So, enjoy the video and check out the rest of my progress for this Transformer project.

Below is a digital rendition of the Transformer head that won the poll.

The first artwork below is for the assembly of the Transformer in Robot mode. There are some detailed descriptions on where the specific car parts will go. Although it seems detailed as of the moment, all of this is subject to change. As for the artwork below the assembly art, it’s a full bodysketch with details on how the robot mode may look like.

Thanks for looking. Leave any comments or suggestions if you want to.

Anyway,  here are the choices and the poll will be shown below.

Here’s the Poll:

Click to see the full image

I just wanted to share a work in progress of the Audi R8 Transformer I was planning to do. I know that Sideways was an Audi R8 but in my opinion, the robot design for Sideways looked rushed. Later on, I’m going to sketch some robot designs that would fit the design of the Audi R8 more than Sideways did. My first Transformer looked like it was done by an amateur but after watching dozens of Transformers fan 3D animations, I think I have a better idea behind making the animation and rigging of a Transformer.

Anyway, here are some shots of the Audi R8 car in progress. So far, it’s just the body model of the car. I’ll start working on more details on Friday.

Right now, I’m still deciding if he should be an Autobot or a Decepticon. Since Sideways was a Decepticon, there’s a  chance that this Audi R8 will be an Autobot.

This Audi R8 Transformer will just be a part of my Portfolio but of course, I will be making a short clip of it with live footage.

The story of the entire film revolves around a character called “The Fallen” who seems to be one of the oldest yet menacing robots among the race of Transformers in the universe. The Fallen is out for “revenge” yet it seems like he’s just really pissed at everything that doesn’t have a metal skin or colored metal gray. Sam Witwicky, played by Shia Labeouf, is once again entangled in this conflict while he’s preparing himself for college and a long distance relationship with Mikaela, who is played by Megan Fox.  The Autobots seemed to have formed an alliance with the military thus forming the “N.E.S.T.” unit that is dedicated in hunting down and disabling the remaining Decepticons on Earth. The problem is, someone from the government seems to dislike all the destruction going on due to this “hunt”. So, with Sam busy with his personal life and the Autobots dealing with a stubborn government, it does seem like a great time to attack Earth right? Well, not unless of course you have no idea where to look first.

The movie starts off with Optimus Prime once again narrating about the history of their race.  A lot of things were revealed including the fact that humans of the ancient times had no sense of scale when it comes to intimidating their enemies.  That introduction itself was intriguing but it doesn’t escape the fact that maybe it was better not to have it at all. Sure, they needed to introduce the main bad guy for the film but somehow I guess it would have been better if they shocked everyone with the bad guy right in the middle of film instead.

The movie then continues showing off Sam Witwicky’s personal life. His going to college, his unsteady relationship with Mikaela, and his humping dogs seem to sum up his personal life along with Bumblebee still hanging around his garage. The first film handled this very well but this time around, most of the sequences that involve Sam Witwicky and the humans around him seem to be forced and well, not really involved with the rest of the conflict of the film. I don’t think that these scenes weren’t needed but the writers could have given it more thought on how Sam really fits into the conflict and not really just mere coincidences. And besides, why would Prime mention that they need Sam more then Sam realizes it, when actually, Sam just stumbled upon most of the information that he gathered.

Story aside and knowing Michael Bay, I don’t think we really need to use our brains too much to enjoy this film. Revenge of the Fallen was supposed to be fun and a visual feast for everyone. It’s a blockbuster movie in it’s own respect and not a contender for the Academy Award (Although, if there was an award for most explosions in a movie, this would be the definite winner).

Revenge of the Fallen succeeds in giving what most of the fans of first movie are truly looking for. Action, more robots, more story and less focus on the humans are some of these things and ROTF delivers. The odd thing is these few things are the things that the fans of the first movie seem to complain a lot about in ROTF. So, next time people, be careful what you wish for. Or should I say, when you wish for something, you better know what you’re in for.

The visual effects in the film were phenomenal just like in the first film. Realistic looking robots and tons of explosions while being composited with live-action footage really make this film a visual spectacle. The animations were near to perfection especially for those awesome fight scenes. The problem though with the visuals was actually the same problem in the first film. It was hard to tell who’s fighting who except for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. ROTF actually made this scenario worse since most of the Decepticons were colored in metallic grey. Well, even “The Fallen” was mostly grey which actually made it difficult at time to wonder if Prime was fighting an ordinary Decepticon or The Fallen.

It’s safe to say that Revenge of the Fallen is a worthy sequel to the first Transformers movie. It expands on the franchise’s mythology and also gives us more than what we got from the first movie. Sure, the story seems rather shallow or disconnected, but it’s not that hard to follow if you paid attention a lot more carefully than staring at Megan Fox’s amazing body. Revenge of the Fallen is not for everybody, but if you’re looking for a really entertaining ride, this movie is worth the price of admission.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen gets 4 out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

]]> http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/07/05/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-review/feed/ 1 http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/05/31/terminator-salvation-movie-review/ http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/index.php/2009/05/31/terminator-salvation-movie-review/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 14:14:22 +0000 Jepster Togle http://jepstertogle.arcaneanimations.com/?p=564 Terminator Salvation is here but is there even salvation for this franchise?

One of the few films that sparked my interest in the visual effects industry was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Just seeing that liquid metal get shot by a shotgun just left me wondering, “how did they do that?”. Also, that chase sequence with the Harley vs. the 10 Wheeler truck? That was a classic. James Cameron was a visual genius and a lot people knew that whatever James Cameron had in store for the next Terminator film was going to be spectacular.

Sadly, the next film in the series wasn’t directed by Cameron and turned out to be average compared to the second film in the “trilogy”. The third film had most of the same things the third film had but less Sarah Conor and too much comedic sequences. But the ending of the third film was so good that this third film actually deserves some merit for being part of the franchise.

Continuing from there, we get Terminator Salvation. John Connor is now a grown man in the form of Christian Bale. Yes, John Connor is Batman. Anyway, John Connor is like some sort of prophetic celebrity to lead mankind to salvation from Skynet or otherwise known as the “Machines”. Another major character in this film is Marcus Wright, a man out of nowhere looking for answers as to what happened to the world around him. The entire plot of the film revolves around saving mankind from the machines and most specifically the younger version of John Connor’s father, Kyle Reese.

When McG was first attached to this project, I certainly hoped that he get kicked out and be replaced by someone else. Honestly, after that tremendously pointless and waste of film called “Chalie’s Angels:Full Throttle”, McG for me was considered one of the worst directors of this era. Later on, Christian Bale was cast as John Conner which kind of left me asking, “Batman?”. No offense to Mr. Bale, but I think we’re seeing too much of him lately. So in other words, my expectations for this movie was extremely low.

Seeing the trailers didn’t help either. I was thinking, “These trailers only show the good stuff”. Knowing McG, he’d overdo most of the action sequences and maybe have John Connor fight a Terminator while falling 100 ft high down to the ground. Everyone, I’m sad to say, I was wrong.

Terminator Salvation is decent and might even be next in line to be one of the best movies to see this summer. Although not as spectacular as Cameron’s films, Terminator Salvation in its own right has the right amount of action, story, and drama to be part of this popular franchise. Some may have speculated that the film may no longer adhere to the past theme of all the Terminator films, “Chase”. Gladly, the film is a split between a objective based mission and a lot of chasing. There’s a lot of running here and there with additional stunts that will put you in the edge of your seat.

Another good thing to point out that makes the film good is the practical use of CGI. A lot of people would believe that McG would go overboard with visual effects using ever 3D software available to do his insane stunts. Thanks to Stan Winston studios, there were a lot practical special effects that just make every scene achieve that sense of dread in the film.

The film is far from perfect but compared to the third movie, Salvation proves to be more entertaining and more serious than the third film. The feeling that all hope is lost is clear in the entire film. Another one of the few flaws of the film is its way of trying to hard to use lines from previous films like, “Come with me if you want to live” or “I’ll be back”. Eventhough these lines were used at the right moment in time, they just screamed “fanservice” to the audience. The script was a bit one dimensional seeing that there wasn’t much dimension in most of the characters. Also, John Connor’s life partner, Kate Connor played by Bryce Dallas Howard, was severely underused. There could have been a lot of dramatic and intense dialogue between the two but they didn’t have much chemistry to begin with.

Another thing that the film suffers from is the lack of focus. The plot shifts from Kyle Reese, Marcus Wright, to John Connor a lot of times and sometimes I felt like I just wanted to know what would happen to John Connor. Although it makes sense to shift from the three different main characters, it would have been nice if all three met around halfway into the story.

There were a lot of unnecessary characters, namely the Russian General who plays alongside with Michael Ironside. Speaking of Michael Ironside, his performance felt much like his performances from a dozen B-movies, but I’m glad he didn’t have much to do with the plot of the movie.

All in all, the movie was good, not as great as Terminator 2 but definitely better than the third film. Christian Bale acts well, but I’m not sure if he really plays well as John Connor. Terminar Salvation ranks 2nd next to Star Trek so far in this years roster of summer blockbusters.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Terminator Salvation gets 3 out of 5 stars

I don’t usually do Mecha (or robots for those who prefer old school geek terms) contrary to what most people believe. Countdown to War was based on the RF Online Game so those weren’t my designs. This one below however is all mine.

Initially, I sketched a design for this mecha but the sketch disappeared out of nowhere so, I decided to model on the fly. So, I took out my model kits (Yes, I collect Mecha Model Kits) and used them as inspiration for this Mecha robot. If you’re asking what it’s for, it’s for a short film. Supposedly, it was for a Gundam 00 Parody but I decided to make my own story.  I made a wallpaper for you guys so feel free to download. The standard size of the image is 1440X900 so it’s best for Widescreen monitors. Other sizes are also available so, just scroll down below and enjoy.

Instructions:

1. Click the thumbnail

2. Right Click on image

3. Select “Set  as Desktop Background”

Mecha Wallpaper 1024 X 758

Mecha Wallpaper 1440 x 900

Mecha Wallpaper 1600 X 1200