I don't release much about this to the public because it takes so long to make an animated film (especially when you are working with very few people and orchestrating it pretty much alone like me) that they generally get disappointed and give up on ever seeing anything (ask a Looking For Group fan when the announced animated film is coming out and after they wipe the disappointment off their faces they will most likely say "probably never" or something like it... I know better). All the artists and voice actors I worked with on this project have already given it up for dead. Even though I cautioned them about the timetable. Once again, I know better.
So anyway, we've been working hard on getting all 7 characters modeled and getting a stable rig we can use (one rig can be used across characters of similar design [bipedal as opposed to quadrupedal] so we're ironing out the kinks in the main one before transferring it to other models for tweaking).
Frankie... the main antagonist and leader of a small gang of thugs in this first short is our most complete model and rig. Remedy is almost done too but we've had some IK/FK issues with the rig on the knees (I made a run action with Remedy running around and it flipped his knee joints backwards so he looked like a taunton from Star Wars running around the screen) so we're tweaking Frankie's rig and getting it perfect before going forward with any of the other rigs.
So I made a walk action for Frankie.... nothing special... just got him walking around the choreography a bit. The render is a low res Quicktime setting (mpeg4, medium quality) that has been translated to flash (thank you Photobucket). I laid on a "toon" setting which gives him a hand drawn, cartoony quality. I think the lines might be a bit too thick but it's just a test and that's something I can play with.
Most of Remedy's neighborhood is already modeled. I just need to decal it up, add a skyline and a sky dome, maybe a few more props (vehicles parked on the side of the road and whatnot... already got some garbage cans on the set) and it will be ready for animating.
So we're getting pretty close. And I'm kind of excited. So look at these crappy test renders if you want to. LOL. The final product will be a lot sweeter. But still, this looks pretty good, even if I do say so myself.
EDIT: I forgot to mention.... Frankie's face is not rigged at all. We're working on the body right now. The face is a whole 'nother set of issues because of the mouth having to move to words I input into the system and facial expressions and blinking and all that good stuff. So that's why he's walking around with his eyes closed. The eyelids aren't rigged so they are basically skin flaps right now. Thats why you can barely even tell he has eyes.