is largely why I am doing the recordings again. Sure, I could compress the bejesus out of the files, run filters up the wazoo to scrub out all the ambiance, then up the bass and... well you get the idea - but WHY? I have the opportunity to get it in one, and not waste those late nights on correcting my mistake because of laziness on the day. I could use that time instead to complete my storyboards and begin cutting the animatic. I could spend that time modeling and learning about texturing (the next big hurdle I face).
So I am back to the drawing board, partly on that one. It shall be rescheduled in separate passes, as not all the actors are available at the same times.
Secondly - I did lose most of my 3D models due to a failure to back up my thumb-drive which housed my project. This means I will be remodeling: Market, the Navigation Tower, the Cockpit, and the Cargo Bay. By some stroke of luck, the Sand-boat had been backed up in another older on my external hard drive at home, so I managed to salvage that.
I now have this project backed up in three other places, and each night when I make a revision, I save that file to the thumb-drive and the back ups.
On the plus side: I drafted new concept sketches for the two Sand-boats and two characters which will be replicated often. Here are the sketches below:
I've also modeled the Young Dirigible. Here is a render:
My new schedule reflects these set-backs, and it looks like the next task is to complete concepts on props. In the meantime, I will be story boarding right through until the deadline for that. I am already doubting some of my shot sizes, but I want to press ahead and go back and edit when the whole thing is done. I figure that's the best way to complete the task at hand. Perhaps I need a couple of weeks of "clean up" to go back and address holes and mistakes to the storyboards and designs, before I go full-pelt into modeling, texturing and rigging.
That's all from me this week. Next week is a bit up-in-the air as I have some work commitments that will make production time a little scarce, but I shall endeavor to showcase whatever work gets accomplished between now and then.
Originally posted July 7th 2008
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