The rig

Yo! Klas here.

I haven't had time to update in a while since we are on crunch mode. 14 hours a day for 10 days now, 7 days left to GGC. Intense.

I realize I haven't shown you Totec's rig yet ("skeleton"). So here it is. I have been using the CAT Motion system provided in 3Ds Max. The rig is fully stretch- and twistable and I've given him a basic facial rig which I've completed with morphtargets (modeled facial expressions you can blend between). I will just show an image for now, I will post a video sequence later :)

Regards

KT

At work

Hello people,

From my iphone. In the pic are Kaka, Klas and Evelina

We have started the crunch. Trying to get our teaser done for the GGC, there´s still allot of texturing to be done. But now we have a new addition to our team, Evelina Reich. To help us out with texturing and other 2d art we need. She´s an amazing 2d artist. And we hope she will still like us at the end. 

Over and out

"Don´t ever stop doing what you love"

Oljud

Backdrop

I’m finally finished with all the presentation material for GGC. Last out was the backdrop, the computer was crying in pain with the 276 megapixels big file. Furthermore the title was in vector graphic with a size of 1200 pt (1297 pt is the maximum size that the program allows…), I’ve never made such a large image before, total overkill.

These matters have interrupted my main work of the project a bit. But now I can continue rigging the main character (setting up a skeleton) to then be able to start animating, I can’t wait!

Here’s the backdrop below, it depicts the view from the pyramid. It will be printed with the dimensions 3300 x 2300 mm, which explains the ridiculously big image file. It’s rendered from 3Ds MAX by Christian as a base which I’ve then painted over.

Ciao!
/Klas

Poster

Hey guys!

The last few days we have been busy making orders and other administrative matters for the Gotland Game Conference. At the same time we are completing some animations for a course. Intense.

Here’s a poster we’ll be using for GGC.

Happy Easter!

Totec unwrapped

Allrighty. I’m done unwrapping Totec. The hair was pretty tedious to unwrap due to its complex shape. But besides that, it went on fairly smoothly.
Now I’m going to create a quick normal map in ZBrush before I begin rigging him, which surely will take its time since I’ve never made such an advanced rig before.

I’ve posted some old photos of us, working with the pre-production, on the "at work" page. Be sure to check them out, more photos will be posted later on.

To have something to show you, I’ve made a collage of some of my concepts of Totec. You could say it’s the history of Totec’s design, from the beginning to how he looks today, hope you like it.

/Klas

Totec

Here’s Totec, the hero of our film. It’s just a sneak peek of the 3D model; without clothes, material or texture. I did the base in ZBrush with Zspheres and then carried on in 3Ds Max where I made a lowpoly, which I applied turbo smooth to. I’ve had some troubles getting the hair right; I had to remake it twice before I was satisfied.

I’m thinking of making further details with Zbrush by creating a normalmap. But right now I’m making an UVmap in 3Ds to be able to give him a texture.

/Klas

Totec Hut

Here a 3D model of Totec´s hut i am working on. Trying got get the cartoon and Aztec design down. I got part of the way but there allot more to do. I am also working on 2 more huts now. I have to say that i am really enjoying doing this style.

Well hope you guys like it.
















"Keep being creativ"

/Oljud OUT

The story, briefly

Greedy God is a cartoony comedy, an animated short film by GAAD Studios.

Totec is an Aztec indian and the headman of his tribe. He took over the position when his father suddenly died. Unlike his father Totec is a clumsy screw-up who doesn’t seem to get anything right. The people of the village have never been pleased with his leadership, not even his own wife. Their marriage was arranged, which you will understand when you see her.

And as if this were not enough, their land suffers from a major drought. Their corn field is totally dying. This resulted in the whole village leaving Totec and his wife to their fate. I think you get the picture; he’s not the luckiest guy in the world. This is where our film begins.

They once built this huge pyramid temple that never worked, so they don’t have much faith in the Gods. But since they have reached rock bottom; he’ll try a last resort, to pray to the mighty rain God and beg for some rain, one last time. Unfortunately the God is not what you would call a decent guy, not even a mean guy. He’s that really evilly kind of guy, a true douchebag. You could therefor imagine that praying and offering won’t go as Totec planned, quite the contrary actually…

/Klas

Environment painting

I've just finished a concept of the environment. To include as much as possible in the concept I picked a frame from the film that shows the main character Totec, a lot of the forest, some buildings and of course the great pyramid in the distance. The point of this painting was to get all of the teammates on the same page regarding the general visual theme and the color palette. And to make the texturing a bit easier.

Click on the image to enlarge.

You may have noticed that Totec looks sligthly different. Well he've now got himself a facelift. I'll post the newest concept of him as well, which I made a while ago.

I'm almost done with the 3D model of Totec, I'll post a pre-render later on.

Klas

Well who am I

Sebastian "Oljud" Olsson

So who am I ? Well my name is Sebastian Olsson. I am the lead 2d artist and animator of the God and the Wife.      

I am a second year student at Gotland university. I am also stuck on this Island and originally for Malmö. Yeah go Skåne. 

Before i started to study at Gotland university, I work as a shipping manger at a small company i Malmö. But that wasn't what i wanted out of life, so i quit. And now I get to make films. So I feel like a winner. I never know what i want to do whit my life till i found animation and drawing, and now i don´t every want to do anything else.

"Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero"

Oljud

Klas Trulsson

Well yeah, it might be in place to introduce myself! My name is Klas and I’m the Director of Greedy God and I’ve also written the story. I’m the lead animator as well and I will be animating the main character Totec.

I’m studying at Gotland University like the rest of the team, which means I’m stuck on this island, but that’s all right as long as I’m getting to make films! I’m originally from Malmö, Skåne, the southernmost part of Sweden.

Before I begun this education I studied architecture in High School. But that wasn’t my cup of tea; so I started wondering what I would do instead. I have always loved drawing, photographing and movies (cartoony ones in particular). Adding this together led me to Computer graphics and Animation and I absolutely love it!

Peace ‘n’ Love ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll

Klas

Hi! Short update on what we're doing.

Last week we looked over our script and trimmed it from about 107 camera shots down to 65 shots, without cutting down on our story. We’ve optimized it and actually improved it. Feels good because we’ve got less effects and animation; making it a little bit easier to finish on deadline.

Character concept

Yo!

This is Totec.

He was actually pretty hard to design since he’s the most important character, and since he changes his personality quite extremely throughout the story. From unsecure and timid to confident and proud. On his personal journey he makes all kind of mood changes, from sad and weak to angry and strong to happy and satisfied. The character design has to pull off all of these changes in a convincing way. After some do overs I think his design is starting to turn out quite tight.

We have decided to give our film a kind of angular and edged visual style, which we find pretty fresh and appealing, as it at the same time fits the traditionally established Aztec-ish shapes. And it also gives the visuals a comical and cartoony touch in a natural way.

Concept of The Wife!

I was quite intimidated when starting on The Wife since I thought she would be the hardest character to design. But after a little bit of testing I found her shapes pretty easily. First I made her way too hideous, but after Sebastian’s suggestion I made her prettier (of course, in this case “pretty” is extremely relatively). She can’t be both super fat and super ugly, just super fat and ugly is perfectly enough ;).

Concept phase initiated..

We are now in the middle of the pre-production; we are already done with screenwriting, moodboards, script-breakdown, map and most of the administrative work such as making schedule and breakdown. I do not exaggerate when I say our breakdown is a big ass breakdown. We have 107 scenes including four characters. That's a lot of work in a short amount of time. And I'm lovin' it! Of course I won't be saying the same at the end, during crunch time, but after that I will be saying it again when we are finished. Hopefully we will get a little more sleep this time than the last GGA... Hopefully, but not probably.

Right now we are all four busy making concepts of everything from characters and buildings to pots and stones.

Arrivederci

Il Direttore

Greetings mortals!

We are GAAD.
And this is our bible.

The next twenty weeks, our mighty team of four will dedicate our lives to Greedy God, an animated short film.
During this time, we will show selected pieces of our work in progress.