11/2/09--No Update!

There will not be an update this week simply because nothing was done this last week. I had a last minute Halloween effect that I decided to fast-track and that took all my time up for the 20k project that week. 

Next week I'll get into the home-stretch of the project and the massive to-do list as, as well as working on the final scene and problems with the scale of the squid. 

10/26/09--Squid Construction, doors

Brief update this week. The squid is complete, just as I had hoped. I didn't get around to the crew members battling it, but that that will be the focus this week as well as finishing up the entire scene.

Last week I showed the first tentacle made for the squid and soon after that, 6 more were made. I'm only going for 7 tentacles out of 10 at this point, though I might add more later on. The reason for that is that I wasn't sure if you were going to see them all during the flashes of lightning. After a few tests, it turns out that you can!

Once the tentacles were baked and hardened, all the joints and gaps were filled with self-hardening clay. Forgetting that is has that quality, the clay cracked like crazy when it dried because of the rigid structure. So I filled in the cracked and joints with epoxy putty. (Which results in the different shades in the picture below).

Once the joints hardened, more details like the eye and mouth were made out of sculpey and glued on. Below is a shot of the squid just before painting. The rough texture was achieved by torching the surface of the putty, which actually works in this situation.

The color of the squid in the movie is really hard to determine. After some studying of the dark film footage, and some consideration of my own preference, I decided to paint the squid a dark purple. I've always associated the squid with being a red color, after seeing the "sunset squid" lost footage. I compromised that image by darkening it and I got purple. The reason also having it purple is so the viewer can distinguish the squid from the backdrop a tad easier because of the difference in hues. Just for fun, I also painted the eye with glow-in-the-dark paint!

The squid is currently being installed and at some point I should get started on the characters. After that installation of the effects will go in and some "Mod Podge Water" will be drenched all over the set.

Since the entire scene is static, I've come up with a way of giving the illusion of movement during the lightning flashes. In a couple of tests that I did, I rigged two strobe lights, turned on and off by a motorized cam, on two opposite sides of the squid. I set them at different flash speeds and the results create a striking look (no pun intended). The rapid change between the light sources looks incredible and it gives it the slight illusion of movement.

In addition to working on the squid, I've also finally finished my first door to the attraction. My original entrances to the table attractions have always been strips of trashbag. While they worked for their time, they don't seem to last that long and aren't the most stremlined and slick looking "doors". This time I've devised operation sliding doors (I was originally going to employ a set of double doors, only to find that they take up a lot of room). Once I had a smooth working door, I figured out how to make it run on it's own. The goal was to have the door open at the push of a button, stay open at time interval, and close all automatically on it's own. However, the propulsion of the door was the hardest part. I went through 3-4 versions of a motor set up and the best one was loud, noisy, jerky, and broke really easily. That doesn't help when I need smooth and quiet operating doors. Basically I had the sliding door on a track being pulled by fishing line by two motors. A timer relay would turn either motor on, opening or closing the door.

I later compromised and not have the entire door motorized. To put it in simpler terms, the sliding door is on a counterweight, push the door open and the weight pulls it closed. However, I added a little more to it. Once the door is open via a line pulled by the viewer entering or exiting, the cable operating the door has a catch that comes in contact with a latch, like a zip-tie. A motor allows this contact to happen because the latch was lowered by the motor once a reed switch triggered the relay powering the motor. Once the timer expires, the motor power is cut allowing a lever to drop, raising the latch and releasing the cable catch allowing the door to close via gravity on the counterweight. It sounds pretty confusing without and visual reference, but I might do a video demonstrating the door since it is a clever piece of mechanics that I've done.

This kind of operation is virtually silent and it's actually safer since the door can be stopped from closing easily because it's only on a counterweight; while if I had the old motorized door, the door would close whether or not someone was in the doorway.

10/18/09 Update--Unused effect and Squid fight construction

Sorry for putting this off for two weeks, it just works out better this week in the situation I'm in with other stuff in the way. Construction is going ahead on the squid fight, the most anticipated scene in the whole show. We'll take a look at an unused effect for that scene and the changes made to make the scene simpler, but still have an impressive look.

Two weeks ago I started on the squid fight, but more specifically the window effect I mentioned briefly in the last update. This effect would entail the viewing window being drenched with water as if there were an actual storm on the other side of the glass. This would give a scene a storm feeling as in the movie, since wind and fog is hard to replicate for this purpose.

This effect would consist of a tray of water underneath the viewing window, with water being pumped to the top of the window to another tray. This tray is hinged and counterweighted, so when the tray filled up, it would dump all the water in it at certain intervals. The water would run down a chute, down the window, and back in the tray at the bottom.

Unfortunately, the effect only worked at it's best on paper. The thing did work, with the tray system and such, but the way the water ran down the window didn't have the right look and feel I was going towards; it was uneven and hard to control.

The maintenance of the effect was also an issue that I really didn't want to deal with, being that it is using real water. So, I decided to scrap the effect. In the end, all I did that weekend was ruin a perfectly good piece of foam core from all the water testing. I decided to go with a plain viewing window, with no added effects and such.

With no "storm effects" to be used in the scene, I found it difficult to even simulate a storm without water running down the window or fog to represent wind. All I did have was a strobe light to represent the flashed of lightning. Then I realized something. If the scene were to be only seen in flashes of light, there the scene would be completely dark. With that, there would be no need to make a fully animated squid, since it cab be a static figure with the same effect. I could also simulate the storm simply by adding lines of fishing line to represent rain--which would catch the light from the strobe and create a neat look. So really, this scene is a really easy scene to make, despite what's going on in it. Nothing would actually move because even if everything was animated.

Construction now started on the inanimate scene, but it would feel like stuff was moving because of the strobe.

The deck of the Nautilus was constructed out of foam core.

Then I worked on the backdrop, which consisted of coving the corner and painting the actual walls of the table black. I also painted the Nautilus deck at this time with a gray (I didn't think I would detail it, which I later did).

 

I detailed the "breathers" of the deck and sprayed the whole thing with a hammered bronze finish. The squid has also been started in this shot, the basic body out of foam.

The tentacles are currently being done out of sculpey, with a wire armature and aluminum foil to bulk out the thin layer of clay (to save on weight and material). I would do a full 10 tentacles, but since the viewer wont see all of them in the flashes of light, I'm only doing 7.

The tentacle in the foreground is the test one out of sculpey. This method of fabrication is a lot faster than trying to figure out how to make it out of flexible material.

I'm hoping to get the squid done this week and maybe 3-4 sailors that will fight it. I will be very lucky if I actually finish the scene, but I'm being realistic so I don't think that'll happen. I might also get  a head start on the next scene since that needs to be done at the end of the month too.

10/11/09--Update Postponed

I've decided to delay this update until next week where I'll combine it with the next update. Stuff has gotten done, it just makes it easier to put the post together this way. The next update will include a look at a never used effect, Nautilus deck construction, squid figure fabrication, and a breakdown of the special effects for the scene.

10/5/09 Update--Organ scene finished, Structure work, Squid scene foundation +More

Now that it's October, I really have to haul on this project. I've got 2 months to finish it (maybe 2 weeks in December) and I'm a month behind schedule. By the end of this month, I'm hoping to have the Squid fight, Finale, and Vulcania drawing completed. I am devoting the entire month of November to finish off the entire project and install the walls and viewing windows to clean everything up. Also the path will be themed with special ceiling treatments, appropriate lighting, numerous pipes and gauges, and countless rivets.

The big news this week was the installation of the structure for all the scenes on the left side of the path (Burial scene, Organ scene, Squid fight). I wanted to get to the structure for the finale scene, but I decided to wait until I actually make the scene.

Here's a shot of the structure for the three scenes, which took a lot of time to engineer because of the complex angles and heights required for each set.

The blank piece of foam core is where the Squid fight will be going. The 2X4 at the end of it is where the viewing window will be (complete with water drenching across it; I figured out how to do that without making a mess).

The organ scene is completely finished; there could be more details, but I'm not going to fuss around with it anymore since it took way too long to do.

This week I might start on the installation of the entrance and exit doors. These will be automatic motorized doors unlike my typical strips of trash bag. These will help make the project less amateurish and it helps control "guest flow" for family gatherings. These will be sliding doors unlike my original plan for swinging double doors, because they take up a lot smaller footprint. 

To finish off this post, here's a quick shot of the inside, with the Dinner scene on the immediate right, Burial scene on the left, shark attack scene on the right towards the back, and a little bit of the future squid fight in the very back. 

 

9/28/09 Update

I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but work is slowly finishing up on the Organ scene. I made the Nemo figure out of sculpey, and he is now painted and installed. The organ itself is completely finished now that the stops have been glued on.

I did the mirror for the organ as a computer print-out of a shot of Nemo since I didn't actually sculpt his face this time. The only thing is that is comes off as what it is--a picture. So I might paint it back in black or cover it with aluminum foil (I don't want to use a really reflective material, since I don't want the viewer to notice that Nemo doesn't even have a face!)

More details still need to be added, like stanchions with chains and some instruments and dials.


I didn't get around to the squid scene this week, but I'm hoping I will soon considering it's quite a large scene. All I did was block out and mark how the scene will be composed with the viewer looking down the Nautilus deck (dashed lines) and the squid on the left (oval). I can't really do much until I install the structure for the set since this one will be built in place. I also need to build the support structure for the Organ scene and Burial scene as well.

9/21/09 Update

By the middle of this week, work will shift from the current scene (Pipe Organ scene) to the next scene, the Squid Fight (hopefully). The majority of the Organ scene will be done this week and the squid scene will start.

On the Organ scene this week, I focused my attention on the Pipe Organ and getting it's pipes on it. The pipes were really hard to do and figuring out how to make wasn't easy; they are all different sizes, they taper the entire length, and they are arranged in a fan shape. I ended up making the pipes out of sculpey so I could get that tapering effect easily. The smaller pipes on the ends were made out styrene rod since thoses didn't need to taper as much.

Once the pipes were done, The details along the top and the crest were made, and the entire piece was painted with gold enamel paint. The mirror has been painted black for now, I haven't decided whether I want a printout photo of Nemo's face or just make it silver.

The organ bench has also been made, awaiting the future Nemo figure. The Nemo figure will be done the same way as the figures in the dinner scene, though since his back is turned to the viewer, his face won't need to be sculpted and that will make the sculpting process A LOT easier. Also on the organ are the keys, which is just a print-out. They will be replaced by a more accurately scaled printout since this photo was taken. The organ still needs more details like the stops, but other than that, it's pretty much finished.

I've also installed the show lighting at this time, to help me visualize what the final thing will look like. Carpets and painted seating are also shown.

Aside from a few details still needing to be added, the scene is shaping up quite nicely.

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Once that scene is complete, it will be time to start the most memorable and favorite scene of many 20k fans, the squid fight.

This was a scene that I had to include, there was no way around it! This scene is going to include the deck of the Nautilus, a fully animated squid, crew members fighting it, and lots of lighting effects.

When I originally designed this attraction, the Squid scene was going to have a composition showing an overall view of the scene; which is why I made that template during the Discovery scene construction.

View of the squid fight at an "overall" perspective

After thinking about it, I decided to move the perspective to the back window of the Nautilus, where Conseil and the Proffessor look out onto what is happening. By moving the perspective, the scene has a larger scale, and that means a larger the squid-- the bigger the squid, the better! This will be a big scene; it's so big that I can't even work on it at my desk as I did with the other scenes!

A view of the squid fight from the Nautilus back window

So that's the focus for this week.

9/13/09 Update

First off, I you haven't noticed, I've changed the title of my blog; kind of a play on the movie title and the fact that it all takes place under  a table. I felt very clever when I thought of that.

More has been done on the Nemo/Organ scene, not as much I had planned, but stuff was still done. I jumped around a lot today, looking at previous scenes that I did and getting them totally signed off so I don't have to visit them again later on in a panic to finish up all the details.

I've compiled a list of what I've done this week:

• The switch for the "Nemo Gun" in the Shark attack scene has been replaced with a reed switch; that way there's no physical contact which means little to no maintenance.

• The Dinner scene was completely finished with hands for the figures, utensils, and everything glued down.

• The Shark attack scene was lowered 4 inches for more comfortable viewing perspective; it was hard on my neck to look at.

• The lighting for the discovery scene was installed and I'm planning on adding "fogged" plexiglas behind the Nautilus model to blur out the background (or lack of background)

• Nemo's cross in the Burial scene was painted and glued. That scene still needs it's water effect as I stole it for the Shark attack scene and I need to make another one.

• I planned out the basics for the next scene, the fight with the giant squid. I had to adjust the crawl path in order to satisfy my need for adequate space for both that scene and the end scene with Vulcania exploding/Nautilus sinking.

• More was done on the Organ scene. At this point, the organ console was painted and given a high-gloss finish. The "woodwork" was made out of sculpey and painted with Testor's gold enamel paint. (I was hoping for a larger scale so I could actually gold leaf it like the real paint, but it turned out too small for that). I still need to do the pipes, the Nemo figure, but I can't quite do those until I get more supplies. The two round piece of furniture were made out of foam that go in the foreground of the scene, all sealed and ready for paint.

Here's a "press shot" of the finished dinner scene. It's a super-size image so you can see all the details.

A closer look at the table details; everything you see was made from scratch, nothing store-bought. 

The Organ scene in progress, with the painted organ console and freshly sealed seating.

For a long time now, this has been the set up for the next two scenes, the Squid fight and the finale (Vulcania Exploding/Nautilus Sinking)

The main problem with how this area works out is that the spaces for these scene are rather small, when they should be big for such spectacular scenes. I also discovered how hard it would be for some people to make that hairpin turn and being able to crank their neck to look at the scenes on that turn, especially for the squid scene. So I made some adjustments. 

By adding a few elements around, I was able to get a comfortable viewing perspective for  both scenes, as well as gain more space for each scene. It was a win-win situation! 

I will be getting into the details of the Squid fight possibly in the next update, but until then, that will be it for now. 

9/6/09 Update

I'm a day behind on this update, but here it is.

Work progressed more on the set; I was able to reach the goal I set last week where I was to get the set painted and pretty close to finished and then start on the organ.

When the main bulk of the set was done, I primered and then painted the entire set a dark grey. Then I gave it all a dark wash for weathering. The entire floor was painted dark brown, but as with the Dinner scene, the floor will be mainly covered with carpets.

Then I worked on the two aquariums on both sides of the set. I framed them with a half inch recession and then covered them with a piece of plexiglas sprayed with Testor's Dulcote so you couldn't see all the way through them. I painted "portholes" gold and added some clipping from the backyard for the seaweed in the aquariums. 

 

I started on the most detailed and most important piece of the entire set--Nemo's pipe organ.

For starters, I sized and printed a photo to get an idea of the right scale. Using this, I printed up drawing from the Disneyland Paris attraction that features the organ in it (though that has differences that will be corrected).

From the drawings, I cut, sanded, layered, and glued several pieces of styrene together. This will be a very accurate pipe organ, so this will take some time; I'm really fussy with the details on it.

At this point, the main body of the organ is done and given a coat of primer. The next step will to add the intricate woodwork and sculptural aspects of it. Hopefully I'll have the organ done completely done by the next update and the rest of the set complete (except for the number jars on the shelves). I may not get to doing the Nemo figure just yet this week, but I hope I do.

8/30/09 Update

I've been really busy this week doing other stuff so I wasn't able to get as much progress done as I wanted too, so this will be a short update.

As of last week, I cut out all the drawings at the correct size. Using these drawings, I cut sections of PVC pipe at specific angles and lengths, to create the arching tubes above the set.





I created the recessed area for the organ, and all the pipes were glued and assembled together. As of 10 minutes ago, literally, here is the set with rivets glued on, more piping, and the two walls on the sides test fitted (I had no idea there were aquariums on both sides of the salon)



By the next update, my goal is the get the main bulk of the set done and have a good start on the organ. Hopefully this scene won't take too long, because I want all of September for the squid fight scene. But with the lack of free time that I've been having, the chance of that is pretty slim.

8/23/09 Update

I'm slowly catching up with the scene a month schedule that I set for myself; if I can get the next scene done this month, I'll be in good shape and caught up. But that's not the case at this point. This last week I finally finished the shark attack scene and I'm starting the next scene, Nemo playing his organ. Before I get to that, I installed the shark scene under the table on Saturday. When I did that, I realized how much work is going to be needed when I finish up the entire project by cleaning up all the viewing windows, essentially putting the matte on the canvas, and theming it appropriately at the same time. That's going to take a lot of time (and material) to put together and I want as much time as I need to that aspect if I want to complete the project by the second week of December (rough estimate date). With that in mind, I trying to get the next 3-4 scenes done as fast as I can, but still maintaining the same quality. I have to use my time wisely, as my free time isn't as much as it use anymore with a college soaking up a good chunk out of each day.

Anyways, as mentioned, I finished the shark attack scene. All it needed since the last update was more coral details, the water effect and final installation. The water effect was not an easy thing to add on because of the complexity of the mechanism in the small space, not allowing for adequate room for the effect. However, I did manage to squeeze it in on the right and it looks pretty good. The one thing I have not done yet is add the bubble box, but that is undergoing leak tests and needs some equipment before it can be installed. Other than that, the scene is fin shed.

Here's a pano shot of the scene (not the best picture) despite the absence of the "bubble box":



and here's a video that I put together, demonstrating the animation in the scene, as well as show how it all works.


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With that scene out of the way, it's time to focus on the next scene: Nemo playing his organ.



Now this scene isn't necessarily a key scene in the story, but it is a very memorable one. I'm working on a line of scenes that tell the story and scenes that are me memorable and fun, since I don't want to bore the audience with scenes that are important in the story, but aren't necessarily that entertaining. So I'm trying to do a balance of both. This one is mainly a memorable one, but also shows Nemo's rage and madness (he isn't as calm in this organ session as he is earlier in the movie).

This set will be showing the complete organ with Nemo playing it with his back towards the viewer. That way I won't have to sculpt another James Mason head considering his face is the hardest to recreate. This will be a highly detailed set with an accurate organ, which will make up for the lack of detail for the organ in the dinner scene. The set will go where the spot E is on the drawing in this post.

When I determined the spot size, I scaled drawings accordingly to this size and I'll build the set off of that. The base is fairly small for this set, which is good for when I work at my desk. The hole in the masonite base below is the recessed area for the organ.



Since the construction process is very similar to that of the Dinner scene, hopefully the set should be built quickly and smootly.

Like the Dinner scene, there is a bit of forced perspective going on, but it isn't much.

8/17/09 Update

I'm back from my trip, and even though I was a thousand miles away from the project itself, that doesn't mean nothing was done. While I was in Canada, I made the shark for the scene. Made out of sculpey, the shark was based off a Nurse-type shark, the same one in the movie (according to my brother). When I came back, I got it painted and ready for installation.



As in the last update, I worked on the main features of the the set, with divers and coral. The last few days before I left and the past few days after I came back I worked on the mechanical aspects of the scene. This is a very animated scene, with the shark plummeting towards Conseil and Ned as they dive out of the way and at the same time, Nemo raises his rifle and "shoots" the shark--all in sync every time, all the time. Everything had to be in perfect sync, or the shark would actually attack the divers! This was done with a series of cams and levers that pulled string and such for all the diver movements; all the cam are on the same axle, so they stay in sync. One of the cams triggers a switch at the right moment so that a light-bulb in Nemo's rifle lights up, "shooting the shark" (This was the only way I could simulate it; I thought about using a laser pointer, but tests were not satisfying).All of this was extremely hard to engineer and figure out with the small and odd shaped footprint of the set; it would have been a lot easier in a larger set. Everything had to be carefully rigged above the set so no mechanics were exposed and mainly so that everything cleared everything when it came to all the moving parts.



A closer look at the cams:



It looks complicated, but once I get a video of it in action, it will all make sense.

A shot of the divers and the shark at the point of the "attack";



There was no way to support the shark that could be hidden, so I opted for a plex rod that suggests that it isn't suppose to be there. You can see the strings for the divers a little bit, but there's nothing I could do about that. Sometimes you can't have everything; I'll take having some animation even if you can see the strings and rods.

Nemo "shooting" the shark with a red 12V light:



The other problem withe mechanizing the scene is leaving enough room for lighting. I have to have room for the water effect and the two lights for the scene, which will be hard to create the right effect with this big mechanism smack dab in the optimum rigging area for lighting. So that's my current problem that I'll be working on this week. I should be able the finish the scene up soon so I could start the next scene with Nemo playing the organ.

In the meantime before I get an official video, here's a very quick GIF animation of the scene in action (which will take a moment to load). It doesn't show the scene reseting, however.

For those of you who actually follow this blog weekly: I'll be moving my posting day to Sunday's instead of Monday's starting next update now that college has started and Monday's are very long days for me.