Tyler Mele

Fan Art

2012-01-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

I made this mock up of my friend Dave's Big Foot character. His blog is full of all kinds of good stuff. Check it out

Fozzie Bear

2012-01-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

I really want to create a character like Fozzie Bear. Stand by for more details.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 12-09-11

2011-12-09T14:23:00.001-08:00

I had a few rendering nightmares that I hope not to repeat. Anyway, here it is in all its splender!

By the way, thank you Josh Burton for lending this rig to everybody in the world. Very kind, I feel like I don't give enough credit to those kind people who donate their efforts for the betterment of animationkind. Very cool, thanks.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 12-06-11

2011-12-06T11:58:00.001-08:00

I can't find a good solution for scaling the tail. Thing is locked down and full of all kids of whatnotery preventing me from making a good fix. I've resorted to animating a couple of the joints themselves so the tail doesn't shoot through the jug. It's not spectacular but I want to wrap this thing up so I can get a job! I feel good about this one guys, I'm calling it done for now.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 12-05-11

2011-12-05T22:18:00.001-08:00

My friend Barb said I should do a little something with the beginning, like having his hand up there as soon as the cork is popped, and wiggling the jug. The whole thing is better now. Thanks Babs.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 12-04-11

2011-12-04T22:14:00.001-08:00

More polish!

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 12-02-11

2011-12-02T17:04:00.001-08:00

Well here's the skinny on the ol' squirrel. Started inbetweening this thing best I can, trying to not loose the existing bite to my timing. I think I held on that feeling but it's always hard to tell once things are on 1's. I'm starting to loose fire on this one because this long laundry list of little nuances keeps cropping up the minute I think I'm getting close to finishing. Blah. Nevertheless, I must press on up the steep, windy mountain and kick the crap out of this animation. How's that for a metaphor!

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 11-29-11

2011-11-29T17:08:00.001-08:00

Funnier, more simple and more clear than the original. Thanks to all who gave their two cents. Still working on the camera move.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 11-21-11

2011-11-21T17:04:00.001-08:00

The main advice was to show this sucker's face at the end, rather than hide it from view as is. I had to really fight with the stinkin' root control and head IKFK switching to get this working properly. But here is an update.

Drunken Squirrel Revisited 11-18-11

2011-11-18T17:03:00.001-08:00

After a few really amazing margaritas and about 3 days of deep concentration, I have the first go at this new drunken squirrel idea all laid out in blocking. For the sake of communicating thought, personality, emotion, weight and timing well, I'm presenting the first stage with stepped tangents. My friend Zach Mekelberg inspired me to grit my teeth, dig deep, and barrel through this first phase, building my own ease-ins and outs rather than trying to see if I can get lucky with some splined inbetweens. Clarity and contact-before-squashing were two major focuses.

I'll take any comments about anything, from anybody out there.

A New Beginning

2011-11-13T13:52:00.001-08:00

We made it. To pursue our dreams, we've moved to Los Angeles, and Emily has done a hell of a good job, hilariously cataloging the whole journey on her blog. check it out.

In other news, I'm reworking the drunken squirrel idea because it wasn't really coming across the way I wanted. Here's an image of my first thoughts on a revised drunken squirrel bit. I think a serious think-session is in order here with some beer for inspiration. Possibly even margaritas.

As a technical note, I'm trying something new. I've scaled down the head by 20% because it's just too big in my opinion, and I'm 80% sure it won't screw me in the middle of animating. Also, I recently listened to an old Animation Podcast by Clay Katis. He interviewed Eamonn Butler and this guy said something that really struck a cord with me. He prefers to work pose to pose, and he uses linear tangents because spline tangents get to swimmy. Swimmy indeed, splines are hard. I want to try that and build in my own ease ins and outs with linear tangents on this one. I also think it's a better way to communicate ideas of weight and timing. Anything else almost seems irresponsible or lazy to me, at least that is how I feel when I convince myself to let the spline give some inbetweens here and there. Still have lots to learn.

Drunken Squirrel Animation 9-12-11

2011-09-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

I got some advice about some things. "Don't change the pupil size, hiccup should overlap the shooshing gesture..." I'd like to hear a lot of opinions if anyone has any. These things always help me make better decisions.

Drunken Squirrel Animation 9-8-11

2011-09-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

After watching this playback at full speed some things look too fast and a little too deliberate for drunkenness. Each movement should flow into the next rather than what is going on here. Never the less it was time for an update. Still open to any thoughts, and yes I'm still working out kinks with the whisker. It's rigged. I just have to animate it now.

Oh yea, I found some good music to go with it.

hows the dog? is it moving too fast for such a big animal?

A Whisker Rig

2011-08-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

Small Town Worker: My First Short Film

2011-08-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is the first animated short film I ever made. Dug it out of the depths of my harddrive and thought it deserved to see the light of day. Had to be exactly 20 seconds and had to tell a story. Might come back to this idea someday. It's based off my experiences working for my small town's utilities department during the summer.

Drunken Squirrel Animation 8-25-11

2011-08-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

SOOOO much fun with this one. Here's a stepped video and also the splined one that I'm working on. Looks a little mechanical because I haven't put in the necessary keys yet. Just thought I should post an update.

Any thoughts on how to rig a whisker being pulled and plucked? I'm starting to get stumped.

stepped

splined

Drunken Squirrel Animation 8-19-11

2011-08-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

My dog rig isn't as malleable as my drawings portray so that leaves me with a conundrum. Keep the squirrel in front of the eyes and have him pluck an eye whisker, or move him to the other side of the jowls and pluck a lip whisker. It might be pretty funny to have him near the mouth like that. Would there be too much back-and-forth looking at the squirrel and the dog's eyes constantly? I wont make anything happen with the dog's eyes until the whisker is plucked.

I'm leaning toward this composition (squirrel left). It seems more balanced into threes and it feels like the squirrel will have more room to move in that mouth-paw pocket.

Drunken Squirrel Animation 8-18-11

2011-08-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

I've finally settled down on an idea for this squirrel.

Restoring Maya's Hypershade

2011-08-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Weird stuff was happening in my hypershade. The tabs were missing. MOST FRUSTRATING THING IN THE WORLD! So I found my preferences folder and I did this:

-Quit Maya

-Users>Home>Library>Preferences>Autodesk

-Renamed that sun of a gun from "maya" to "maya_oldPrefs" as to not corrupt my scene files.

-Reopened maya, thus maya creates a new factory default set of prefs.

(no reinstallation required :)

8-11-11 (part 2)

2011-08-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

THANKS NICK!
The hair seems to be working way better now that I turned off dampening and stretching. Adding/ increasing the Start Curve Attract attribute really helped keep this thing under control.

Keep sending comments about the animation yall

8-11-11

2011-08-11T07:36:00.001-07:00

Wanted to make a render test here. Looks like there's some funky stuff with the bump map on the nose. I'll probably nix it. What do you guys think about "you got it!" Working?

8-10-11

2011-08-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Illusion of Life states that Secondary Action is, "always kept subordinate to the primary action. If it conflicts or becomes more interesting or dominating in any way, it is either the wrong choice or is staged improperly." But man, would this thing be cool if I had the hair moving too!

Length Flex, Stiffness Scale, Dampness oh my! What is all this stuff? Here was a first run at simulating the hair. What is it going to take to get this moving right? Is my hair rig all wrong?

8-7-11

2011-08-07T12:57:00.001-07:00

I've added a lot more polish to this piece. It's not rendered yet but I wanted to add this censor blur because it's been part of my idea from the beginning.

8-4-11

2011-08-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

A squirrel drunkenly attempts to climb back up to his nest, late, after work. I'm close but there are still some things that need resolved. What is the motivation for this drunken squirrel to climb the tree? Food? Getting home? More beer?

Wouldn't an acorn be way way way too cliche? I think so. What happens at the end when he fails to climb the tree? Does he fall out of frame? Does he pass out?

I also think that I want to use hiccuping as a catalyst for him to reach his goal. Hiccups represent his own drunkenness in a very physical way and it seems like a great thing to use against him, and perhaps loose his grip :)

I also am not sure how to portray this scene. Emily and I both think that this bird's eye view helps enhance the struggle. Do recruiters want to see animation in angles like this? Do they even want to see this kind of animation? The endless inner turmoil of the rookie animatior

Firehouse Five Plus Two

2011-07-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

click pic for link

Holy cow! I was googleing "how to dance" videos for animation reference and I came across a Goofy How To Dance short. And a cartoon version of the Firehouse Five Plus Two showed up! I geeked the hell out because that that was Frank Thomas's Band! Awesome.

7-14-11

2011-07-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Big time inbetweening happened. I still have notes for myself about some hip to feet relationship issues and a little more smoothing out here and there. But I think this is at a point where it's really enjoyable to watch.

7-7-11

2011-07-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Most of the feedback was to vary the footing and balance so it seemed more natural and believable, and also to make the last pose really count. So I suffered through some Step Up and You Got Served videos on youtube and then inspiration hit me for my last pose :) I'm pretty happy with what I have and I'm ready to inbetween the hell out of this guy but as always I'm open for any suggestions. Thanks.

No Smoking

2011-07-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Just a proof of concept for myself here. I want to animate this line from Chinatown with these squirrely rigs.

Bring More Funk

2011-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

People wanted to see more so here's some more. Unless anyone has any more suggestions I think I'm ready to take this thing out of blocking and into animation.

Bring the Funk

2011-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Found a great funk song by Ben Harper. Found a cool rig on Creative Crash. Voila some funky blocking.

Comments please. It feels totally worth while to do this, but is 7 seconds enough? Should there be more dancing? More dancing with other characters?

Simple Game 5-24-11

2011-05-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

Took some advice and made some changes.
"needs more umff at the end"
"the beginning should look different than the end"
I even added in extra time at the beginning to lead up to the delivery of the line. I think the sarcastic tail wag is a fun touch after "game"

Simple Game

2011-05-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Almost done. Just looking for some feedback now.

Wedgie

2011-05-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

My awesome sister told me that I should have this lady pick a wedgie in the midst of her determined and frustraded stride. Great Idea.

Hallelujah My Trash Is Back!

2011-04-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

For a long time now, I've been getting this notification when I send something to the trash that says the item will be deleted immediately. Bull crap! That can't happen. When I'm deleting files off the desktop I need to do so with the utmost speed and diligence. I can't stop to read the little error message from out of nowhere telling me that my trash bin has power over ME. I don't think so, that trash bin works for me, not the other way around.

Anyway I finally found this tutorial and everything is A Okay. https://discussions.apple.com/message/10442865?messageID=10442865

4-19-11

2011-04-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

STUCK!
I'm happy with my walk cycle but here's what's going through my mind. Does she need Hair? Does she need clothes? I know those things are supposed to ignored on a character animation reel but sometimes It's hard to look past a bald head and gray unitard. Any thoughts?

By the way. This woman in real life had hair like Sideshow Bob/ Miss Grotke. I don't know how to groom the hair to make a shape.

4-15-11

2011-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

I went down town yesterday to draw and get some inspiration for walks. I think I'll make some more based off of my drawings, but here is just one that I started.

Fred Astaire Is My Hero

2011-04-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

I admire his confidence. He had to be having so much fun all the time. And damn it he could dance.

3-31-11

2011-03-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

Heck Yea Frog Tape

2011-03-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Just saw an ad for Frog Tape after Jeopardy tonight. Heck yea! Better than those wimpy painter's tape tapes, that's for sure. I don't even have anything to paint right now and I can't wait to buy this stuff. Yeehaw!

3-28-11

2011-03-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Chaplin

2011-03-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

I guess I don't want to say too much about this movie, other than that it was really inspiring and entertaining. I was thoroughly impressed with Robert Downey Jr's performance as Chaplin, and shocked that I had never heard of this brilliant 1992 biography. (imdb)

btw the trailer isn't so good so don't let that mislead you.

3-25-11

2011-03-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

I think I added the ,"so what's the point" part. Little more juice in this one. Lanky helped me see that I was missing a little flicker of life at the end there.

Still need to add some subtle moves here and there with the body and the face, and more polish, but I think this is the thing I'm shooting for.

3-24-11

2011-03-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I was thinking before. This new version is twice as fast as the origionals and it makes so much more sense.

3-23-11

2011-03-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Zach just told me a couple things to try in my next animation. Opposing action and isolation of movement. Here's my first pass.
V2
Try Viewing Full Screen

V1
Try Viewing Full Screen

Rango

2011-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

I saw Rango last night. It was awesome. Though I thought the plot was eerily similar to Chinatown, it was still full of rich characters and great animation that inspired the hell out of me.

3-21-11

2011-03-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

I still have some cleaning-up to do, and I may have to go back to my original timing but I wanted to give this a try. Shoot me any thoughts you have.

Braves Win!

2011-03-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

My best friend Tyler Lancaster needed some help with reference for an animation he's starting. Well, okay, he probably didn't really need help. His idea to animate this audio clip is just so freaking cool to me that I wanted to throw this video together. I only wish I could have made more props and things.

Two Kinds of Graphic

2011-03-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

This is the look I'm thinking about using. This is a test render, not showing high quality shadows but the idea is there.

3-10-11

2011-03-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

3-2-11

2011-03-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I want to keep that hand on the hip at the end. I might have her grab the sink instead.

2-28-11

2011-02-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

2-23-11

2011-02-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

I've made a lot of drawings lately that were so frustratingly unclear that they sent me back to the computer to try and pose a 3d character to get my idea across. That, it turns out, is just as frustrating and more distracting for me to try and communicate my ideas to people. So I dug deep, slowed down and concentrated on the old terra cotta and printer paper and got my idea out there.

And that's after spending a really long time making notes and notes and notes to my self on what it is that I'm trying to say here. Even if things change from here I still think all the prep work is totally worth it. I need to do this every time I animate.

Ideas

2011-02-21T13:27:00.001-08:00

Some ideas seem to stick for a while and then reveal themselves later as half baked ones. Getting a good rig to work with is a challenge as well. Here's my latest idea.

2-11-11

2011-02-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

V15

I'm dang close to having this thing licked. P - Ting! (spits in can)
I made these notes to myself:
- All the doorway walks need to be nice and stiff like the 2nd one.
- Need circular arm rotations around the corner, to gain balance.
- The run all the way to the first door needs passing poses farther away from preceding contact pose.
- Feet are occluding
- Should walk on toes as he passes doors
- Move upper torso more to acompany big arm swings
- Hips need work on 3rd run
- Bring back feet up higher on contact poses

Anyway those are all things that I can handle -no problem-
All that will be left is the head and facial animation and it should hopefully be in the can.

2-10-11

2011-02-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

V12

Took a time-out from the coffee bit. Working on this run-walk-run bit now. I was inspired by Ferris Beauler. I think I'm having some timeing issues but they will soon be remedied.

2-2-11

2011-02-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to make the right decision here. Do I make the pot a child of the hand CNTRL? Trying to key the coffee pot to fit in his hand every frame is a nightmare. But so is a screwed up hypergraph...

Anyway I'm taking a straight ahead approach. I know I blocked in the main action already so it seems like pose to pose. But when I was blocking in things, I did so in order, inventing as I went along. I'm not using those keys anymore because I started over with a clean rig. I think this scene is begging for me to go straight ahead because planning for these tired-body mechanics would make things too stiff and precise. I want this thing to stay organic the whole way through.

1-31-11

2011-01-31T15:33:00.001-08:00

I'm trying this out for timing.

Something happened with my rig today and I'm starting over. Which is fine because I'm only in blocking and my approach was sloppy anyway.

On another note. I think I'm going to take this image below, out of the scene. It's not communicating anything important and complicates thing.

1-30-11

2011-01-30T19:15:00.001-08:00

Jan 28, 2011

2011-01-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

Here's the rundown as of today.
-Grab Coffee Pot
-Dump it out
-Go to Fridge
-Put Pot in Fridge & Get pitcher
-Fill Coffee Maker
-Put Pitcher in Coffee Maker
-Walk away
-Come back and inspect the coffee maker. Hit the on switch
-Walk away

Morning Coffee

2011-01-27T11:38:00.001-08:00

I've got an idea. Haven't worked it all the way out yet. But here's what I made today :)

More Changes to "You hit me"

2011-01-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

V28
My friend Jonathan gave this a fresh look-see and threw some tips my way. Thanks Jon.

V26
V25
V24
V22
V20

Back from L.A. Got some more advice. Making some changes.

BACK TO BLOCKING

2010-12-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

U P D A T E D _ J A N 2 _ V 16
U P D A T E D _ D E C _ 3 1 _ V 15

U P D A T E D _ D E C _ 2 1 _ V 14
U P D A T E D _ D E C 2 0 _ V 13 B
U P D A T E D _ D E C 2 0 _ V 13

I looked back at my reference footage that Steve and Jimmy from Shadowbox helped me with. I think the answer was there all along. So, again, I took a slightly different approach. Big T-Lancaster has been helping me a lot during this process as well. Let me know what you think.

U P D A T E D _ D E C 1 9 _ V 11

I'm taking a slightly new direction with this dialog piece after talking to some folks about screen direction and things. Much improved already, I think.

U P D A T E D _ D E C 1 6_ V9

U P D A T E D_ D E C 1 5_ V 7

Art Sale Success!

2010-12-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

Emmy had a really good day at the art sale this weekend!

YOU HIT ME LIVES

2010-11-15T20:05:00.001-08:00

click the image for movie link

Back in the game. Made some good progress today. Love to hear any feedback.

Space Junk

2010-11-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of freelancing for Space Junk Media this past week. What a crazy fun place to work :)

You Hit Me

2010-10-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new animation with a line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Love to hear your opinions on the staging.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11944374/LightlySlappedYou.wav

1

3
4

The Godfather Speaks

2010-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Film Festival

2010-10-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

I just found out that my short film Nolan was nominated for "Best Achievement in Non-Verbal Communication" and screened at the Animazing Spotlight Short Film Festival on September 4th and 5th at Woodbury University, Burbank, California.

Emmy's 22nd

2010-09-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

I made a placemat birthday drawing for Emmy at Tommy's Diner

Barb is on Cartoon Brew!

2010-09-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Holy cow my friend Barb has her film on Cartoon Brew! And there is also a very nice article about here as well. Click the pic for the link. Proud of you Babs.

Disney!

2010-09-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a freelance gig in Florida working on the Toy Story 3 on Ice and the Disney Live Rockin' Roadshow. Holy cow was that an intense four weeks. It was great fun and I made a lot of new friends at Feld Entertainment, Wellcan Media and Vidaroo (a.k.a. Gen2Media)

Essence of Lanky

2010-09-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Animation Block Party

2010-08-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Barbara just won BEST STUDENT FILM at Animation Block Party this weekend. She thanked me for doing the voices for her characters, like I had anything to do with its success. It's a really great piece and it was fun to be a part of it. Keep an eye out for Always, Only, Ever. It will be making its round at the festivals for a while.

Thanks Barb :)

Experimental Footstool Animation

2010-07-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've gotta do something different from time to time. I woke up around 9 and saw some light dancing through the leaves through the window and had an idea to shoot some stop motion of this. I think it's pretty neat and it was fun to experiment with. It's mostly a test for future stop motion ideas.

Clouds from Home

2010-07-12T11:56:00.001-07:00

I got engaged this weekend :)
She took most the pictures because I was driving.

Nolan Quandry

2010-07-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

Nolan Movie Poster

2009-04-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

CCAD Design Group 8 On The Square

2009-03-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Nate and I designed and created this electronic advertisement for the CCAD Design Group, promoting the 130th Student Exhibition, a.k.a. "The Show."

It was a challenge, designing within these zany parameters.

So we were having our picture taken by our photographer Penny when we hear this guy say, "hang on honey I know these guys here." And this guy comes up and puts his arm around Nate and I and .... it was crazy. The picture says everything. Nate tells the story better than I.

The PIXAR Project Lighting Renders

2008-02-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

a million hours later.... and this is the best one so far. Lets see what the feedback will do for me.

ok guys. lower camera, new lighting, I think its ready to show the big guys and get feed back and change it to their liking. But really really soon!

The PIXAR Project

2008-02-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

These are some images of individual elements that will be in my final scene. I'm creating an environment, modeled, textured, light, to send into PIXAR this March for consideration into their Undergrad Mentorship Program.

My Made for Screen Resume

2006-04-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

HTML

2006-04-17T08:19:00.000-07:00