Lil' Robo

[story2rewrite]

Hey all. I just started in Maya at the end of summer and I'm trying to learn it - feels like trying to learn rocket science at times. I decided to have my first animated short be simple with one location and one character. He's called Lil' Robo and his only motivation is to change a broken lightbulb. Of course he fails miserably. Here's some test if you want to check it out and feel free to comment. I'm still a newbie in Maya.

http://vimeo.com/34413244

 

[Renee]

The rendering is nice. Is that a pre-fab scene, or maybe Global Illumination/ Final Gather?

Just by watching it, your story didn't come across to me.
I kind of see it now after watching it.
I think its because the 'light bulbs' don't register as that to me. I had no idea what they were partly due to their alien shape.

That's ok tho- the great thing about film is you set your own universe rules. Just show us the rules and we will get it!

So maybe if there's a way to get across the idea that those are light bulbs then it will make more sense. My first thought: he switches a few lights on with success, and then the last one- oh no! It doesn't work. Then the mayhem ensues.

Also your camera is a little floaty. Cameras in 3D are hard. Try to animate it as real as possible and it really gives a great feel to the scene. Check out Wall-E and watch the way that camera moves in the beginning. Really sweet.

 

[story2rewrite]

Thanks for the feedback. Great advice. It's all about the story . I'm a screenwriter first but as I was playing in Maya this character just kind of developed. I was thinking the lights do need to be made more clear. I might have to really make the light that's out stand out. And the switch is a good way to show that And it can be funny seeing him doing it over and over and increasing the tempo.

I have to do a few more test first. I'm going to have him bring in a space age tow truck and have him try to jump start it too. I'm trying to think of all the ways you can try to fix a light. The catch at the end will be he finally gets it back on and all the others go out.

I was researching a bit more in the graph editor and so forth. I think I'll need to use that to make a cleaner camera - smoother. I did use both global and final gather. Some long render times

Thanks again.