Thog (2004)
Thog was a long project for me: about two years. I bought a copy of Realsoft 3d midway through my first complete animation and barely touched its features in the shots I used it for in The Unexpected. Once it was done, I began working on this. This time I was a bit more organized. However, I now know that I knew more or less nothing about film form, so it's amazing that it was as organized as it was. I remember the day I realized that I could use different lighting in different shots within the same set. haha.
Anyway, I began by trying to build a character, Thog. It went through several versions and many many problems before I finally had a semi-working model. Realsoft v4 was still very new at this time and as one of the first to work on a big animation project in the updated software, I got a lot of great help from the community and from the company making it work. There were some serious flaws and bugs in the skeletal system, and at its best, Thog could just barely move, which made animation... difficult. However I decided to go ahead anyway.
I modeled Thog based on a photo of me so that I could at least roughtly model his motions on mine. I was no longer using the 200 mhz Compaq nightmare I did Unexpected on, but a system not much better. Anyway, as I began the animation, so began the Realsoft animation challenge, which I entered. Thog was coming along very well, but WAY over the time limit. I went off to college part way through and slaved away in my dorm room trying to get done in time. I failed. So I cut out the remaining sections and threw in some audio waveforms and called it done. I was and remain surprised at how well it was received. Pleasantly so! It was a lot of work and a fantastic learning experience, but it felt a bit like sculpting stone with a toothpick.
These three videos were taken from the special features menu on the 2004 Thog DVD:
Reference Clips vs. Animation |
Render Previews & Shots-in-Progress |
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Making the Character (30 minutes) |
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