A little pain for lots of gain

My WWI infantry soldier maquette is all built and ready to be rigged. Rigging is definitely not a favourite job of the CGI animator, but very satisfying when done. Here the skeleton is matched to the model and ready for each bone to be given it's weighting envelope.

Once done, this maquette can be given a walk, march and run animation cycle. Then I can shoot that sequence from any angle, with any additional lighting cues, render out the frames and use them as a base for 2d drawn animation. The maquette will also be given a basic texture sheet and used as-is for background action.

Lead in the air

Legendary Manx broadcaster and journalist Terry Cringle brought a little something to the office for me to look at today, a fabulously detailed and painted lead figurine of a WWI infantry soldier, complete with all his kit - and bayonet fixed for action! This hurriedly shot phone pic really doesn't do him justice.

The figure is courtesy of Terry's huge collection. He has a keen interest in the Great War and the tank battle at Cambrai where Gilbert was injured, and has very kindly offered his voice for narration on Gilbert's War. It's all coming together wonderfully.

New tech for an old soldier

This is work-in-progress of the maquette figure I'll use in 3d to rough out animation. I'll then rotoscope from that to get my 2d drawn frames.

This will also be used, when finished, to generate backgound figures or scenes with lots of troops marching/fighting together.

On the right track

I thought I'd share a little test I did with my MarkIV tank. It's a bout 50% finished, and this one won't be a super-detailed up-close model, but rather be used middle-distance, or as seen trundling in formation from a low-flying bi-plane. It's really a test of how the visual style is looking.

It's moving about twice as fast as the real thing would in this clip, which would be about walking/marching pace.

Gilbert in colour

I made a start on some colour. Once I'm happy with how he's looking I'll submit a few different views to the Great War experts to assess whether his kit is correct.

Character Sheet

I've started on Gilbert's character sheet - the reference sheet used when animating. He'll be built as a poseable 3d model, and traditionally animated (drawn) using the 3d as reference.

This is a sketch - I've yet to add all of his kit.