About
If you wish to contact us our email is InspireStudiosUK@gmail.com. We also have a Facebook page where you can find out about all news and features as they happen.
The City
Here is a still and a quick animation of the city which was meant to be the intro scene,there are some technical and light glicthes, which i might fix at a later date.
Some more time savers
Just looking around at some scripts, some nice one out there to save render/personal time.
This one allows you to render multiple files at one time. This is also help full if you need to render more than one camera. jawa9000.com/Technical/batch/batch-rendering.htm
It is also possible to just close maya while batch rendering, this is also good as you can allow more memory for maya to use. Give them a go, it is worth it!
Tumbling down the rabbit hole
So deadline is just around the corner and the work flow has really picked up. I am glad with the way things have finally picked up but it is a little too late to create our dream for this animation.
To make this work we really have to be organised and productive as possible. Firstly CUTS, we need to save render time and not burn out our cpus. We don't need this to be too pretty, little extras would be nice but we just don't have the time to do it. Save time by adding things in editing if needs be.
Try to keep lighting down and polly count low. Depending on how you are rendering, lower the settings. If your using mental ray, lower the final gather settings a bit, final gather adds about 5 seconds to your time so its worth doing.
The time for any modelling is now over, we have to get into rendering ASAP! Start to finish up now and start to think about any animation that needs to be done. Ideally you will be rendering tonight and tomorrow and applying those final touches in editing before the final composition takes place.
We are also lowering the resolution to 1152x648. Make sure you take a note of that. When it comes to premier/AE use the settings in PAL Widescreen to ensure we all have the same size. Audio rate will be 48.
If you are sending a scene to someone make sure the scene is clean and doesn't have any; textures, groups, objects, lights and layers that aren't being used. When you have finished group your scene if you have to send it across, name it and layer it. Try to use naming conventions everywhere so it isn't as confusing for the other person. The little things like this will save time, even naming you scene correctly helps alot! I would suggest YOYRNAME_FILENAME_TYPEOFSCENE.ext. It will save confusion and therefore less problems will occur.
The next few nights/days are vital, make them count!
Heartville Town
This is some of AJs work. The town centre where we will have a fly over towards the laboratory. We want this scene to be a dream scape of a town, sunny, traditional and full of life.
Here are some of the buildings:
And a the town:
The Hallway
Here is out hallway that Alex has been working on. We have been trying to establish a more gritty and industrial feel the scene.
Mr & Mrs Generic
Mr Generic:
Mrs Generic
I created the female first, I fell into alot of problems with the geometry on the face. I also modelled the hands facing forwards. In the male I used a different topology technique and modelled the hands flat.
Outcome of meeting, 10/12/10.
Just to recap:
AJ - You have to upload your work more, I have seen stuff that could be uploaded now and you should do it as regularly as possible! You haave left: Buildings, Cars, Tanks & Street/Landscape.
Alex - You are working on the lab, I understand you have to redesign it. Once you have something to upload do it, maybe at the end of the day?
Zakki - The bunny, I think with you its your own choice where to take things. You could develop it more, in terms of detail. You do have to alter the position of the arms and back. A higher detailed head also need to be designed/produced, which is for the last shot fo the bunny. It is also a good idea to look at the fur that you will be using, so you know of any bald spots and level of detail.
Me - I will be working on the generic characters though out the trailer. I have designed one, sketches will be up soon. I still have to design the generic male character and props for both. The scientist and a high detail hand of his. I have also been thinking about soldiers, do we think we should make one generic soldier perhaps to be running behind the tank and crouched in front of the bunny? comments on that would be kool.
As always comments on any of this will be good, and anything I may have missed.
If you struggle to upload to the blog, or find yourself forgetting about it make a post-it note and stick it on you monitor and take 15 minuets to upload at the end of you day. It really shouldn't be hard for us now.
Meeting on Friday 10th December.
Can all attend a meeting on Friday at 1PM to discuss work that has been done and the work to be done over the holidays. I need everyone to bring any work you have done, just scan in or take screenshots of any work, it is essential.
Updates to Jobs
Well it has been a while since this blog has seen any action so I think its time to knock things back into place and get the gears moving again.
I hope everyone has done some for of work for this, I have seen some evidence but not enough. I need you guys to upload some work, relevant, going to be changed, WIP, whatever! Because its time for some new material to start being produced, we are falling behind, so I feel, as a group.
Firstly Alex, I know you have been working on the inside of the lab, I know where you are and what direction you are heading and its working well. Keep it up and keep the world posted on your status.
AJ the building concepts were really working, I think you stopped at one point to get on with character, so its time to bring that back up and work on some more buildings, but you also need to get some maya stuff going. I would like you to start on the tank, I think it will be good for you and all of us to get and example of the gritty, rusty world that this is threw the force of the military.
Zakki, you have been quite distant. We have got a good style from you which has help drive us more than I think you realise? Anyway, I'm sure you have been working on the Rabbit in Maya, if you haven't could you start, think details and a get it ready to be rigged, that's the next stage for you!
I will be working on some characters to fill in space on the town, give it some life. They will be terribly simple yet dressed in lovely summer dresses and checked shirts and shorts!
I know there is a essay to be handed in soon but this project is not going to be put on hold anymore! Its been a long while since I felt happy with the way things are going, I hope you all understand that feeling! Lets start to bring it together and make a kick-ass animation.
Keep your blog up-to-date with rich work for this project, I will be keening a keen eye on things.
Comments as always guys!!
PS Zak- What happened to your blog? need you new address please, Blogger home page doesn't automatic update!
concept, lampost,fruit crate.




Over the weekend I've done another concept, this one took absolutely ages, I tried to encorporate more detail and make sure that they give a clear message instead of previous ''mood drawings''. I looked at the photo above and took some ideas from it, such as the lampposts and signs sticking out of the buildings. Since we're modelling smaller things now, I made one of the lamposts and did some tests so that we can put spotlights in them and they'll light up, which was frustrating but turned out good. they could do with a 'dirt' texture map i think, but copying the pictures I made them dark grey so I don't know if dirt would be visible anyway. Ialso made a crate of apples for the shop in the middle of my concept, everythings grouped etc so colours can be changed really easily.
Concept art / designs
concept art of the suburb houses. note the beams and symmetry. also, I did some detailed ones concerning window styles, as well as 2 floored ones, and renders of 3d versions made at home, so please wait and see them later on when i upload them from home.
first concept of lab. i also have a 3d version. and a sketch which will also be uploaded, with better window styles that I couldnt do on maya.
Okay this is the best picture to see the style of buildings I'm working for, you can see the modern style, with that retro 'niceness'' and the homage to the countryside in the windows. here we have 2 skyscrapers, a warehouse (no fancy windows on this) a 2 floored shop with large display windows and the taller building which could easily serve as a filler to flesh out our scenes.
the concept of the corridor. the door we are standing at (theoretically) leads behind us into the laboratory workspace, and the door in front (lighted) is open to show the main text subject being held separately, awaiting results of experiments.
This was me testing out brushes and thinking about composition, whereas this doesnt look exactly like our city, this can be referred to when we come to think about amounts of destruction, smoke etc. what is too much, what swamps the city?
first concept of suburbs, trying to get the feel of the black and white, how much contrast.
this is a more resolved concept, this shows the houses in more detail. note the beams around the middle of the buildings, separating the floors. giving a more solid, safe feel. also the beam under the roof, and the half circle windows.




































