Mini Fan Film
 

Hi guys, I'm new here. I was a huge turtle fan back in the 80's and now my boys are right into the Nickelodeon animated series. Anyway, I'm a hobbyist 3D animator (I use Blender 3D) and I thought it would be cool to make a custom animation of Leo battling some monster... anyway, I've started modelling Leo, but now I've gone a step further and started modelling the lair.

Anyway, check out the pics and I'll update as I make progress.

http://i.imgur.com/CrbkYy6.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/CWW985H.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/f5FyvB2.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/dNjzWzz.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/f1dIMh4.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/x00Sd3K.jpg?1

That's a pretty decent Leo, can't wait to see him finished.

Did you model him with the carapace and plastron as a separate piece, or is his body one big poly mesh?

I'm working on a turtle in 3D max, myself. I have done a basic Mirage inspired one where the shell is one piece, upper Torsøe is as expatiate pice and lower body a separate as well. But with the new one I'd like to try to keep it as much as one piece as possible.

Thanks man.

Yeah, everything was modeled separately, had no idea those parts had names ;)

Do you plan on animating your turtle or is he a modelling exercise?

I have fallen off a bit, but for the most part it's an exercise so I won't forget what I know about modeling.

I've barely touched 3ds max after I was done with my education. At the moment I'm working in a food store with long hours, so the time I have to spare I usually draw rather then model. I even started to forget the various hotkeys, which was embarrassing :P

But, when I get him done, I will do some rigging and try some animation work, the old turtle model is using the standard skeleton rig, so it would be cool trying to make a custom rig, which I tried once like back in 2008-09.

Hey guys, a wee update for you.

Here's a few more renders of Leo with textures in progress.

http://i.imgur.com/vLa7wnc.png

http://i.imgur.com/38R49Yo.png

I've also started working on a simple script for a minute or so long mini-episode, one which only involves Leo (to save animation/production time). Will post the script when it's done. Also I plan to make all of the work for the short publicly available for anyone else who wants to use my models for their own stories etc.

Nice!

So any spoilers on the episodes plot?

Ok heres the synopsis:

Leo is in the lair alone, cos he has a fractured arm bone (maybe due to sparring with Raph or Splinter).

Don, Mikey, Raph and Splinter are away for day on a mission.

Leo keeps himself busy, training etc, but finally settles down to watch some TV.

Leo is watching a show about ninjas and monsters when an emergency news bulletin cuts in and warns that NY is about to be bombarded by a huge electrical storm, then cuts back to the show.

We see the NYC skyline and huge forks of lightning.

A huge bolt hits a lightning rod which we then see heading underground and blasting a Kraang machine in Donnies lab.

The Kraang machine is a dimension/portal/time/space disruptor (not really thought this bit through yet), which then gets activated by the lighting and shoots a glowing beam through the lab wall and hits the TV...

The monster from the TV show gets sucked out of the show lands in front of Leo.

Leo: "Did we get a 3D TV?"

Then Leo has to fight the monster, while injured.

Leo defeats the monster just as everyone arrives home.

Raph: "Didn't Splinter tell you to take it easy"


Hope this makes sense. Only wanting 1 or 2 characters so that it will easier to animate. Everything is subject to change lol

Heres a TCRI blueprint of the experimental portal weapon, which the turtles have taken from the Kraang.

http://i.imgur.com/s86xFcS.png?1

I've tried to make it look like part of the turtles universe, but it was basically just a quick drawing I did which then developed as I started to model it.

Hope you guys like it.

I must say, your modelling is really good! I havn't touch 3DSMax since my uni days 6 years ago, but this has made me want to dig it out and have another go!!

OK, got Leo rigged (bones for animation)

So here's the first animation test. Nothing exciting, but at least you see what he'll look like. The next animation will be to show facial expressions.

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/LKNHS8hAxDw?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/LKNHS8hAxDw?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

OK, got Leo rigged (bones for animation)

So here's the first animation test. Nothing exciting, but at least you see what he'll look like. The next animation will be to show facial expressions.

Leo Walk cycle

Hey guys, here's another animation test.

This time its the face expressions of Leo. Hope you like them, sorry I can't seem to embed the youtube video.

Face testing...

Looking good!

Ok guys, heres a basic look at what my intro will look (and sound) like.

fan film intro

Hope you can use your imagination for the animation lol. Although the film itself will predominently feature Leo, I thought it would be nice to have a proper intro with all 4 dudes in there.

As you can the timing of the camera isn't great and the graphics at the end were just tacked on to get the idea, but I'm quite happy with the direction its going.. sorta 2007 / nick style roof top hopping.

Be back soon with more updates.

FYI, how do you embed Youtube?

To embed Youtube videos, you take the Youtube tag and take, in the url, everything that comes after the v=



Quote this post to see what i mean.

Awesome! Are you still working on this?

Not as much as I'd like :(

Got most of the sewer lair finished, but after animating Leo I realised the model was pretty inaccurate, so I started another one. I really should have waited until I had actually started animating before posting.

I'm not promising anything, but I will try to put some time into this again. I sort of thought it would be cool to do like a series of shorts just focusing on 1 turtle at a time, like I had an idea about Mikey recording himself making a cooking show... and stuff goes wrong, Ice Cream Kitty would working the camera... anyway...

Hi guys,

I'm trying to get this project back on track after a *cough* year of hiatus.
So here's some renders.

Lets start with Leo, its a completely new model and more accurate to the Nick cartoon, still got some details to do and texturing etc.

http://i.imgur.com/T91zk3M.png

Leo's katanas....

http://i.imgur.com/kM5xEj5.png

Some props for the sewer lair...the practise dummy is rigged so that if needed it can punched etc..

http://i.imgur.com/gtyxoCV.png

http://i.imgur.com/CU2eSVa.png

And the common area of the sewer. Still got a lot to do here, mainly texturing, but its coming together quite nicely.

http://i.imgur.com/xql5qLM.png

http://i.imgur.com/2oFicue.png

Enjoy.

The lair especially is looking really good :) You should be proud of that!

Thanks man.

Not only is that stuff great in general, it's soooo much better than what you were up to last year. Nice progress! It's clear to see your skills have improved.

Hi guys,

I've started animating Episode 1 of Shell Tales.

Heres a screenshot of a scene I'm setting up just now.

Hopefully I'll have something to show you guys in a month or so.

http://i.imgur.com/YIBHHnL.png

Beautiful! Simply beautfiul :tsmile: I know how much of work that is to not only model but also texturize and even more have a sense for the texture-less model to feel yourself into what it would be like with textures. Amazing work and nevertheless of what someone says or how you feel about yourself this is more than just a hobbyist level speaking of a very well advanced level of setting up scenes one really likes to enjoy!

Keep up the good work, I'm so much looking forward to what you are going to present us next with because your submissions of art are really a gift to anyone as much as I hope people appreciate your work and see the devotion you put into it as much as I do! Big credits to you :tsmile:

Hi guys, here's another image to check out. I've just finished the kitchen set, which is featured near the start of the story.

http://i.imgur.com/4upOgqC.jpg

OK, I'm going back to my computer now. :)

Somebody said dinner is ready, right? :D

How do you plan to get along with this project by the way? Work on it until it's done or "by month year x I want to have it done" roadmap style?

Hi Meow, I unfortunately don't have a plan. I recently started a new job which limits my free time, so I just try to do a little bit when I can.
The thing thats really slowing me down is lip-syncing and acting. I've never really animated this stuff before, so it's quite a learning experience.
Anyway, I hope to finish within a couple of months as I've written another episode which I'm quite excited about.

Hey guys, will be posting a teaser video soon.
Heres a wee tweet from earlier...

shelltales

Hey guys, finally got round to posting the teaser for my fan film.

Please check it out and enjoy. BTW, if anyone wants to help with voice acting I would be very appreciative.

Fan Film Teaser "Shell Tales"

That's pretty cute. You might want to get better voice actors that can give it that extra kick it needs but otherwise I think it's a really nice attempt. I hope to see more.

There should be plenty of people here who would be helpful in the voice acting department, other then the voice part that was fun. Loved the last bit with the narrator, keep us posted cant wait to see what you come up with.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

LOL, yeah I'm not an actor and don't really know anyone who would be up for recording stuff. If anyone on the forum here feels they could be Leo please get in touch or post a youtube video of some voices.

The animation for episode one is a month or so away from completion, so still plenty of time.