Smoothed Rat

I am trying to finish the rat as soon as possible as it is so close to being finished. I smoothed out the mesh and then deleted the history on it so that it would have no problems going forward. I added the final mesh onto a layer ready for rigging and saved it.

It is now ready for rigging. Here is the finished mesh.

I tried some different variations of colour including blue, grey, yellow and red but we all decided that the purple makes the rat look less threatening at the beginning and softer. 

The toon shading has made the rat look catoony and the ramp shader has added those extra shadows of colour so it did not look flat. 

Texturing the rat

Rather than UV mapping the rat, I cut a few corners and separated different parts of the mesh and textured them using block colours. I then combined them and sewed them back together to give a textured rat. A did a few tests using different colours but we all decided that purple was the best. Here is the textured rat.

I didn't like the red eye because it made the rat look evil. I know in the story he is a bad character but having the red eye meant it gave it away really easily. 

I changed the eye colour to black and this is how it looked now.

The Rat

I have been asked to model the rat and have finally finished it.

I had a large amount of trouble with the front and back feet as the front only as four toes whereas the back has five. It was also hard to create a suggestion of an eyebrow on the head, when rats do not actually have eyebrows.

Here is the finished mesh.

It has quite a few polygons in the feet and hands because they are quite bony so need more definition. The rat does not have a nose but this can be added when it is textured. I tired to keep the model simple so it would be easy to rig but also appeal to our target audience. This simplicity will be carried across all our character models. The model has not been smoothed but it is ready for texturing and then rigging.

Concepts

So far we have done some concepts and ideas.

I have been working on the rat and also done some concepts for the emperor and ox.

There rat is going to look just like a normal rat but we decided to make him look cuter so made him more mouse-like. His nose is rounder and does not have his teeth out. He also has more rounded ears to make him look softer and sweeter.

Here are some of my concept drawings of the rat.

From these drawings, I have started to model the rat in 3D. Once this is compete, I can then look at rigging it.

I started to do some drawings of different ox. I started off really cartoon like. I looked at reference images but it made me realise that the humps on their backs are not actually that big. They look more like cows but with more hair. I haven't really continued with the ox drawings as I liked the hump and the exaggeration of hair but need more feedback from my group and I don't know if we should make it look more realistic than cartoony.

Here are my ox concepts.

I started doing rough sketches of the emperor. I tried out different body shapes first but kept going back to the more rounded emperor. I then tried to experiment with different tea shapes and jaws but again kept coming back to the more rounded shape. I also tried different hats and hair styles. I liked having a short bit of hair on his chin and mimicked that on his head but when I started adding different types of hat, i preferred the hat instead. I need more feedback from my group and I think someone else is also doing concepts. I think my drawing skills could improve and I need more positions for my character as they all seem to be from the same angle.

Here are my emperor concepts.

Target Audience

As a group, we have now officially identified our target audience.

It will be aimed at older children from the age of 7-14.

The film has a 2D look even though it will made in 3D and this will give it a cartoon feel with bright and block colours. The film is about animals that can interact with each other and have bonds and friendships which adults may find too farfetched for their entertainment.

The film will have narration over it and this may be subtitled in case it cannot be heard so they have to be old enough to be able to read and understand what is being said. It will be quite basic language used but they will still need to be able to read to take the story in.

It is also aimed at anyone who is interested in the chinese culture as the story is based on the creation of the chinese zodiac. It is an old folk tale which has been adapted for our animation.

Film Pitch

We have done the first initial pitch for our cat and the rat story. It is based on a book about the chinese zodiac and how the animals were chosen and their order.

The emperor asks the animals to have a race so that he can determine the order they would go in for the zodiac. However, there are too many animals so the animal that comes in last place will not be in the zodiac at all. 


During the race, the cat and the rat are allies helping each other. They reach a river which is too far for the rat to swim across and cats do not like water. They forge a plan to use the ox to cross. They both jump on his back and half way across, the rat pushes the cat into the water. The cat manages to grab hold of a log and keep herself above water whilst the rat safely make it across to the other side, jumping in front of the ox just before the finish line so that he is first. 


Struggling, the cat finally mangoes to clamber her way onto the bank but it is too late as all the other animals have made it across before her making her last. 


We are looking to do this in a mix of 2D and 3D. All the animals and main environment will be in 3D but the plants and other things will be in 2D meaning we don't have to model them.

The colours are going to watercolour based so it is quite pale. We are looking to render this with cell shading to give it a more cartoon feel.

During the pitch we were asked who this was aimed at. After a thought, I personally think it should be aimed at children. It is quite a good story for a child and the style we are looking to achieve is cartoon like, which is more appealing to children.

I think it will be quite challenging as we have to think about interesting camera angles and work out how to use techniques such as cel shading and dynamics in maya for the water. It is a project I am looking forward to but realise there is a lot of work and dedication.