Stopmotion project

Side-by-side

2011-10-19T19:24:00.002-04:00

With the original TV commercial.

Here it is

2011-10-16T11:40:00.004-04:00

I'll put more text this week.

'Til then, enjoy !

Last shot is in the can !!

2011-08-14T22:34:00.021-04:00

I finally made it.. The last shot is done.

There's only a few details i need to adjust before delivering my short. I talk about: editing, polishing the title screen and building up the closing credits part.

Oh ! Before i forget about it, this week, the visitors counter hitted 10,000th visits. I didn't expected that much traffic around here, but i'm very happy it does.

The last shot was very tricky to animate and there was decisions, i had to made.

First of all, the Corpser is moving toward the camera on each frame, so i was considering doing a dolly for the puppet on wheels. Then, i was thinking about a dolly for the camera and get back to my first idea, but without the wheels.

This is how it looks.

Animating the legs one by one was something i was considering at first, but after doing some tests, i though that would be to hard to animate for the little results i would have had.

So, my final setup goes as follow. The two middle legs were removed. They was an issue because they were blocking the light that comes upside the creature. The front legs were mounted on some homemade skates. They move forward with the rail. The four back legs are fixed to the table, but they move a bit with the creature movement. Some nuts broke while animating the first trials, so i respond to the problem with rubber bands. They worked perfectly.

Note: There's a threaded rod that was supposed to move the rail forward. A nut was attached to it and with every turn it would have get with a spanner, the rail would have move a little forward. This idea was forget and i was moving the rail with my hand. A ruler was use to measure the distance it has to move between each shot.

There was one and only light (LEDs) that come from a desklamp upside the Corpser. The green cardboard is use to block the light. The sequence shows the creature coming out of the darkness. I wanted a drastic separation between light and darkness.

On the two bricks you can see below, there's white glassy paper sheets to reflect the light on the bottom part of the puppet face.

Some pictures of my setup

The sequence is available here for those who entered (or will enter) my contest: http://vimeo.com/27697801 (same password as last time).

For the others, here one frame of the sequence and below, a frame from the sequence i did last time.

I'll let you know when the movie will be finished and available on Youtube and Vimeo. Till then, take care !

Death blow sequence done !

2011-07-23T00:14:00.003-04:00

Pheww...
At last, the final sequence is meeting my quality standards. I'm very happy to achieved it the first time.
- 77 pictures
- 3 seconds of video on 1's (24 frames per seconds)
- 2 sessions of shooting on two different days
- 6 hours of work animating that

Everything goes as expected (hopefully). As i thought, animating a big puppet is way easier than animating a small one.

In order to simulate the lightning coming from the machine gun, i worked with three different lightning setups.

2 lights

1 light

No light

Repeating these 3 lightning setups did a good job.

Here's my lighning setup. The light no.1 is a LED desk lamp with foil on it to reduce the light that come out of it. The light no.2 is a little and single LED light.

As an awared animator, i taped down the camera's tripod and the electric cables that were on my way.

Here are some pictures that shows how small is my shooting room.

The tied-downs also worked perfectly.

Oh i almost forgot, the sequence...
Here's the link. http://vimeo.com/26750281
There's a password that must be entered and all the people who submited (or will) pictures for the wallpapers contest will receive it by email.

Enjoy !

Corpser completed !

2011-07-07T02:46:00.004-04:00

Corpser's wallpapers + CONTEST !!!

2011-07-02T23:57:00.011-04:00

I was doing some wallpapers for myself and thought i should share some with you. Feel free to use them for a personnal use only.

The first one is my favorite, closely followed by the second one. The third and fourth ones, were done with the intention of having two different views on the Corpser's head on the same picture, but i'm not fully satisfied with the results. A nice wallpaper isn't done randomly and i don't think i really understand how to do that properly. Anyway...

CONTEST !!! -> Send me a picture of yourself showing your computer screen with your favorite desktop's wallpaper using one of the followings. Show a thumb up or any creative and original facial expression (example). Send it here. I'll put your names in a hat and i'll pick a winner randomly. A free "signed" DVD will be sent to the winner when it will be done. Good luck ! =)

Corpser's head painted

2011-06-30T10:07:00.000-04:00

Here's some pictures of the Corpser's head painted.

The painting has begun !

2011-06-18T22:57:00.020-04:00

Hi folks !

I've broke the ice with the paint job this week. It's nice to see colors on the skull after almost 6 months. It's only primer for the moment, but it's cool to see the contrast between the helmet and the teeth.

I built a quick spray booth in my workplace. There isn't ventilation, but i'm working with acrylic paint (odorless) and i'm doing only small sessions at a time with all windows open.

Airbrushing is a little harder than i thought, but even with no experience, i can see that it does nicer effects than if i was using a paint brush. Experimenting is the key as all other arts and reading the blogs of my friends Ryukaze and Ludo helped a lot understanding many little things.

By the way, it was a hard mind blowing week, because i founded a dust between the lenses of my only camera. The one i was using from the very beginning of this project, and the one that was working so greatly with the stopmotion freeware CMSC (for old Canon camera). After several searches, i found one on classified ads and jumped on it. It only cost me 60$ and it's almost in mint condition. Amazon was offering some used, starting at 125$ + shipping and Ebay, almost only broken ones... :/

The dust between the lenses wasn't removable. I did some tapping on it, but i was afraid to break it and it didn't seem to move. On the picture below, you can see how it look like on pictures (inside the red circle).

Here's some flesh !!

2011-06-08T22:37:00.005-04:00

Hi there !

Here's some body parts i was working on in the last few weeks.

For the torso, little by little, i added thin layers of dry wall plaster on the wooden block in order to give it a more interesting shape. Each day, i spent like 15 minutes applying the plaster and let that dry-up for a full day before getting back on it. A little sanding here and there and voilà !

For the abdomen and the neck, i prepared two texturized clay plates in order to pour liquid latex on them. Once dry, this will work as flesh.

Here's the plate for the abdomen

I had let the clay dry in deep for a few days, but it was so thin that the edges was become a little curly (it happened on the drying phase). I then applied a thin layer of spray varnish to help removing the latex once poured and dryed-up. It helped, but as mention Richard Svensson, it's harder to apply the latex on a slick surface, because the latex doesn't want to stay in place. I need to say that i was deeply inspired by Richard puppet making tutorial when i planned doing that.

There was 2 tries. The first didn't end very well. I poured too much latex at once and it wasn't completely dry when i removed it one week later. The second one was done, layer by layer, 24hrs between coats.

The bad one it on the left and the good, on the right.

Note: The mold cracked at the center after the first try. I glued it temporary back to do the second try. There wasn't an issue because there's a belt on the Corpser's abdomen that you'll see in the further pictures.

This is the plate for the neck. Note that this one is 1 cm thick. I did some carving strikes to add texture.

It worked almost well. The carving strikes were too deep i think and the latex didn't gives the effect i was expecting. That was a good experience thought. My latex is probably best suited for mold building. It's looks harder and less flexible than the latex others use (like the ones that are made to put on your skin).

Finally, i didn't want to use it this way so i just turn it over. The other side texture was kindda nice too.

I glued both parts together with latex and did some ajustements with scissors, then i put them in place with a stapler. I also cut an old belt of mine to put on it.

There's only some minors adjustements needed and a good paint job before i can move on shooting the last sequences.

Sequence #15 - "Gunfire"

2011-05-24T18:27:00.015-04:00

Inguinal hernia is fixed and a new sequence is done. It's been 2 weeks by now, that they wide-opened me in order to patch the hernia that i had on the lower abs level. Look at my nice staples ! =)

I'm in remission in the moment and will be for a couple of weeks. I can't sit for more than 30 minutes (it hurts), so even if i'm not going to work, i can't work a lot inside the house neither. The problem is that i can't lift anything and i can't hold a standing or sitting position for a while. Anyway, little by little, i managed to work a little on my project in the last days. I shot sequence #15. Nothing very difficult and quite very simple, but it was something that needed to be done. In fact, it's more like a bridge between two important sequences, because it's only 1.5 seconds long.

Here's what it look like.

The character's doing a quarter turn on himself and begin to shot, so i fixed him like i did on sequence #5 "Earthquake".

The lightning was a little tricky. There's one light for the general ambiance and another one that simulate the gunfire. The fire coming from the gun is done with photoshop, but the light it brings is real.

There's a LED light inside a pierced wood piece that act like a cannon.

There's 3 gunfire lightning setups. On the bottom pictures, you can see : Full light, half light and no light. I just changed the setups with other wood pieces, i putted in front of the light beam. Running these 3 lightning setups repeatedly in that order give a nice machine gun light effect on my character.

Liquid latex applied.

2011-05-08T22:20:00.017-04:00

This is it guys, no more ammonia smell in tha house ! Don't worried Shelley, i ventilated my basement appropriatetly =)

Here's (below) some pictures i've took after applying a few coats of liquid latex on the legs. I love how it came out. You can almost smells the sweat of the Corsper. I know, i shouldn't have selected so many pictures but, i deleted many of 'em and i couldn't erased more.

As you may have noticed, the lightning play a big role when comes the time to shoot pictures. In these pictures, the dark ones, i only has one light source (LED light). When the time to animate will come, i'll have to add some more in order to lighten some dark areas. On the pictures below, i roughtly recreate the final sequence of my video and you can clearly see that one light source isn't enough.

I need to say that one of my biggest worried is to recreate the lightning coming from the machine gun of the main character. This is the primary light source to light-up the monster. It goes white, orange and blue. I bought some colored transluscent plastic sheet to put over the LED light bubble, for each frame that will be shooted. I'll need to put that light between the two puppets. I was planning to animate both all in once, but i'm considering rather shooting them seperately. Some tests will have to be done.

I found 2.5 inches plastic plumbing tubing junction rings to join the legs to the torso at the hardware store.

I also bought 2 inches tubing that i saw at 45 degrees for the bottom legs junction.

I did holes to have access to the bolts. I placed the holes out of the camera angles. On the other side, there's a tiny hole, where a screwdriver's head can reach the screw.

I also want you to know that i got inspired by many people for doing the legs padding and the flesh. Here are the two major puppet maker's video tutorials that helped me the most.

Nick Hilligoss

Website: http://www.picturetrail.com/hilligossnic

Richard Svensson

Blog: http://loneanimator.blogspot.com/2010/10/king-who-sought-immortality-building.html

Papier mache time !

2011-05-01T22:27:00.007-04:00

Ok, now my Corpser got it's claws ! (...at last.)

On my last post, i was saying that i would go with hard air drying clay to sculpt my claws, but after i finished two of 'em, i quickly realized that it would be a real pain in the neck to work with such heavy legs. Fortunately, my friend Shelley Noble, helped me find out the perfect solution to do them: "Papier mache". She gave me the basic guidelines and nice tips to avoid problems (she's so sweet). A couple of days after that, i randomly founded out the blog of an "papier mache expert" : Dan Reeder. You should absolutely go take a peek at his work. He has done nice instructional videos for beginners and looking at his masterpieces is so inspiring... He is a really kind person who didn't hesitate to answer all my questions which helped me refine my understanding of the technique.

Here's his links:
www.gourmetpapermache.com/
papermacheblog.com/

I had tried two types of glue : Elmer's art paste and a homemade one, made with water and flour. Elmer's art paste worked well, but i got stiffer results with the water and flour recipe. I just mixed up, 3 parts of cold water with 2 parts of white flour.

I've prepared the liquid latex covering phase by tightening-down the claws with the ties-down bolts.

Mold making journey

2011-04-17T21:40:00.009-04:00

Hey guys ! Long time no see. I wasn't full of enthusiasm in the last weeks, but it might have changed this week-end. Let me explain why.

Shelley Noble let me that sweet comment concerning a post i made in March, speaking about my fears of doing my first mold... "Don't be scared of anything. You are way smart enough...." Hahahaha... Yeah you were right !

Here's a picture i took and edited this morning.

Usually, i don't post my failures here, except when i'm able to show how i solved the issues i encountered. I'll make an exception this time because, i threw away the idea of doing my claws from a mold. Reading the next part may be helpful for any newbie who want to go through this process. For the veterans, it can only be funny. =)

I first started with the idea that if i wasn't in possession of WED clay (or anything that would do a good clay bed) for doing the first part of the mold, i could directly pour plaster in a box. I was thinking that it would flows like water and leaves a nice smooth surface. I was wrong.

Here's my box.

I gently applied a good layer of Vaseline everywhere on it and on the sculpt.

I mixed the plaster of Paris and poured it.

As you can see in the next pictures, it didn't leaves a "smooth" surface.

I knew i was doing it wrong at this stage, but i decided to continue just to see how it would ends up. The cracks on the next pictures occured, because i putted the mold near an electric heater, just after pouring the the plaster for the second part. The top layer dried faster than the bottom ones, so the cracks appeared.

Unmolding the cake.

The first half was almost rock solid, but the second one breaked when i separated the mold. It's was too thin compared to the first half.

The mold pieces after i threw the mold in the trash can. I put them out afterwards to take a picture.

I highly recommend to beginners to read this thread on Stopmotionanimation.com, that contains many important advices. The tips comes from Nick Hilligoss and Mike Brent which are well known in the stopmotion community.

After that failure, i decided to go with a hard clay sculpting method. I begin that yesterday and even if the claws will be heavy, i'll don't have to do another sculpt and to go through all the molding process again. You can see on the next picture that i added styrofoam parts in order to save on the weight. I also added some nails, so the clay will have more grip on the armature.

First layer of clay. (they looks like turds, i know)

The reason, for which i decided to skip on trying the mold process again, is because i'm lacking time. One of my biggest motivation about finishing this movie in the next months, is that i want to have the chance to sent it as an entry for the Montreal Stopmotion Festival 2011 that will take place in October. I would love to see it on a big screen and to have the reactions of the crowd. I don't think i could wait 'til next year, so i made a plan with deadlines and there's not much place for trial and errors. I've done it thinking about delivering it at the very last moment (worst case).

Here it goes.

So, there's no time to lose. Must get back to work !

Padding the legs

2011-04-03T21:28:00.001-04:00

This is it. The legs are now padded. Foam cushioning was cutted and glued to the armature with Lepage press-tite contact cement. I protected the articulated joints with plastic wrap before applying the glue.

The flexibility is good and there isn't too much resistance on the joints. It may look a little weird like that, but i hope it will look good when the claws and the skin (liquid latex) will be added. The size of the legs looks "ok" compared to the original creature's design. It's maybe a bit bigger.

I'm currently working on finishing the claw's sculpt and i expect to do my mold this week.

Legs armature - Part 2

2011-03-27T16:13:00.017-04:00

I had some doubts about a few things for the last two weeks but, i managed to clear them and to move forward with the construction of my puppet.

I added more wooden paint stirrer to the legs for more strenght. The gaps, within them, were also filled with wood pieces.

The four legs missing were done with twisted galvanised wires. I tried to do them with aluminium wires (which are harder to break), but they weren't stiff enough to support themself. These legs aren't suppose to move very much, so i've took this decision (i can hear people saying: Steel ! What are thinking ??). =)

These legs were hardened with epoxy putty. Thinking about that afterward, i should have used copper tubing and fix it in place with epoxy. It would have been less expensive, but it was too late when i thought about that.

My head was full of doubts about what to use to fix the legs on the set. The typical tied-downs with threaded rod and butterfly nuts was in my mind, but i was considering other ways to do it.

After days of headaches thinking about that, i finally choose to work with the traditionnal tied-downs. So i've done "super nuts". I put three of them on a threaded rod and glue them with epoxy putty.

I've used the same putty to fix them to the legs.

The Corpser's armature is finally completed !

I've started to sculpt a claw that i would like to replicate using a plaster mould. To build the claw, i've bought a conical shaped styrofoam piece and i slided a twisted metal wire in it (to simulate the armature position). I use a knife to adjust the shape and finished it with some pre-mixed plaster. I need to work on it a little bit more but, here's what it looks like after some sanding.

I built this box for the moulding. Each legs should be placed in it and come out with a nice plaster claw on it.

I'm very excited about doing my first mould, but i'm also very scared...

Legs armature - Part 1

2011-03-13T21:49:00.000-04:00

After looking back on what has been done last week, there's not so much new stuff to show you except four new legs on my puppet's armature. But if remember how this week started, i hadn't any clue at that moment on the way i was going to build them. In fact, i was confident that twisted wires legs would do the job, but when i tried that, i figured out very fast that the weight of the legs will be an issue. So, the first half of the week was spent thinking about a new way to build them.

Even if the twisted wires would have worked, i was worried that the legs movements would be a little too jerky. When i'm in a position to find a way to have more control in my puppet's movements, i always jump on it. In the sequences this puppet will be shown, the legs are always moving back and forth and they rotate a little on there axis. So, inspired by the balls and sockets building technique, i did the legs with wooden paint stirrers. Each joints are fasten with a bolt and a nut. This way, the legs will only move in the same arc while animating them.

The legs are sticked to a broom stick piece that stays in place in a hole done in the puppet's torso. In this position, i can rotate them when needed.

I need to harden the legs a little to be sure they won't twist or break. The four others legs are not supposed to be really moving so i'll build them with twisted wires. The armature should be finished by the end of next week and i hope the begin the padding very soon. My latex jar can't wait to be opened !

Corpser's neck mechanism

2011-03-06T18:19:00.229-05:00

I managed to build the neck mechanism of my puppet this week. I wasn't sure about the best way to do it. One thing i was sure of, the weight of the head was a problem.

My first idea was to use a desk lamp's flexible support as a neck to link the head to the body. I didn't try that, because i was afraid to have a jerky animation result (my character's animation experience is very little).

So i choose to work with a hinge that would move the head, only up and down, but with a good control on it.

After this mechanism was done, i looked at the original movie in loops and i quickly find out that i didn't want my puppet's head to only move in one axis. So i build a 3 axis mechanism, which i'm pretty happy working with.

Here's the part for moving the head clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Here's the part for moving the head left and right.

Finally, the part to move it up and down. There's a wire that maintain the head in the desired position. It's attached on a thread rod and stays in place with a nut.

Here's a quick animation test i have done to get the feel of it and to see if any more adjustments were required.

Some pictures i made for fun.

I'll work on padding up the body this week.

Uh oh !! I almost forgot. Brett McCoy sent me a rough mix this week of the soundtrack he's preparing for my movie (Yeah yeah... Brett McCoy !!). I don't want to tease you, but this sounds awesome !! He is very well known in the stopmotion community as a brilliant composer. He kindly do music for stopmotion artists while working on his personal projects. If you haven't did it already, visit his website -> www.electricminstrel.com

Inguinal hernia

2011-02-24T12:47:00.012-05:00

My project is and will be on hold (or going very slowly) for the next weeks. I got an health problem called "Inguinal hernia". Nothing very dangerous or harmful, but very unpleasing. Its the ligaments that maintains the guts in place that are teared apart and that let an intestine part goes outside of it's place. Pretty disgusting. I'm a little bit hypochondriac so it look much awful from my point of view.

This is what it looks like.
(note that the intestine can go into one ball - argg..!)

This is how i see that.

So there isn't much place in my brain to have creativity to progress on my puppet these days. I hope to have my chirurgical intervention in the next few weeks.

Skull construction part V

2011-02-13T21:02:00.005-05:00

Pheww... The teeth part is done !

This week, i've improvised all lot and luckily, the results are satisfying.

My first idea was to build a dental support made of aluminium wires and epoxy putty. It would have been easier to sculpt Super Sculpey over something already shaped. But i quickly discover that the wire wasn't enough stiff to build anything on it.

So, i built a two parts denture made of cardboard in order to get a harder base to sculpt the teeth. I've glued the cardboard in the desired shape, helped with the threaded rods to keep everything in place while drying.

There were way too big at second thought... Then i decided to use the cardboard denture as a mold for a Super sculpey new two-parts denture.

I prefer to secure the parts i like by baking them and to glue them on other previously baked parts. I had some problems before with baking a huge whole sculpt and i became more carefull.

A batch of Super Sculpey teeth recently baked.

First row of teeth on the upper denture (there's two rows of 'em on each parts).

Here's some pictures of the finished upper denture.

Here's more with all his teeth.

I did some work on the gums but, they aren't alreay as i want them. I might exaggerate them a bit (the bottom lip too). I was thinking since the very begining that latex will be pour on the bottom jaw to have a flesh effect, but i begin to have doubts about the fact that it could be uglier with it. I need to do some tests before going any further with that idea. Anyway, i need to paint it before.

Pictures with a little lightning effect.

This weapon ordered on Ebay at a ridicule price arrived this week. Some exercices with it will be required. I can't wait to see this monster painted.

Here a picture of me working on the Corpser's dentition.

Skull construction part IV

2011-02-06T16:12:00.004-05:00

Not much to say about last week. I've added lenght to the bottom jaw. It was too short for my taste. I padded it with some wood and styrofoam. Super Sculpey was use to shape it. I've bake it without too many cracks this morning. Liquid latex will be pour on it later.

I'm currently working on the teeth. I hope to receive my airbrush gun this week in order to do some tests to get use to it. I can't wait to paint the helmet. I'm reading a lot presently on painting techniques and weathering.

Skull construction part III

2011-01-30T18:48:00.006-05:00

Another week with not much results, but many hours spent on it. I've started with the installation of two new lights which are on top of the helmet. I put them in place the same way i did for the eyes (view last week post). The only difference is that the LITE-BRITE pins are sideways. I'll have to adjust the LEDs because they bring much more light than the eyes.

Here are some pictures

Than, i started working on the jaws mechanism. My first idea was to put a hinge on the bottom jaw and to use aluminium wires as resistance. It wasn't a good idea. There's too much weight to get good results.

I was a little angry that night and couldn't find any alternative, so i ask for advices on stopmotionanimation.com . The next day, Boy Oyng sent me this drawing and hope came back.

Back to work, i made this according to Boy Oyng's drawing.

It was much better, but something wasn't right... I forgot that the bottom jaw joint should be just under the skull and not low as i made it. After taking apart this mechanism, i begin to build a third one using the same principle. This time, it came out as i wanted it.

Here's a quick test of the jaws mechanism.

This week, i plan to start building the teeth and to add some shape on the bottom jaw.

Skull construction part II

2011-01-23T22:25:00.008-05:00

Woohoo ! What a week.
Many hours spent on my sculpt, but little progress with it.

I took both eyes apart and made new ones, more circular. I was afraid to continue adding details, because the core was too soft and weak, so i've baked it in my little oven in order to get a harder one. The heaters were a little too near the sculpt so many large cracks appeared and one eye felt. I patched the cracks with a new layer of Super sculpey, glue the felt eye back at its place and add more details. The second baking was done in my BBQ outside the house at -25 deg C. Heavy cracking again. The other eye felt. Glueing and patching again. Third layer was baked with a hair dryer.

Some pictures of the sculpt before the second baking (BBQ).

I've applied some "spackling" stuff on it and used some sand paper to smoothen rought spots. Two holes were done with a drill for the lighted eyes. LEDs light come from the rear of the head. Had some translucency issues.

Test with the LITE-BRITE pins.

These are homemade light sockets that restrain light to illuminate only in the eyes.

Three orange pins are black tapped together with some SS for the shape.

More SS were added on the eyes.

Some tests with lightning.

It begins to look alive...

Skull construction part I

2011-01-16T14:04:00.013-05:00

A styrofoam ball for the skull padding.

This is a wooden square block with six endless screws in it. It will be used as a joint for the upper and the bottom parts of the skull and i drilled a hole on the back side where the neck will be fix.

I shaped the place where the wooden block will be seated.

Adding some Super sculpey and starting to shape the core.

I didn't really liked the bottom parts of the eyes so i did this part again. I baked the first layer in order to have a harder structure where i'll add details. It looks very rough by now, but i'll smooth down everything before going any further. I hope that the aluminium twisted wires (neck) will be able to support all this. It's gaining weight and the bottom jaw isn't there yet.

I founded the LITE-BRITE color pins that will be added on the skull for the eyes and over the head. I hope to finish the details this week, so i could bake it once and for all.

First steps into puppet construction

2011-01-09T18:33:00.017-05:00

Last week, i've done my shopping and this week, many experiments. I've played with silicone, liquid latex, epoxy putty, clay, Super sculpey and with foam padding. Even if i wasn't progressing on my project while doing these experiments, i've gain more confidence and experience with these products which will help me later.

I've start with the legs. First, i've put epoxy putty on a twisted wire.

I've cutted some cushioning soft foam and glued it with contact cement. This material allows to add volume on the body part without adding much weight to it.

I've then applied some thin layers (4) of this very cool product. I don't think it's the same as "real" liquid latex because it looks thicker. But the results are almost the same. The latex is very flexible and can endure a good level of stress before tearing apart.

I wasn't very satisfied with the results, so i made another test with it. I took a broom stick. Put some petroleum jelly on it and applied some layers (5) on it. The last two layers were very thick. I am really happy with the results. It looks more like monster skin.

However, it isn't very easy to fit it on a padded leg. I should make the legs with the first method, but i'll do thicker layers at the end like in the second one.

Richard Svensson posted really good tutorials about building puppets and you should definitely see them if you build one.

I also played a bit with Super sculpey and i really enjoyed working with it. I did what i will do for the head with a smaller styrofoam ball. I just covered it with Super sculpey and putted it in a small oven. I read that it isn't good to cook food in an oven after you baked Super scultpey, so i found an old one just for that. I've baked it at 225 F for 3 hours.

The eyes of the puppet are yellow lights. A LED lights test was required. I found some yellowish plastic that i've use for my test. I putted it in the oven with some Super sculpey to see if it will resist to the heat.

After fitting the LED light in the ball, i noticed that the Super sculpey is translucent.

I applied some black tape in a straw shape to resolve the problem.

That doesn't really worked like that, because the eyes of the puppet are almost sideways ,so we won't see them properly if i do them like that.

I'll try to find some LITE-BRITE yellow pins this week and that should be just perfect when i'll put them a little outside of the head.

While my experiments were drying, i've worked on the body's armature of the puppet. I have builded it very roughtly, but i was very glad it worked the way i expected. I've put two hinges in order that the puppet can lean back and forth, on two joints separating the three body parts: pelvis, abdomen and torso.

I just have to screw or unscrew the two nuts, you see below, to move both rods.

On the final shot, the "Corpser" leans a little backward while pulling his front claws in the air and leans forward on a quick deadly blow on the character. It was very important for me to separate these parts to recreate this movement, naturally as possible.

Here's a first quick test of the body's armature test.

On next week, i want to add the legs wires to the armature with the epoxy putty and to start sculpting the head and add the LEDs lights inside of it.

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all outta gum."

2011-01-02T20:08:00.010-05:00

Whoa !! Even with 2 weeks off, i didn't really do anything about my stopmotion project. There was a lot of shopping, family parties, hangovers, outdoors activities, etc... Despite all these things, i managed (at least) to document myself about all the things i should know about building up a stopmotion puppet. I've read and digged many fellow's blogs and Youtube's channels about casting molds, creating latex skins, painting puppet, etc...

I've also prepared a grocery list of all the things useful i could think of and bought them. The only thing missing is Pros-Aide. I couldn't find any place around selling that and because we are winter time, they don't recommend shipping by now. So i'll wait for that if tinting the latex doesn't give nice results.

In the next days, i'll do many tests with the construction methods i've learned, in order to find the one i'm the more comfortable with. I'll keep you inform with my results.

Here's my shopping cart.

2010 was a year which i've learned a lot about all the basics of stopmotion. The only thing that was missing was the puppet construction part. This is what i want to work on the most in 2011.

Corpser first sketch on paper (Scale 1:24)

2010-12-23T19:05:00.013-05:00

I just tried a first sketch on paper with the monster i have to build up for my last sequences. It's called a "Corpser" in the Gears of War's world. It looks like a giant spider. I was lucky enough to find someone (< Profess >) on the Epicgames forum to send me some pictures of it from the game, with a human standing on his side.

The point was to be able to build it with the proper scale, comparing it to my character that is 3 inches tall. After some arithmetics, the results was that it needs to be 21 inches tall by 15 inches wide (without it's legs). Kindda big... I need to say that from begining of my project, the idea was to put everything on the same scale (1:24).

I didn't draw the eight legs on this paper sketch. They fit in the six holes that you can see and two more comes from the sides. In this position, the creature is leaning a bit forward. The head isn't big enough by the way, and the point here was not to do a great drawing, but to get familiar with the proportions of each body parts. I'm kindda shy to show this after digging all the afternoon Jeff Lafferty's blog :)

I wasn't really sure that it's was a good idea to build it with Super Sculpty anymore... Super Sculpty allows the creation of tiny details, but with a beast of this size, it would have had to heavy legs to animate them properly. It would have also required too much material and would have end up too expensive. My wife was joking when i told her about my problem, when she told me that i could use "papier mache" to built it... It's not a very bad idea, but i don't think it would have fit very well with the all the other kind of materials i've use so far. I also need to say that i only need this puppet in two sequences that are two and four seconds long, so i don't want it to be too expensive and too complicated to build.

I'm now more into the idea to sculpt it smaller, maybe at 6-8 inches high, with Super Sculpty and use clay for the joints. For the armature, i'll use twisted wires. Even if i'm not very comfortable with the idea, i'll shoot the sequence that includes both the beast and the character on two differents layers and combine them in post-production. I'll probably use a green screen for that.

The final sculpt should look like that.

Putting LED lights inside the skull would be very nice, but i think that's a big challenge enough even if there isn't, so i'll probably pass on that.

Back to stopmotion with sequence #5 "Earthquake"

2010-12-21T23:07:00.006-05:00

Wow ! I never thought it will felt so good to return to my project. I feel ready to complete this !

The last sequence was done very fast and wasn't very hard at all. The camera movement setup was already in place, the measurement marks was the only thing missing. The city setup was done the same day. The animation was done the next day. I took another day to clean up the pictures, to edit the video and to add the explosion effects.

Here's it is.

I'm not that good with special effects and i wasn't really in the mood to do them in stopmotion but, i couldn't do this sequence without that effect. So i edit a free explosion effect founded at Stopmotionmagazine.com. You can't really call that "explosions", but i don't really know how to call them. It like dust that comes from the ground after collapsing.

Here's the link for the free explosion effects:
http://www.stopmotionmagazine.com/StopMotionMagazine/FreeStuff.html

Here's the character's support

Camera's support pictures

Here's some setup's pictures

The next step is big, but it will be very interesting.
Sculpting the "Corpser" !

A new hope

2010-12-12T13:37:00.000-05:00

I begin to feel my motivation getting back again. Many inches of snow had fall around here and there is one week left of day work before my Christmas vacations. Thats very good for my moral.

I'm currently working on our bathroom (home) renovations by now. Which includes: plastering, painting, cutting wood pieces, using my drill and putting props in place. That's pretty near what i was doing on my project, but at a different scale :)

There's also a friend of mine who had done a music live performance on stage last November. I shooted it with my DV camera and i am currently working on it to put it on DVD.

My routine was very messed up in the last weeks by these new projects and i have to rebuild one which will include my stopmotion works. I hope to be able to finish the shot i've begin before Christmas, to stick with my deadlines.

Thanks again for your support.

Lacking motivation, enthusiasm, energy...

2010-12-02T21:15:00.003-05:00

I feel bad about me (my project) and about all of you who support me with my project...

After i finished my last sequence, i started the setup for the next one but, i didn't really touched it in the last month. Every year, i go through this mood in this period. I have a big lack of motivation, enthusiasm and energy. I think this have something to do with the lack of light with the winter coming. I think it's called "Seasonal affective disorder". It's generally coming back with the fall of snow (it's only raining by now).

Since the beginning of this project, i commit myself to do at least one hour of work on my project each day and that wasn't really difficult. It took me around one month to complete each sequence so far. One week to build a new setup, one week to shoot the animation and one week to edit the pictures. After that, i took a week off and slowly starting to think about the next one. I didn't have to force myself into doing my project and i have always thought, that i would never work on it under pressure. This project is something that i do for fun and i don't feel like working on it right now.

I'm not giving up if this is what you are thinking. I felt like you deserve to have some news about my progress. You were here, following and supporting me since the beginningm and the least that i can do is to tell you that i'm still here and that i'll continue this project in the next weeks.

The "Head" sequence

2010-11-06T00:52:00.007-04:00

A short, but though, new sequence is done. This is the one that we see, from a kind of point of view, the character turning upright the statue's head.

The challenge here was to move the statue's head and the character's arm in a smooth way. That was a shooting filled with heavy pressure. When you work with a soil ground, you can't never touch it or this will be seen. There must be a way to use spay glue to fix that, but i didn't try it. I used hairpins to move the arm to prevent touching the soil. The other problem is that there wasn't much room around to move the arm in a proper way. So i decided to shoot this sequence in reverse. I've find it easier to push the arm by moving the statue's head on it.

I had to fixed down the character's upper body in order to move only his arm. So, i built a very basic character's support for it with a screw and 2 bolts. The support was screwed on a room desk.

The head was also fixed on the room desk. Two tin metal rods were glued in holes i did in the head with a drill. The other ends of the rods were also glued in holes drilled in the room desk.

That way, i was able to move the head from left to right.

For the set, i put some soil under and around the head. The same mirror as seen in the previous sequence "Puddle" was put next to it. In order to see the sky's reflection in it, i put a clouds board over it (see "The city" post to learn how i built it).

For the camera's support, a 2''x4'' wood stud was put upright. The camera is fixed to it as seen on the previous post "The Puddle sequence".

The earthquake at the end of the sequence was done by moving the last frames from left to right at high speed in post production.

Here's an animation frame.

A new article about my project as been published !

2010-10-26T20:04:00.004-04:00

Yeah ! I can't believe it. Within the last month, my project's visibility increased a lot with the article Marc Spess wrote on "Animateclay.com" and with this new article wrote by Hasan Ismail on is blog "RASTASIA : In full motion".

I met him on Vimeo, where he created a video channel "Stikmotion" that shows Stikfas in action. I'm very happy that someone took the time to create environnements like that for the great pleasure of all the Stikfas fans.

On his blog, he says that his mission is to share with you his passion on audio, video and the one toy that fascinates him so much that he undertaken personally to show them around the Netherlands ! He wish to present Stikfas as a communication platform and bring it to another level using tools available in Web 2.0. He is also an audio engineer by profession with a fully equipped post production studio for post productions works.

You can visit is Vimeo channel here and also read news about Stikfas here on his blog.

The "Puddle" sequence

2010-10-25T23:34:00.010-04:00

Hey there !
The "Puddle" sequence is done !

I wasn't expecting this one to be done so fast. I did the setup last week very slowly. I wasn't really in the mood since the rush i imposed to myself for the last two sequences. Friday night came and i thought that some more lightning test would be great to be prepared for the shooting on saturday. The camera rig wasn't gone throught tests neither. I was surprised to have good results so fast and before i knew it, half of the sequence was done. The other half was very thought but since i got that far, there was no way to quit that and lose my momentum.

Here's the results

Here's the setup

The only light bulb that was used was the one showed below (I set my camera's exposure at 3.2 seconds). This is a general household spiral bulb. The only ones used in this project with the leds used as streets lights.

The spiral bulb Enersaver specs

- 40 watt

- 4100K

- 500 lumens

- Medium base

- T2 smaller size

- Cool white

For the camera rig, i built pretty much the same mecanism as i did for "The city" sequence. A hinge was screwed to maintain the rig.

To maintain the camera in place, i had used an old support. The five screws in it are to maintain the tripod adapter that is under the camera. Note that the screws are half way in the wood.

Popsicles sticks were used as measurement marks. One Popsicle stick per frame (72).

A 2.5 lbs dumbell weight is there to maintain a constant pressure on the popsicles sticks.

Here's what it looks like in motion

(Note: For the shot, i had to put my video camera on the rig in order to take these pictures with the camera that stands on it normally. It's just there so you can figure out how this works)

Some pictures with the real camera on the rig

A normal mirror was used to simulate the water.

For the water ripple effect, i was lucky enought to borrow a computer for the week-end with Adobe After Effect on it. I didn't really worked with that software before. It's very powerful, but you get lost very easily. Without this tutorial (done by Cirus), there was no way i could have make it.

Finally, for the character's animation, i had to pin it down in order that it doesn't moves everytimes i had to touch it. I put through a wooden board, two nails for each legs and a steady wire that goes... in the butt.

I drilled two holes in his right foot, one in his left leg and another one in his left foot.

Here's the last hole drilled for the steady wire.

It didn't need to had glue for that. The holes were tights enough so the nails and the wire stayed in place.

A little bit of soil and the wire disapear. (Yeah ! No wire removal required on this shot)

As the right arm doesn't need to move on that shot, i glued it on the right leg with crazy glue. It can be seen on that picture. I thought that it would become transparent, but it turned white. I had to add black color on it in the post-production.

I was ready to let this toy for dead after that shot since the joints were very tired. I placed an order for a new black Stikfas before putting crazy glue on it by the way. Here's a picture after the shot. The plastic melted on both members.

Here's a final shot from the sequence

Sequences un-edited

2010-10-22T12:57:00.002-04:00

I took the last week off (stopmotion). I wasn't really in the mood to animate, so the only things i have done was removing the sequence 1 & 2's setup and putted in place the new one for the "Puddle" sequence. I tried some animating tests yesterday, but i had many lights flickering issues. I may try other things this week-end. Until then, here's the sequences done so far, before i removed the rigs, the wires and the lense dust.

Sequences #1 & 2 are completed

2010-10-12T20:25:00.005-04:00

Here they are !

The sequence #2 was done on the same set as the first one (view previous post). I was looking again for a sunset, so i just replaced the different parts. Every parts was at different distances and the focus was on the character. The camera was set on a low aperture. This created a good feeling of depth.

The camera was installed on a moving wood board that was able to slide left & right. I put an old camera's support on that board. A ruler was installed on the sliding board and a mark was done on the set frame. I had to move the board 1mm by picture for a count of 64 mm.

I like the effect of the light at the end of the sequence. It happens when you shoot directly at a light at a slow shutter speed. No special effects were required.

Sequence #1 "City" setup progress

2010-10-09T23:59:00.022-04:00

The setup for this sequence is almost finished. I have underestimate this sequence for 2 reasons. First, there's a lot of clouds to do (not a whole sky, but almost) and secondly, it's very hard to adjust the lightning to create a sunset. The camera movement is basic, but i had to build a system with a lot of increments (around 125). I could have choosed to put the camera on a swivel screw, but the increments would have been hard to indentify. So, even if it looks complicated, my system works very well.

First, i've put 5 little screws (i don't screw them all the way) on a wood block in order to maintain the camera in place. I have a squared tripod adapter that i put under the camera and i slide it under the screws heads. I've put a hinge between the set's frame and the camera support.

Another wood piece was added to work as a tripod arm. Then, i've curved a thin wood board and fixed it in a way that the camera support is almost touching it on every position. The popsicles sticks will be added, one by one, and for each one added, i'll take a picture. A 2,5 lbs weight is installed on it so if some popsicles sticks are a little curved, that won't affect the increments.

As i said before, this set requires a lot of clouds. I built a "sky" over the street set. I've place styrofoam boards on a frame and glued pillow's stuff on them.

I have to go to Wallmart to buy another bag of pillow's stuff tomorrow to finish that.

This clouds board is at the end to the set. At the bottom of the board, there's the sunset.

I've used a desk light with a tungsten bulb to have a yellowish color (my camera is set on halogen, so tungsten light appears yellow). Under the clouds board, i built another clouds board with a hole in it.

The lightning needs adjustements, but the results i got so far are satisfying.

Updated - October 11th

The sequence is done. I'll upload it with the next one "Sunset" when it will be done too (maybe by the end of this week).

Here' pictures of the completed set.

An article about my project ?

2010-10-05T23:50:00.010-04:00

That's too good to be true. Marc Spess, from Animateclay.com, wrote an article about my project yesterday on his website.

Here it is -> Toys of war - by Marc Spess

After i saw this picture from Jon, i was fantasizing that one day, i'll do mine too. But i wasn't expecting that day to come so soon.

So here's mine, "totally geeking out" =)

My interest about this website doesn't stop growing.

There's so much stuff !

www.animateclay.com

Gamma problem ?

2010-10-04T18:56:00.004-04:00

I really needs more feedbacks about this sequence since some love it as it is and other doesn't even see the character rolling. The room is supposed to be very dark, but the character's actions needs to be seen. I want it so we "think" that the only light comes from the windows and from the hole. The character goes in total darkness. In fact, there's a bit of light coming from the sides. I can play with the gamma, but the lightning ambience suffers a lot when i plays with it. I did another video with more gamma.

Which one do you prefer ?

If you can tell that the character is rolling on the darker one, it's what i wanted.

Thanks to share your opinion.

Sequence #6 (0:22 - 0:27) is done !

2010-10-02T19:47:00.002-04:00

The last running sequence is done, at last... This took me a lot of time to shoot and the editing was very long and painful. There were a lot of rig shadows to clear in post production. The camera movement is shaking a little, because i worked with a 2" x 4" wood piece as a rail. I though that i could arrange that in post production, but finally i couldn't really reduce that shaking effect. The next project will be done with improved metal rails.

Here it is

The next sequence will be the first one to be shown at the beginning of the final video. It's just a camera movement without any character animation. The camera is starting with a look at the sky at 180 deg and its getting slowly down to 90 deg. Should be easy (i hope so). I need to craft a sky (a lot of clouds), adjust the setup, the lightning and to build a swivel camera holder (with measurement marks). There's a sunset in this sequence and i have some ideas on how to do that, but i'm not sure yet. I'll may use a tungsten light. Some test will be required.

New logo and "Exploration" sequence's picture

2010-09-19T00:33:00.014-04:00

I didn't want to use the Gears of war logo in my movie so i did mine. I wasn't sure for a title, but i made of my mind with "Toys of War". It keeps the sound of the original one and it's fit with my project. I was looking for a Stikfas skull and asked Errol (Eelumir) to take pictures of the one he own. It comes from a zombie Stikfas toy. I also used the Gears of war's font created by Tracerthong. I did it yesterday's evening while finishing my "Exploration" sequence's set.

This morning i went in town to buy a 3/4'' x 48'' wood stick for my rig and i bought an angel ornament that fit perfectly with my sequence (i cut it's head off). My first idea was to use a Lego figure's head, but i wasn't really satisfied with the results after painting it in white. I did the statue's head falling movement this afternoon and twenty pictures of the running part. I should continue that tomorrow.

Here's a pictures of the beginning of the sequence.

Edit : I've put the beginning of this sequence to the garbage can. It's too hard working with soil. I did it again with styrofoam scuplted and painted. The look won't be that good, but at least, it won't move randomly everytimes i touch the set.

Dodge Charger 2006 SRT8 1:24

2010-09-17T00:15:00.004-04:00

I found the car for the "Sunset" sequence. I needed a Diecast black car at 1:24 scale, so this one is very nice. I'm a little disapointed, because it doesn't have steering wheels. I would also prefered normal wheels, but it will do the job.

"Exploration sequence" - Setup & test shots

2010-09-16T23:46:00.014-04:00

The new setup is ready. I've done a few test shots and i'm satisfy with the results. I had to build a new camera rail (vertical). I was sure how i'll do it but i think it was the simplest way to do it and to more accurate for my budget.

The rigging system will be the same as used on my other running sequences.

Here's some test shots.

- Lowest position -

- Mid position -

- Highest position -

I need to fix a new pole (48") to my rail where i'll fix the wire to support the character. I also have to paint my statue's head that will fall in the beginning of that sequence. I should start animating this week-end.

Sequence #13 (0:39 - 0:45) is done !

2010-09-06T01:18:00.009-04:00

Wow ! This sequence was really hard to do. After several hours of hard work trying to put the set in place, i was able to start animating. I did the 94 required photos yesterday (double that number is you count the background only pictures). I think it took me around 7 hours. I did that in 4 seperated sessions. The first one was for the running part and the jump. The second and the third ones were for the landing. Finally, the fourth one was for moving the head at the end of the sequence. Today, i removed the wires and i cleaned the pictures. I took me around 5 hours. I had some issues removing some wires because the character's support blocked some light when i shoot the character with the set. When i removed the character to only take the set, the light wasn't blocked anymore so there was a difference hard to ajust in post-production.

Anyway, here's what it look like.

I had to use three different character's supports. I used metal wires this time instead of a firm rod. I was looking for flexibility. For the last part of this sequence, i put a screw into a popsicle stick in order to hold the arms of the character tighly to the floor. I didn't want the whole body to move each time i moved the head.

The next one will be the sequence #6 "Exploration". I will take a break for some days (maybe a week) before starting this one.

Sequence #13's setup

2010-08-19T22:21:00.042-04:00

After a few days break of animating, i managed to begin my next sequence's setup. I had to remove everything from my stopmo room because my set required heavy modifications. In this sequence, there's a 180 degrees camera movement (almost 180 degrees). It took my a while before achieving what i wanted. Many ajustments where done but i think i'm on the right way.

Here's what it looks like so far

I think i'll use the rail to support my character for the 3 or 4 running steps he does at the beginning of the sequence and also for the jump through the wall (before we see the interior part). For the landing and the roll, i'm not sure yet but i think i'll use a little movable support that will stand inside the building on the floor. The rail will be use for the last part when he's "flying" toward the camera.

The camera support is fix with a screw on the desk, directly below the wall (he passes throught) which is the center of all the sequence point of view. The camera will be fix on that support.

One of the stopmotion important things to remember is to "tape down everything" in order to avoid anything to move while shooting. So i put a lot of screws on every pieces of the frame of the set.

What you see on the picture is the street and the floor of the inside of the building. I need to paint it and to build the front and one of the side wall. I need to place the buildings i have already used on the others sequences to finish the alley side of the set.

Edit : 22-08-2010

- The alley set side is almost completed.

- The side wall and the floor of the interior part of the new building are done

- Some parts of the lightning are done

Edit : 30-08-2010

Here's some new setup's pictures

Measurement marks for the camera (rotating axis)

The interior's part of the new building

The wooden wall and the broken one

Some test shots

Things to do :

- The front wall is in progress done 25-08-10
- 2 windows and the hole in the front wall done 26-08-10
- Fixing the front wall on the set done 29-08-10
- Clouds on the alley side of the set could be required done 29-08-10
- Measurement marks for the camera (rotating axis) done 30-08-10
- Add a roof top for the building (to block the light) done 01-09-10
- Polishing the lightning done 01-09-10
- Built a character support done 01-09-10
- Measurement marks for the first part on the character support rig (running steps and the jump) done 01-09-10
- I need to modify setup so i can add at least 10 frames at the beginning of the sequence done 01-09-10

Sequences #10-11-12 are done

2010-08-11T23:47:00.002-04:00

I managed to finish these 3 sequences. I may modify them in the final version. I'm not sure if i could improve the bouncing effect in the #11 "Incoming" sequence. I've tried several different settings but this one satisfy me for the moment.

Here's what it looks like

The next one will be the "Somersault". I'm not sure what i'll use to support the character for the rolling movement after the he jump through the window. I have some ideas but some tests are requiered. I also need to build a wall for the scene (the one he passes through). The lightning should be difficult too because there's light outside and darkness inside the building. The circular camera movement also need to be built. As you can see, there's a lot to do before beginning the shooting and the animating part won't be easy. Just to add some difficulty, this is a 6 seconds sequence (approx. 144 pictures had to be taken twice).

I'll post pictures of the setup when it will be ready.

"Incoming" #11 and "Alley II" #12 pictures

2010-08-07T01:31:00.015-04:00

Sequence #10 and #12 are done. I want to do #11 before uploading them. They are so short that they aren't really nice to see alone.

Here's a picture of what sequence #11 "Incoming" will look like

In this sequence, the camera is moving forward. We see the enemy in the eye of the hero running toward him. I will shake the image in post production. I use the same camera setup (without the hinge) that i've used for "Alley I".

Here's pictures of the setup for sequence #11 "Incoming"

A picture of sequence #12 "Alley II"

It looks like the "Alley I" sequence, but the camera isn't moving. The character is still moving forward and do a 90 degrees turn on his right after he see the enemy in the "Incoming" sequence.

Alley I sequence #10's setup

2010-08-02T22:40:00.008-04:00

I'm currently working on the sequence #10. The camera is directly in front of the character and it goes back at the same speed as the character goes forward. We only see the upper part of the character so i fix him on a hinge that i'll move up and down. This way, no wire removal will be needed... :)

The camera and character support will slide backward 1 cm by frame.

Here's a picture's test.

Sequence #9 (0:33-0:35) is done !

2010-07-28T16:31:00.021-04:00

It took me 4 tries to do that sequence. I've never had such a painful headache after the 4 hours that took me to do the good one. I think this is my favorite sequence so far.

Here it is

Some pictures of the set and of my setup can be seen on the previous post (below).

The set for the 9th sequence is ready

2010-07-21T22:41:00.019-04:00

The preparation for the shooting of the 9th sequence is longer than i though. I manage today to finish the indoor building, to place the set, to ajust setup and to calibrate the lightning. Tomorrow i plan to graduate the camera path and do some more tests shots. I hope to begin the shooting in a couple of days and to completely finish the post production before the end of next week.

Here's a montage shot i took while preparing my indoor building.

Here's some pictures of the setup for shooting this sequence.

Note 1: The camera is mount on a rotating axis.

Note 2: I replaced my camera for this camcorder for the shot because i don't have another one.

A test shot

0:31 - 0:33 is done !

2010-07-10T23:53:00.011-04:00

The last attempt was the good one. The first two shooting of this sequence were failures. The cause are two beginner's mistakes. The first one was ruined by a wire masking a leg and the second one was to shoot pictures with a closed door opened while shooting the sequence. The light reflected by this door was enough to trouble the lightning when i decide too open it. I didn't notice any problem until i compile the shots.

For the third and last attempt, i put a light over the door of one of the building to add light and shadows. I pretty like the shadow of the character on the sidewalk when he passes in front of that door's light in the last part of the sequence.

Here it is

I shall change the lightning to have the rooftops darker.

Here's a shot

Shooting of 0:31 - 0:33 is failed

2010-06-12T22:29:00.004-04:00

Failure here. When i was removing my green wire in post production, i note that i was unable to remove it without damaging "very badly" one of the legs that pass below it. I need to build another shape for the wire and reshoot it. My bad.

Here you go (note that the first one showed is the raw file and the other one is in the editing process)

New Beetle

2010-06-07T22:56:00.005-04:00

I was looking for a car to put on the set for some sequence and i found a Diecast 1/24 New Beetle in a yard sale. Got it for 2.50$ and it's in a good condition. I'm not a fan of this car, but it does the job. I could buy a cooler brand new car, but the mindset for this project is to use a very low budget. I like that almost every details can be seen and how well it fit with my set.

Here's some pictures.

0:31 - 0:33

2010-06-07T22:30:00.006-04:00

I'm currently working on the 0:31-0:33 sequence. I had to build rooftops for my buildings. I didn't put so much detail on them cause that's the only sequence that we will see them. I also had to put another rail over the rail that support the character. The camera need to turn around from 15 degrees to 75 so i had to build a special moving mule for the camera that i'll put on this rail. My first idea was to rotate the camera for each shots but instead of that, i fix the camera at 45 degrees and i will rotate the sequence in post production.

Here's a test shot.

I should started the shooting this week.

Shooting protocol (0:28 - 0:31)

2010-05-30T22:39:00.003-04:00

Here's my shooting protocol for the 0:28-0:31 sequence.

I'll post other "behind the scene" pics here this week.

0:28 - 0:31 Sequence completed !

2010-05-30T16:31:00.007-04:00

After hours of animation, wire removal, pictures cleaning (dust) and movie editing, the pan sequence (0:28 to 0:31) is completed.

Here it is.

I may change the framing a little, but it should remain the same. Not quite sure too, if i let the color correction like that.

I can count around 20 hours for the shooting and the post-production of these 3 seconds. I've learned a lot doing this sequence and i've improved my speed and confidence on almost every aspects of this art. If i had to do that scene again, i should do it in 12-15 hours. I'm very excited about doing the next scene.

Beginner's mistake

2010-05-17T23:41:00.005-04:00

Failure here, big one ! A rock on the set blocked the character's rail support from his course at the end of the sequence. When i realized that, i though to myself that i didn't spent these last hours for nothing and have to "try" to let the rock slide a little bit, each frame til the rail could overpassed it. Total disaster.

I'm gonna scrap these 20 frames and restart at the 45th frame of that 70 frames sequence. 8 hours invested on the "shooting" of this sequence yet and lost almost 3 hours this week on it. I'll try to finish it this week but, maybe not tomorrow. Too pissed.

Run cycle #4

2010-05-05T23:38:00.006-04:00

Finally, i did it. The run cycle is complete. This time, i added the arms movements. I'm pretty happy with the results for a first try. It's a little jerky because the character is moving a little bit too much back and forth. It should be fine when i'll move it forward on my rail on each frame instead of trying to make it run on a steady position. (My rail isn't appropriate for that).

Here's the video test.

I should (i hope) improved smoothness while doing the sequence 0:28-0:31. I shall begin it this week-end. Until then, i'll work on my camera movements fluidity.

Run cycle test #3

2010-05-04T23:58:00.006-04:00

Tonight, i did a third run cycle decent enough to show it here. I'm satisfied with the results. The objective was to find the way i'll take each pictures of my character doing a running motion. I founded that at a speed of 10 frames per steps, the pace would be nice. The hard parts was to find how to split these 10 frames (the character members are moving and his body too on the vertical axis).

Here's what it looks like so far.

As you can see, the arms aren't moving yet. That's my next objective. The character is moving a little bit back and forth, but that don't bothers me. This happens cause the character's support is installed on a rail. Each time his body is moving up or down, i used popsicle sticks to ajusted the height and i probably didn't replace the support on the exact same spot each time. Anyway, in the final shooting of this scene he's not gonna be standing in the same position as this video shows. I plan to finished the running cycle by the end of this week and if all goes well, i'll be ready to work on shooting the sequence on next week. I also need to ajust the pace on the horizontal axis and to pofine my camera movements.

Camera movements test

2010-05-02T00:54:00.037-04:00

At last, my set is done and i can begin the animation part. I did 6 tests this week-end with the camera movements only to get comfortable with it. I was thinking about working only on 1 axis (left-right) with the camera but i thought that it would be nice to work with the other axis (up-down) as well. There were many ajustements and concessions when putting that in place, but i'm pretty satisfy with the results.

Here's my sixth camera movements test.

It's composed of 36 frames (12 frames per seconds) and that's why it's a little jerky. It's will be a lot smoother at 24 fps. I need to find a way to be more consistent with the rotation of the camera on each frame.

I tried to frame it as close as possible as it is in the trailer, but i didn't spent too many time on that.

For the moment, i'm not sure i'll let the lightning like that.

In order to keep the camera focus ajusted on my character, i recalibrated it every 5 frames. Settings: Macro, exposition: 3.2 sec, aperture: F5, ISO: 50.

I should do a running cycle without the camera movement to get use to it before doing them together as a final shooting. There's gonna be all lot of things to do at once.

0:28 - 0:31

2010-04-30T00:20:00.011-04:00

Beside finishing my set, i'm preparing myself to shoot my first sequence. It's the one that starts at 0:28 and end at 0:31. The character is running down an alley and the camera shoots him in a pan movement.

It's a very technical shot cause the character is moving a lot and the camera too. Each frame must be shot twice. One picture with the character on the set and another one with just the set. I have to do that 'cause in post production, i'll have to remove the metal rod that support the soldier with a picture editing software. In a few days, i'll post some examples.

I estimate this sequence to be 72 frames long (24 frames per seconds).

Here's a test i've done in november 2009 with a green screen.

It should look like that but instead of a green screen, i'll use my street set.

The inspiration

2010-04-29T23:40:00.019-04:00

Here's the Gears of war's trailer i plan to remake in stopmotion.

Some stuff about the making of the set

2010-04-29T23:33:00.006-04:00

Here's some of my wooden windows in the production process.

For the street lights, i used a small rubber pipe. In order to shape it, i used a metal wire twisted with a drill and pushed it inside with the leds wires. Then painted it.

I'm currently working on :

2010-04-21T23:11:00.017-04:00

-my scale model street set (sky, clouds, another building)
-the lightning (beside street lights)
-my character's support (rail)
-my camera support (rotation axis)

I plan to do some animation tests in the next month.
(finding the perfect running cycle)

My main protagonist

2010-04-21T22:41:00.018-04:00

It's a Stikfas toy. All joints are ball/socket and offer exceptional poseability, interchangeability, and articulation. I wanted to find a character that got all these features so i don't have to build one by myself. It is 3" tall and totally baddass !

My handmade 1/24 scale set so far

2010-04-21T13:04:00.011-04:00

Tests with street lights (LED)

(Above) With and without street lights

This picture is a little grainy due to ISO at 100 (maybe 150). Exposition at 15 sec. Need some external lightning beside street lights.