Ghost Train Animation

My completed animation I created using Cinema 4D for the first time. It ended up looking a bit different to my animatic due to time constraints and lack of knowledge on the software, the main differences being parts that were cut out like the character being a human as I realised how hard it would have been to create that model and then rig it too. The animation took a couple of weeks to complete and about 5 hours to render. As a whole I think it's not too bad for my first time using the software and I have higher hopes for the next time I use this software.

Ghost Train from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.

Ghost Train animatic

Ghost Train animatic from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
This is the animatic for my upcoming animation for our 3D applications project. The animatic itself was created using my home art program and windows movie maker. The story to my animation is that there is a train that arrives at a random subway station every night when the clock strikes midnight, this train delivers the recently deceased and ghosts that have escaped Limbo and takes them to hell, my story focuses on the one witness to these events.

Character Design Timeline

Timeline Characters from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
For one unit we had to think up 7 designs for characters that related to different points in time that ranged from the 1920's to 2020. I thoroughly enjoyed this unit as designing characters is one of my favourite things to do.

• My 1920's character was inspired from popular fashion from that period which was very fun and elegant as well as dancing and jazz.

•  The 1950's stereotypes included tough greasers and diner waitresses with roller skates, but the 50's were also a time where monster movies were hugely popular. My character is combination of all of these.

• The 1970's was a time of peace and disco so I have incorporated those aspects into my design.

• My 1980's character is a pun, as then sci-fi and glam metal were fairly big and many people had big hairstyles so my character here is a big hare. 

• The 1990's was the time where the internet became more commonly used and fads like oxygen bars and having tattoos became popular.

• 2015 was a pretty difficult one but the design is mainly based off fashion trends such as crop tops, jumpers and the top knot hairstyle. The fish aspect of the character came from the internet trend of trying to have big lips.

• I doubt there'd be many major changes with 2020 but I over-exaggerated it by creating a cyborg character and Apocalypse-esc clothing. 

Scuba Animated Scene

Scuba Scene from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
This was my final piece for our animated stills VFX unit. It is composed of over 10 layers and makes use of several different particle effects which I have never used before this project. All the images used in this composition were taken by me on my mobile phone. I am really proud of that fact as it's nice to create work using your own original assets.

Tracking test

Day at the beach - (Tracking test) from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
I really enjoyed creating this test as I think the tracking tool is useful and I see how it could be used to create some really cool visuals. To create this shot I used the mocha tracking tool on adobe after effects and chose a couple of points that stuck out from the background to assure a steady track, and these certain points took the form of a couple of rocks on the beach here. After I had a strong track I created a null object to paste that information into and then parented my images with it, which included; a distant glacier, a beach umbrella and a walrus. Then for finishing touches to this shot I created an adjustment layer and messed around with the colour balance to give the scene a warmer feeling.  

Animated still test

Animated still test from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
This is my first go at creating an animated still using photoshop and after effects. This image was made up of 8 different layers of images I got from google. It was quite time consuming to cut out the backgrounds from the images I wanted especially on objects like clouds or trees as they are not completely solid as light still passes through certain parts. To create this 3D effect using only 2D images we had to use the camera tool in after effects which I was new to. This tool allowed us to create depth of field and we could arrange the layers in a 3D space giving the look of them being different distances apart.

Channel E4 Ident

E4 Ident from Abbey Armstrong on Vimeo.
This Animation was created using Photoshop and After Effects for the 2015 Channel E4 ident competition which is to create a short 10 second video featuring the channel's logo and using music supplied by them and the winner gets their video featured on TV.