Joshua & Caleb

In the myriad of godly examples recorded in the Bible's pages, there are a few who stand out even more than the rest in my eyes. Joshua and Caleb are two such fellows.

They were born slaves in Egypt. They were almost forty years old when Moses returned to Egypt and the Exodus began. They witnessed all the things the Lord did to rescue His people. Both men were heads of their respective tribe, and Joshua became Moses' protege and eventual successor.

They spied out the Promised Land. The land was rich and plentiful, but the inhabitants were strong—some were even giants. When the other spies caused Israel to fear, Caleb stood up and told them they could defeat the giants. “We're like grasshoppers compared to them!” The spies cried. I guess they forgot what God had done. Somehow they missed the fact that, at best, those giants were like grasshoppers compared to our God.

Caleb vs. the Giants

What I admire most about Joshua and Caleb is how faithful they were in those forty years. They wandered as a consequence of other peoples' sin, but they didn't complain about it. That's an example all of us can learn from. All that wandering seemed to me like a real waste of two godly lives, but they didn't waste those 40 years at all. Joshua was Moses' protege and Israel's military commander, gaining experience he'd need when leading Israel and conquering Canaan.

Caleb faithfully lead Judah and fought under Joshua. After entering the Promised Land and fighting five years of war, an 85 year old Caleb made his request: He asked for what God promised him and proceeded to conquer Kiriath-Arba, the main city of the giants. Caleb and his descendants received the hill country around the city, whose name was changed to Hebron—what a legacy to leave his children! Caleb then offered his daughter's hand in marriage to the man who conquered the next city. That man was Othniel, a relative of Caleb's.

(I had way too much fun with the liver spots on old Joshua.)

At the end of his days, Joshua set a challenge before Israel to serve the Lord.

"...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

After Joshua died, Israel strayed away from the Lord, and the time of the judges began, with the first judge being none other than Caleb's son-in-law, Othniel.

I haven't commented much on the artwork lately. Since the school year has wrapped up I've been trying to depict each person we talked about with our group in this current style. More on that later.

Moses - Part 2

Since only two kids showed up on the night we talked about Moses, we decided to do the real lesson on Moses the following week. Someone was occupying my group's usual room, so we ended up with a bigger area than normal. That worked perfectly. It gave us the chance to make the lesson more personal by having the kids act like Israelites following Moses.

We imagined we were marching toward the Red Sea. The Lord was leading us in the pillar of smoke, until....wait—what's that behind us? Pharaoh and his army were quickly approaching! Moses (I think that was me again) told the children, “Take a good look at Pharaoh's army—after today you'll never see them again!” I pointed out that the Lord, in the pillar of smoke, was moving from ahead of us to behind us, blocking Pharaoh's path while we crossed the Red Sea on dry ground in safety. It was a lot of fun! I think the kids enjoyed themselves too.

It was a wonderful personal reminder of the way the Lord takes care of His people—the way He takes care of me. We finished the night by reading the song the children of Israel sang in celebration to the Lord.

One last thought on Moses:
“He considered the reproach of Christ greater than the wealth of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Heb. 11:26)

Moses - Part 1

Back at the time these lessons were happening, I knew Halloween would fall on one of the nights we met. I wasn't sure which person from the Bible we would discuss that night. It turned out to be Moses.

There was no decision to be made—I had to dress up as Moses. I borrowed a Biblical-style robe from another church, put my bathrobe over it, added flip flops and a Middle-Eastern headdress left over from the barbershop show I sang in a few weeks earlier, went into the kitchen, grabbed the Ten Commandments tablet sitting near the spatulas, and headed out the door (it was originally part of a still life from college days).

 
I had no idea God had any purpose for all that stuff beyond my own silliness.

The still life & the headdress costume

When I got there, no other leader was dressed up (those bums!). Most kids were out trick-or-treating, but two of our kids showed up. Of course, the other leaders made the guy dressed up like Moses give the lesson, but I found myself unprepared, despite making lesson plans earlier in the week.

So....I just started talking....about the Ten Commandments...
...which made sense—they happened to be in my hand at the time...

...The topic quickly shifted to the Gospel. When I mentioned that Jesus died for us, one of the kids piped up and said, “I never heard that before!”

So "Moses" spent the rest of Halloween telling this kid about what Jesus had done for him.

I'm really thankful God orchestrated all of that. I'm really thankful that He caused me to feel/be unprepared, so He could direct the night where He wanted it to go—so this one kid could hear that Jesus died for him for the very first time.

I'm also thankful for what I saw in the other kid who was there that night. This young man was one of the two kids who got to hear about Enoch and receive that challenge to be leaders and walk in such a way that would point people towards Christ. When all the adults in the room were sharing the Gospel with the other kid, he joined us. That too, was something God orchestrated. That too, was something I'm really thankful for.

I thought that night was supposed to be Halloween. It sure felt a lot like Thanksgiving.

Joseph

The kids I work with each week tend to be an exaggerated picture of how adults like myself are. One kid gets upset because another took too much cheese, another gets mad because he didn't get a third cup of applesauce, etc. Such conflicts are always present.

Then we got to the part where we talk about Joseph. If ever there was a guy who didn't get his “applesauce,” Joseph was that guy. His brothers sold him into slavery when he was 17. He did right as a slave, and that got him his second job as a prisoner. Joseph was left to rot. I'm sure there were times he thought he'd never get out.
 

Finally, at the age of 30, Joseph was released from prison. After 13 years of hardship, God propelled him into a powerful position where Joseph was able to save countless people by preparing for the upcoming famine. He was the second most powerful man in Egypt, which really meant he was the second most powerful guy in the world. That's quite a career change from his previous job.

The most notable thing about Joseph is his attitude. I have no doubt he had his rough moments—who wouldn't? His actions, however, always show that he chose what honored God—even at great personal cost. When his brothers—the same brothers who sold him into slavery—came to Egypt during this famine for grain, Joseph had his chance to give all that hardship and misery back. Of course he didn't, but that's not the part that gets me. The part that gets me is where he tells his brothers they weren't the reason for his hardship, God was. Joseph explains that God caused him to suffer through all those things so Joseph could save his brothers. God's plan is so much bigger than we can imagine—especially while we're going through it. The part that blows my mind the most is how grateful Joseph was for all his suffering.

...And I'm still upset about the applesauce.

Jacob

I didn't get to post yesterday; one of my roommates got married. It was a big day (multiple days actually with all the festivities). It was also a wonderful reminder of what God has done in his life, in his new wife's life, and in both of their lives together. It will be wonderful to see what He does with them in the years to come.

Their wedding and the reminder of God's amazing work in two lives is a great segway into the guy we talked about next with the kids: Jacob. My favorite part of his story is the way God brought Jacob to Himself. Jacob's salvation appears to be a long, winding road and a fantastic testimony of the change only God can do.

Jacob's parents called him Jacob (“heel catcher/supplanter”) because his struggle went all the way to the womb, and he was born grabbing the heel of his older twin brother. God promised him the birthright, even though he was the younger brother. Jacob decided to get the birthright his own way, instead of waiting for God's way.

On Jacob's journey to find a wife, God made Jacob the same promises He had given to Jacob's father and grandfather. Jacob worked 7 years for the woman he loved, then discovered his father-in-law had married him to the wrong woman, so he worked 7 more years for the woman he loved. 

Eventually, after God had made Jacob prosper, God sent him back to Bethel, the place God first revealed Himself to Jacob—where God established His covenant with him.

Finally, Jacob dedicated himself and all who were with him to the Lord. He told them to get rid of all their idols and everything that kept them from God. 

I drew a few different versions of Jacob. Each one is different—each Jacob depicted is a different man. This final Jacob is the one I really like. He's leading his family and living by faith.

Abraham

Isaac wants to know where
the Lamb for the sacrifice is.

The first guy we talked about of those after the flood was Abraham. The Lord called him from his home to travel to the place God promised to give his descendants. The Lord promised to make him into a great nation, a promise which must have required increasingly more and more faith as the years wore on, Abraham became an old man, and he remained childless.

We brought up this term “covenant” again with our guys. When Abraham was old, the Lord made a covenant with him stating that he would become father of many nations, God would greatly multiply his descendants. The Lord even changed his name from Abram to Abraham.

We also mentioned how God tested Abraham when his son Isaac was born. He instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. On the way there Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice was. Abraham's answer: “God will provide for Himself the lamb...” (Gen. 22:8) God stopped the sacrifice before it happened and provided a ram as replacement. Close to Easter is perfect timing for this post, even though the night we talked about Abraham with the kids was actually last fall. We pointed ahead at to God sacrificing His Son for us. He provided for Himself the Lamb (with a capital “L”).

I'm not sure what else you could want here. We've got a great picture of faith—Abraham “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar...” (Hebrews 11:13). We've got God's promises, and we've got a fantastic picture of salvation.

Noah

That next week, we wrapped up the pre-flood people with good ol' Noah. Enoch had Methuselah, and Methuselah had Lamech before God took Enoch. Not long after that, Lamech had a son. He called him Noah, saying “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall brings us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” (Gen. 5:29) That seems to have happened in Gen. 8:21.

Man had become extremely corrupt in God's sight, and He determined to destroy the earth. He told Noah to make an ark. The flood He was bringing would destroy everything on earth, but He would establish His covenant with Noah and his family. Here's how Noah responded: Noah obeyed.

Noah's obedience was pretty important, wouldn't you say? I'm personally very grateful he decided to listen to what God told him to do and do it. Things have a funny tendancy of working out better that way.

The other thing I wanted the guys in my group to pay attention to is this word covenant. It shows up a lot. In Noah's story, God made two. The first was protecting Noah and his family in the Flood. The second was that He would never again destroy all the earth with a flood. God set a rainbow as the sign of this covenant. I like the way the Bible words it, “I have set My bow in the cloud...” (Gen. 9:13a). It's not just any bow, it's His bow. When I read Revelation 4:3, I find a rainbow surrounding the throne, and I remember this story.

So, let's see what this obedience of Noah's probably looked like. Hint: It looks like a lot of hard work. Here's a quick animation cycle of a character hammering a nail into the ark. I set all the curves on “cycle post-infinity,” so it's going to take him a while.

*Malcolm character courtesy of AnimSchool.com

Biblical Concept Art - Amalekite Soldiers

I haven't forgotten about this blog--I've just been sneaking around working on stuff, not feeling ready to reveal it all just yet.

This time around, I've taken a much slower pace. One reason is I'm not doing this for school, or even for a client, so I can slow down and make sure I do it right.

Outside of the realm of Nebuchadnezzar, you have to do a lot more detailed research. At the same time, I've been growing as an artist, as a Christian, and as a student of the Word, so I'm looking more intently at things I breezed past and missed before.

THE AMALEKITES

Continuing the recent trend, here is some concept art about another Gentile nation: the Amalekites.

The Amalekites are perhaps the most despised group of Canaanites, because they were the first to attack Israel. Every time the Bible mentions an Amalekite, that Amalekite is doing evil.

When God states that He will utterly destroy a nation, finding reference is quite literally impossible! So, you just have to make something up, and that's exactly what I did.

It seems weird depicting a nation that God set Himself so strongly against, but it is necessary to depict the stories they're in. In my mind, this nation, like so many others, serves the purpose of revealing something about the Israelites and about God in His dealing with them. He didn't want these guys left in the Promised Land to reek havoc and destruction on His people.

When think of the Amalekites, I think of my own sin. It is destructive like the Amalekites were, and I am foolish for not always viewing it that way.


However, when I see such a despicable and wicked people group, I also think of God's overpowering mercy. My Bible reads that the blood of Christ will ransom people from every tribe and tongue and nation (Rev. 5:9). "Every" includes the Amalekites.


One Amalekite, perhaps more--perhaps many, many, many more--will stand among the ransomed multitudes and forever worship the Lamb who's blood has secured their pardon...

...And perhaps inform me this design wasn't even close.

Bible Concept Art - Philistine Soldier

Here's a little concept art created from my ongoing Biblical animation project, which is still yet to be revealed. This is my concept for a generic Philistine soldier. Most of my inspiration came from depictions of Philistines on Egyptian reliefs.

I think it would be a lot of fun to animate this soldier. They seem like they would move and fight a lot like a typical Greek soldier. This soldier would also be carrying a spear, which, for whatever reason, wasn't depicted in this particular image (probably to showcase the sword design).

Philistines are an important people group to be familiar with to understand the events in the Old Testament. They were constant enemies, oppressors, and even seducers of Israel, and many men of faith rose up by faith to face them.

According to my research, they were also rather short. Well....most of them, anyway....but that is a story for another time...

Nebuchadnezzar Film Online!

Well, after all this time, you're finally going to get to see Nebuchadnezzar. I added the film to my website today. Check it out here: http://danielanimation.com/animations.html . Many thanks to all the people who helped with this project, and I look forward to whatever future Biblical animation projects the Lord has in mind to bring my way.

Enjoy the film, and check out the other new additions to this website.

Hello, 2012!

It's a new year, and, as most new years go, its entrance is welcomed with promising possibilities of what this year may contain--what God may have in store for it. That makes me excited, are you excited about this upcoming year?

A few exciting things are emminent pertaining to this blog. One is that my personal website is currently undergoing a major overhaul, which will definitely be something you'll want to check out once it's ready to go online.

Another thing to look forward to is the project I've been quietly working on for several months but have yet to reveal one this blog. It is a Bible project, and it takes the experience I had working on my senior film Nebuchadnezzar along with the added proficiencies I've been working hard for since graduating from college. Be excited about this one.

Speaking of the Nebuchadnezzar film, when the newly re-designed website goes online, be sure to look through it--the film very well might be found there, most likely under the "Animation" tab.

Well, I hope that you are greeting this new year with much anticipation for the things that God has had in store for you in this year since the foundation of the world. I hope that you're also anticipating the process of discovering the many, many things He has in store for me through reading this blog.

Back on the Highway

It's been far too long since I've posted on this blog. I apologize. My lack of posting was not because I wasn't working or that God wasn't working on me—quite the contrary. It was simply a matter of not feeling I had relevant enough material to post.

God's continued to teach me a lot. As I've said in another post-college post, this Biblical animation thing often seems less about me animating the Bible and more about God animating me in accordance with His Word. Ultimately, the goal is to have both concurrently, but even more ultimately is to accept whatever He's got in mind.

Over this “silent time,” God's taught me a lot about art and ministry. He's added to the skills I can now bring to the task—as only He can do. He's also increased my reliance on Him, which is far more valuable than any advanced drawing technique or animation principle.

As many times in the past have shown, a new project begins as my natural response to something that happens between He and I. “Unless the LORD builds the house [animation in this case], they labor in vain who build it.”Psalm 127:1. This post reflects such a beginning, although the project has actually been in the works for a little while already. “Back on the Highway” reflects the “Detour” posts, which I mostly didn't even post. Oh well, their effects will be evident in the road ahead.

More posts to come...

A Detour of Faith

Well, it seems that it’s again been quite a while since my last post. Perhaps that’s because I’m not sure that I have anything valuable to add to this blog about Biblical animation. But lately, it occurs to me that maybe I have something to add after all.

I remember many, many years ago, my cousin Kevin got married—I think somewhere in Pennsylvania, perhaps? It’s been so long, I don’t remember. On our drive back to Michigan after the wedding, we didn’t actually head west like one would think—we headed south and east, which clearly isn’t the fastest way to get to Michigan. It is, however, a very nice detour. We visited Philadelphia, saw the Liberty Bell, drove through Delaware and Maryland, visited the Capitol, went down into Virginia, West Virginia, seeing the sights along the way. This detour gave me memories of many awesome and historical places like Gettysburg—memories that I would not otherwise have had—experiences that have stayed with me all these years. “Are we there yet, Dad—are we there yet?” No, we weren’t in Michigan yet—there were still more experiences to gain along the way.
















That pretty much describes what my time since graduating college has been. Especially graduating in this tough economic time, especially with this dream of Biblical animation, which is indeed the entire focus of this blog, this has not been as simple and straightforward of a journey as I would have thought. This part of the journey has a detour—a detour much like the one I took as child. God has given me adventures and blessings that I seriously doubt I would have gotten without this scenic route. Blessings that will no doubt impact the Biblical animation that I am able to produce.

If you’ll humor me for a bit, these next few posts may showcase a few of the highlights from this detour. It may not necessarily appear to always be perfectly related to Biblical animation, but remember that this is the scenic route. My childhood trip did finally end up back in Michigan, and likewise, I’m certain that this current trip will lead to its intended destination, but not without having gained all the good things along the way. God definitely does not seem willing to withhold any good thing from one of His children, and graciously, I am no exception. Psalm 34:10b says, “…but they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Some of the possibilities I mentioned back in January are still possibilities—I reserve those stories for when everything is a done deal. God may also choose to just drop another such possibility my way, completely out of the blue. I’ll admit that on this part of the journey, a lot like the one I took as a child, I often have the desire to ask, “Are we there yet, Dad—are we there yet?” No, not yet, there’s more to be gained along the way.

The Story of the Pachitope

I’m sure that you’ve noticed the little animal I’ve got in my demo reel, but may not know what it is. This animal does not belong to any Bible story, or even to the animal kingdom itself for that matter, yet there’s something to him that makes me think that maybe, just maybe, he does in fact belong in this blog.

So, you’re probably asking, “What is it anyway?” I don’t know either; I made it without really having any plan or reference. When I asked my high school biology teacher to figure out what it should be called, he wrote back that it appeared to him to be a combination between an elephant, a rabbit, and a deer or antelope. Thus, he figured: PACHiderm, rabbIT, antelOPE = PACHITOPE. That’s the story of how the pachitope got it’s name, now for the story of how the pachitope came to be:

Here is the one and only one place where the pachitope has anything to do with Nebuchadnezzar: this story took place somewhere in the middle of making my senior film. One day, in my art history class, the professor chose to show us a seriously disturbing film that I still don’t understand, and don’t ever intend to understand—it was probably an experiment in film’s potential as a torture device. This film reminded me of the worst experience of my life in quite a strong manner. That was more than enough to give me an unbelievably bad day, for sure. Later that evening, I had already decided not to do any homework for at least the rest of the night, all things considered, yet, somehow, I had this strong, inexplicable desire to be productive. In my strange logic, I figured I could justify doing something so long as it wasn’t homework, after all I was supposedly taking the night off.

So I sat down at the computer, launched Maya, and within 2 or 3 hours, I had modeled this creature. Again, no plan, no reference, no intention of actually doing anything serious that would ever be worth anything, but God saw something different. (I think there was one sketch that I made during the earlier part of that class that looks like an earlier version of this thing.) I also did fear that I’d never be able to look at this thing without remembering the really bad experience of that day, but, again, God saw something different. The next morning I worked on UV mapping him, and then set him aside. Over the course of my time home for all the holidays (SCAD’s schedule is really awesome, allowing you to go home before Thanksgiving and not getting back in session until after New Year’s), I found him again and resumed this project. I textured him and started rigging him. My professor in my portfolio class saw him among my other work and really took a liking to him. Now, this little unintentional creation is my logo for all the stuff that gets send/shown to prospective employers. So far, I haven’t met one person who doesn’t like this little guy—if you find one let me know. There just seems to be something about him.

So what is the thing that God apparently saw with this pachitope that makes it so special? Well, I can only think of one thing (though it does seem to have some pretty solid appeal from a design standpoint). We all have trials, we all have storms which come and start raging in our lives—storms that, as the disciples thought, are too big to handle—and you’d be right, many of these are God-sized storms. That’s why you need to allow God to come and deal with them. He comes to the front of the boat, says, “Peace be still,” and you can kiss that storm goodbye, even if the tough circumstances themselves still remain. Also, if you belong to Christ, all things work together for your benefit, remember this (Romans 8:28). Had there been no storm for me, I can safely say there would be no pachitope either. We've got to just hold out for all the pachitopes of our trials. And that’s the story of the pachitope.

A New Year, A New Post

It certainly has been far too long since I’ve posted anything new. Since the last post, I finished my degree, graduated, and have been unleashed on the job market, which is definitely less than ideal at present, but God is good and reigns over even this difficult time. Over this time in looking for work, I’ve spent time further developing the skills I developed in college, which has been a good use of time as it also increases the chances of finding work. I update my website with these new things, so visit there to see all sorts of new artwork I may not necessarily post here.

As a result of the Lord’s working and people finding my website, I have gotten contacted by individuals who want me to produce Christian animation for them. These things are still in the works at the moment, so be praying, but God has worked to this effect.

The future of this blog will probably combine stories that arise in the process of producing Christian animation and might include some posts on animation-related things that are important to the process somehow. I will definitely try to post more regularly as time allows.

Demo Reel

For prospective employers, I have temporarily put my demo reel at the top of this site. Scroll down to view the actual content of the blog. Thank you.

I now have my website online: http://danielanimation.com/. It's still pretty new, so I'm going to be continually working on improving it, fixing issues, etc.,

I have updated this post with the current version of my reel, but it seems to be having some issues. You can also view my reel and it's shorter version at my website. Please do so, especially if you are having issues viewing the reel here on Blogger.

As of March 12th, I have finished all of my classes for my BFA degree! Now time for some sleep...

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

\…and yes, that is Nebuchadnezzar dressed up like Santa Claus. I guess the wisemen are getting coal this year—haha. I couldn’t resist having a bit of fun here. Interestingly enough, it may very well be that those wisemen were of Nebuchadnezzar’s nationality. The Chaldeans and Babylonians were astronomers and astrologers, who studied the stars to the point where they could determine what day of the year it was by gazing at the night sky, just like God predicted when He commanded the stars into existence, “…let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years…” (Gen. 1:14). The wisemen, in particular, studied them religiously, as they advised kings by seeking for signs and omens among the stars, though all the while missing the One who created the stars—well, that is, until this one star shone in the East…

Long, long ago, God humbled the proud Nebuchadnezzar, even to the point of insanity, in order to break him for his own sake so that he might come to know God. 600 or so years later Christ, being God, choose to humble Himself, even to the point of death, breaking Himself—not for His sake—but for ours, that we might come to know Him.

This Christmas, remember that the same God who gave Nebuchadnezzar all his glory and took it all away in order to establish Nebuchadnezzar is the same God who set aside His own glory and came to earth to be with lowly man. He has given us the invitation to come to know Him and someday sit at His table, paying the full price Himself.

Faithfulness & Finishing

The film is finished! (-apart from a number of tweaks and fixes, of course.) This fall has been a whirlwind of activity, as I had to have the film finished for class. Having just passed through all of that, I can't help but remember where I was one year ago--before I even created this blog. That fall, God put this desire in my heart, causing me to reason that this was what I needed to do and that was the time I needed to learn how to do it. I had no idea what I was doing all term, and everybody (including me) knew it, yet God had purposed this and planned out several things that kept me at it.

God put the spotlight on Nebuchadnezzar early on--actually having me do a project in an earlier class on him. Before long, my secular professor became fixated on the character of Nebuchadnezzar--thinking that he was too interesting to pass up. Another big encouragement was from godly individuals at the church that I had just started going to that term. More godly people from that church, including the pastor, have continued to be encouraging. Actually, God also had three individuals at that church fill some critical parts in the production. I decided put the Lord in the credits under "Special Thanks to..." mainly because He's done so much I couldn't figure out any other single spot to put Him. I can't thank Him enough for all of that, or for how much my skill and ability have grown just working with His guidance.

These pictures you see are frames from the actual film, though some may be enhanced later when I fix a few things. I do want to point out a few things about these frames, as God has continued to bless and be faithful. First of all, as you can see, Neb has a brand new bed, and it's a much more fitting bed for royalty. A Christian game design major who I met and befriended this term textured it for me. The lighting here is one of the things I'm going to work on to try and enhance. I'm trying to strike a nice balance between the soft orange glow of the candles and the soft blue of the moonlight coming in through the windows. At the moment the lighting is a bit inconsistent.

Another thing I'd like to point out is an addition to the rig that my assistant animator (one of the individuals from my church) came up with. He noted that when people are dreaming you can see their eyes darting back and forth in REM sleep, even while closed. All I needed to make this work was allow the eyelids to rotate left and right, instead of just up and down. This isn't that noticeable when he's moving all around in his sleep, but adds a nice touch.

I made a slight addition to the dream so when the stone enters the scene, the sky darkens, referencing Matthew 24:29. Even though that detail wasn't actually mentioned, it seems reasonable that Neb would perhaps not have mentioned that if it did. The only real light in the scene during this part is the super bright light coming from behind the stone.

I ended up having a challenge I didn't anticipate with the visual effects for the statue's destruction. My visual effects guy found himself so bogged down with work that he was unable to do it. He told me this around midterm time, and, by the grace of God, I was able to figure out how to do particle effects with Maya in less than a week. The VFX guy's reaction to the effects shot was "you've got to show me how to do that sometime." This frame is from the start of the visual effects. It cuts to show the whole statue being vaporized and blown away in the wind. As an added bonus, the statue seems to turn towards the direction the stone was coming from--as if it is giving honor to the Lord in its final moment.

At the end of the term, I watched as the music that my music guy composed (he's also from my church) and the visual part of the film synced up near perfectly without us actually doing the necessary work to make it that in sync. As he said, "God did that." I then watched as another person from my church and another friend of mine came to record some of the brass parts of the music. Again, things happened that leave you with no other choice than to say, "God did that," (and the people He put on all these tasks did excellent). Later, I showed the film to the professor who taught me how to animate, who also happens to be a Christian. He gave me great advice on what to fix and expressed interest in wanting to see me do the next part of the story--the one with all the other characters I modeled. God puts nothing to waste--I was wondering were those guys would come back into the picture.

This definitely isn't the end of this blog, nor is it the end of my pursuit of Biblical animation. Stay tuned for more.
:)

Rigging by Faith (Which Sure Beats Doing it by Plain, Dumb Luck)

It’s been a while since my last post—that’s because I’ve been rigging this whole time, and if you notice in my last post, I had been rigging then too. Rigging is the process of making your character model ready to animate. You have to add in all the moving parts and make sure that the right parts of the model move with the right parts of the little digital skeleton you make.

I started the rigging in my Senior I class, in the spring. I then had to keep working on it at home all summer long. I ran into several weird problems along the way. On one occasion, I had finished the part of the rigging process I like the least, and then I noticed a problem with the file. This particular version of the rig would fatally crash Maya unless I loaded a previous version first. Well, that’s just weird. I chose to set the rigging aside and work on texturing, which is what my last post is all about. Finally I started working on the rig again, choosing to go back to the previous version and losing all the work on that part I so dreaded. Since then, problems have arisen almost constantly. I can’t even recall how many problems I’ve had, or how many times I didn’t think I could get past this stage of making the film. Here it is; this is where faith comes in to save the day. I began seriously praying before and during times when I would work on the rig. When I ran into problems, like I did the other night with another rigging issue, I had no choice but to go to the LORD. I finally said, “Well, LORD, this is Your project; You take care of this problem in Your time and in Your way.” That worked. One week ago, I finally finished rigging (with the exception of a small handful of issues that came up, like the one the other night). Naturally, guess who got the glory for getting me here? This picture you see here is the one I made as I finished the rigging, and I think that pretty much explains it.

Did I mention that God has blessed a lot during the rigging? Even with all of the issues that set me back? Well, let me point out a few cool little features on the rig. I put together a little rigging demo/thing for the body. Understand that Nebuchadnezzar’s robe will be animated later using cloth FX, which is why I turned off that layer. That’s also the reason why I’m not terribly concerned about the bunching/pinching at some of the joints—maybe I should be, I don’t know.

Well, from that you can see that he moves okay, that he has an independently rotating hip, and that his signet ring moves with his ring finger, but the really cool stuff is in the facial rigging. He can’t make any vocal/phonetic mouth shapes, and his lower lip is stuck to his jawbone, but he can still be expressive—and his mustache moves with his mouth, too. The tongue moves independently, the beard and “mullet” have controls for secondary motion, and the unibrow has controls for its various key spots. My favorite spot, though, is the eyes I can move them all around, move them independently, and control the upper and lower eyelid for each eye. Finally, my all time favorite control is the ability to dilate and constrict his pupils, which I believe will add volumes to the animation.

After the rigging was finished, I moved on to rework the animatic a bit. I intended just to add a bit of what I called “animatic blocking,” posing the character just enough to help the animatic make sense. As I worked my way through the film, I got more and more carried away. Finally, I got to the last shot in the dream sequence. At this point, the stone that struck the statue has been growing into this mountain that would encompass the whole earth, and Nebuchadnezzar is losing his footing on the shifting ground.

In this shot, Nebuchadnezzar starts falling, and the camera follows him as he falls, until he snaps awake in his bed. I really didn’t have much of an idea what I was going to do here, until it just happened like that. Thinking about it a day or two later, I realized that Nebuchadnezzar was physically falling at about the point in the vision where he would be falling in a slightly different sense. That type of symbolism is really my kind of thing—except I didn’t plan it to work out like that. So, again, this tells me that God is still an active participant in this project. Finally, at this point, I can actually see it coming together and working as a film, which excites me to no end. The fact remains that I still have no idea what God’s plan is for this film, but I don’t have to—I just know the God who has a plan for it, and that’s enough.

Glazed Bricks, Ancient Dragons, & Royal Eyeballs, Oh My!

I've been continuing to work on texturing. My attention turned to Nebuchadnezzar's bedroom. The Neo-Babylonian empire under his reign rebuilt Babylon, and became famous for their barrel vaults and glazed, blue bricks. They created mosaic-like reliefs (wall sculpture) in the bricks. The most famous example is the Ishtar Gate, which inspired my depiction of Nebuchadnezzar's bedroom.

The Ishtar Gate has several animals depicted on it. One is a lion, another is a ram (both important animals in Babylonian culture and mythology). The other is an unusual beast, a dragon. If you bring your thoughts back to Genesis and the Fall, then take a closer look at this particular animal, you may see that it's essentially a snake with legs. Now, add this to the fact that this dragon, known as a "mushushu" is the symbol of Marduk, the chief god in Babylonian religion and the patron god of Nebuchadnezzar--hence why I put it over his bed.

Nebuchadnezzar faithfully served this god, even naming his son and eventual successor "Amel-marduk" (man of Marduk). Again, playing with the same thing as I was with the wise man, even with the symbol of his god guarding his bed, he could not avoid the dream and vision from the LORD.

I believe that God used his own religion to draw Nebuchadnezzar to Himself. One of the cornerstones of Babylonian mythology is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was a mighty kind like Nebuchadnezzar. At certain times, Gilgamesh had dreams/visions given to him from the gods. These visions usually meant something really bad was about to happen--like his partner's death. Without a doubt, Nebuchadnezzar knew this story and considered it the night he had the dream. In contrast with the myth, the reality was that the one true God had something wonderful for Nebuchadnezzar. Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar turned from worshiping Marduk to worshiping the one true God.

It has been said many times that the "eyes are the gateway to the soul." If that's the case, then much of Nebuchadnezzar's character is defined by his eyes. So far, he's been kind of bland in that department, but not any more. I decided to give him brown eyes--an obvious choice given his ethnicity. However, I wasn't satisfied to leave them pure brown. The Greek word for "rainbow" is "iris." Appropriately named, that part of the eye--the window to the soul--must be the bright window dressings, so I decided to put a bit of a "rainbow" of color into the eye--mainly, blue and green. Following the progress along from left to right, top to bottom, I kept working on the eye until I was mostly satisfied with the color. Then I moved on to the bump map, which can be seen best in the image at center, bottom. The finished eye can be seen below.

Then, of course, I put them into Nebuchadnezzar's head (that just sounds fun). Here is the textured Nebuchadnezzar with his new set of eyes--all the better to see with. I think the irises might need to be darkened a bit, as his skin tone seems to match them a bit much.

Hopefully everything will get straightened out with my computer, and I'll be able to work on the rigging again. This would be the "oh my!" section of the post, since the summer is quickly drawing to a close. All in all, though, I'm amazed at all of what God's had in store for this summer. I couldn't have fit anything else in if I had tried; it's another blessing to add to the list.