Hello,
It’s been a while since my last update, however i havn’t been slacking off. I’ve completely re-thought the summer project. After having some feedback from my tutor i decided to start from scratch. I took some time to research about opposites, and bore it down to its basic form. I’ve looked at numerous opposites from history and religion. One that struck me as the definitive definition of opposite: Lucifer and God.
Looking at the story between God and Lucifer, there’s a basic premise which holds true in Most stories of this nature. God is the creator, the giver of life. He is considered the true definition of good, and holy. Lucifer was Gods right hand man. The most powerful angel in all of Heaven. Power and greed corrupted him and he led the damned angels in the war of the heavens against god. God cast satan from heaven and sent him to hell. Here he must forever spend eternity with the damned. This personal relationship between god and Lucifer is a key part of the story.
No one is born evil, even lucifer himself. Its the things that happen to us and the people we are around that guides us. Greed, power and jealousy can turn even the best people into evil meglamaniacs.
For this reason i have chosen to base my two opposite characters around two scientists. These two characters were almost identical. They had the same aspirations and goals, and while their motives are similar its their approach that leads them to where they are today. I’ve been thinking about their back story. Both of them grew up in different parts of town, first meeting at college then both working at the same lab. Over the years they accomplished lots of awards and invented miraculous things.
However when they worked on a project to promote cell regeneration and mutation for the army something went wrong. The yet-to-be evil character (lets say Steve for now) was in the way of the untested material, when the other character (bob) pushes him out the way. The lab explodes, and the two are taken to hospital. Steve character looses his legs and waist, while bob is severely injured and is put into a coma. A few weeks pass and steve awakes from his coma. However something is different. He discovers he has amazing abilities and while not invincible, has magnificent regenerative abilities.
Steve however, traumatized by the incident and loss of his limbs goes into a rage spiral. Everywhere he goes people look at him differently, and soon locks himself away. While he cannot regenerate and doesn’t have powers comparable to bob, he discovers he can control technology with his mind. Almost as if its another limb. So he decides to build himself a new body. A better body. He create a lower section which he has full control over. Jealous that he should have been the one to gain bob’s abilities and that bob should be the freak he decides to take vengeance on bob.
Bob has problems of his own however. It seems that everything he touches crumbles around him. The loss of his best friend and career causes him to alienate himself. He can’t seem to hold a job and has no control over his powers. However when he happens to save a young girls life, he knows what he has to do. He becomes a power for justice. He becomes a Hero.
The animation will take place when the two meet again. Time has passed and Bob has become a super-hero, still learning his abilities. Steve is now an all powerful megalomaniac, who’s primary goal is to kill Bob.
The story may be done to death, and isn’t very original. However there are still a few tweaks and adjustments that need to be made, such as definitive names and powers. I decided to keep the superhero and nemesis idea because i feel its a good one. I re-thought the story and spent a lot of time trying to create a back story for the two characters. I had came up with other ideas involving Demons and Angels, two competing salesmen, characters with split personalities, an indiana-jones type character who fights a creature, a Warlock and a Mage, Two Warriors. However i felt that while these were good ideas i prefer to stick with something that interests me. I feel that something i have greater interest in will produce a better animation.
I drew some character ideas on paper however my scanner doesn’t like my new Arch64 Linux box, so ill have to post images up later. However i have started modeling the Villain based upon my sketches. However ill have to look into using Normal Mapping and Displacement mapping as the current model it taking a whopping 74,000 faces without smoothing. Thats also without the organic character torso, head and arms. However ill also look into using XRef’s (Or the Maya equivalent). Im also looking at rendering techniques. I don’t know what style to aim for. Either realistic, cartoon-ish, pixar-ish, or full blown cartoon cel shading. Im leaning towards realistic or slightly cartoon-ish. However thats not a primary issue at the moment.
admin | 
08 20th, 2008| 
