Little Ninja Project

All Animation & Music created & owned by Shane Newville

Here is something I've been working on for way too long. Since childhood I've wanted to create stories and make real the visions I would see in my mind as I gazed off into space. Being in my mid 20's already and having no knowledge of 3D animation or schooling in the field kind of made me feel it was just one of those dreams that get lost as you grow old. It hit me like a ton of bricks one day. I'm not getting any younger and no one is going to make it happen for me, so get up off those backside jello pads and do something!!!

I'll spare you all the details and say I did was I could to learn what I could. Blender, being open-source was free was a great place to start, but also comes packed with difficulties and limitations. So there were no overnight miracles.

Later I saw Haloid, by Monty Oum and suddenly something inside of me broke (in a good way). This one man was able to turn his visions into reality and that is something I've desired for ages. Over the past 2 or so years I've been doing my best to ask hundreds of questions without becoming annoying. He's been so kind as to stop and give me tips and pointers I don't think I would have gotten from anyone else. Still the journey has been slow, but thanks to him I feel I'm no longer taking baby steps.

This animation is something I've been working on since last October. It is basically my practice pad. Throughout the entire process many obstacles had to be overcome and walls crushed to move on. In a way it is a journal I written as my workflow was evolving.

Recently, at Anime Expo 09 I had the chance to spend some quality time with Monty Oum himself and learned many new techniques and questions answered. Things I believe will drastically speed up my workflow and allow me to focus more on my vision instead of troubleshooting.

I'm also on DeviantArt. Look me up if you get a chance.

Software usage:
Blender: for modeling, rigging, animation and rendering (seperate layers as png image sequences)
Photoshop & ImageReady: used for editing individual frames when needed.
Particle Illusion: for dust, sparks and all sorts of the particle junklets
Director: for compositing all of them layers together
CoolEdit Pro 2: For audio/sound FX editing
FL Studio: for creating the music
Adobe Premiere: color correction, mixing/syncing video, sound fx and music into the final product.