The Wolves Within

Project is over! Jolanta and I are proud to present The Wolves Within. Big thanks to David Keefe for the soundtrack and Philip Banks for the voiceover!

A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight between two wolves.
One is evil – he is anger, hate, arrogance and greed
The other is good – he is peace, hope, benevolence and serenity.
Which wolf will win?
The one you feed…

The Wolves Within

Youtube version

The making of The Wolves Within.

The Making of the Wolves Within

Enjoy!

Production Video

Final touches to our project. From Concept to completed shots, this video covers steps our group was taking to develop The Wolves Within animation

Update

Tough times of late, as we've been super busy getting scenes finalised and rendered as we come to the end of the project. There's still more to do so just a quick update for now - all scenes have been rendered and now we're stuck in with the final push with compositing. Here's a quick preview of the shrine scene coming together with the many render passes and dynamics.

Hopefully, I'll make a more detailed post about the process when things have calmed down. But right now, back to work!

Book covers

Book front and back cover designs:

DVD Cover:

CD Print design:

Character Lighting Progress 1

These are some shots with lighting nearly done:

 

Video Compilation and Soundtrack Update

This video shows the update of both, the soundtrack done by Dave Keefe and of animated scenes I have worked on lately. Hopefully we’ll be able to discuss if all of them are working and what should be changed, when we meet on Monday.

3D Concept of Evil Wolf

the same routine follows again: I bring  3d render of evil wolf and a maquet environment to photoshop and play with things there to make some nice visual representation. Hopefully the "infinite" space is clearly drawn where  his "steam" goes.

 The Progress :

 I have developed the environment  in relatively good detail, but then had to take it back to bring up some theatrical lighting. Possibly these concepts can serve for our animation lighting ideas.

And that would be it from my side :] Time for some proper Christmas holidays :] Family finaly comes at my totaly empty student halls :D
Wish you merry Christmas! :]

3D Concept of Good Wolf

I have read a while ago about this new approach artists are using for creating beautiful .. 3D Concepts. It involves making anything from making a quick 3D maquet to resolved 3d models and bringing them later to photoshop to push the visual idea there. This is my first attempt, the 3D concept of Good wolf.

I was trying to blend the the character in the scene seamlessly. I also used a more dynamic angle, so it made the task more interesting. Perhaps there is some conflict between the very defined 3D model of the wolf and very stylistic and relatively loose environment.

 

I’m hoping to do something similar for the Evil Wolf as well and then finally my family will arrive and it will be time for Christmas :]

Character Presentation Video

Here is compiled character presentation. I chose to show characters in contrast to each other: how obviously different they are in modeling , texturing approaches, and how the time-lapsed animations also embody that difference. To solve some funny perception issues (they looked like about to sniff each other) I have posed the characters slightly differently and increased the distance between them, Hopefully that does it. As for soundtrack, I Used Dave Keefe's earlier soundscape tests.

Previs 2 + Soundtrack Guidelines

Latest Previs


This should be intended timing and pacing of each shot, so time the soundtrack to the lastest previs above

Soundtrack points and general guidelines
There is a three act structure for the soundtrack, these are the points that should be evident in the soundtrack.

The Beginning – Setting the tone/atmosphere
Pretty much there, no real changes necessary.

The Race – Buildup of tension
Anticipation of race
Start/‘gunshot’ of race
Build-up of the race
Drop of sound when transitioning to the climax act

The Climax – Final epic stand-off
Tension builds up on each cut of the wolves,
Drumbeat accompanies each cut e.g. close up of evil wolf, to a close up of the good wolf

Overlap of light atmosphere sounds over the Title and Credits is nice, as already present in the current soundtrack

Overall, we feel there should be no strings, but could have a lot more drums to build the tension.

If you can separate the acts into separate files that be great, or even the sound document itself if its possible.

Can we have the sound file as either an Mp3 320kbps or Lossless .wav/.flac? Technical mumbo jumbo I know but it be great to have optimal formats.

Thanks again!

Wolves Sliding Jump Animation

Sliding jump animations for both of the wolves have reached a decent stage. With these animations I was trying to emphasize the gracefulness and lightness of the good wolf. He jumps high in the air and lands dynamically. For the evil wolf I was emphasizing his heavy mass and an ice-like materiality. Therefore, as he lands down, there is a notable sliding and anticipatory crouching.

Wolves Character Turnaround Development

While working on project's animation, character turnaround development is taking place. I have an idea to present each wolf seperately covering its topology, scultpural form and texturing. I have not decided yet if each character should be presented posed only or animated ( for example if animated, they would be on a slow motion run cycle).

At the end of character presentation I'd have both of them in full colour posed together to show the contrast between the two designs.