July - Joining forces
In July Thomas Litton and Will Moore decided to join forces as they both realised that they could produce a much better final year project if they worked together rather doing it alone. Since they were both keen to do 3D animations they began to develop an idea together where interests were a like and any possible conflicts were reduced. The partnership meant that they could embark on a more in depth and detailed 3D animation than they could have achieved alone. Due to their late partnership agreement, they were only able to develop ideas from the end of July onwards.
August Final Project Idea
During August the team discussed the possible ideas for the 3D animation and came to the conclusion of doing an Aztec landscape. When the idea had been resolved the team then decided develop their thoughts. They had a lengthy meeting and decided that they would be doing a camera fly though of a landscape which would include animations of the Aztec people carrying out their everyday activities, this would then conclude with a sacrifice at the top of the famous temple of the sun. This sequence was chosen as it would provide a good idea which isn’t the usual subject of a 3D animation as a final year project and would show a good balance between organic and inorganic models along with animation.
They also decided at this point that one team member would do the architecture, one would design the human models and both team members would animate the relevant characters
They then wrote up an A4 page description which sums up, in basic, the main course of the animation. This was then provided to their supervisor to gather feedback.
Project Brief – Aztecs 1487
The feedback that was gathered from the supervisor made it clear that it would be a lot of work, mainly due to the many characters being animated, and the many different points of interest that the camera will pass over.
August / September
The next step was to start some research into the Aztecs themselves. We each had an image in our heads as to what their buildings and characters looked like, but we needed more in depth images to give us a better insight into the Aztecs.
The research also involved looking at animations both by professionals and students that relate to our project, and comparing them to see what is achievable and what we are up against.
