From the Animator's Desk
The Frosh characters in The Legend Of The Greasepole took two months to sketch and
animate on paper. The "Frosh" were based on the "typical" engineering
student entering Queens University, complete with tam, plaid pants and socks hanging out
of the tam to finish the look.
The Frosh were animated first on paper by using a number of sequences of different
actions. If the action was "dancing" then the sequence would be 5 drawings of
the Frosh first in his starting position with hands at the froshes sides, then one hand
raising diagonally up, pointing his finger, then diagonally back down again to the Frosh's
original position of hands at his (or her) side.
There were more than fifty different poses, ranging from hanging off of the tam at the
top of the Greasepole to drinking a mug of beer that floats by in the water (if you can
call it water). Once scanned into the computer the Frosh could be manipulated to be
different colours etc.
This was a great project to work on (even if only at the begining) and it's amazing to
see the Frosh running around in the game!
What Next?
After Elizabeth finished the sketchwork, the images were scanned into the computer and
touched up by Kitty Lee, Sci '99. Take a look at how...
The Frosh Evolve Before Your Eyes!
|
Evolution of the Splashing Frosh: Elizabeth's sketch, and Kitty's
on-screen touchup.
|
|
We really wanted ethnically diverse frosh to accurately portray
the Queen's community. It's done in the game with the magic of DirectX using a two-step
drawing process. Elizabeth also did a fabulous job making them look "unisex."
|
|
|
This was the only shot we tried colouring in outside of the computer.
Scanned colours just weren't rich enough for the game.
|
The falling guys are just fabulous.
Here's how they started life... |
|
|
...and here's how that one ended up. Again, we saved the
pants for last. |
The final "transparency" colour ended
up being a (hideous) bright green. We were picking up some of the bluey-purple in
the crowd with the powder blue. And there's the trademark muddy-plaid pants you see
in the game. I actually have a pair like that.
(This is Rob writing -- Craig has much better fashion sense) |
|
Some Extra Stuff
Below is one of the sheets that Elizabeth originally received with requests for
animation frames. If nothing else, it gives a pretty clear impression of how she
took some things bouncing around in Rob's head and ran with them.
Below is a sheet full of "hotspots" and graphic dimensions that
helped import graphic images into the game. These are actually for Al "Pop
Boy" Burchell, but a similar set was made up for the Frosh character.
|