Channel Box

2011-06-07T12:34:00.000+08:00

Supinfocom did it again!

Hambuster from Hambuster Team on Vimeo.

Loom

2011-02-11T21:28:00.001+08:00

Cool stuffs to share with you guys! ;)

Awesome Style!

2010-12-19T12:27:00.001+08:00

Hey guy just sharing. I love the style of this vid!

Meet Buck from TeamCerf on Vimeo.

Let's Get Healthy Together TVC

2010-11-08T18:50:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, saw this ad on facebook. Even my friends were talking about it. I think it's a fun and interesting visual concept which may or may not inspire you.. In any case, I looked it up on youtube.. here it is:

It's part of this years campaign by the Health Promotion Board.

cheers ;)

Blog Template Fixed and 3D Appeal Tutorial

2010-11-06T20:59:00.001+08:00

Hey! Man.. I struggled for the past hour trying to get the images up onto photobucket for hosting! And linking everything back together again! Now we have a complete template!! :D

cheers! Oh, I like that Chaos has posted something in the midst of nowhere..
Yup, we are nearing ORD and we should start spamming this space when we have free time!

It's time to get back to the real world!!
For a kickstart, I shall share with you guys a video I found really useful when coming to creating 3D characters!

cheers,
Ronald

Our Inspiration 2

2010-10-16T23:45:00.002+08:00

Hey boys,
its been awhile!

I find this short leroy posted on fb somewhat rather inspiring. Opened up alot of ideas for a short. Its about this visually imparied little girl's world as she sees it. After watching you might introduce lotsa concept to our this long lost story, mindsight.

Our Inspiration

2010-04-30T06:29:00.000+08:00

Hello guys, remember one of our inspirations for our little 3-man productions? :)

This couple production is finally complete and the graphics are really quite impressive. But nothing beats their organisation and workflow.. Only 2 laptops and they were able do get their desired short film out. How did they do it?

Click to watch the production focus:
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5625

The Film:

MEET MELINE : THE 3D ANIMATED SHORT FILM (by Sebastien Laban & Virginie Goyons) from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo.

The Making Of:

MEET MELINE : THE MAKING OF (Sebastien Laban and Virginie Goyons) from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo.

Channelbox Blog Design Version 3.0

2010-04-04T10:15:00.002+08:00

Hello guys,

I'm sure you guys are super busy with NS.
I suddenly had the urge to re-design our blog :P
Hope you guys don't mind. :)

Here it is!

Awesome stuff

2009-11-27T16:48:00.001+08:00

Hey guy's just to share with you all some amazing stuff.

http://chrisj.com.au/thepassenger/movies.html
An awesome clip.

UPS Store Website

2009-11-19T19:34:00.005+08:00

EDIT: whoops, I left out the link to the website! :P
Here it is: http://cardboard.theupsstore.com/
It takes some time to load..

Hey guys!
Came across this website which has a pretty cool introduction video and some other animations in there... nice concept and art direction.. all about cardboard stuff.. I guess it's worth a look :)
Might be of help to our film! ;D

No worries Yongs, take your time ;)

MindSight Updates

2009-11-11T21:11:00.003+08:00

Oh I can't wait to see the storyboards! Hahahaha! How's it going, Yongs? Actually, if you don't mind can post whatever you have then we can work on it! :)

I just painted something for our MightSight "movie poster" haha! :P
Thought it was cool for a moment~ ><

Channelbox website opening animation 02

2009-11-08T11:30:00.001+08:00

Hi guys, latest update. Still doing....

ronald want me to send you this first? Or wanna give me more time to finish the blocking.

Beelzebub

2009-10-11T19:21:00.004+08:00

Hello!

Here's one of the winning entries for CGSociety's Secret Agent Challenge by Ishan Shukla. This entry won the Video Individual Excellence Award. I find it very cool and very impressive for an individual effort hence will like to share it with you guys :)

cheers!

Label Posts with Mindsight

2009-09-30T19:04:00.005+08:00

Nice titles Zi Chao!
I think can somehow improvise until it leaves a deeper impression the first time we hear it, such that everytime we hear this title, we think of this film.

Hahaha, here's my humble attempt at improvising:
1)A man can still dream --> Still Dreamt
2)In another world --> Else World
3)Imagination --> Asylunation (cool~~)
4)See with your mind --> Mindsight

GOSH the intro anim looks super cool already!!! I think our webby will be awesome with this intro. Great effort Zi Chao! Keep us posted! :D

For now, let's LABEL our posts with "Mindsight" for documentation purposes :)

Channelbox website opening animation 01

2009-09-30T13:19:00.004+08:00

Hi all, wow its been a nong time since i've posted!
Here i am! In attempt to revive the liveliness in channelbox lol
Here are some suggestions for title of our short.

1)A man can still dream
2)In another world
3)Imagination
4)See with your mind

Here's the full story we've discussed, take a couple mins to read and visualise. If you guys have anything to edit, just feel free and do it.

[Cam is in P-O-V shot.

It begins in the Outdoors on a sunny day,
the character begins looking at the ground and sees his own shadow.(background is vibrant environment of the present we live in now)
He's like under the sun feeling the heat. Then he looks at the sun. (dark clouds are moving in to cover the sun)
When he looks back down he sees a cute and adorable little girl smiling at him! (background is like "28 weeks later" movie,empty and abandoned, dark and a feeling of infection)(though still resembles the once vibrant architecture and stuff, just the mood changed)

He calls out to the child in a panic manner, as if he's his long lost daughter.
But the kid playfully runs away. Our char gives chase and the kid turns into a corner.

Char turns into corner as well and sees a door. He continues on quickly and opens the door.
Behind the door theres 1 more door! (like the matrix shot with the keymaker)
behind it is and another, and behind this door there is a slightly longer corridor with a 90 degree turn.
He sees a slight glimpse of the kid running and turning at the end of the corridor and he gives chase.
After the turn, there's a door at the end of the corridor where the kid runs into.

He opens it and becomes a vast warehouse with robots and mech stuffs downstairs and they're on a platform
(a corridor-liked platform , like L4D the warehouse).
Char is awe strucked for a moment looking at the vast mechs and shit. But quickly takes focus back
onto the child who is running on the platform too. He gives chase and we can hear the sound of footsteps on metal.
The child goes thru the door and char follows too.]

But suddenly! after the door there is a vast artic plain, with the wind and snowing blowing at his face.
He steps out.
He can see the polar ice caps are melting, falling and crushing on the ground. Shaking the ground tremendously.
He sees the kid, and gives chase as she runs towards the dangerous place ahead where ice cracks and stuff.
The ice beneath him cracks.(the day after tomorrow)
He falls down into the dark bottom, panickly and try to grip at whatever but still falls into the dark bottomless pit.

The cam is now a long shot.

and the white slowly fades off and we see our char with his hands blocking the flash from his eyes.
The white fades away and reveals the guy in the asylum room with his uniform.
It then continues to zoom out and shows the CCTV of him in the room in tat pose and stands up slowly to
only run around again as if he's seen the kid again.
Further zooming out to reveal more TV screens of many more other rooms with other crazy ppl inside. and also
revealing the words "Asylum Security Room" or something.]

-----------
Now, for research. Don't think i'm allowed to post any copyright pictures here, but its pretty straightforward. Like the present now, to resident evil those kind of environment, and to vast artic plains with polar ice caps falling. Gotta keep in mind theres lots of contrast and such.

------------
Channelbox Opening Animation.

Only blocked in about half the characters.
Final poses still not finished.
Probably need to edit the timing of the characters coming in, and the way they comes in.

Still alot to be done.

The next time i get to post might be a long time from now.

I Wish everyone nothing but the BEST in everything you do.

Thats all from me.
Cheers!
-Z

Current Short Film and Website Workload Distribution

2009-09-04T15:03:00.001+08:00

Hey guys!

Let's give a production name for our short film..
Say.. Asylum (can think of a cooler name, but for now..)

Okay, so here's the current workload distribution for Asylum:
Yong Yi: Character and Environment Design, Storyboarding Thumbnails
Ronald: Storyboarding Thumbnails
ZiChao (busy with NS): Research
All: Story refinement

Channelbox Website workload distribution
Yong Yi: Website and Blog design
Ronald: Official Website and Blog Css and Html Coding
ZiChao (busy with NS): Opening animation
Ms Jong: Official Flash website execution

oh Ms Jong, I've uploaded the b/w water-light-effect loopable flv :)

Character sketches 2

2009-08-30T13:04:00.004+08:00

Just another sketch i did the other day before i proceed with the storyboards!

Channelbox Blog Message Board Banner

2009-08-24T15:28:00.004+08:00

Hi guys!
As discussed last night, here's a new banner I've designed for the message board. The message board works by leaving comments to that message board post! ;) Also, the channelbox tool's skydrive icon is linked to our groups' skydrive already! Click the banner to go to the message board! cheers! :D

Channelbox Tools - SkyDrive

2009-08-19T13:19:00.005+08:00

Hello, over the next few weeks, I'll be working to create a better environment for this Channelbox Blog. Hang in there, while you might experience some weird artifects going about this blog during this period. Thanks for your kind understanding.

Changes to be made include:
More Channelbox identities going around this blog design.
Adapt previous graphics to suit the new theme including avatars and icons.
Minor changes to be made to color scheme.

As a start, here's a new Channelbox SkyDrive Icon to fit this new theme.
Cheers! :D

Channelbox Logo

2009-08-17T22:48:00.003+08:00

Hello all! I'm back with some little variations of the Channelbox logo. Made minor adjustments to the fonts to see which fits best based on Yong Yi's comments. Drop some comments ;)

Sorry for the wait!

2009-07-20T18:41:00.004+08:00

Sorry for the wait...i wanted to finish the whole page but ran out of ideas. I need to go watch more animation clips.

Btw here's what i have now. Mainly sketches for the main character and the little girl(kid) whom the character chases. The ones that i prefer are labeled with the numbers. Maybe i've spend too much time on the character as he'll be only seen in the end.

I'll focus more on our environments for the next update.

Comments are welcomed.

Channelbox Logo

2009-07-12T09:41:00.004+08:00

Hello guys, I've sketched some channelbox logos and brainstormed, thinking of ways to make that cube more channelbox.

I tried to form the letter "C" and "B" if you can see it along the way..
And I even tried to add 3 letters in a cube "C", "B" and "X". It doesn't really work for me and I felt it needs to read easily. So..

Clearly, I have arrived at a very straight forward approach which is just to put a "C" in the box.

We can have the long logo which is CHANNELBOX or have it standalone as the "C" box itself can also identify that it's us. So I propose 2 forms of this logo.

And I also added some quick treatment to see how we can play around with it. :)

c&c away!! :D

Update on Story and Team member

2009-07-08T22:04:00.003+08:00

Just a clarification for the ending, just for records sake.
Here's the conversation we had online about the ending:

"he open door
see a vast artic place
with melting ice caps snow mountains at the background slowly falling off and cracking like destruction
he sees the girl in the distance focus on her then run after
then ground cracks like BOOM! trys to balance and falls down into the dark bottom pit
trys to grab hold of everything and anything
then he falls, deeper, debris covering his sight his hand covers over his face, back of his palm facing him like sheilding himself
then transition to either white or black
then camera now is inside his pupil (eye) zooms out and reveal asylum he sheilding himself still, but once shot establish he shielding himself for like 12 frames, he stands up and do the dumb action once again running, open door, woah face, looking around, chasing"

and our team mate Zi Chao is embarking on a Journey to become a Real Man a.k.a National Service. So he won't be out for 2-3 weeks. Let's all wish him the best! :)

New story idea!

2009-06-25T23:22:00.000+08:00

Short Clip

Okay it goes like this... (Btw the clip's in POV until mentioned.)

It begins in the Outdoors on a sunny day,
the character begins looking at the ground and sees his own shadow.
He's like under the sun feeling the heat. Then he looks at the sun.
When he looks back down he sees a kid!

He calls out to the child in a panic manner, as if he's his long lost son.
But the kid playfully runs away. Our char gives chase and the kid turns into a corner.

Char turns into corner as well and sees a door. He continues on quickly and opens the door.
Behind the door theres 1 more door! (like the matrix shot with the keymaker)
behind it is and another, and behind this door there is a slightly longer corridor with a 90 degree turn.
He sees a slight glimpse of the kid running and turning at the end of the corridor and he gives chase.

Optional, Choose A or B

A
[After the turn, there's a door at the end of the corridor where the kid runs into.]

B
[At the turn it becomes a vast warehouse with robots and mech stuffs downstairs and they're on a platform
(a corridor-liked platform , like L4D the warehouse).
Char is awe strucked for a moment looking at the vast mechs and shit. But quickly takes focus back
onto the child who is running on the platform too. He gives chase and we can hear the sound of footsteps on metal.
The child goes thru the door and char follows too.]

But suddenly! after the door there is a vast artic plain, with the wind and snowing blowing at his face.
char looks around and sees the child standing about 10m away.
He dashes forward and hugs the kid. He looks at the kid and suddenly the kid explodes into some kind of white flash
,like a blinding light (burning safari kind) and the screens goes all white.

The cam is now a long shot.
and the white slowly fades off and we see our char with his hands blocking the flash from his eyes.
The white fades away and reveals the guy in the asylum room with his uniform.

It then continues to zoom out and shows the CCTV of him in the room in tat pose and stands up slowly to
only run around again as if he's seen the kid again.

Optional Additional Ending
[Further zooming out to reveal more TV screens of many more other rooms with other crazy ppl inside. and also
revealing the words "Asylum Security Room" or something.]

Thats All!
Thats the end of it. it should not be too long as the running and all should b quite fast. Btw we can have different crazy stuff
after each door, to make things crazier. See if you guys like any part of it. or maybe it can spark something new :)
and thx for reading!

2009-06-20T18:23:00.010+08:00

Hey all
sorry for the long awaited update.
These are my first sets of logo design,
i still have a few designs which i left in my office workstation.
pls tell me what works and what don't. =)

Here's the previs for the opening animation.

Starts off with 19 dudes forming the word "channelbox". Some are running, some sprinting, rolling, jumping, walking coolly, flying from the top, across the screen. Alot of dynamic stuff happening which i havent plan out yet. But i'll make sure it shows contrast.

Then a cool transition to channelbox logo. Oh before i get further take look at these 2 clips.

Fubiz Party from Mattias Peresini on Vimeo.

Fubiz Redesign from Mattias Peresini on Vimeo.

Effects fly in, transition to "DESIGN' shot. Then putting works or channelbox, or by yongyi on that shot. Could be character designs, concepts or paintings or whatsoever. Im thinking that all the designs shown are speed sketching of character or concepts or paintings, that lasts 1-2 seconds each. Then a sketchy (deals with concept design) transition to animation.

So transition to animation, where an animation snapshot displayed there quickly. Footage can take from ECC or cokezero or whatever. A transition whereby the letters run off the screen(deals with animation)

Then to visual fx, where ronald can showoff cool stuff there, done in channelbox or out.

Last transition to channelbox logo( maybe a cool fx that deal with vfx of course), then it goes to place and all the flash stuff starts forming to show the beginning of our webbie.

Thats all

I'm trying to get all 3 of us involved in this opening, i might have lost track of the vision of channelbox and stuff, if i have, pls tell me.

AND

i'll take this opportunity to announce that channelbox will be embarking on a short film project, inspired by these videos.

Channelbox Official Website Progress Check 1

2009-06-12T22:16:00.004+08:00

Hi guys,

Shall we have some updates on the progress of the official website?
Here is a few things which will be good to be updated on:

1. The Actionscript development for the website
2. Any difficulties faced in making the website work in Flash.
3. Can we already have a preview of the website so we have change things which are not what we want early.
4. Channelbox logo designed and finalized.
5. Start to see some visuals of the opening.

Thanks guys :)
cheers
Ronald

NYP Graduation 2009

2009-05-30T16:46:00.005+08:00

Congratulations SIDM Graduands!

Here's a super nice photograph of us!
I think there's one photograph with Marcus in too, but I don't have it.

Thank you ZiChao!
I am very proud to have you guys as friends too! :D

For the channelbox official website
I've put the temp page already, I hope it's okay.
The background animation is almost done.
I'll try to shift the whole blog over to the official website in time to come.

3 cheers!

CONGRATULATIONS!

2009-05-29T23:46:00.003+08:00

CONGRATULATIONS!
To the fusion 09 batch of SIDM for graduating!

And also,
Congrats to ronald and yongyi for receiving the diploma with merits
in addition for ronald, in receiving 2 awards from mediacorp and lucasfilm!
I am very proud to have friends like you guys

The channelbox website will be underway starting next monday~
I'll be sure to update on the progress/ logo design/ opening animation soon
Everyone and anyone are free to throw in designs and ideas as well!

Cheers!

Water Light Effect

2009-05-23T12:54:00.004+08:00

Hey guys! First of all, I think Yongs is doing an awesome job!! :D Thanks man

I've got this background water-light effect thingy up and running. I hope the current look is okay. It might be a little too attention catching so I just toned down a little for you guys to see what it may finally look like.

You guys think it's okay? =) do comment
btw, I'm editting the timing of this water-light effect, so the animation won't come too soon.

Some Slight modifications

2009-05-20T20:56:00.003+08:00

Hey guys, I tried adding a glow on our menu bar and also tried adding some smoke like effect behind the channel box text to make it not so plain.
Also increase the brightness at the right side by a bit.

I've changed the text color as well. I'm not sure the stuffs added are for the better or worse, think i need new pair of eyes :\ Do comment.

Another tryout

2009-05-18T13:07:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, here's another try of the color and the News page layout.

I've increased the saturation and birghtness along with the colors of the text. Also tried to add in a bit of the bg thingy going on.
But it's still not as vibrant as what i wan it to be. What do you guys think? any suggestions?

Btw i'll try adding glows and and there next.

Official Channelbox Website Background Effect

2009-05-17T09:50:00.004+08:00

Hello yongs and chaos,

Regarding the water wavey reference, I realised that there are actually 3 (or more) types of backgrounds, one of them is like turqoise waves, one is like hearts (very girly) and the last one is more like orange cloth.

I'm refering to the turqoise blue-ish green one... the one that has waves going horizontal... left to right.
And because they load up randomly, you may have to refresh a few times to see it. I'm afraid we might have refered to different ones :P

cheers!

oh btw, Yongs you may want to check this out. The services page in the following reference can be how our news feed looks like :) Have a look :D

Channelbox Website Structure and Content

2009-05-15T14:11:00.005+08:00

Hello :)

I have typed out the stuff that is to be included into the official website.

Parts of the structure is already illustrated by Yongs, so I only illustrated some which are not mock-ed up yet.. I added the news page too, we seemed to have forgotten about it.

There's this section which has the write up of each of us. I have kind of written something for us but I know we will like to write our own. So unless you guys think the write up is okay, treat it as a template, feel free to edit a bit or type your own and copy paste it to me :)

Oh by the way, I uploaded a super big resolution of this into our SkyDrive in case this is too small. A new project folder is created too, we can start dumping stuffs there! :D

Added colors

2009-05-13T19:01:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, i did a color tryout for our website. I've added colors for the logo and also saturated the bg to try and make our website more vibrant. Feel free to suggest or even edit my pictures. :)

Some Color test

2009-05-12T23:24:00.003+08:00

Here's some color tests i tried today.

I'm thinking to have the logo's colors implemented into the Channelbox title text as well. I personally like the green-blue one.

What do you guys think?

Website mockups again

2009-05-11T14:35:00.008+08:00

Hey guys, here's all the layouts for our website.
Comments are welcomed.

I'll now continue on our logo concept.

Website mockup

2009-05-10T21:24:00.003+08:00

Hey guys! I looked around today and got some new inspirations for our website. I've tried a different layout and also did a quick sketch of a new logo.

Maybe the logo would have some color to add into the overall color scheme.
And I think i would like to do a smaller version because this mockups were done with my widescreen resolution, but i think i would prefer it to be in a normal resolution(1024 x 768) with the sides blending into the black BG.

Do give comments! Thx!

Official Channelbox Website Meeting Agenda

2009-05-07T15:41:00.007+08:00

Hello! Channelbox has had a good short break after the Coke Zero Commercial Production and now we are setting off with our official website!

Here's the agenda for the first meeting:

1. The purpose of the official website (to showcase Channelbox's work, build recognition and reference, and more...)

2. Functionality of the official website (will we have videos? have a mail form to drop comments and feedback?)

3. Purchase the domain soon

4. Basic content discussion + Review of previous discussions

Coke Zero - Impossible is Possible by Channel Box

2009-04-29T19:07:00.004+08:00

Good Day Everybody!

Thanks for all the support from you guys who have been visiting this blog, leaving encouraging messages, posting comments and suggestions for our Coke Zero Production. Here, I'll like to announce that the Coke Zero - Impossible is Possible Animation Project is completed!

Stay tuned to Channelbox as we bring you an official Channelbox website as an upcoming project!

Visit our Eyeka Submission Page! :D

Moodboard

2009-04-26T15:23:00.003+08:00

Moodboard for the Close-Up shot.

Moodboard for Explosion Scene

2009-04-25T23:03:00.003+08:00

Here's the moodboard i did for our last scene. We've decided to make it busier by implementing a thick haze and inks dripping by as the can falls.

Coke Zero Lighting and Rendering Test 2

2009-04-24T16:02:00.004+08:00

Hey peeps,

here's the render.

4 passes

Color+reflection
texture
occlusion
material ID

total abt 1.5min for all these 4 pass to render, for my lousy computer. Hoarnale's pc should do it real fast.

Sorry HDRI sucked, if we're using this render setup, probably gonna need to take a picture of the scene and wrapped it as environment.

reflectivity seems too high, maybe i shld do a seperate pass to split color and reflection.

Thanks to my colleagues who helped me to achieve this.

Coke Zero Research - Fluid Ink

2009-04-24T11:51:00.002+08:00

Hi guys!

I came across this commercial this morning.
It has very impressive ink fluid effects. :)

I read that it's done by a Korean Studio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1iSdkr-FQM&fmt=18

Bullets Visual Effects Animation

2009-04-23T22:14:00.003+08:00

Hello!

According to Yong's final design of the bullet (no.3 of previous post),
I did the following effects. I hope it tallies and it's good to go :)

More Bullets

2009-04-22T14:41:00.003+08:00

More bullets. i tried something more graphical for the 2nd one, but i think i went too far with it. I personally like the last one, simple and portrays the feeling of speed. What do you guys think?

Fireball look try out 2

2009-04-21T17:30:00.001+08:00

Bullet tryout 2

2009-04-21T17:19:00.004+08:00

Here's some more trails with a muted effect. What do you guys think?

Bullet Trail

2009-04-21T14:20:00.004+08:00

oops i forgot bout the bulet trail. Here it is. I'm gonna do a few more mock up for the bullet.

edit: k here's the other 2. but after reading Zi Chao's comment, maybe i'll do a few more.

Background mockup

2009-04-21T13:50:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, heres a mockup i did. I did it in a plane because i thought we could put it in like a texture. But after that i thought it would be nicer if we have a 3d terrain instead and have the splashes on planes like how we did it for the other shots.

By the way, I tried trees at first but it kinda sucked. so i tried adding them together in the 2nd pic. But i kinda prefer the one without trees.

Bullet Trail and Fireball look

2009-04-21T13:09:00.003+08:00

Hey guys I've tried the fireball effect, the wet ink trail and the also both of them together. What do you guys think?

And as for the background, i've thought of having a heavy fog and in a distant there are mountains with inks splats splashing. I'll post a mock up soon.

Layouts for final shot

2009-04-14T12:05:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, i tried some layouts for our final shot. what do you guys think?

1 2 3

Coke Zero Production 3D Car Ink

2009-04-13T14:46:00.004+08:00

Nice update Zichao, keep them coming! :)

Based on Yongs concept drawing here : Coke Zero Concept Art

I have created the 3D versions of the streets and CARS so that they can be animated!
I'm in the process of rigging the cars and they'll be ready to go soon. ;)
Is the look good to go?

Keep it going guys!

btw, the ending bullet+explosion shot, nobody working on it..
hmm.. hey, yongs you wanna pick that up? is there a moodboard for the explosion?

oh zichao, I've also upload the cokecan rig to Channelbox SkyDrive :) hope you find it animatable friendly :D

that's all for now~

CokeZero Production

2009-04-08T10:13:00.007+08:00

hello,

This post is just for me to keep track of my problems in shot 6 (cliff shot) so i know what i have to do when i come back from cruise.

Problem 1, the top of the quakes all seems to be flat but in fact, there are bumps and relief on it. I guess this has to be solved by adding value and texture to it.

Problem 2, should the ground be flat? if it is flat can the ink splats on the ground amplify the look of a rocky volcanic scene? I have a video reference on ice age 2, and they used relatively flat ground and it worked. [http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/mYI3aAru8fY/] 18mins.

Problem 3, overall look still doesn't feel like a Volcano/geyser field filled with gas pockets. Maybe more irregularity and rocks on the ground might make it better.

Cool cliff at 1min 15seconds

TASTE OF SURIMI from SURIMI TEAM on Vimeo.

Coke Zero Lighting and Rendering Test

2009-04-08T09:53:00.003+08:00

Hi all! Here's a preview of our Coke Zero Production.
Thanks to the moodboards Yong's has been working on, things are coming together and we're going to work hard on the production when Yongs and Chaos returns from their wonderful cruise trip! :D

Lot's of animation needs to be done~ :P

Skydrive Icon

2009-04-04T18:13:00.004+08:00

Hello, the countdown timer is such a great idea! Thanks for putting it there, let us know who you are.. :P Oh, I shifted it to the center to it gets more attention :P By the way, I added the SkyDrive button so we're like building a toolbox :) cools~

Mood boards

2009-04-03T21:48:00.005+08:00

Did mood boards today. Here's some of them and we've managed to nail down some of the ideas that would appear in our final clip :)

More Exploring

2009-04-02T14:42:00.003+08:00

Somemore explorations. This time its the explosions, what do you guys think? which explosion should we use? or just a big ink splatter would do?

Compilation of Look test

2009-04-02T13:24:00.005+08:00

Guys here's the compilation of all the look test.

The new ones are the lastest Earthquake look and the fallen hail.

After some discussion with Zi chao, I've tried with this quake look, it has the white to suggest the previous ground which i think works really well in informing the viewer about the height difference.

Coke Zero Previs Draft_4

2009-04-02T00:16:00.001+08:00

Hi again, i tweaked a couple of things we discussed. Here they are, anything not looking right please leave a comment here. =)

2009-04-01T23:35:00.005+08:00

Somemore visual experiements for the other scenes.

Hey guys, i'm stuck with a problem. During the earthquake parts, how would the earth protrude out as? are they black rocks coming from the ground? coz i'm wondering if they are so many black rocks and stuff, would the coke be still visible? do suggest if you have any ideas. :) ok its getting late, i'll do more stuff tmr morning.

2009-04-01T21:19:00.005+08:00

Some tryouts of our elements, these are from the city sequence. maybe i can make some highlights on the building to make it fit the car more?
and this is a very initial draft for the 1st scene, the overall value would something be like that.

Coke Zero Previs Draft_3

2009-04-01T15:56:00.007+08:00

Hi all,

Heres the draft 3 and possibly final draft for our timing reel. I've done my best in synchronising the reel in afterfx, the rest is up to our production time, synchronising the coke bounces, ink movements, car zooming pass, earthquake erupting, bullet fires, smokes with the music beats.

must work closely with the music.

Any comments or critiques just shoot hard =)

Lock and load gentlement, 22 more days.

coke can

2009-03-30T22:09:00.005+08:00

hey guys, here's the textured coke. i still see some seams thats bothering me and i gotta do the reflection maps for areas where the aluminium is exposed.

Updates

2009-03-30T11:19:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, just an update on the progress. Been busy with car lessons and stuffs these few days. But either way heres what i have now, i'm just left with detailing the bubbles on the coke can and a metal look on the bare metal portion on the car. After that's done, a slight UV tweaking and its done.

Btw i found that coke zero had a perfect slogan we could us in the end. which is : Real coke taste. zero sugar. It's possible.

and it comes with cool typo and logos :)

Coke Zero Ink Effects 2

2009-03-27T14:20:00.003+08:00

Hello! :D

I can see the shots becoming more dramatic Zi Chao! Great work!
I was wishing the pull out at the cliff can be a little more so that can amplify the gonna-fall-off-effect.
I'll try viewing this with the sound later..
Thanks for the coke can, can't wait to see it textured ;D
Maybe when the textures are done, I can offer to do some realistic shaders and lighting for the can?

This was achieved in maya and after effects.
It's a further development of the 3D Ink Effect for the Coke Zero Production.

Realised that this effect is getting more and more calligraphic (working towards more like chinese calligraphy) which I kinda like more, at least it's not a total lift from our reference.. ;)

I'll be adding in splats of ink up next to see how it looks like.
Hope to be working on a relevant shot for the next example.
cheers :D

Watch in FULLSCREEN HIGH DEFINITION!! :P

Coke Zero Previs Draft_2

2009-03-27T09:23:00.004+08:00

Hi all,

heres draft 2, still work in progress sorry. timing abit cui but u shld get the idea. Its also lengthen but i will cut down after i synchro with music.

I'm off dudes, see you on tuesday.

Coke Zero Previs Draft_1

2009-03-25T21:06:00.004+08:00

Hi all.

cool effects you have there ronald, i want to learn from you after this project is done hahaha.

Here's my previs, i improvised quite abit, but i'm afraid its too dramatic. Also i scared won't hit the brief after all. Pls leave your comments and critiques here thanks.

if you're wondering what 18seconds is all about, check out 5m:35s of this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu1vV9Em5Ww&feature=related]. its the black smoke =)

Coke Zero Ink Effects

2009-03-25T16:00:00.004+08:00

Hi, I've been working on the Ink Stroke effects.
This method can be applied to any 3D model and the stroking is animated in 3D.
Some parts of the "inking" effect is in 3D and the other half is done through after effects. I'm quite confident we have quite a lot of control over this method. It just requires abit of tweaking.

After observing the VW video, I realised not everything is inked out.. so for a shot by shot basis, we have to also thinking about how the transitions will be.. :)
Alrights, that's enough talk.. here's the video of the initial test (can watch it in HD too) :D

Channel Box Blog Design Version 2

2009-03-24T12:21:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone!

The progress of the current Coke Zero is great and the storyboards looks like lots of potential. Let's keep this pace. Thanks Zi Chao for your initiative to adjust the schedule :) You're right, let's stick to the plan.

Besides that, will like to officially notify about the change in Channel Box's Blog Design, from version1:

to version2:

I hope you guys like it. It's a little step towards looking for professional :) Like Zi Chao's mentioned, I can't wait to get the official website done done! :D

Coke Zero Ink Effects will be up soon

Coke Zero Production Schedule 2

2009-03-23T21:42:00.005+08:00

Alright yongs! i can feel your camera movements =) .

Hi all, i edited the schedule alittle bit and here it is.

Take note its 23rd march, we should be halfway through timing reel, concept designs and modeling which.............we are! Haha okay always remember to stick to the plan.

I'll be doing my timing reel in 2d/3d, so no need to do previs after that already.

Maybe we need to find one day to do the website designs, ronald's is itching to finish it.

I'll be offline from this friday till next monday, just for your info.

chaoz out!

Storyboards!

2009-03-23T20:44:00.005+08:00

Man storyboard are finally done. was really tough to decide on a good camera angle and sort. hope its okay. do ask if there's anything you don't understand. thx!
regarding the last panel. i was thinking of putting some slogan thats clearer? like Coke can still keep the original taste even without sugar?

Coke Zero Concept!

2009-03-21T00:01:00.004+08:00

Hello all.

Our online discussion meeting today was miraculously more fruitful than our previous meeting.

Okay so our concept is up and running, whats left is storyboard by yongs. Ronald will be testing on the effects as our concept requires intensive FX.

So our concept, based on the theme, Impossible is possible. It is about the coke zero can, rolling and bouncing through many obstacles such as, cars stampede, earthquakes, war zone. It is very abstract and adopts the style of the volkswagon advertisement.

---------------------
Concept Details. (very vague, only understandable by ronald yongs and chaoz)
-----------------
Starting is the introduction of coke zero(carlsberg ad).The can falls down, hit the ground and rolls abit. Hailstorm rains down and misses the coke, creating a icy ambience. the coke accelerate to a city through momentum, (like pucinello background props), the city is established by popping out(like pucinello again)(black color though), and alot of cars starting rushing towards the coke(stampede) (like a scene of a rat in a city), then the coke (still in momentum) hits a bump on the ground and flys up, 2 car collides into each other a miss the coke.

Earthquake starts and the coke avoids them all again, and among the earthquake also got the gas pockets(like in asteroids)(armageddon movie) (ice age also got) blasting out and miss the coke. then the earthquake creates steps for the coke(like staircase) and the coke bounces up and reach a cliff, which it then falls down.

[you all need to visualise the coke always got momentum of forward movement because of all the funny stuffs that come and miss the coke, which creates the reaction]

coke fall down from the cliff, a 1st person view of coke going down, then u know band of brothers? the air attack then got the smoke like cloud in the air

the coke will hit the ground(still war scene) and got bullets shooting pass(like in a war), and all miss the coke again. Then we will enter bullet time mode and see a bullet approaching the can in slow motion. then BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, all gone, but left the coke. then impossible?.......... POSSIBLE!

[Abstract taken directly from MSN channelbox Chat]

-----------------------------END-----------------------------

Keep a lookout for the storyboard and timing reel!

Coke Zero Discussion

2009-03-19T17:05:00.004+08:00

Hi all!

Today's discussion was quite okay, I guess everybody was tired by noon.
Good luck's to Yong's first driving lesson :D

Just a little note from today's discussion:

1. 2 ideas, yong's idea (which I'm dieing to see) and the twarp idea.

2. Both brushed the requirement of conveying "impossible made possible" message.

3. How to improve these two ideas to pull through the requirement? Any new ideas?

4. Thumbnails and board to be out on Saturday, so let's have an online discussion then :)

okay, here's the video Yong's was recommending:
I think it's cool... (swimming gesture)

Channelbox web flash design 2

2009-03-16T11:20:00.010+08:00

Sorry for the late post, i was out the entire weekend and didnt get a chance to post.

Here is my layout and design. When you click one of the menus, the layout will drop down to create space for contents.

Logo supposed to be on the left of the word "channelbox" but i don't have one yet.

I have a rough idea of how the flash will work, like rollovers and animations.

For the intro, i was thinking of having some abstract elements animating with MG, in the end forming to our logo. random research -> http://www.demoreel.at/ (loads really long) . But i guess it could be alot more creative than this.

I think ronald's coke production schedule looks awesome to me, perhaps the 2 texturing weeks maybe can push behind by 1 week. eating more to animation part.

Lets stick to the plan. Can we set a meeting on 19 or 20 march liddat to discussed what idea we've brainstormed and compile them? And then there'll be time for thumbnails till 21st for storyboarding.

My website design sketch

2009-03-16T10:13:00.011+08:00

Sorry i forgot about posting it on Sunday. completed my sketch quite some time ago.

ok here's mine. quite similar to marcus' template. only that i changed a bit of the layouts and stuff. and i like the idea about the intro vid.

and btw the bg moves! just a slow slight motion graphic kind of lines moving along.
And Dominance War IV is finally out! time to get cracking with DWIV and some Coke ideas.

(i was working with my own desktop's resolution(1680x1050) , so thats why its so long)

Channel Box Flash Web Design

2009-03-16T07:48:00.004+08:00

Hi guys, I was thinking along the idea of simple elements...

Some things to note.. the navigation buttons like grow bigger on hover will others make space..

The channelbox logo (this is a placeholder design) will be 3d and has a moving hold.. I have in mind a intro motion vid to have some graphic elements from into this box and fly to the top left corner as you see there...
I hope it can be an interactive cube too..

The portfolio thumbnails load on themselves.

And the last thing to note is.. I think I can add more reflections to everything but the layout I what i like and i think textures can be added like Yong's portfolio website.. :)

Thanks for reading.. What about you guys'? :D

oh yes, please look at the production schedule for coke zero and come up with a discussion time :) I didn't plan for any buffer time, for the first time.. so we have to stick to the plan.. I want to have a smooth production pace

Coke Zero Production Schedule

2009-03-13T11:38:00.002+08:00

Click to enlarge! :D

Hello! Here's the production schedule for the Coke Zero Eyeka Competition.
Channelbox is embarking on 2 new projects

1. Official Channelbox Website
2. Coke Zero TV Commercial

Let's keep this going! rmb the site design to be churned out by Sunday :D
cheers!

Flash Website Discussion with Yongs

2009-03-12T16:46:00.002+08:00

Hello!

So, I think we're all agreeable on a flash site and our own domain ya?
So maybe we think of a domain name next and come with the boards for the website.. :)
As an initiative, Yongs and I have come up with the following flash menu for starters.

Demoreel | Portfolio | Services | About us | Awards | Contact us | Blog

Preloader - if necessary

---Are you guys keen on a intro video?---

Demoreel - just a very cool video to compile channelbox's works. it's the home page

Portfolio - all our projects with thumbnail listing, similar to the theBUGfong's website. I will like this to be xml driven and have videos supported. Just like theBUGfong's website, Back to Site, Next, Previous, index counter navigation buttons | Launch project button | Title and Description | and subproject buttons are preferred.

Services - just a short write up and then a list

About us - short write up, then artist's profile (xml driven too, channelbox is expanding)

Contact us - contact detials + email form to official channelbox contact email..

Blog - External Link to our blog. It will be redesigned to suit the whole theme of the official site.

cheers! let's be active in posting and get our flash site developed :D
As a base, marcus's site is a good start but i'll love to playaround the elements a little bit to make things look a little unique for channelbox.. any ideas?

Maybe like.. A short video intro channelbox using intriging words.. then the whle screen morphs into a TV... and then a little animation.. then spins into our channelbox logo... the fly to the corner of the site.., the the page elements fade out... or fly in.. or whatever..

:D let's get creative... I kinda like the Birth 09 website. Singapore Poly's Grad Show at marina. Have a look : http://www.birththegradshow.com/

My thoughts

2009-03-10T11:23:00.002+08:00

Hey all.

Ya the flash webby for me as well.

Regarding projects, i'm okay with both personal and competition stuffs. But i can't seem to find any nice competitions coming on these few days. but we can definitely take a look and see what eyeka.asia currently has.

But i'm more interested in a personal project with a deadline as i think i'll be more enjoyable during personal projects.

Just my thoughts!

What about the others?

Steampunk Results and Future Channelbox Direction 2

2009-03-10T00:38:00.004+08:00

WOoHooOoooo!

First off, congratulations to the channelboxers and friends on graduating from nanyang polytechnic, diploma in interactive and digital media!

And thank you ronald for initiating a new post after a long long break.

Same sentiments, i think channelbox will need to take up smaller scale projects in order to improve and progress steadily. So that everytime we finish a project, we can get fast feedback from people and improve next time round, rather than having a big scale one, and get slow feedback inproportional to amount of time spent.

Also, a very common problem with group work is commitment. Everytime we embark on a project, we need to stick to the plan (plan which ronald always makes). Of course, shit happens and it must be tended, thats inevitable but must say earlier so we can fix the plan/schedule.

I think right now, what we want is to expand channelbox. not in terms of numbers, but the time spent on project and create a freelance channelbox flash website? We need to meet up and discuss this haha.

For me, i prefer to join competitions and contests, rather than personal project. Because they have deadline and theme. And we will have competitors.

Let me explain the situation abit. Now everyone has just graduated wohoo, that means we got TIME. But we gotta go National service, earliest enlistment date is JULY, latest is october/november.

Ronald is having back injury, so meeting up might be a hassle to him, unless we meet at his house.

I will be starting my temporary fulltime job this coming april 20th - July 1st, so i will be expected to have less time but i'll definitely make time for channelbox. So right now, i'm goddam free.

I'm not sure for yongs marcus and jingky, you will have to explain yourself.

And now, lets start on some shit man.

sorry for long email, checking off now.

Cheers

Steampunk Results and Future Channelbox Direction

2009-02-27T10:04:00.007+08:00

Hello guys! It's a pity that we didn't manage to complete the Steampunk Project. I will like to thank Jianhong, Jingky, Marcus for embarking to join us in Channelbox.
So it's abandon ship! Let's embark ona new small scale project in the near future alrights? I'm still fine with just creating Felio or creating fun characters :D

Will like each of you guys to post to on your futures ideas for Channelbox's direction! ;)
Let's keep this alive and kickin! :)

In any case, the Steampunk results are out and people do epic stuff man.. Hahaha! I can say we wouldn't have been too near to their standard.

p.s. the tagboards ads are fullscreen and irritating, help source for nice-looking not so big ad tagboards!

Here's the link: http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4936&page=3

2009-01-11T22:30:00.003+08:00

good luck to modellers

Wukong_model_wip02

2009-01-05T00:18:00.003+08:00

Keep a lookout, WIP03 will be final. Man, his knee is screwed up, i will fix it.

sweet design yet again jingky. cool armor and pattern on it. I have no issues except his right hand silhouette cannot read too well for me. But hey, its all good. Might wanna change if u going to put in ur portfolio.

Jiayou steampunk. Oh god i hope they extend the deadline.

Er Lang Concept

2009-01-04T17:49:00.003+08:00

er lang concept

2009-01-02T22:20:00.004+08:00

Er lang design
1 or 2?

2008-12-31T22:20:00.006+08:00

ho sei but no back view...modeller aga aga first...lol...pls keep on refer back to perspective view becouse the orthographic some part are not accurate. i will do the shoes concept seperately so maybe can juz roughly block that part out first

2008-12-30T23:12:00.004+08:00

yo.. rough idea of the marcus' moving castle...=)

i will draw individual building detailings then can start model soon.

2008-12-30T22:58:00.005+08:00

encounter some prob with the head and front view....i will finish it tmr though
thx for the link mar...i will look into it

2008-12-29T00:12:00.002+08:00

Bug: Jin!! i found sibei cool gadget for ur sun wukong hand.. it's too empty..

check tis link ---->
http://thessoa.twistedeyephoto.com/SSOASites/ARM1.html

so will there b a goggle for the monkey?

Wukong_model_wip01

2008-12-28T23:09:00.005+08:00

I modelled a generic body for wukong first, heres the back and front view. His back havent establish well enough yet.

Wah jingky, your wukong is looking hot man. I have no issues, looks good enough. Unless you got self improvement on your mind then i think this is swee enuff to final. Ok he got 6 packs, i will add them in lol. i need the turntable to model thx. proportion can liao if u nt going to finalise it yet.

yeah bug, cool shit u have. i like the 3 silhouettes on the top left. esp the right one. i can really visualise the look u are going for. very steampunkish. In fact, i think you are overdoing it by a tiny little bit. Its like the windmill and pipes are there for no reason(middle big pic). Maybe the pipes can act as chimey or some sort. check out this dude's stuff(below). hey love your idea of howls' floating castle.
Here's an inspiration from http://phishy.deviantart.com

im gonna post you guys drawing on cgtalk nw.

2008-12-28T22:42:00.007+08:00

here is latest stuff i done
the shoe suppose to fit in to the cloud machinery
if need to be more stylized just hiong hiong tell me
any gadget u all wan to add? anything wan to change?

celestial court design

2008-12-28T20:03:00.005+08:00

BUG.fong here..

this is my sketches for the steampunk celestial court.. i was tinkin instead of an island floating in the sky..

i would like to add some steampunk style elements .. then design an airship

hope u all like it.. having a hard time tinkin of the design of the temple to add in.

feedback pls.

2008-12-27T21:37:00.004+08:00

some rough sketches and steam punk costume design
feel sick today so cant do much..

Steampunk News!

2008-12-27T15:28:00.002+08:00

Howdy all,

So for today we've discussed the aesthetics of the timing reel. Nobody has issues with the timing but for the battle sequence, jingky said that it is too traditional. I strongly agree with him man.

The battle sequence did not take advantage of the steampunk elements, like the designs of the characters could have springs on their feet where they could jump high, or steam guns where they could shoot steam out or smth. Great analysis dude!

So now we've gotta wait for jingky's design, and see how we can incorporate wukong and erlang's steampunk weapons/armor into good use. btw jingky u got some cool designs pls post them in cgtalk, and also here if u have time.

Also we've locked down most of the technical approach for the whole clip, except for the vfx steam/fog/sparks. This one's gotta leave it to our fx master bogard.

oh ya bug.fong will be doing the concept for the celestial court, and stylizing the matte painting clouds into our very own steampunk style.

as for me i can only sit at home shake leg, but will definitely wait for jing's design tonight and start modeling!

finally, everyone's got their share of work to do, so god speed to channelbox's steampunk!

lets spam the cgtalk forum.

Steampunk Timing Reel!

2008-12-24T21:51:00.010+08:00

Hohoho MeRrrrryyYyy Christmas!!

Firstly! It is a pity that yongyi has withdrawn from channelbox's steampunk. We shall not forget his sacrifice and dedication to this production.

Secondly! Welcome to marcus and jinky and more to come!!! YEss!

Thirdly! The timing reel is ready below! comments and critique please! Sorry for the shit resolution. And the behind part is pretty screwed up, quite a rush. And if there seems to be sharp edges, i had a radial blur plugin in my intern place, but doesnt work at home. So try to ignore it.

Fourthly! Here is the list of stuff to design / model / paint.

Characters: Sun Wu Kong
Er Lang Shen
Celestial guards( Generic)
Buddha Finger
The monk (no need face)
Monk's horse (Generic)

Sets: Golden Rod
Tumbling Cloud
Celestial Court( External)
Celestial Gate( High res)
5 finger mountain
Cliff

Matte Painting: Total of 6 Scenes to paint
1. Opening -> Clouds and?
2.Celestial court main gate -> Background
3.Cliff background.
4. Battle scene (Fighting in the sky) ->Generic sky for all shots?
5. Erlang falls down to the ground ->Background mountains etc
6. The monk enters -> Background mountains.

*For characters, all requires rigging.
*For Modeling, maybe some could be replaced as matte painting?
* Note that for matte painting, there will be more than 6 definitely, coz some shots also require different variations of painting.

Did i miss out anything?

With descriptions

Stepping down from Steampunk

2008-12-24T00:20:00.002+08:00

Hey all, due to private issues I have chosen to withdraw from steampunk so as to not hinder the team's progress.

And with Marcus and Jingky joining I think the project would definetely end up really well!

Sorry for the delay guys.

Go for it! I believe the end product would be excellent.

Steampunk New Members

2008-12-23T22:23:00.002+08:00

Hi! Dues to some unforseen circumstances, Channelbox's Steampunk is recruiting members! We now have Jingky and Marcus to help us! :)

Welcome onboard and Merry Christmas!

Cudgel design

2008-12-22T23:40:00.004+08:00

Hey bogard i'm not sure there's enough info, but here's the final design of the cudgel.

tell me if u need anything. click for bigger pic

Steampunk Workload Distribution

2008-12-18T14:24:00.002+08:00

Hi, the workload distribution as discussed the previous meeting. :)

Asset list
Monkey King [Zi Chao]
Er Lang Shen [Ronald]
Celestial Guards [Ronald]
Tan San Zang [YongYi]
Celestial Court and Cliff [Zi Chao]
Golden Pole [Jian Hong]
Tumbling Cloud [Ronald]
Battle scene stage [Ronald]
5 Finger Mountain [Jian Hong]
Matte Painting [YongYi]

Steampunk Style - Street Fighter IV

2008-12-17T21:06:00.002+08:00

have you guys watched the Street Fighter IV Game Trailer?
It's style is beautiful!
Ink fluids and Caligraphy..
I did an effects experiment to mimic the effect.. Hahaha! Like Yongs suggested..
But looks like I'm far from that quality but I hope the idea is there :P

it's procedural so you can plug any animation to the ae file..
you guys want this for steampunk? :)