Protofriday - Timeline

I think I've got a plan!  There's a lot of stuff for me to do and, luckily for me, there's not a little time to do it in.  I posted earlier about my asset list and everything I'll have to make up for the Prototytan Project; fourty-six robots, a half-dozen humans, a few sets, and a lot of props - and that's just for the first season.  But before I do all that, I still have to learn Lightwave.  It's not completely new since I'm transitioning from 3DS Max, but it's still taking some time before I get comfortable with it.  It's an uphill battle, though, because I'm stubborn and hate having to adjust to new things. 

I've looked at all the assets and I've figured out a timeline that I think will give me enough time to get everything modeled.  The timeline has a few steps; the first is the learning phase.  I'm giving myself til the end of the year to learn as much as I have to about Lightwave.  I'll go through a ton of tutorials, I'll model a bunch of junk, I'll mess with the materials, everything I can do to learn without feeling pressured to make a Prototytan just yet.  I don't want to start out trying to model Huffer or Reaper and just get frustrated when nothing's turning out right.  So I'll start out with toasters or rockets or whatever else I can think of.  Also during this time, I'll finalize the alt mode and design for all the robots.  There'll be lots of sketches here so hopefully I'll have a lot to post here.

The second step is the asset production.  As soon as it turns to 2011, I'm going to start modeling with a purpose.  I'm giving myself a long time - two years - to model everything I need.  I'll start with the robots and give myself 11 days to model and surface each one.  By the time that 11th day hits, I'll have a model of the alt mode ready to sell online, and have a fully transformable robot.  I measured this out and all together, it should take me 18 months.  That'll give me 6 months to model out everything else; the people, sets and props.  During this time, the Prototytan Project will have daily updates to keep me going.

The final thing I'll have to do before the deadline is get the first update ready to post online.  It's not a long one, I think just a few pages, but it has to be ready to go by January 1st, 2013.  That Tuesday is officially... Prototuesday!  Watch for it!

Alt Mode Blues

Further Proof

I got the the end of the strip before even realizing I forgot to add Larry into the photos, so I hope his one line makes it up to him.

Sari for the Confusion

Stupid Kids

Critics

Introductions

Switching Gears

No, I'm not talking about the Gen 1 episode, I'm talking about working on a different project for the time being.  While I'm waiting on my new computer, I've decided to work on a simpler photo-comic.  It's only a 4-panel deal with little to no special effects.  It's hopefully going to be funny (I got a laugh out of my wife from the first strip), but everyone hears how hard comedy is, so don't boo me too much.  I've got 20 strips scripted out so far, but I'm hoping to get 10 more done by today.  I'm hoping for a three posts per week schedule. 

Now I just need to find the charger for my camera!

Waiting Game

Okay so I've got a few updates to post here.

1) Thanks again to my friend's amazing generosity, I'll be getting another computer soon. It's the computer he built to run Lightwave, so now that he's already given me the program, he figured he'd finish the package. I should be getting it soon and hopefully get back to working on Lightwave.

2) I've been accepted into TMCC so I'll be starting classes at the end of August. I should be okay money-wise until then, but once classes start, I'll be raking in the dough. I'm hoping to take some classes that can really help me on the Prototytan Project, and I'll be looking for a new job after that as well.

3) While I've been waiting on the first two to happen, I've made some good progress on the storyline, getting the first two dozen updates figured out. I haven't gotten into the scripting for them yet, but it's going to be awesome. I wish I could give some spoilers, but... I really don't have any. Come on, I can't start giving stuff away before I even have anything up!

Dongle!

There it is, the bane of my existence. My friend Rich had lost the dongle (teehee) used for Lightwave for quite a while and now he's finally found it. Of course, now he's got to send it out and I'm not sure how long that will take.

In the mean time, though, I've downloaded the trial version of Lightwave on my old desktop. First, I wanted to see if my cobbled-together desktop could handle a modeler program. So far it can, but I haven't made anything with more than a few dozen polys and I haven't tried rendering anything at all yet. Second, I need to try learning this stuff so when Rich does get Lightwave to me, I won't be totally in the dark. Unfortunately, I am having the hardest time learning this stuff, even with tutorial videos. I don't know what's wrong with me, Lightwave is set up so similarly to Max, but I am just not catching on. It's frustrating me to no end, and I can only watch videos for so long before I just give up.

This web-comic is going to take forever to make.

Demo reel

Yup, this is my final demo reel. You know what that means? That I'm finally done with school. My last day of class was the 10th of September (actually the 9th, I skipped the last day since I had already turned in my assignments). But this is the fruit of all my labors, and the final project I wanted to have done in my last two classes but didn't have enough time. I really like how it turned out, I think the transformation works out really well. I'm still not completely happy about it though, I need to add some more explosion effects, but that could wait for another time.

So now school is over, along with my job since it was related to my VA education benefits. So now I've got lots of free time (when I'm not looking for a new job, that is), and lots more interest in the Prototytan Project. I've been working on redesigns for some Autobots now, not major changes, but ones that update the characters and still keeps them recognizable. I've also got plans to try my first kitbash - I bought a F-4 model plane and I'm hoping to make one of my original designs with it. I'm not sure how good it can turn out though; the model's pretty small and I have to use assorted Lego pieces for articulation. I'm excited to try it though, so keep coming back for it.

Some clarification

I guess before I get too far into this blog, I should explain what exactly the Prototytan Project is. It consists of two parts - the first part is short term - hopefully completed by August 2009. I'll be modeling a few of my original design Transformers for use in my demo reel to help me get a job in television or game animation. I've started one model, but being the first one, it's slow going as I realize my desings don't translate into 3D perfectly and things need to be tweaked.

The second part of the project is a lot more involved because of the amount of work that needs to be done. As I said before I'm writing a fanfic, but I plan on making it ain comic format (inspired by a lot of the photo -comics posted here. They've done some great work and convinced me my story would be better in art instead of prose. Of course, a CGI comic requires a lot of modeling - the 12 Prototytans, and 12 Autobots and Decepticons each, along with sets and props. That's a lot of work! Of course, the Transformers won't be highly detailed or modeled directly after toys. If you want more accurate stuff, check out this guy, his stuff's great but way beyond my talent.

Unfortunately, I'm back to school tomorrow after a week off and now I've got to concentrate on homework instead of the PP. Looks like I need to crack down on the weekend, which won't happen until after March is over - I'm getting married in three weeks!