Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pajama Gladiator Post-Mortem














Nicktoons Network has Pajama Gladiator posted up for a day so people can vote on it. Hurry and watch it before they take it down.

Things I did on the short:
- pitched the original story---a bit different from how it turned out, but I still feel happy that it was the project people picked
- worked with Joe Olson to do the majority of the character and environment pre-production art
- modeled the horned guy (didn't do the acid-purple surfaces)
- did surfaces for the "Cyclops" character in Renderman
- animated a couple scenes, including the "Cyclops freaks out scene" at the end of the battle

Things I learned from doing the short:
- No matter how much you contribute during pre-production or production, the folks that really matter are the post-production guys. This short never would have been done without those guys and they deserve all the credit in the world.
- The timing you get in the story boards/animatic is probably not tight enough for the final renders and animation. This thing felt really good at first, but now all I notice are the awkward gaps in the timing.
-Don't suggest a freeze-frame action montage unless you're willing to back it up with an example of how it should look. This is the most awkward part of the short, by far.
- Don't complain about the rigs on a student project, no matter how bad they are. Either help design them so they get them right, or shut up so you don't get the all-powerful rigging guy mad at you.
- It's hard to get people to see eye-to-eye on a group student project. Period.

In spite of all these problems, I think it turned out pretty good for a student short and I'm proud of it.

15 comments:

  1. Asolutely AMAZING stuff! Really wonderful! I love the style of the end credits too - very nice! What's the music? Sounds kinda like "the Rock"!

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  2. Great stuff, Sam. I loved this short. Well done, and congrats on the awards!

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  3. Wow, incredible work Sam!

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  4. Your work is great! Really funny.
    Greetings from Spain.

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  5. Great fun, Sam. Maggie, Dan, and I watched it 3 times this morning and loved it.

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  6. Your paintings are so amazing... there's such a cool luminous quality and the colors are lovely!

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  7. amazing particular colors

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  8. Congradulations on a job well done, it was a great short. I really liked the one eyed monster, great animation. Your illustrations are really great too, I love how you light the characters, nice rendering. Looking forward to seeing more.

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  9. It's kinda funny, but I watched it before reading your post and the critiques you mention are the same thoughts I had.

    I thought the freeze-frame parts needed the standard Batman >KAPLOOIE< or >POW< added to them and then they would have worked. Ha ha. j/k.

    Anyhow, critiques aside, beautiful art and lighting.

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  10. I'm very impressed! We got a link a week ago and thought it was such a cute cartoon--now I feel famous knowing someone who had a hand in it!

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  11. This looks awesome!!!!!

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  12. This is just awesome.

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  13. "All powerful rigging guy" That's too true. If you can still talk to the other people who worked on the project than it's a success. It's an impressive achievement, congrats on getting it into Nick's competition.

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  14. your painting is really incredible, this is amazing stuff.
    Web Designer | Web Hosting

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  15. I know I'm late, but I just checked that out and it was gorgeous work!

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