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Artwork => Finished Works and Works in Progress => Topic started by: CoriDavis on April 05, 2011, 05:25:22 pm

Title: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on April 05, 2011, 05:25:22 pm
I thought I might as well share my new project that is being put together.  It started a while back when me and one of my good friends were playing a story game.  I write a few sentences, she writes a few sentences, ect. and it turned into a very great story.  
It's not as cute and cuddly as you might think... My friend absolutely LOVES horror movies and is obsessed with anything creepy and scary, or sometimes twisted.  So you can imagine that cute and cuddly takes a very sharp turn.  When we wrote this story, I was about halfway through my pirate project and said "You know what? This story turned out so amazing, when I finish my project, I should TOTALLY animate it!".
As it turns out, I'm pretty much done with my pirate project and have been working on this Kitties project on the side while I wait for rendering and forum posts.  I will post WIP pics and such soon. Meanwhile, you can read the story here:
http://theshadowrider123.deviantart.com/art/The-Kitties-196697509

PS. To relieve some fears, there will be no blood in the movie. Not that blood bothers me or anything... it's just I don't think I can model it.

Edit: Here is my first WIP picture. The only part I have modeled so far is the Creature.  I'm using the creature model to make the run and walk cycles, because I'm planning to use a copy of the same figure to make the cat figures. that way I won't have to make a billion sequences.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 13, 2011, 06:10:12 pm
Well, I'm back to work on this project! Nobody seems to be interested in it unfortunately...

Anyway, here is the start of the Kitty model, using pictures of my own cat as refs
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 14, 2011, 09:20:23 pm
Here's the finished cat. I know it has some hard edges on it, I'll get to those later.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: Raxx on May 15, 2011, 01:35:00 pm
Looks good, are you going to texture it or leave it just material based? Sometime you should delve into subdivision modelling!
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 15, 2011, 01:59:06 pm
Yes, I will texture it eventually, this is my base so I'll use it to make more kitties, which will be textured.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: rellik420 on May 16, 2011, 04:06:46 pm
that looks good. have u rigged it yet?

u might run into some deformations when u try to animate it but the way u modeled it it should be an easy fix.

one thing u might want to add is the shoulder blades cause cats move up and down kind of. so if u want a bit more realism u might want to check out the cats anatomy.

heres the 1st image i saw when i googled it. this might help explain what i mean,

Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: rellik420 on May 16, 2011, 04:57:35 pm
i just pointed out a few flaws in the modeling. some of it wont even matter but i think some of it will. for instance in the neck and how you did the forepaws.

i once heard that you should always have your loops, for the most part, even. like dont have a bunch of small faces and a bunch of large faces. try and make them the same size. (i know its impossible to do that when u make different parts of the model like the face and the body. but i hope i explained myself so u know what i mean.)

i kind of drew on ur render :) but im trying to help. heres some things that i saw that could be changed. it really shouldnt take u long to make the changes and u really dont even need 2 change it unless its hard to rig it like u have it.

i hope i helped atleast a little.


Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 17, 2011, 01:31:06 pm
It's okay, I can try to smooth things out. Yes, iit is already rigged, but I still need to make the eyes. I even have facial morph targets already.  I have a thick book all about cats with a ton of charts, even one of facial expressions, it's very helpful. Also, soon I will post my test animations of my run and walk cycles of both the creature and the cats.  I used the same skeleton for both, only modified a little so I could use the same run and walk cycles for both types of figures.  It works well, and conveniently.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: rellik420 on May 17, 2011, 04:06:59 pm
good job. cant wait to c it
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 18, 2011, 08:10:19 pm
Here's my test walk and run cycles for both Creature and Kitty.  Things seem a bit off, help needed.
http://www.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: neirao on May 18, 2011, 08:52:32 pm
cool and funny! :)
try render with textures!
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: Janro on May 19, 2011, 08:50:02 am
Not bad for the creature. I think you can fix it with timing. However for the cat, the way you animated him, he somehow got four knees like the creature ;)

For cats and dogs you could try imagine it to be like the arms of a person. The way the elbow bends is like how the forelegs will bend. Or better yet watch some cats and dogs walk
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: CoriDavis on May 19, 2011, 10:10:02 am
Yay! Janro, I was waiting for you and your awesome cat-modeling to give me tips!

Yeah, I noticed on the cat's bones though, that yes it does have elbows, but the foreleg is sort of split in half since a cat's "wrist" has all the toes on the end.  Maybe I accidentally exaggerated a little?
As for timing, do you mean by making it faster, or slower?
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: Janro on May 20, 2011, 02:41:32 am
I'd try to speed it up a little. I have yet to find references of actual animals in their walk/run. I'll get back to you when I do ^^
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: ADSohr on May 20, 2011, 11:36:48 am
Videographers love to film cheetahs running, walking, pouncing, etc.  So there is plenty of reference there; both high-speed camera footage and normal video.  Also a cheetah's bony, skinny frame will help you see the actual movement of the cat's skeleton better.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: Janro on May 20, 2011, 02:02:23 pm
I'm guessing would be documentaries right ADSohr? I remember seeing beautiful shots of high-speed cheetah runs on Discovery/Animal Planet/National Geographic

The references I'm talking about was a side view of running animals with a plain background. I remember seeing somewhere but I forgot to save it.
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: ADSohr on May 20, 2011, 10:48:54 pm
Documentaries are a great place to find reference material.

Here are a few you tube videos that might help you:

High-speed video of cat running = youtube.com/watch?v=UYom2wVDEiM[/youtube]]http://www.
(http://www.[youtube)
Cat walking casually = youtube.com/watch?v=bEQKotnQ2oo[/youtube]&feature=related]http://www.
&feature=related (http://www.[youtube)
Kitten fast walk = youtube.com/watch?v=aev_bcLhljU[/youtube]&feature=related]http://www.
&feature=related (http://www.[youtube)
Title: Re: The Kitties
Post by: Janro on May 21, 2011, 03:01:05 am
Ok I definitely am bad at researching xD Those are good ones ADSohr.