Compilation

https://youtu.be/wE70h7zNO5I

Final animation

  For the final animation task I was assigned to create a animation on MAYA. The animations itself has to be lengthy and lasting between 20-45 seconds. The animation must also include my exploratory vehicle from my previous 3D modelling unit. For reference below is my Vehicle which is a Duck-W which is an aquatic car from the second world war.

The first thing which I had to do was create a storyboard. This is the process done in every animation. The purpose of it is to keep track of what animation your doing as well as how you are going to do it. Storyboards are very reliable and well needed to make the production of the animation more efficient.


The animation itself got off to a rough start which really frustrated me. I had been key framing the whole rig rather than specific limbs and body parts. This resulted in the character rig resetting which just put me in a bad frame of mind. After I was shown what I was doing wrong I started again.

This time I animated more thoroughly and checked everything to eliminate any and all errors. The first thing in which I had to do was re texture my Duck-W as it had lost all of its texturing. Luckily this wasn't too long of a time process.

Afterwards I began the actual animating process. This did take time as I wanted to create detailed movement from the character. Key framing the character rig wasn't too difficult but a lot of back tracking was required to keep everything in place. As the car moves in my animation I also had to animate that as well which was where it became more difficult. The Duck-W wasn't rigged like the person which is the reason why it was more difficult to make it animate. Additionally most of the components used to make the car weren't combined so I had to combine the parts together and animate them from there. However I couldn't add the wheels to it because I needed them to individually move and rotate. After I animated the vehicle it caused big issues for the character. Whilst I was so focused on animating the vehicle I had forgot to animate the character rig alongside with it so it would be behind the car. Due to that mistake I had to go back and fix all the frames so they moved with the car.

The final touches needed were adding the lights and cameras. I added directional light pointing down at the Duck-W which would act as the  main source of light. I also added to other light sources which would come through the headlights to also add more realism to the animation which I parented to the lights themselves.

My animation contains some of the core principles of animation. The first is overlapping action. Whilst watching the animation the character landing from the jump subtly shows it as the body follows the legs. The other principle used is solid drawing because it shows weight and volume solidity throughout.

If I were to do it again I would definitely showcase my knowledge of animation by including more of the core principles of animation. I would aiming for using squash and stretch, anticipation and staging. I also would have liked to have the character rig interact more with the car as well as potentially the environment if I were to have included one.

https://youtu.be/vLTlDEBD-pk 

stop motion animation

The task for this week was to create a stop motion animation of a key word which was assigned to different groups. My keyword for this was 'run'. So this meant that my group had to make the letters which spelt run, run across the camera. For this paper was cut out to make the letters and joints connected to other pieces in order to create paper which functioned like human joints as well as somewhat looking like legs so it could move across the screen. For this I was tasked with taking the pictures which would be all the frames of the animation.

Overall i think the final piece can't be heavily criticized as it meets the brief as well as looking quite life like and as a result i am proud to have contributed towards this as i'm proud of the final product.

https://youtu.be/B6NzSI8pXEQ

3D walk cycle

https://youtu.be/dnCGW6-mP7E

This is the walk cycle produced in MAYA and is shown in a three dimensional perspective. For this i used the MAX model character rig. This was to control it and plan out all the moves. As I have done the walk cycle in 2D there felt a similarity in the task at hand which to a degree made it more pleasing. However not everything was similar as the software's are far different from each other. For this I key framed  the 5 key poses of walking separately posing the character rig out to create the final product of the 3D walk cycle.

3D bouncing ball

https://youtu.be/WFe4gEW4-1Y

This weeks assignment was to create a 3D bouncing ball animation in MAYA showcasing two of the twelve principles of animation. These were arcs and squash and stretch.

For this I started by downloading the ball which came with a rig to make animating it all the more easier. From there I went back and referenced my previous work which is the 2D bouncing ball animation. I studied the curve that it would follow and when it needed to squash and stretch. So from there I went and key framed replicating the bounce cycle in 3D software. The animation itself follows the arc principle as it follows a circular path whilst also showing squashing and stretching which occurs throughout the animation.

Overall i did quite well but I put that down to the synergy between this task and the 2D cycle I had done earlier on which really put me in the right frame of mind. However if I had to make improvements to it I would do more with the squash and stretch aspect by providing more accurate looking to really demonstrate my knowledge of the skills.

Rotoscoping animation

For this week assignment i had to create an rotoscope animation. Rotoscoping is the process of drawing over live action frame by frame to create realistic movement. This method was popularized by Walt Disney in his animations at the companies earlier stages. The theme of mine was energy so i was to produce a short animation with energetic movement.

For this i chose to rotoscope over a video sequence of a footballer doing keepie-ups. Overall i found this to be fun and rather relaxing. Rotoscoping turns out to be not a hard process but a long process. As of that i found it rather enjoying. Overall i found this to be my best work of art so far in this unit.

However given the option to attempt the task again i would base it on a different video. This is because the speed the person is moving at i found it to be hard to rotoscope at certain points as the players arms would be blurry making it harder to copy it down precisely.

Deformer animation tasks

This blog post is dedicated to deformer animation. These are short animations which have the purpose of demonstrating some of the 12 principles of animation.

The first deformer was to create a animation which has the look of bowling. Overall This task turned out pretty swell with the biggest issue being I had to restart due to technical difficulties. The bowling animation represents the eleventh principle being solid drawing. This is because it includes the basic principles of drawing form,weight and volume solidity whilst showing it in a three dimensional perspective.

https://youtu.be/8C0o9q68xOE - Bowling animation

Additionally I had to create another animation which creates a cloth like affect. For this I had to place a plane on top of a circle on MAYA. The plane was best suited to having 30 by 30 sub divisions which was a number good enough to make the plane act out like a cloth.From there I animated it out to create the final product. This falls under the second principle which is anticipation because it prepares you for a large action specifically being the cloth falling.

https://youtu.be/kUGXRvMRJ74

This animation contains two principles. The first shown is squash and stretch. This is because the animation gives the perspective that the object has weight and volume as it moves. Additionally it also shows overlapping action as some of the object catches up with other parts of itself. The other cuboid shows arcs as it follows an arc.
https://youtu.be/Q0TpPD6B_Fc- deformer animation

Overall this wasn't too bad of a job on my behalf because I show some of the principles clearly though I would have liked to make the animations longer and maybe demonstrating more of the principles.

Animation-walk cycle

This weeks task was to create an animation showing the human walk cycle. For this i had look at the walk cycle and note it all down across 5 separate layers. For this I started out by adding 5 circles in a pattern which would be the head of the person. Additionally from there I would add another 5 circles bellow them which would act out as their hips. From there I would draw the rest of the person. Whilst doing this I specifically found the onion layer tool helpful. This tool allows you to see all previous frames which meant I didn't need to constantly check back which made the whole ordeal more efficient

If I were to re do it again I would draw all the limbs again because at times it looks sloppy so i would like it to have a more clean look to it.

Animation exercices

This is some animation which i created. This animation was created using MAYA. This software is primarily used for modelling but for this I learnt of the animation uses. Animating on Maya works similar to adobe animate but with another dimension involved.

Overall my biggest strength was completing the task at hand. Whilst i was competent whilst making the animation and fully understood the task at hand i would like to revisit this and the animation process as I felt I was rushed whilst creating it therefore if given the time i would like to redo it. Overall as there was a lot to take in so some information may have slipped past me.

If i were to repeat this task i would try to use all the time i had i would use the time to the best of my abilities as animation requires lots of attention and is a very long process and before go through the process again to be certain of it.

Art fundamentals: bouncy ball

In this weeks task we were given the task of animating a ball which bounces. For this i was introduced to a new piece of software, being Adobe animator. So far i am doing satisfactory in using and my first attempt was okay.

Firstly i needed to create a pathway in which the ball would follow by bouncing. The next thing i had to do was add in the key poses for the ball. From there i needed to add in circles which where stretched and squashed and then filled in the rest of the movement.

Overall i am fine with the resulting product. It clearly demonstrates 1 of the 12 core principles of animation. In addition to this it demonstrates a ball bouncing across the screen with physics being equated in the animation as the bounces get smaller and smaller. Despite this I think I need to take the speed of the ball more into account and that is something i could improve on.

Animation review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahObgDYU58E

In this blog post i will be analyzing an animation in which i will be discussing what i like about it. The animation i have chosen is FXX's 'Archer'.

The style of the animation is what i am the most fond of as it is very distinctive and separates it from others. The style it chooses is it places broad outlines on all of the characters. I think it works best for the show because the outlined characters add further depth and detail to the people really making them stand out whilst your watching it. In addition to this it means whilst watching it your less likely to focus on the background environment and and more on the characters and plot.

The character animation is amazing for me because the creators clearly show they put detail and effort when designing characters. This is shown by cheekbones being visible on the title characters face. Another thing is that all characters are shaded brilliantly with there always being shadowed parts on characters.

The narrative shown in the clip is the first scene ever in the shows run. In this it shows what to expect whilst giving small pieces of information about the character. The characters show their relationship with one another in this piece showing you their personality and clearly establishing their problems.

One noticeable thing about the movement shown in this clip is that it is very slow and rigid. Whilst the movement isn't as fluid as other shows it has gone on to improve since what was shown. I'd say it may be down to the creators focusing on other elements like choosing comedy over action resulting in finer humor than flowing action set pieces, as whilst it isn't something to put you off from watching it is noticeable when viewing.