Production Update 153: Animation Galore

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Chris Biewer

The week started off a little dicey. I had homework to finish up and some revisions to freelance work to get done. I was really concerned that I wasn’t going to get to log as many hours on Cosmic Rage as I would have liked. However, as the weekend approached, I was able to get almost a full day in over the weekend. I had some shots to finish tweaking and then I was moving on to compositing all of the shots in the new scene I was working on.

Overall I was able to get 12 shots done and completed the scene that I was aiming to get done. Here is a frame from the current scene.

This week I need to go through a scene for audio revisions and also send this scene off for audio.

I am also taking a mini vacation and going to a concert to see a J-Rock band called One OK Rock that is touring in the US since they signed a US record deal. You can check out one of their music videos below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZqcDYbvAE&w=560&h=315]

I will also be at Anime Nebraskon this weekend to present a panel and check out the con! I am very excited to hit up the con and meet all kinds of new people.

For Cosmic Rage, I am starting to work on a new scene that is composed of 7 shots. MY goal is to get it done or very close to done by next weeks production update. I am starting a new project for school this week but feel like I can use Monday and Tuesday to get a strong start on this next scene. Have a fantastic week everyone!

Production Update 144: Scene Wrapped Up Again

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Chris Biewer

I wrapped up the shot I was working on this week! Here is a piece of production art below!

Really been hitting a groove lately on these scenes, I feel like I have a solid process going. Recently I have been doing test background renders and creating an animatic for the scene. After that I set up beauty renders for the backgrounds. Followed by adding in the crowds and completing the final animation and compositing. I really do need to start doing behind-the-scenes videos on these. I really will try to do this!

Anyways, this scene will get sent along for audio production this week. Outside of finishing up this scene, I worked on a bit of freelance work again and also wrapped up my first week back in school.

So whats on the agenda for this week? Well, I would like to get to recording some behind the scenes content and get it put in Youtube. I think the first batch of content will be a series of videos on how a shot takes form from concept to final. Just give me a little time get things situated with the new laptop and recording.

I will also be working on the next scene! The next scene has 4 shots in it. The following scene after that is just a single shot so I will probably lump the 2 together and work to get everything prepped this week so I can work on animation next week.

Production Update 123: New Art and Animation

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Chris Biewer

A long, overdue production update but I appreciate your patience! It has been a whirlwind last couple weeks. I worked a lot overtime at the office and when I wasn’t animating I was packing and moving my stuff. In the meantime I was sick for a couple days in there and needed some time to rest up and heal. Also had a mix up with the internet company getting things transferred to the new place, seriously felt like it would have made for a good 13 episode “slice-of-life” anime.

So what all happened in these last two weeks? Well, I didn’t get any Cosmic Rage animation done, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t new goodies to show off 😉 I wrapped up the proposal for the art grant I talked about in some of my previous posts. So, feast your eyes on some of the first animated Cosmic Rage content to be released!

This video is a quick teaser to show how the e-book will work, how I combined animation and text frames for the viewer. The areas for reading will be user controlled, allowing you to turn pages at your own pace.

[vimeo 120329405 w=500 h=281]

Cosmic Rage blends 2D and 3D animation, so in this spot I wanted to take Zeth and show you the process from pencil drawing to final animation. The steps are labeled in the corner.

[vimeo 120442944 w=500 h=375]

After seeing how the characters were treated, I wanted to show off the same process but for environments. Here is the fighting arena as a sample.

[vimeo 120442458 w=500 h=375]

I also went to a WordPress class to gain a better understanding of it and to meet up with some other bloggers in the area. I learned a few new things and looking forward to taking the next step and doing the third class later in March. Plenty of stuff to gear up for and more exciting news coming soon.

Stay tuned for more updates and I promise I won’t be away for that long again!

Production Update 88

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Chris Biewer

It’s a late post up time, but I hope it is worth the wait for everyone! This last week I had a really productive few days of working on Cosmic Rage. I completed 4 shots and have started prepping another 3 shots for this week. I was hoping to get to them over the weekend but I forgot my laptop cord at home when I visited my parents so I was unplugged all weekend, which is a good thing, it was a nice weekend and I got a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather.

I do owe everyone some production art so here it is!

There have been a few moving parts to Zeth’s intro for the first episode so it was easier to do all of the shots together. The next three are all before the battle begins. If everything goes according to plan, I should get a chance to work on those shots Tuesday night and hopefully start working on a new area.

I am really excited about the amount of progress that was made, and really hoping I can keep things moving along. Thanks for checking out the update!