It took my a couple years, but I've released the full OST on SoundCloud! The first movie was made up completely of free stock music, so that's why there isn't a release of that one. Anyway, this is actually a slight revision from the movie version, with some minor changes and edits through most of the tracks (though not all).  Save maybe the title theme, it's not particularly different--basically, if you liked the original you'll probably like this more; if you disliked it you might dislike this less; and if you didn't have much of an opinion on it... well, you probably won't after this either.  https://soundcloud.com/mxyl-valtapaz/sets/abydos-incursion-ost

Composing was pretty much the last step of the movie in my workflow, although that was more of a guideline than a rule. While I can see a couple things that I could have done differently, I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out--and, perhaps more vitally of all, if I waited for the soundtrack to be perfect I wouldn't actually ever get the movie released.  Anyway, given my blog's early emphasis on project-making resources, I decided to showcase what I used to make the soundtrack for ABYDOS: Incursion! Below is everything I used to compose it; all of them are free in some form (although some carry a couple caveats), because my approach to whether I should grab software really hasn't changed in the last eight or nine years of this blog. Composing software/DAW used: LMMS (free and open source) Instruments used (NOTE: The below license descriptions only apply to making music with the downloads, not modifying/redistributing the files themselves. Also, while I've...

Here it is! I'm really thankful to my siblings Klenda, Zorg and Leena for all the acting, improv-ing, re-voicing and consulting; each of them brought new things to the table that vastly improved the script and execution thereof. This has propelled my abilities incredibly far even through the span of the movie's production, and it's marked my first time working with several features and tactics, including inverse kinematics, luma-based sky replacement, (successful) in-Blender 3D tracking and more! I also decided to push myself as a filmmaker rather than solely as a VFX artist, especially concerning editing and screenwriting; while I wasn't going for film- level masterpiece (which, to borrow from a college-related book, would probably work about as well as attempting Flight of the Bumblebee after learning my first chords), I decided to go a bit more advanced with story structure, theme and motif this time as a step forward. Hope you like it!  Not sure if I'll keep...

2020 isn't the year of the impossible, just the basically unthinkable--like ABYDOS II getting released! Seriously, though, I'm pleased to announce that ABYDOS: Incursion will land on Friday, October 23rd, 2020!  Thanks to a lot of help and support from the crew, I have the final file rendered, backed up just in case and ready to launch! I'm looking forward to the release! Ignore the lights.

I'm pleased to announce... well, the title gave it away, but I may as well note that I've finished effects work on ABYDOS II, also known as “ABYDOS: Incursion!” Barring finalized credit text, both the Blender and After Effects sides of the project are now done, so everything else that's left are a good chunk of the sound work (including a custom soundtrack!) and the final editing! It's been a little over half a year since my last Incursion (or anything else)-related post, so it feels fair to mention what's been happening during my personal life through that time. First of all, I've graduated college and have just held my commencement! That was an amazing ride and quite a helpful one, with a film appreciation class giving me a more solid understanding of editing in particular. Secondly, I've been taking on a couple of freelance jobs while looking into entrepreneuring and full-time employment options; while these haven't been directly applicable to AB...

It's here! I'd earlier considered posting a comedic, one-shot sketch, but I decided it'd be better to release a full trailer (hence why I'd said that an update video would come "soon" almost a full year ago). Hopefully it was worth the wait! And yes, the end does mean that I'll be tackling the numerous questions left open by the first film!  (...Except why ABYDOS' car looks like Chloe's.  The closest thing I had to an explanation for that is that their distinctive transport had a camouflage mechanism that got stuck in the rough shape of a blue box, and that would probably get me sued by the BBC.)  Ignore the lights.

So I've been keeping ABYDOS II progress under wraps for a while, and a good chunk of that has been related to scheduling--Spring saw slowdowns regarding college (which is resuming... uh, tomorrow, actually...), and I was away from my computer for a good chunk of Summer, but beyond that, I've been hard at work!  I'm pleased to announce that filming has FINISHED for the sequel, and that I'm a good chunk of the way through the visual effects and CGI!  This has definitely been quite an adventure, but it's coming to a close!  I should have a full teaser up soon (for real this time); I was originally planning a smaller, comedic one-shot take just to say we were done filming, but I decided a more relevant video would work better.  On a separate note, I've extracted and rigged some a number of 3D models from BIONICLE G2's mobile games, Mask of Creation and Mask of Control (which anyone interested can download from here and here , respectively)!  Unfortunately,...

And, despite being on a blog based entirely around computer animation and special effects, the video doesn't have anything to do with either of them!  So yeah, this mostly talks about story/concept/different things that happened during filming.  Anyway, a new semester has started and I'm really hoping my modern philosophy-ridden Art Theory class comes with brain bleach!  In the meantime, though, I hope you enjoy the Making Of! 

    Finally, my work on the first draft on the ABYDOS sequel is done!  The only problem is that it's over twice the length of the original's script, and I'm not hoping for a 40+ minute long movie, so there may be a bit of work yet to be done.  However, I'm hoping to involve input from the rest of the creative team--an advantage that, while I'd also used it for the first film, I hadn't been using to nearly the same degree.  That said, I've also done some more work with Blender, which I'd love to share soon! Ignore the Lights.  

    I'm happy to announce that I'm currently scripting ABYDOS II!  I'm seeing several possibilities and am connecting several dots on how the movie will work.  So far, one struggle seems to be balancing a more massive story and scale while keeping it around the length of the original ABYDOS.  That said, so far the script's looking quite promising so far; I'm definitely looking forward to filming it!     Ignore the Lights.

The entire ABYDOS crew (all four) have begun to collaborate and talk about work on ABYDOS II!  The project's planned to be a lot more collaborative than the first one, and it's also planned to not only explain the numerous questions in the original (some planned, some plotholes), but also to have a lot more in the way of character-driven moments and a stronger story itself.  As well, I've figured out several ways to up the ante on the effects, including a primitive alternative to motion tracking.  I'm definitely looking forward to making it, as well as getting some making-of videos up!

After over a year of work, I'm finally done--and just in time, too, as my new college semester starts soon! This is by far my most ambitious video project to date, with both my After Effects and my Blender skills used to a much farther extent than anything I'd done before.  Aside from its technical aspects, there was a lot of acting, scripting, and even voiceover dialogue to an extent that my family's never tried before.  This took quite a bit of doing, and I can't wait to post about how it was made!  For now, let it be said that there was a lot of masking.  That said, there will be making of videos, and I'm hoping for a sequel!  I already have several ideas for new technical improvements... Ignore the Lights.  

As of now, all the special effects and video editing is finished on ABYDOS!  All that's left are some voiceovers, which are more than halfway done, but after that the project is essentially finished!  I should be able to have a trailer out by the end of the month.  In the meantime, here's an official poster! 

I've been mostly doing the editing and general After Effects work, hoping to add CGI elements later on.  The main challenge with the CGI seems to be lining it up with the footage (as, rather than using a not-so-free plugin or something else to put actual 3D into After Effects, I'm rendering the footage in Blender and then compositing it on top of the AE work).  One neat trick around this is that Blender does allow background images (including videos), so that'll be an excellent tool for matching up the camera and the video.  Hoping to get a lot of work done on it soon! 

I'm proud to announce that principal filming for ABYDOS has finished!  After the college semester, we'd officially resumed filming on May 14th and have finished on June 8th!  No idea when all the post-processing will be done, but I've done some of the effects work and it's shaping up pretty well so far!  Here are some behind the scenes photos with some filming locations and the ABYDOS crew: Ignore the Lights. 

    You may have noticed that I've been gone even longer than usual.  I've been taking five concurrent college classes, causing continuing constraints concerning Creative Cloud crafts.  Hoping to get back to posting regularly (at least once a month), and I've been building up the universe of Abydos, which I hope to complete filming for within a week or so after the semester.     I've been doing quite a bit with 2D animation, especially regarding Adobe Flash's frame-by-frame animation--and, if you'll believe it, pinned character animation in After Effects.  I decided to incorporate Abydos into my two final projects: a rotoscoped project done in Flash and a rigged short done in After Effects (which also features the title sequence I mentioned last post).  Again, these ideas don't have much to do with the story (despite the design being based on Zorg's character, the character ended up being voiced by me for the project), but I decided t...

    Finally, I've decided to announce that I'm working on another After Effects project!  This one, called Abydos, will be a much larger-scale project than either of my previous relatively long projects; going for a more engaging storyline, actual personalities and hopefully some world-building.  As well, since Clash of the Jedi, my skills have improved quite a bit: the enemies are planned to be entirely CG, and energy effects will be both flashier and more realistic-looking.  It'll incorporate ideas from Project Mirai (which is on hold for now) and will quite possibly take place in the same universe.  Only time will tell for sure; a short video's coming in September, though (likely the title sequence).  Ignore the lights. 

Hi, As you may have noticed, I'm not updating my blog, let alone Mirai, very often.  Right now, that's because I'm currently beginning a college class, along with another project unrelated to CGI, some more Japanese, etc.  I haven't forgotten Mirai, but it may take a while for me to get back to it.  Thanks! In the meantime, here's a picture from Bill and Ted: 

This is it.  Do you remember when one year ago , I said that I had something big under plans?  Something involving both live action and computer animation?  Well, it's been one year.  I've gotten a considerable bit better--both at the plots and the animation.  After a lot of planning, I've decided to do something about it.  As I was at the Mediterranean Sea for a week without internet, Blender was my primary computer priority.  And here is the first scene: This is the only scene I've rendered so far, though it's one of my most professional-looking, in my opinion.  Also my first animation to be rendered at Full HD, we can see a futuristic city zooming to an important-looking building... This will be one of many brief scenes I'll show before releasing the premier (yet to be recorded).  I'm having big ideas about this.  As usual, you can leave any comments in the comments!  I'm leaving for America soon, to I'll be able to do ...

So, it's been over a month since my last post and I haven't done a thing.  This is partially because I was: a. in New Jersey with my grandparents and cousin in early early July. b. packing up for summer camp in later early July. c. earning merit badges in summer camp for a week in mid-July. d. this is late July.  And next week I'm going on a family vacation. On to the other excuses for non blogging what's been happening: 1. Of course, there are all the minor details like my birthday , earning a learner's permit , signing college applications, etc. 2. Back with computer animation, I am happy ecstatic to announce that someone has downloaded my TARDIS model !  Somewhere, someone is using it for their own projects!!! 3. Speaking of downloads, I have downloaded and am coloring a Tardis interior from the same website.  To tell the truth, I actually like it that downloads all start out colored gray; it gives the person working with it something to do....