I’m incredibly jazzed about the fact that we’ve stared animating the “Jail” sequence of the film. Fortunately, I have several highly experienced and skilled friends within the animation industry who have stepped up and volunteered to help me get this sequence created in a timely manner, and I am, of course, eternally grateful. These guys have animated for Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, ILM and other studios on a slew of projects over the last decade or so, and it’s a huge relief to have people that I can rely on and also enjoy working with.

In this sequence Two-Headed Cop have found themselves on the wrong end of a frame-up, and are being escorted to the precinct holding tank. While A-Ray is devastated, C-Ray takes it upon himself to make a quick and unexpected exit, utilizing an unsuspecting ally. Below is a selection of stills from the sequence in layout.

These represent a little over half the shots, and, since they are taken from layout versions of the scenes, really only reflect the staging (and not final lighting or textures, or even the final model, as in the case of the dungeon-like jail set.)

Also, since I’m announcing the start of animation, it seems a shame not to show some actual animation, so here’s a test of the two guards walking together.

Once we get an actual shot finished I’ll post it, then I’ll show its progress through cloth and lighting. And now, less blogging, more animating.

I haven’t had a chance to show any real animation yet, so I thought I’d put up this walk cycle for the Guard character. This is the burly fellow that pushes Two-Headed Cop around when he’s getting taken to his jail cell. (Two-Headed Cop in jail! What?!)

This is just a simple playblast right out of Maya with no bells or whistles, but I gotta say, it’s a thrill to see something moving after so much time putting all of this together. There’s still some things left to tweak on him, and there will be a cloth simulation, and once that’s done I’ll throw some lights onto him and render him in our style and post it again.

The modeling and rigging was done through our production partner AnimationRigs.com, who’ve done a fantastic job in taking our designs and turning them into three dimensional beings.

Since this is the first I’ve shown of him, here’s a little design history as well:

Once again, all designs by Anna Wilkenfeld.