GF's Rosetta Stone

I have the good fortune of spending a good part of my life in Cambodia. Khmer culture is reknown for its monuments, and in particular for the amazing stone bas-reliefs that ornate its countless  angkorian (and pre-angkorian) temples.

The mastery of stone carving has survived, and skilled artists are still sculpting elegant Budhas and generously breasted Apsaras.

You may recall Grim Fandango's famous "mural" that was gradually lighten up as the player progressed through the story. This mural, originally designed by Peter Chan, was imitating a stone carving containing  clues and pointers of the world and unfolding story of GF. It's an absolutely amazing piece of art. According to Tim Schafer :  

After Peter Chan created it, he dutifully handed the original over to LucasArts Marketing, where it probably got shoved into a closet and forgotten about. I’ve tried to get my hands on the original for years, but I think it’s just gone.  It might have even been thrown out when they moved to the Presidio. :( 

 (source: Double Fine(tm) forum here)

Sometime ago, a couple GF fan, elbiolin (LucasForum) and Laserschwert, laboriously managed to "restore" a high resolution rendering of this artwork from some pixelized screenshots...

Laseshewert's "restoration" of Peter Chan's mythical "mural" (CG, click for details!)

I downloaded his high res file, printed a poster, and went in a little carving shop located in a small street of Phnom Penh. When I unrolled my poster, I could tell on the face of the shop owner that this was the most unusual commission that he had ever received. He looked at me, puzzled, wondering what could possibly be my religion. Of course, a cultural chasm (not to mention the language barrier) did not help to explain the nature of my condition.

He asked for three months, but called me back after only four weeks. While on my way, I got myself prepared for a big disappointment. He could not have possibly completed this piece in just a month. I was not even sure that carving this piece was actually possible. There are so many layers of depth, so much details... this was plain silly!

I arrived at the shop, and Mr Choum Sophek was waiting for me. A plate of sandstone at its feet measuring 110cm large, 38cm high. With the help of two of its staff he turned the stone over to reveal its sculpted side and I went... speechless.

Mr Choum Sophek (& co) actual carving (sandstone, click for details!)

I am now the proud owner of this improbable artifact:
First conceived and drawn by Peter Chan somewhere San Francisco, lost in some bottomless IP vault at LucasArts, laboriously restored in its original splendor as a computer graphic by GF fans, and finally, 15 years later, carved into a 40kg piece of sandstone in Cambodia by the descendents of the Angkor Wat builders. What a fantastic journey! Peter Chan's masterpiece has finally reached its own Ninth Underworld... in my living room!

Oh by the way, I intend to use this carving for the Opening of the movie (panning through the details in extreme close-up, in stop-mo, but under natural light in order to get some natural flickers as a special "intemporal" effect)

Set building: More props

Door... almost done... just need to write "Manual Calavera" in reverse across the window

 Books... painted

 

Mexican band... work in progress (by the way this prop is not at 1/7th, too small, and just need for a close-up, so this prop is made at 1/1 scale...)

Set Building: for a fistful of props

I had still quite a few items on my prop list which needed to be addressed, somehow... and if possible cheap and fast.

For example, this pile of official DOD self-help books to unleash your inner salesmanship potential

How about that (rigged) vacuum tube messaging system,

I also need shoes for this close-up on Celso's shoe taping nervously as the "reaper" walks in...

And how about this annoying Mexican band press-paper... (err, one musician done, 3 to go)

All these props were made using Super Sculpey Firm, then baked. It's a reasonably cheap way to get done with smaller prop, rather than modelling in 3D and 3D printing.

I still need to model a couple of lamps, a couple of ashtrays, finish the mexican-band press paper, find a way to make a (partial) roof, create the city landscape behind the windows, build the door... and... I know... I really should get on with painting one of these days...

Set Making: Manny's computer in the matter.

Here is another prop 3D-printed from a Google Sketchup rendition.
This is where 3D printing shine... those intricate little keys of the keyboard would have been almost very hard to render using any other modelling technique. If only 3D printing wasn't so expensive... this nice little prop did cost about 40 euros...

The 3D-print price are going down, but I guess that clay and talented traditional sculptors have still a bright future for their craft.

Prop making: Molding corners

Earlier in this blog, I posted my attempt to modeling the art-deco ceiling corners in Manny's office.

I sent the shape to my favorite 3D printer and received a scaled 3D print for that shape as shown below. I could have asked the print of 4 identical pieces and be done with it, but... 3D print is expensive, and this relatively simple geometrical shape was a good practice target to learn the craft of Silicon mold making.

I show below the original 3D print of the master shape. Then below a Silicon mold made of this shape. And last row the resin cast of 4 corners made in resin.

The result is good enough for a decorative prop of this kind. A little sanding, a little painting, and those four pieces should look OK in the set.

The whole process was made in a week-end, with locally available chemical products (RTV Silicon, Resin, and their respective hardener), and it was fun to do with my daughter. However the result would probably not be good enough for a more intricate design requiring a higher level of precision. I made all the beginner's mistakes, as usual, and I will probably do better next time. Which was the point of the whole exercise... I could have skipped this detail from the set with no much visible difference in the final movie. But this project is as much about learning techniques I am unfamiliar with as it is about the final product, the movie.

There are plenty of excellent tutorial around about this RTV Silicon mold making, so I will spare you with the details. However, always happy to answer any question, from layman to layman.

Set Building: Progress report

Here is a little update on the set building. This picture shows most of the props in place. Latest work was the application of the upper wall pattern in green, and some windows dress-up work.

This picture was taken without flash, with a single light from behind the camera. The trick is going to drop two incoming light on the carpet, as in the original game background. One square of light from the door, and another one from the window. No idea how to place the lights to do this effect. It is very hard to drop a shadow with nice hard edge...

Any photographer around to give me some advice on how to achieve this?

Set Building: Details, details

Some time ago I have published a 3D model of those plaster patterns that are running on the top of the wall.

My initial thought were to get it 3D printed, then to create a mold to make as many plaster tiles as I need.

I have finally decided against this approach : too expensive, too time consuming. Got to cut corners here.


My 3D sketchup model will still be handy though. The flat sketchup model is exported here :

 Using V-Ray for sketchup (free trial edition), I manage to get a hi-res output of this tile

It still looks a little too nice and computer generated. So photoshop, throwing in a bit of burns, cracks, highlights, I ended up there :

Now repeat this tile 10 times and print on sticker paper (just as I did the walls), there we go. Quick and cheap. For the opposite wall, this same tile will be flipped so as to give the impression of that the light is coming from the same direction (the windows). I hope that, in the lens of the camera, this will be convincing enough.

Set Building: OK Computer

Here comes my biggest prop so far... Manny's computer desk! The shape is not as intricate as my 3D model , but I had to be realistic... Some details will be added (buttons etc..), and some decoration will be added with printed stickers (the patterns on the left and right column of the screen).

But Manny and I are very happy to have extracted this fine piece of art-deco furniture from the game into the tangible side of the screen.

Set Building : Sofa and other details

This shot shows another new prop freshly added to the set. Other smaller details, such as the wall skirting and the door framing have been added.

Set Building: the filing cabinet

Manny's office has now a filing cabinet. I had this done by a local carpenter in Cambodia who still has no clue, even with my agitated explanations, about the final purpose of what I was asking him to build.

Of course, I would have liked more details, such has metal handle, and label frames... but hey... this is an amateur project and I don't have the resource of a professional stop-mo studio, so this will have to do if I want to finish this 3 minutes project within this century.

I might paint those handle with silver paint if I find a warhammer shop selling Citadel paints...
The most important feature which I am very happy about is the fully functional sixth column of filers which opens just like in the original movie.

This is another liliputian step in this long journey, and looking at this little props puts a silly static smile on my face for this whole evening, at least.

Oh... and I did a really, really, crappy 3-second animation test shot using my new camera and DragonFrame software. Which I will shamelessly publish in this blog... just for you to realize how far I am from becoming a stop-motion animator.

Set Building: Finishing the carpet

For Manny, every things always start with a good sweeping move. I think he got that carpet nailed, with the pattern and color of the carpet sufficiently close to the original to move on the next lilliputian step into this very slow-paced adventure...

Set Building: those ceiling corners.

Another quick Sketchup work to deal with those art deco corners. These are more or less aligned to the  plaster decoration that runs on the top of the wall. Tricky to build... probably another job for my 3D printer.

Set Building: surface texturing

So, time to dress up this beautiful naked wooden box...

First, the carpet. I found some blue fabrics of the right color in a snooker repair shop.
Then, applying some pins and string, I divided the surface equally to put some marks where the circles and squares will have to be painted on the carpet.

Printing over sticker paper and cutting the shape out, the stencil are applied at the intersection of the strings. The strings are then removed.

I am still testing different ways of painting over the stencils, I think I found the right way, but this will have to wait. First, let's apply some texture on the wall : I mentioned in an earlier post that I had designed some trash-dirt yellow texture. I sent my files to a print shop for printing over sticker-poster. The trick was simply to stick these poster over the wooden walls... trying to avoid any bubbles.

 

The walls look much brighter than they will look in the stop-mo shooting : I am using flash, while the stop mo shooting will be made with longer exposure with a more subdued light. I am rather happy by the result. I wanted some dirt to accumulate in the corners of the room and the texture seems to do the job.
 

The door and windows are still just a square holes in the wall, but they will eventually be dressed up.

Notice the column on the left? just like in the original set from the game.

Manny's feeling home, yet the painting of the carpet will be the next delicate step.

Set Building: Manny's chair... tangible

 Here is Manny's chair! In its first rough delivery. Note that the original in the game had 6 legs. But that's easier to model in 3D than to weld!

As for the guest's chair, that one will be properly dressed with red fabrics over some polyurethane mousse, and a tiny paint job before it gets into the shot.

Set building: The guest's chair

Here is the chair... or rather its "bare-bone" structure. It will be eventually dressed up with red padded fabrics like the original. The back of the chair is not as oval as the original, but it will have to do!

Set Building: Manny's desk in the material world

There is something immensely satisfying in being able to touch anything that comes from Grim Fandango. Here is my first prop... the desk. Pretty close to the mark, but of course the model has not been painted yet.

Set Building: Grunging it a bit

Back to set-building... Right now Manny's Office set is pretty much a naked wooden structure. First, I will need to add texture to the wall, ceiling and floors, before my miniature props (furnitures, accessories) settles in.

I want the Manny's office to be as gloomy as the original, but with more details. His office is a reconverted storage room. It is the office of a looser, set in a dark, moist corner of the DOD building. I have therefore opted for preparing a vintage-grungy wallpaper in Photoshop, which I will print as a poster and apply along the walls. I want the corner of the room to be already shadowed by the texture to facilitate the actual lightning contrast of the set.

For those interested in the photoshop technique, I have used this tutorial together with this paper texture and some pretty wicked photoshop "Grunge Brush" available on DeviantArt.

The actual wall paper is one meter long, but here is a snapshot...

Set Buidling: Decoration Details

What makes GF so stylish is the seamless blend between art-deco, film-noir and mexican-mayan graphic style which permeate from almost any scene. Tim and its designer team nailed down a very unique, and consistent, style throughout the the Wold of the Dead.
Manny's office borrows from a typical 50's bulky style. It is supposed to be a less-than-glamorous office - actually, as we learn from the script, a reconverted storage room - since Domino managed to get the favors of the boss Don Copal, hence taking over Manny's former stylish office.



The set will have to carry these dark, dull colors, and the unenviable spot in which Manny has been cornered. Yet, a few decorative elements can be noticed. Here are the sketchup 3D rendition of 2 plaster decoration that can me see on the top of the walls and on the ceiling.

Set Building : Manny's office

When I started this project, I decided to adopt the 1/7th scale, popular in stop motion animation, which allows for a decently sized puppet (25cm) which is easier to animate than smaller format. I did not realize that, as the result, the set would be so big. Here is my office set. Or at least, the raw skeleton for it. The base is 1meter times 1.3 meters... which takes a significant space in my little appartment. The things we do for love...

Lots of works left to dress this up... As you can see, all the walls can be turned down to give camera access from any angle.

Set Building: Manny's chair

Well, this is a very approximate modelling, but don't ask me to do any better. I spent far too much time on that one... far too curvy for my good. No idea how I am going to get this props built... but at least I have some dimensioned plans now.

The good news is... I am done with the modelling the furniture props. A couple of lamps and ashtrays, and Manny's office is now fully charted and rescaled in 3D.