The Lost Book

Flat pack

Written by Helen Jackson.

Thought this might interest you. You know that we've been economising on our character models - to create a new character we re-use an existing body so that we only need to create a new head (see Demi Remi). You also know that our characters are coloured using "texture maps" - 2D image files that are wrapped around the 3D computer models (see Aileen unwrapped). So, you've probably figured out that we didn't create an entirely new character model when we needed to show Aileen's Mum in episode 6. The two characters have a very strong family resemblance...

...because the computer models are identical. All the differences are in the texture maps:

Aileen's Mum looks very good for her age! We would have given her wrinkles, but she's only seen from behind or with her face in shade so there was no point.

Books everywhere

Written by Helen Jackson.

Books are something of a theme in episode 6. To celebrate the Lost Book being found and returned we wanted lots of books. We have two scenes set in libraries and a big bookshelf in the Sheep Heid Inn. We managed to resist the temptation to make all the books individual (I'd have really enjoying thinking up appropriate titles!) and instead decided to go for matching bindings in a few colours. Here's how we made them...

First up, we created a book model in the computer. In fact, there are two versions: open book and closed book.

Next, the book needed a texture map. We unwrapped the model to get a flat, 2D image and added the binding, endpapers, page edges and title page (1). Finally, some gold lettering on the spine was needed - a simple black and white image allows us to specify where the gold should be added (2).

And, there you have it. Books everywhere!

Grazp HQ

Written by Helen Jackson.

Did you like the Grazp office in episode 4? Here is it again:

How did we make it? Well, it's an incredibly simple model with clever texture maps and lighting. Here's how the model works. The base is five boxes, with the ones that will be the windows slightly inset, on a grass bank:

There's a series of (dino-foot shaped) floors and a cylinder to support the tower, then the tower itself is the dino footprint extruded:

...19 objects plus a sign in the foreground and that's it!

Mistress of disguise

Written by Helen Jackson.

Aileen's disguised herself as a delivery person from a courier company to sneak into Grazp Pharmaceuticals. We swithered for a while over whether she needed a different colour t'shirt to complete the disguise, and eventually went for green.

Trike Couriers's mascot is Samuel the Triceratops, named in honour of one of the readers of The Lost World Quick Read Edition, who used a password from the book to get into a secret post and tell us that his favourite dinosaur is the Triceratops. Thanks, Samuel!

Cupcakes are ready to go

Written by Helen Jackson.

Our competition-winning cupcakes are finished! We've taken the computer models and added textures. It was remarkably straightforward - we needed a texture map for the "R.I.P." on the gravestone, but everything else is a simple solid colour.

Both cupcakes are going in the animation - the winning cake (left) by acupcakery will be given to Aileen, while Lyn will have LittleMissCupcakeParis's running-up cupcake.

Airport lounge #1 – textures

Written by Helen Jackson.

How do we get from the computer model on the left to the airport lounge on the right?

Regular readers will know the answer has to do with “textures” and lighting. Let’s start with textures. Every object in the computer model has to have a material, or texture, applied to it.

The easiest objects to deal with are those that are one solid colour. Anything that isn’t a single colour needs a texture map of some sort. Texture maps can add colours, patterns, transparency, depth, shininess, or any number of other properties.

There aren’t very many objects in the airport, so we can look at the texture maps for them all. Kyle is the most complicated – he has to be unwrapped, giving a flat image file that can be edited. Weird, isn't it?!

The plane is mostly white, but it needs a texture map for the branding and the windows. The glass is similar – mostly transparent, but with a texture map to make the translucent lettering (by the way, the real-life airport at Cedar Rapids is called the "Eastern" Iowa Airport, but “Easter” seemed more appropriate for this time of year!). The seats have perforations.

Are you interested in this technical “making of…” stuff? I’m planning to do a fair bit of it this week – we’re spending a lot of time working on these details, so it seems only fair to tell you about it. You're part of the team, after all.

But, I don’t want to bore you to death. Let me know if you’re fascinated, or if you’re losing the will to live.

Making the lost book

Written by Helen Jackson.

Aileen gets her hands on a copy of the lost book - Sally Challenger's expedition journal - in episode 2. So, last week we had to make the book. Fortunately we had the first three entries in the journal, thanks to our microstory competition winners. Here's the book as it appears in the film:

And, here are the first two pages of the journal, showing journal entries written by Matthias, Bookaddictus and Norvaljoe:

We wrote the diary by hand, before artificially ageing the paper by staining and crumpling it, scanning it, ageing it a bit more, and then using it as a texture for the computer model of the book. Sketches by Adam.

How to make a book

Written by Helen Jackson.

We’re busy getting episode 2 ready for you to watch. So, following the tradition established for episode 1, we’re going to use this week to tell you about some of the people in The Lost Book team. Composer Blair Mowat will also be blogging this week. And, this is the first in a series of very short posts about the 3D model-making and animation for episode 2.

How to make a book:

1. Start with photos of the book's front, back and spine. 2. Map them onto an “unwrapped” version of the book model.

(Other textures we’ve blogged include an unwrapped Watson and an unwrapped Aileen.)

Flattened dog

Written by Helen Jackson.

I know this is the texture you’ve been waiting to see - Aileen’s dog! The “unwrapped” version of the dog looks like this:

But, that’s not quite the whole story. We also need a “bump” map for depth (1) and a map showing which parts are shiny (2).

Press pass textures

Written by Helen Jackson.

Adam posted last week about making Aileen look good.

We’ve been working up every character, set and prop. Everything needs to have carefully-designed “textures”.

So, Aileen’s press pass:

1. Model without textures.

2. Pass.

3. “Opacity map”: black equals transparent.

4. “Bump map” to give depth.

(Bad passport photo, Ailey!)

Two weeks to launch

Written by Helen Jackson.

What are we working on this week, I hear you ask?

Firstly, Stephen Gilmour is starting the sound design. It’s hard work. Every single noise has to be added: footsteps, traffic, the chink of coffee cups…

Secondly, we’re working on the visuals. We need to go from this:

To this:

Aileen unwrapped

Written by Adam Brewster.

I need to tell you about the stage I'm at with the visuals, 'cos it's quite fun. Now we've fixed all her movements we have to make our main character, Aileen, look good. As always, there are about a million possibilities, but we've always had a strong idea of how we want our main characters to look. The rather curious image above is what you get when you flatten out, or "unwrap", the star of the show.

So she goes from being quite a dull, but perfectly formed, sculpture to a bright, vivacious, animated model! Once the software has created the 2D image of the flattened surfaces it's quite easy to paint on the details. I'm not the world's most knowledgeable makeup artist so I'm not sure if you are supposed to leave freckles on show? Anyhow, she looks pretty good to me. Now we have to do a similar exercise for the sets and props.