having done alot of tweaks to the environment and making alot of buildings and figuring out how to do lightning and fog i have another video done. one of many many many. i also have realised hwo to put sound into the animation itself. this may prove very useful as it sets the volume for the distance obviously so i dont have to fiddle about in moviemaker to get it sounding right. its very batman. check it out on my videos page.

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since my website is getting a bit crowded i have decided to create a brand new one. incorporating flash, dreamweaver (no html coding for me suckers!) and my new logo. it will take some time but it'll all be worth it.

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im working on the skyline for the city now, i have alot of the buildings done, i need to add texture to the buildings and also some windows with lights on. i did a preview of the flyby for the final animation. it doesnt look very amazing but it was just to make sure the camera doesnt go through any buildings. its in the videos section along with some new segments i probably will use for the final piece.
i have included some screen shots from the fly by and also some close ups of the statin in ...
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having almost finished the station completely. im now onto making the background. what im going to try and do is make at least a dozen different looking buildings then just randomly assort them around the parts of the background which will be seen. since its based in a city the buildings will be quite massive so a dozen sky scrapers from ground level should cover the background. i will have them lit up from below so the shadows are cast upwards and may or may not give them a texture. i may pu...
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even though i have a massive hand-in of work for this thursday i am still doing some work for my other lesson. i tweaked the train a bit more, i am not satisfied with the orioginal carriages and engine. the new ones look alot more realistic in shape and will be easier to animate with doors etc.
i am still having major problems with lighting at the station, the train just blots out the lights and elaves the station in shadow, and i cant seem to get lights to work on the train so that you can se...
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New videos featuring the clock are now in my videos section.

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yes i have been very laxed on posting, but i have been working, the train animation now has the clock and im just finishing up the texture for the clock, i am looking at the chairs for the station and on starting the footbridge but i need further research to do so. another step im looking at is green screening people onto my animation.
i have done another short render of the animation up to the point i will green screen people onto it, and added some extra effects just to give it a little some...
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having amazingly so many problems trying to start a sketchbook. so pictures will go on ehre then ill have to print them at uni.


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I updated the train firstly. The coal carriage never satisfied me. I got some photos of trains of a friend and re drew the carriage based on ones from old steam engines at the york museum. I made it look a bit more industrial rather than the half pipe design it had before.

The pillars are based on the previous light fittings i made. The problem im starting to face is that there are so many light sources the shadows are taking in excess of 5 minutes to render one image. Which may not sound long...
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I made the ceiling lighing for the station. Based upon 1930's lighting so it can be accurate for the times. They have been made to look like massive, almost chandaleir-esque lights. Using transparant materials for the light shade i then could put a light emitting object inside it which casts the shadow of the lens shape over the ground creating a nice effect.
I doubled up the station and track to add alot more background and of course it wouldn't be a single line railway in a city anyway. I po...
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I did a short animation showing the train arriving at the station today. (VIDEOS) tried to make it look stormy but so much quality is lost thanks to windows movie maker that you cannot tell if its raining or if its just fuzzy. I may need to look into sounds for the clip as the ones i have are not the best and don't really sync-up with the animation. The picture stills of the station and train look really good. I am thinking of doing the background either painted or using a previous photo i to...
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i looked at some expressionist buildings and came accross the air force academy. What a fantastic looking building, with lots of sharp diagonals and brilliant up-lighting i thought id have to try and design the train station for my deco train to look like this. i also tried doing lightning and thunder and rain. the rain i found a much simplier solution for. i used the film grain overlay in movie maker, it does the job. the lightning is just blue lights which flicker every now and then, and we...
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I did some experimenting into an introduction title credit sequence. The sort you see at the start of every film etc. My attepmt was made without much detail, and apologes for the really low resolution but with youtube video hosting i cant choose. The introduction video is on the welcome page of my site.
HERE

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For my advantage module - an extra module we do at university to learn more skills. I decided to pick designing with computers. I know I will be covering alot of things i already know but the animation side is based around 3D Studio Max. Which I haven't gotten round to using yet. So i will be looking forward to learnign some skills with it. It shouldn't be too different from Cinema 4D.
I drew up the final piece of work roughly on C4D last night, Took around 20 minutes. I'll spend alot longer o...
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Within 15 minutes of keyframing i managed to get the train to look as though it is moving. I added some steam and voila. The hardest part will be trying to make it sync up with sound. I am either going to have to scour the internet to find one that fits; edit a sound file to make it fit or create my own sound for the train. Either way it is going to be tasking.
Follow this link to go to my videos and see the train for yourself.
HERE

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Added first images of the Art Deco Train. A model which i may use in my final piece for the Hard Boiled project we have been set. We are meant to utilise shadows and light. I have made only a few light sources on the train which should, combined with the other light sources. Create a very dark and moody image. Click  -HERE-  to go to the page.
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This is the first part of my new blog. I have decided to get a blog as to keep people up to date with my current events a bit more easily.
I will post new work links and anything else i see interesting here from now on.

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