We're Back!

I can't believe it's been almost a year since we've worked on this project!

On the bright side, taking the extended break has allowed me to watch our movie with fresh eyes. Most notably, there are 2 changes I'm going to make immediately:

1) Change Yane's shuttle, and
2) Change the Med Center on Tatooine

Here's the 3d model we've been using for Yane's shuttle:


It's cool, but I realized we might want to change Yane's shuttle to a YT-2400 "Outrider":


Here are the main reasons FOR changing the model:
1) It looks more "Star Wars"-y with that "used universe" look, and
2) It looks like a precursor to the Millennium Falcon, which fits into our movie's timeline (which is after "Revenge of the Sith" and before "A New Hope").

And here are the main reasons AGAINST changing the model:
1) It looks like the Millennium Falcon. We don't want to look unoriginal or look like we're copying "Star Wars" TOO much,
2) I'll have to spend hours upon hours improving the models (I'll have to improve this model of the exterior, and also the model for the interior cockpit and/or cargo hold) so that they can handle close-ups, and
3) I'll have to spend hours upon hours replacing the old models with the new models in all of our shots.

After discussing it with Brad and Sarah, we decided to switch to the new Outrider model because it just looks better. When we started this project, we decided to do everything within our limited means to make the best movie possible. So if that means throwing out the old model and replacing it with a new model, so be it.

I'm currently in the middle of improving the Outrider model, so I don't have any before-and-after comparisons yet. Hopefully next time...

The 2nd change I want to make is the Med Center on Tatooine. Here's a screenshot from the animatic:

The red arrow is pointing to the enormous Med Center and the red circle shows Yane's shuttle flying into the Med Center's docking bay.

Truthfully, I've never been happy with this scene. The Med Center looks a little incongruent with the other architecture, and I've never been happy with the way the city (presumably Mos Eisley) looks either.

I haven't figured out how I'm going to improve this scene yet, but I'll worry about that after I finish improving the Outrider's exterior and interior models.

Anyway, that's what I'm working on now that I'm back on the project. Hopefully we'll have some super-cool blog updates over the next few months.

Later,
Bob