Animals and Creatures progress reel & AM Showcase

So here is the progress reel for the Animals and Creatures course. I wanted to wait with it, since I was picked to maybe feature in the AM showcase.. But this morning I found out that I did make it into the showcase, so I feel like my reel could be posted as wel...

And on a side note of that, here is the AM showcase reel for 2012.. I'm so proud to have a shot in there, hope you guys enjoy this years showcase as much as I did.

Finished Class 1.. on to Class 2

Two weeks ago we finished class 1 of the animals and creatures masterclass. It was a crazy, busy class, but I've learned so much in those 12 weeks. Having Kevin as a mentor was really great.. Such a nice guy, and his critique's were worth gold.

So here is the progress reel.. the first shot still needs a rat in the scene that he chases, so hopefully I'll be able to animate that in really soon.




This week we started with class 2, and we have to animate a dragon flight cycle (sort of a vanilla flight) I can tell you now, that I screwed up not analyzing my ref enough, and just assuming what I thought was right.. I'll tell more about that next week with some good examples!

week 5 and 7 of the Animals and Creatures class @ AM

It's currently week 8 at the AM animals and creatures class, and so far I'm having tuns of fun with this class..
I was not really into quadripeds before I did this, but it's giving me the same feeling as I had the first time I started animating.. Really fresh and excited!

Unfortunatly I have a sort of mini crunch at the studio as well at the moment, so I can't be as involved with the other students and classes as I was used to.. But the mini crunch is almost over (still about three weeks left), so hopefully after that I can cruise around the campus a bit more again :)

Anyway, here is the shot I did this week.. It was a gate change that had to come to a stop:



There are still some fixes that need to happen, but the overall animetion feels pretty good to me..

I also did an assignment for week 4 and 5, which was a walk that turned a corner and come to a complete stop. I wasn't able to finish this yet (the back legs don't look good in some parts, and the tail still needs to be polished.. it's still in blocking), but I'll do that as soon as I can.. I'll put it up by that time!

So yeah, just a quick update to show where things are at the moment.. The last 4 weeks for class will be a big assignment.. I'll keep you guys updated.

It's almost here.. new story trailer!

The post tag says it all.. In about a month our new game will hit shelves! It was a lot of hard work, but it will show off.. I promise you. A couple of days ago our new story trailer was released, and it looks like people like it.. A LOT!!
I hope everyone will have a great time playing trough the game, I know I will.

So check out the story trailer.. I actually animated the mechanical creature at 0:43, it's really quick but I was filled with proud when I saw it :)



I actually have some personal new animations almost done, so I'll post them when they're done..

It's been a while.. so what's new?

It took me a while to get around and actually post something worthwhile up here.. But I think the last couple of months enough has happened for me to share some new stuff again.

Let's kick off with the announcement of the game I've been working on for the last year and a half: Killzone 3.. Finally it's officially announced!

This is the first teaser trailer to get you in the mood!



Here is the official in-game trailer..



I spend a lot of time on the new melee system, so both knife kills in the trailer are animated by me.

This is a great interview with our managing director Hermen Hulst.. It shows some great playtrough footage as well. I animated the hellghast with the jetpack when he's actually taking of from the intruder ship (at 0:47)..



After my graduation of Animation Mentor last year I kind of took some time for myself, and didn't spend a lot of time animating outside of work.. There were a lot of things going on, like moving into a new house with my girlfriend and actually enjoying life together. But about two months ago I found myself feeling like I needed to level up again in my animation skills.. So I'm up and running again :) I've updated my old site, so if you have some time check it out here

First I'm finishing my short from last year, with the help of a co-worker Mao Lin Liao. He's one of our character modellers at Guerrilla, but he's also really good with shading and lighting! He offered me to help me get this thing done, and I'm very thankfull for that.. Here is a test he did in a couple of hours, and altough this isn't final I really like where things will go.


I'm actually polishing and pushing a lot of the animations since some shots feel a bit underanimated. Hopefully I'll be able to show the short film in full glory soon.. Anyway, I know it's a lot but that's it for now.. Cheers!

Sneak Peek...

So progress is going great on my short film.. There are still some thing I don't like about the film, but there are a lot of things I really enjoy about it. It's been a lot of hard work, but the end is coming near. We only have a week and a half left at Animation Mentor.. I'm going to try to final as much shots as I can before that, but I'm sure there will be some additional polishing afterwards. (and then off course texturing and lighting the damn thing.. I really hate doing that, so I'm not looking forward to it). Anyway, just wanted to share a sneak peek of the film with you..


Also really looking forward to explore San Francisco next month and going to the graduation there... I got nominated for the 'student choice award: best walkcycle with personality', which I'm truly excited and honoured about.

Anyway, that's it.. see you guys around. Cheers!

Short film (first blocking pass)

Wow.. it's been a while since I last posted something. Anyway, no excuses.. I was just lazy and didn't had anything worth while to show you guys.

So I've started the the last class of animation mentor. I got my layout done for this film last term (my mentor was Mike Gasaway, who I still knew from my time at DNA..) and now I'm actually animating this sucker.. My mentor this time is Keith Sintay and he is probably one of the funniest mentors I've had so far.

This is my first blocking pass and there are a couple of things that are going to be changed/fixed.



So the things that need to be changed:
- I really don't like the final expression/emotion change in shot 12 (so linear and crappy), I still need to work a lot on that one..

- The cut from shot_09 to 10 isn't working to well yet, I have to go in there and see how I can make that better.

- I'm really starting to dislike the straightening of his shirt on shot_03, and I'm actually thinking of cutting that and going directly in pushing up the glasses. It all feels a bit to forced to me.. to much going on.

- I want to have a bit more of a dissapointed moment after he hangs up the phone in shot_05.. it feels a bit to rushed at that moment. So the frames that I'm going to cut from shot_03 will be added to this shot..


I've only got 8 more weeks to finish it, so wish me luck :)
I know I can't get all these shots to the quality that I want in 8 weeks, but I'm pretty happy with the amount of blocking I've got done in only 3 weeks.

Anyway, thanks for reading and hope to have a new update on this sucker soon.. C ya!