Pups Log

Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since my last post. So sorry. For the past few months, I've been having trouble creating a "mold" for a character's face. In the end, it turned out as shown in the image, but I'm sure we'll encounter some difficulties as we continue working on it. However, I think that even this is part of the charm of stop-motion animation, right? 😁

Our test shoot went reasonably well, so we've been hard at work creating assets ever since. Recently, we welcomed a graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts as a member. It's very encouraging. However, since we are still a small team, it is inevitable that each person will have to handle multiple tasks at once. Currently I am making two scale models of kayaks, one for normal shooting and one for "distant view". Additionally, I am reworking the default mold for the main character. It is possible to mass-produce faces using the molds I made previously, but I didn't like them because they looked too distorted. This remake was a good experience for me in terms of getting used to working with silicone.  As for our future plans, once the main character is complete, I would like to do some more test shooting. I'm sure we'll be able to see some expressions there. I'm really looking forward to it. You may think that the production process is slow. But I'm n...

Due to the division of labor, the material for the characters gradually came together. When the things I imagine begin to materialize, they become real. The fact that the character I had drawn on paper now had volume and weight meant that the vessel was finally ready to breathe life into it. The very meaning of "Animate" is to give life.   We also did some "stop motion" testing with the armatures. In stop-motion animation, we can't use a technique called "in-between." We have to create one motion consistently from start to finish. This is called "straight ahead" as opposed to "in-between." This means that there are no frames that correspond to milestones, so animators are required to have very high levels of skill. For now, we tried shooting 24 frames, which is equivalent to 1 second.  After that, we removed the prop that supports the character, called the "tank." This was done using an automatic digital deletion funct...

  顔の原型を作っています。 これがなかなか難しいんですの。 何度も失敗を重ねて、漸く少しだけわいは君のキャラを掴めてきたような気がします。

  I plan to create the character's facial expressions using a "replacement" system. I'm in the process of having Sayaka create the default expression that will be the basis for it. The images and video show the layering of clay against the core material. The part shown in green is the polystyrene foam core material. From this basic model, we create female molds and mass produce the default facial expressions. Before baking it in the oven, we modify them to give them the desired facial expressions. Originally, it would be more efficient to perform this process with a 3D printer. However, we want to stick to "handmade" products. Oops, I used CG. 😱 However, I do not intend to use digital technology to create the actual puppets or backgrounds. 

  "Pups" is the title of this animation. The main characters are a child kayaker and a child seal. They travel together. I've had an idea for these characters for quite some time. However, the design didn't fit with the roll animations I had released up until then, so it never saw the light of day. In other words, their head-to-body ratio were not suited to realistic movement. I think comedy is the stage where they can really shine. And that's what I love and what I'm good at. The storyboard is mostly complete, but I will be refining it further.