Wing Commander Animated Series

Sure Lehah.

The project has a few goals. The first and foremost, to be *different* than any other wing commander production, but still undeniably wing commander. I am really happy with the look of the art I've developed. It's not Anime, and it's not Disney, it IS different. Sort of a comicbook-like feel to it. And the CG has come a long way after a couple of years.

With the project I also hope to, at least in a small way, reconcile the games and movie. There will be elements from both present (as well as from the novels and original cartoon).

As for how long this thing will run, that really is up in the air. The pilot's lyca reel runs in at just over 7 minutes. I'm not sure where to go with it from there. I would love to do an entire online serial of short episodes. I would also love to turn it into a longer format, perhaps pitch it as a half hour series. But who knows.
 
Using the software at your disposal, is it possible to render something and then keep recycling that model over and over to keep your actual design "work" to a minimum? If so, you could slap together a series in fairly short time using "recycled" material not unlike the FOX Spider-Man cartoon.
 
Using the software at your disposal, is it possible to render something and then keep recycling that model over and over to keep your actual design "work" to a minimum? If so, you could slap together a series in fairly short time using "recycled" material not unlike the FOX Spider-Man cartoon.
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Yes, that's one of the great things about 3D. Once I'm finished building the Rapier, i'll be able to use it all the time with ease in any shot I want. The only problem with that is that this is a combination of traditional animation and 3D animation, and all of the character animation is traditional. Every frame has to be drawn, cleaned, painted, composited, and color corrected with great care.

The pilot episode is directed (cinematography-wise) alot like an old western movie, and it's mostly a nice intense spacebattle.
 
Corsair(pilot) said:
all of the character animation is traditional. Every frame has to be drawn, cleaned, painted, composited, and color corrected with great care.
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I assuming you're using another computer utility to do the "character" animation. If so, why not just concentrate on making, say, 10 or even 20 basic character animations for everyone and then just use them appropriately to cut some corners later on.
 
It's a great idea Lehah, and of course I'm going to try and reuse anything that I can in the name of effeciency, but it also makes for a pretty boring animation if every shot looks the same. I'm putting as much variation into it as possible.

You got a test reel for us to tear into?
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No test reel. I don't like releasing anything until it's finished. I had a hard time putting out those shots above, but I figured it's been a year, better do an update. I might release a short teaser though... I just need a female voice actor.
 
hmm female voice actor? maybe PM Spiritplumber?


Anyway that's the great stuff you are doing threre. I could never draw, that's why I started modeling ;)
 
Corsair(pilot) said:
It's a great idea Lehah, and of course I'm going to try and reuse anything that I can in the name of effeciency, but it also makes for a pretty boring animation if every shot looks the same. I'm putting as much variation into it as possible.
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Well, as always, let me know if I can help on this - though I don't have any technical skills per se.

Female voice actor? What about blonde?
 
Thanks Conrad, I'm using a combination of XSI, Photoshop, FlashMX (got to love those vectors), and After Effects. Not to mention lots of drawing and hand painting.
 
Looking good!

I'm getting a nice Clone Wars vibe, but the animation still seems quite unique. Do you have any previous animation/demo reels and are you a full-time animator in the workplace or is this project a pursuit in your free time? Either way, it seems very professional :cool:

All the best with the project -- really looking forward to the final result!

Cheers,


BrynS
 
Yes, I am a professional freelance animator. But also, yes, this project is just a personal side project that I do in my spare time. I only wish I could devote all day to this thing :)
 
Eh, that doesn't matter. People think Myazaki is a master animator and his FPS rate is complete crap in all his movies.
 
It's a bit of a loaded question. Most people associate a low frame rate with anime, but I have seen many Anime pieces with a nice high frame rate and alot of North American animation with a very low one... The answer depends on which context we are talking in. The final video output will be 30 frames per second (or more accurately 29.97), but that is just the general frame rate for NTSC format. The raw animation frame rate is a different situation. All cg will be rendered at 24 fps. The traditional animation will also run on a base timecode of 24 fps, but it really depends on the timing of the scene; some single frames could be held for 2, 3, or more.

EDIT: And on a side note, I'm still looking for a female voice actor... If anybody would be interested you could pm me and I'll explain further.
 
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