Animation Project: "Lurking Shadow" uber Voyager Story

Hi Everyone!

since Luu said it's okay for me to post here a thread with the upcoming Project i will do so (its rather a collabration work of me and my GF i just do the visual work for it and she writes the story xD ). I drifted a bit away from the ShizNat pairing and got into the Voyager setting after reading some awsome Fanfiction for them :x.

Like the title of the thread already says this will be a Uber Story from Star Trek Voyager with the main Pairing Janeway / Seven of Nine, naturally there will also be others since a story cant progress with simply two characters.
For those who don't know what Uber is, its basically the same as AU just that you use different names for the characters ;D..like almost a own story with borrowed looks and personalities from the original Story (at least that's how i got it..feel free to correct me if i got it wrong^^ )

Project: "Lurking Shadow"
Author: Irina67
Genre: Mystery / Fantasy (naturally you find a lot of other elements in this later on)
Time: since its Fantasy its kinda hard to tell but the setting will have a middle age kind of look you know old castles and the like

Summary: "will come soon all i can tell now its some type of fantasy elemted crime solving story which happends to take place in a magic school *still sees it rather as collage*"

Thats for the Story as for the actually Animation...thats my work
Tool (no specific order):
lots of Energy Drinks
Blender 2.63
Photoshop CS3

At this point, which actually is still at the start, i am searching mostly some reference pictures for everything.

I started to make a Room plan of Rionnas Office (this can always change since nothing is set in stone yet):


After that started to make some modeling of the actually room and place some placeholders for the time being inside:



Last two days i am sitting to make some different types of Shelves for the room :)




Well thats it for now not much yet at this stage but more will follow ^_^ tonight i work some more on the shelves and do also chairs to put in front of the desk

Although I know practically nothing about the Star Trek universe, I am curious to see where this goes, especially considering we both use Blender for such purposes.

Judging by the preview renders, the visuals will be rather simple for the actual shading? Or is it that you're doing the same as me where you are beginning simple and then adding to the detail, textures and colours?

Also! I am wondering how the characters will appear, will they be fully animated or is it that they are going to be in an interface? Meaning like an anime game where the rendered still of them is at the front of the screen with writing?

I'll definitely keep an eye on this!

(Love the drawer handle as well, it has a modern yet old feeling to it at the same time).

Although I know practically nothing about the Star Trek universe, I am curious to see where this goes, especially considering we both use Blender for such purposes.

the only good thing on Uber stories is that you do not need to know the orginal story :) (its only helpful in regard of knowing some characters already but besides that its rather a own story which has nothing to do with the rest)

Judging by the preview renders, the visuals will be rather simple for the actual shading? Or is it that you're doing the same as me where you are beginning simple and then adding to the detail, textures and colours?

Yep i would say we do the same. Start simple and move from that on. For now i only work on what i will like so i get some stuff done^^... since its so early at the start i dont care so much about texturing and light (i already get kind of nightmares thinking of setting the light late). The colors for now are simple for the purpose of seeing difference xD all grey can be a tad boring after awhile

Also! I am wondering how the characters will appear, will they be fully animated or is it that they are going to be in an interface? Meaning like an anime game where the rendered still of them is at the front of the screen with writing?

I actually have here two idea:
A) I will later one do full animation with characters (i am mostly hesitating on this cause of the voice acting it would need to have D: ) but against a silent animation with simple subtitles and music nothing against that i say
B) Kind of Book like read... the text will go while the reader sees the enviroment through one of the actors (and yes almost like in these anime Games...that would require me to train my human drawings in general more )

I'll definitely keep an eye on this!

Yeah my first watcher! xD Thanks.

(Love the drawer handle as well, it has a modern yet old feeling to it at the same time).

Thats a good to know! Considering that i had made that handle without any reference :)

Small Update before i hit the bed tonight:
did some more tweaking on Rionna's desk and the chair (not sure about the chair's right leg height yet)
before:
after:

some small renders from the room after setting the shelves in the right position (the wood texture is awful i know will take it off for now... and i have to see what i will do with the floor i dont think it looks bad but for sure needs a better texture picture as the one i am using now)...

Dark-Saron wrote:the only good thing on Uber stories is that you do not need to know the orginal story :) (its only helpful in regard of knowing some characters already but besides that its rather a own story which has nothing to do with the rest)

I understand what you mean, this has kind of unconsciously happened to me and Kat when writing our TomMai (Smouldering Hurricane) collab together, we unconsciously developed Tomoe and Mai into a Xena/Gabrielle relationship. There is also InuYasha running all across the story as well along with other classic Japanese stories so... pfft.

Yep i would say we do the same. Start simple and move from that on. For now i only work on what i will like so i get some stuff done^^... since its so early at the start i dont care so much about texturing and light (i already get kind of nightmares thinking of setting the light late). The colors for now are simple for the purpose of seeing difference xD all grey can be a tad boring after awhile

That grey background... this is why I always put a sun light into the scene I am developing, so I don't need to keep staring into a boring shade. Not to mention, the light gives a perfect and realistic effect to the environment (especially so you don't need to keep messing around with lamp lights which can screw the appearance of the scene up).

I actually have here two idea:
A) I will later one do full animation with characters (i am mostly hesitating on this cause of the voice acting it would need to have D: ) but against a silent animation with simple subtitles and music nothing against that i say
B) Kind of Book like read... the text will go while the reader sees the enviroment through one of the actors (and yes almost like in these anime Games...that would require me to train my human drawings in general more )

So by now, it could be anything? Well, your animation is barely out of pre-production yet, so it isn't surprising.

A voice actor-less anime-like story would give it that old RPG feel though, like such games as the original Wild Arms and Final Fantasy.

I'm sure the further you get into this work, more people would become interested for taking a voice actor role.

some small renders from the room after setting the shelves in the right position (the wood texture is awful i know will take it off for now... and i have to see what i will do with the floor i dont think it looks bad but for sure needs a better texture picture as the one i am using now)...

Have you tried messing around with the Clouds texture? I find that putting the size to around 0.05 and then decreasing the mapping size of one of the axis works quite well. I used this technique for the desk in the Conference Mission Room scene, and it practically looks almost the same as Sunrise's in the actual anime (at least going across the front of the desk ).

I understand what you mean, this has kind of unconsciously happened to me and Kat when writing our TomMai (Smouldering Hurricane) collab together, we unconsciously developed Tomoe and Mai into a Xena/Gabrielle relationship. There is also InuYasha running all across the story as well along with other classic Japanese stories so... pfft.

sounds funny somehow XD for me a good story at least AU / Uber wise is when in the end the reader wont care of how much oocness the character have and simply focus on the story itself and enjoy it

That grey background... this is why I always put a sun light into the scene I am developing, so I don't need to keep staring into a boring shade. Not to mention, the light gives a perfect and realistic effect to the environment (especially so you don't need to keep messing around with lamp lights which can screw the appearance of the scene up).

i probably take the textures for now off i noticed my renders take a bit longer now and i only have one room with barely anything in yet! how are you dealing with the rooms in that aspect? dont you have the the walls all closed or do you leave ceiling and front wall hidden for the render to let the light in? (refering here to the students room as example)

So by now, it could be anything? Well, your animation is barely out of pre-production yet, so it isn't surprising.

A voice actor-less anime-like story would give it that old RPG feel though, like such games as the original Wild Arms and Final Fantasy.

I'm sure the further you get into this work, more people would become interested for taking a voice actor role.

Exactly...well this whole thing at least the idea of modeling and perhabs/probably later animating it is like a week old only xD

nothing against the old styles!

well the fandom of Star Trek and Co. isnt that small but it would be hard to find someone who could compare against the orginal voice of Kate Mulgrew without the fandbase going nuts

Have you tried messing around with the Clouds texture? I find that putting the size to around 0.05 and then decreasing the mapping size of one of the axis works quite well. I used this technique for the desk in the Conference Mission Room scene, and it practically looks almost the same as Sunrise's in the actual anime (at least going across the front of the desk Akira Okuzaki).

i did try it last night before developing a nerving headache which kept me away from more work DX it looked better on the Desk but i have to be careful cause the close up wasnt that nice anymore then

Since i am going for a more realistic looking enviroment i probably stick towards the texture image mapping :)

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on other informations i got some stuff sorted out in regarding more specific on what i have to work on (I am probably rushing a bit at this stage of the process since the story is still in plotting and researching stage so now and then it can happen that there will be some breaks so everything can be thought out and doesnt need to be re-modeled to often)

School ground:
- Main Building where the conference/schooling and Teachers dorm will be.
- Students Dorm
- Practise Field
- Garden

small information of the actual Magic School:
- will be school for advanced teaching in magic (students around 50-100)
- the school is also a research facility for different departments
- the school doesnt have the usual look-like building people would assume a school has (rather old dark castle like)

not much yet but at least its something

Uff sorry for the lag of activity here D: busy busy!

As for this project its on hold the reason is simple cause i did a huge mistake xD (surprise?) couse like all eager people i was to excited and wanted to get stuff down without a real plan and such ._." we all know how things expectly Animations end up without the right plan ^^

I got me this great resource book which i would recommend to anyone who wants to animate (either 2 or 3D doesnt matter some of the tips can really be applied for both!) http://www.amazon.com/Animating-Blender-Create-Animations-Finish/dp/0240810791/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1352233499&sr=8-5&keywords=blender+animation

So what is the plan now? will be this a dead project?
No definitiv not! Currently as some of you may know its the NaNoWriMo! (National Novel Writting Month) both me and my girl are taking part in it.
While i am writting on a Novel of my Uber/AU Story Tainted Soul: Bumpy Road (Side Story of the main one you have probably seen on fanfiction.net) Irina is taking this month to get the whole draft of Lurking Shadow down i make sure to keep you updated on the progress :)

After the rough draft is done another detailed overwork will take place and then my work starts making the story board and story reel :) this way it will save lots of time as i will be able to terminate useless settings which i would not need to model couse they never come into view and so on :)

i did not yet calculate through how much time this whole project will go but as long as it will be fun i dont care

Good luck with the continuation of your project, Shay. You and Wolvy seem to be in the same boat when it comes to the slow, but improving progress of your projects. Hang in there!