The Idea again

The simplicity is very important. Almost everybody responded the same way to the designs.

"Ey its just a salt-shaker with legs and arms."

There you go !!

Target reached.

I understand the point of the peppermill being to simplistic... but i really love the design. Its just a grumpy face.

Maybe we will be persuaded to rethink the design later..............

It is obvious that the CG image industry is focused on the visual experience and the USP of their products.

The reason behind it, the why, is just part of the brief

So why are we modeling rigging and animating a can of beans ?

Because the clients wants it.

Ok, maybe because beans are fun to animate.

Or beans are just healthy tasty and we want to educate inform and entertain ahhh ...forgot the slogan.......

Allright, while the voices are recorded, I start blocking out some key poses for Pep. Maybe I dont use all of them but hay why not combine rigtest with blocking poses. ~This test stage is very useful, it allows to rethink the composition and layout. For example we are happy with the colors but the stagelighting has to be checked. The characters need to be well lit with strong shadows.

Pep Rig Test

Ive put him in some poses to see how the rig deforms and whats possible and whats not. The aim of this character designs was to get a nice 2d look to it. The model is very close to the design. It feels good to have a character in 3d now. So lets animate!!!

Character Animation Practice

This is a character downloaded from highend3d. I like to use this character for practice because the you can see the rotations very clearly and its a nice easy rig.
I tried to make it easy to read. The animation could be more snappy and it needs a more work but iam happy that my work is progressing.
I have to offset the arms in the graph editor and put holds for the facial animation. Maybe he could lift his foot completly when shifting wait and takes a step to the side

Character Sheets

I used blue pencil for this. Actually Im happy how they look now, it should be fun to animate. I tried to maintain the manufactured look of kitchen utensils but give them a body. I used the donald duck pose as a reference for the basic body stucture. The hands ... of course mickey gloves but four fingers.

Rough Storyboards

Sketch V (KingOfspice)

Sketch IIII (Salt Variations)

Sketch III

Another sketch

Stage Ideas

Nice, thats more like it. The size is alright and they seem to have more personality now. Bud Spencer and Terence Hill starring in "For a handful of pepper".
The characters are ok for the moment. What they need is a an environment. The original idea was that they host a TV show. They carry around oversized ingredients and show how easy food can be prepared. All the other props and ingredients have more or less a personality on its own. But the Idea kind of lost its appeal when we actually realized how much we would have to do in 2 Months ......
For Moe as for me was the goal to better understand how we produce more appealling character animation, so we decided to keep the focus on the characters and their feud. This introduction to the show will only show them greeting the guests and starting a fight. (Maybe a rehearsal)

Sketch II

Ok got carried away a bit. Did it again but learned that I actually like the shapes just reversed height. I sketched some vegetable so that the overall design of the whole bunch actually fits together. What kind of look for the legs and the shape of the eyes. The style seems to be ok, they look funny and livley. But still its a bit dull ,the tensions between the hosts has to be more obvious. Its probably a good idea to do some sketches where they interact.

Sketch I

No No thats not good . Lets make the peppermill bigger and the salt small.(obviously) The tall guy is the goofy one and the small guy the always agressive and selfcentered. Ok but goofy is not really fitting for a chunky peppermill so lets make him so lets make more like the sleeping bear in Over the hedge. These two are friends and workpartners but they always getting in trouble cause of their different personalities. Another sketch maybe?

Getting Started

Welcome to the animation section of this project. Before I start animating lets have a closer looks at our characters.
There is Pep the peppermill and Sal the saltshaker doing a TV show to advertise healty eating.
Allright lets do a sketch. Maybe they could be buddies like Stan and Laurel. One is slim and tall the other guy is chubby and small.