The Grey People

Update 1: Pre-Viz

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:38:30 +0000

PRODUCTION UPDATE #1

Well, I’m already working on Chapter III entitled “Kelbixe Innaq” (pronounced KEL*BIZE IN*NAK) which will venture further into the story and reveal the characters introduced at the end of Chapter II: Remnants of the Past (which if you haven’t seen, click here).

When working on productions like this, I tend to evaluate which CG task will be the most difficult or the longest to produce and I try and get that done first. Therefore, the most difficult sequence in this chapter would be a sequence in which our characters chase some tornadoes made of pure water. But this tornadoes are not like anything we have seen today, the radius of them at ground level could fill and entire city. Very powerful. Very big.

To create this, I opened my 3Ds Max 2009 and I begin by creating the surface. Basically, I create a flat plan, added a wave modifier to it because I want sand hills. When I found the right configuration for that, I exported it as a 3ds file and closed Max. I then went to scifi3d.com and found a non-cannon star wars ship which will be feature a lot in this new chapter and opened it in Max. I imported my ’sand hill’ plane into the scene, textured it with a hi-res sand texture, and created a cylinder. I textured the cylinder with my chosen background which not only included the sky, but the background rocks and such. I added my lights and I was practically done.

Now, for the tornado, I did two things and one of them failed. The first thing I did was create a tornado using particle effects but the amount needed to create a tornado of this size would need a render farm, because my system just couldn’t handle the render of 1 frame (what do you expect when you need something like 50k of mesh-particles fully textured as water). So, for the sake of time and a quicker render, I took a more simple approach.

I created a very large cone, added a bend and twist modifier and textured it with a very large un-tileable texture. Now the only thing that was missing was the water splashing from hitting the surface. To cheat on this without have to do any complex modifiers and particles. I create a sphere gizmo and applied a volumetric fog app to it to create the illusion of the water splash.

I rendered it and felt pretty satisfied and so that environment is ready to use for production.

Tomorrow I will finish the script and prepare for an official casting call. I will contact some individuals privately as some people have expressed interest coming back and so I will honor their requests.

This new chapter will be the longest Chapter from the two so far, it will cover some exciting stuff and will pave the road directly for us to meet The Grey People for the first time in Chapter IV.

Well, thats all for now. Thanks you so much everyone for your views, continuing supporting me, and giving me constructive criticism. And don’t forget, if you haven seen Chapter I or Chapter II, please do so!

Have a great weekend everyone!

P.S. If you wondering what “Kelbixe Innaq” means in english, I have left a very distinct clue in the forum header pic. If you figure out what some of those letter mean, you will be able to decipher some coded messages that I post in the future that may be beneficial to fans of the show. Sometimes when you look for treasure, you have to dig.

Update 9: Final Update

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:30:48 +0000

CHAPTER II: REMNANTS OF THE PAST IS NOW FINISHED*!!!!

I can finally take a deep sigh of relief as not only is it finished, but TWO select members from TMU have had the pleasure of screening it and the feedback was fantastic.

One of them said: “wowie – looked good, even in low rez – and I really liked getting a better sense of the lead character in this one – in the first one, he’s just a guy doing a job – in this, we finally get to know who he is, and ultimately, what he lost and, of course, a helluva cliffhanger”

So, big thanks for those random screeners to take a look at the next chapter.

Update 8: Release date coming soon….

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:28:23 +0000

87% finished with Chapter I

Tomorrow is the announcement of the release date! The question I ask myself is do I give some time between my completed chapter to have a head start on Chapter III.

To celebrate this recent milestone, here are some more screenshots!

Update 7: 57% done!

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:25:18 +0000

57% done!

So, I filmed one of the more difficult scenes that I wasn’t sure how was going to turn on out. But it turned out really well.

Tonight, I’m going to shoot some more scenes so I can have an early start on compositing.

And as announced on the Ken and Roger show, the second and final trailer that will feature the second chapters release date will be released Tuesday.

Anyways, here is some more screen-shots!

Update 6: 48% Finished

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:22:38 +0000

48% FINISHED!!!!

This is great news considering that two days ago I was only at about 12%.

And to celebrate the milestone, I have some screen shots! Take a look below!

Tomorrow will be another long day working on the next scenes. Tomorrow’s goal is to be around 70% finished and maybe have a trailer by Sunday…maybe.

And for those who may interpret me rushing, nope! I just finally have time to make this chapter.

By the way! If the following screenshots don’t entice you to want to see this next installment, then watch it for Sisch’s and Nathans incredible performance! Thank you guys!

Enjoy the screenshots!

Update 5: First Scene

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:19:03 +0000

Well, we have begun principle photography today. The first scene we have completed is the second scene in the second Chapter. In this scene, we discover what happened to Nick Stratum after the devastating events which happen at the end of Chapter I.

As before, we are continuing with the Cg backgrounds and environments however for this Chapter, we will be using it for the entire length – which we will push for each episode. It wasn’t too hard to complete for this particular scene, just shot it in front of a virtual greenscreen in the game, composited it together in Vegas Pro and whala!

On another note, we have learned that Sisch, who is voicing Julia Camp in this chapter has come down with a nasty bug. We hope she is doing ok and we wish her to get well soon. Get some rest Sisch. We do not believe that this will hinder the release.

I hope you enjoy the first batch of screenshots from Chapter II.

Update 4: The Beach

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:16:34 +0000

Well, here we are with our third production update. Today, thanks to Ubernewbie (of The Movies Underground Community), I have acquired the set mesh of the beach from The Movies game. I exported it from Blender and brought it into 3Ds Max and have been working on it all day. I first removed all of the old palm trees and brush as I wanted to use the ones supplied easily from max. I then spent a lot of time trying to smooth as many of the meshes as I possibly could and re-textured here and there. I also removed the confines of the water and expanded it so if I wanted to show the camera looking onto the ocean horizon, it would be believable.

This set is going to be used for the first scene of the film, it also happens to introduce the character Julia Camp, being played by Sisch.

Hope you enjoy!

Update 3: More CG

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:13:21 +0000

Good afternoon to most of you! This morning I have been working on some of the CG sequences I mentioned yesterday in the previous production update. These two were very easy to customize which was just a matter of adding volumetric light and shadows. The church model was provided by modeler and modder Marvellous Guppi Movies and the ruined city is a miniature set exported from The Movies and converted to a 3D model. I added a modifier called Noise to bang it up a little more and created bump maps to make the textures bounce a little more.

Anyways, thats it for now. I have a few errands to run today and Ill be back to start working on some of The Movies filming. There is a large chunk of time where Nick stratum does not talk or interact with anyone…this will be easy to film without VO’s.

Here are some screen shot’s for your pleasure! Click on them for high-res!

A small church that Nick Stratum accidentally falls into when trying to escape some hungry animals.

After 28 days of walking, Nick finally finds a very old city that once used to be an underwater research colony for Pathopens Industries.

Update 2: The Trench

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:07:55 +0000

Hey everyone! Production is going smoothly just starting off. I decided to tackle one of the most difficult and detailed oriented sets. Thanks to Marvelous Guppi Movies, he has once again supplied with the common Cryo-Chamber set which is a mod for The Movies game, but since I want to customize it and obviously make it CG, he sent me the original blender file so I can re-texture the walls, add lights to the scenes, and of course flood it, add underground plant life etc etc.

Tonight and tomorrow will be fixing up the Terraform 7 corridor to reflect the passing of time like I have done with this cryo-chamber (I forgot to mention its inside the space-ship) and since that wont take a lot of time, I’ll most likely start working on the ruin city set.

So, I’m off for now. Below is the screenshot of the cry-ochamber and below it is a pic of the Terraform 7 partially buried at the bottom of an enormous trench. Take care!

Click on the images for high-resolution!

Terraform 7 Cryo-Chamber partially submerged in melted cryo-coolant

The Terraform 7 ship now lies at the bottom of a trench once filled with the ocean water of the Atlantic.

Update 1: Shooting Begins…

D.L. Watson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:05:08 +0000

SHOOTING BEGINS!

With the script finished and sent out to all the actors and actresses, I have begun modeling/animating some of the Cg sequences and will soon begin a brand new game in The Movies to begin greenscreen shooting.

While I wont be able to really go hardcore on the shooting until I get all the voice-overs back, I will be piecing together a large part of this new chapter where there isn’t any dialogue, just narration.

I’m thrilled that so many people tuned in and watched the first chapter and actually enjoyed it. I look forward to talking about it on the Ken and Roger show Sunday, the 23rd.

As proof of my commitment to Chapter II, I have finished modeling a key location. Click the second image to see in high-res! Take care!