I have learnt a great deal about this subject during this module, with the biggest thing being that i have a subject area i may take forward in my career. I've always had an interest in animation but i've never taken it further than dabbling, this module has seen me able to do much more than that, and taught me a lot that i didn't know.
I found the module as whole, not just working on the final piece, to be thoroughly enjoyable, and they were an invaluable asset to my confidence going into the creation of the final piece, my confidence in animation has grown substantially and at this point i am seriously considering it as a career path. My intention is to spend the summer improving my skills, most likely through revisiting Valve's Source Filmmaker.
As for the final piece: despite being horribly disappointed by just how little i managed to complete of it, what i did manage to create was great in my eyes, especially the full view render which looks picture perfect to me, and I would love to say that i would have done things differently and opted for a more mediocre level of quality were i to do it again with the time allotted, but i don't have it in me. I had a very clear picture of what i wanted to achieve with this piece and i desperately wanted to create it to the level of quality i had in mind, and i know had i not been inundated with coursework from other modules, i would have been able to achieve this, the small amount i created is testament to that. There would have been a lot of challenges along the way, but i had planned for this and taken them into account.
Thinking about it, i have never found a subject that i've felt so passionate about.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Final Project - Challenges/Decisions
I have faced many challenges and tough decisions throughout my time spent working on this project, most of these have been based around easing the workload and therefore making this animation easier to complete before the deadline.
- How to tackle mirrored animations?
- View through camera (panels > view through selected)
- Camera Setup:
- Resolution
- Aspect Ratio
- How to tackle mirrored animations?
-Copy keyframes and change to negative value
- Attempt rotoscoping using "green-screen" in Maya to allow for the 'windowed' effect i want the other world to have
- Could simply re-render animations from different angle and with scout model using blu-scout texutre, then use green screen to place into main animation.
- Sound?o Is this possible?
- Simple case of 'if i have time'- Camera:
- View through camera (panels > view through selected)
- Camera Setup:
- Resolution
- Aspect Ratio
- Researched film resolutions
- Setlled on aspect ratio of 2.39:1
- Resolution of 2048 x 858 then revised to 1024 x 429 (50%) due to time constraints.- Camera Control:
http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/2010help/index.html?url=View__Camera_Attribute_Editor.htm,topicNumber=d0e597591- Creating Depth-of-field effect
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Final Project - Creating the Animation
I have now reached a point where i am comfortable to start working on my animation. The process i will take includes working through my storyboards from start to finish, breaking down the animation into more manageable chunks by making each shot a separate scene, with the final intention being to stitch the various rendered animations together. To filter this process down further i will of course not be posing and animating the parts of the model that aren't in shot, or are blurred to the point where i can get away with a "broad-brushstroke" animation style, this will save me a huge amount of time given the models complexity.
To give myself a base to work from i decided the first thing to do would be to set about working on the scouts positioning and camera shots, i would do this on a page by page basis, with one page being six windows on my storyboard. At this point the only animation done with the scout model would be movement and rotation, no animation to the actual body of the model.
Having set up all the camera angles (making sure to name each one as in one case there are several in close proximity) and basic movement for the first storyboard page i set about creating a detailed animation set for them, beginning with the first scene which sees the scout walking down the street.
This movement required me to maneuver not only the foot controls, but also the main hip control around the waist, so that the upper body followed the movement of the legs.
Right away i noticed a problem: the starting position was in shot of the camera (below) when i wanted it to begin clear, with the scout walking in from the right.
To fix this i offset the keyframes of the model so that they came about later in the animation, in addition i added keyframes that placed the model out-of-shot at the first frame. Effectively all i did here was add another step.
Next up i focussed on hip movement, something that seems to be a common oversight among beginner animators. But while i had remembered their importance in creating a convincing walk cycle, i had difficulty getting timing right. Eventually however, after some experimentation with the keyframe timings i had something i was happy with.
Shoulders. Another subtle part of the walk cycle, i added some slight forward and backward movement, with some vertical to-and-fro in their as well. A subtle but effective part of portraying the 'strut'.
Next up: the arms. I started at the shoulder by creating animations for the swing of the arm as a whole, before moving on to the elbows, which added the essential 'swing' to that cocky strut i was aiming for.
Doing this was not as easy a task as i'd hoped, i found that the keyframes i had initially made for the elbows were too jerky, so i made adjustments to give them a smoother flow. Then I decided that the elbow animations were completely mis-timed. thankfully, a simple shift-back of the keyframes by 6 frames fixed this.
Next, i noticed that there was no vertical movement to the arm-swing, so i added lateral movement to the shoulders to make the whole swing seem that much more cocky.
At this point i decided i was making good progress but that the walk cycle was too quick so spending even more time to this first animation i went back and adjusted all of the keyframes so that rather than walking on 12's (one foot down every 12 frames), the scout would walk on 16's.
Common sense dictated that I not make all the changes at once so i decided to adjust just the leg keyframes first of all, with the assumption that this may lead me to the need to adjust the entire models forward movement keyframes to compensate. To do this was fairly simple, it was just the number of different keyframes that i would have to move that would be time-consuming, all i had to do was shift click the sequence and drag it so that the beginning keyframe is at the time you wish it to be.
Having done this i decided it gave a much more relaxed pace to the walk cycle, aiding the conveyance of an arrogant strut. So i decided to stick with it and go ahead and adjust the rest of the keyframes. I worked my way from the bottom of the model up, checking for keyframes and adjusting where necessary, this process lead me to the thought that some way to keep track of the parts of the model i had animated would be very handy be it something built into the program or me just making note of these parts as i go along.
As you can see the walk cycle is far from being finished, but it certainly shows how much the slower walk cycle does to remove the 'urgency' of the gait i originally gave the scout. Admittedly the animation was still lacking something very important, so i addressed that next:
Adding vertical movement to the feet turns the animation from an odd looking shuffle into a semi-decent looking walk cycle.
At this point i noticed noticed rigidity of the walk when viewing it from the side, so i decided to add some up and down movement to the upper body control, in keeping with the arc theory. I really felt this subtle change made a huge difference to the animation.
My happiness was cut a bit short when i realised that for some reason the feet were diverging in opposite directions along the x-axis, essentially forcing the scout into an eventual split-like pose. Deleting the x-axis keyframes for the feet had no effect, so i decided all i could do was to try and tame this bizarre unprovoked movement by adding new x-axis keyframes.
At this point i decided it was time to make use of some of the features that make this model so great in my eyes: its controls.
As you can see above there are a number of adjustments that can be made just to the foot of this model, though in this case i only made use of 'toe roll' which pitches the foot forward on its toes,but most importantly, they meant i didn't have to do any rotating of the ankles myself. The downside to this, or so i thought, was that there was no easy way to adjust the keyframes but that proved not to be the case as the controls all had their own curve in the curve editor.
In the above video you can see the difference using the foot control functions makes to the animation. Admittedly achieving such an effect would be possible without the use of controls, however their incredible ease of use is the deciding factor here, it simplifies the animation process for this model a very great deal.
On a whim i decided to try the idea of offsetting, in this case it was the mid-arms which i felt didn't look right. I offset the animation by 4 frames (forward), creating a much more natural looking swing.
I then moved on to the scouts bag, adding some subtle 'swinging' movements to it. Whilst doing this i noticed the bat which currently had no place in the animation. Originally i had intended to have the scout carrying the bat in one hand, but instead opted to position the bat as if it was sticking out of the scouts bag, and make it a child of the bag control so it would inherit its movement.
Being relatively happy with everything i moved onto that subtle secondary animation piece: the face. I wanted to give a facial expression that matched the scouts confident strut without looking over-the-top.
At this point, whilst looking through the camera through which i intended to render the animation, i noticed that the heel movement was very rigid, almost too sudden. I fixed this by smoothing the animation curves, this simply involved me making the heel take longer to rise.
At this point i had reached a point that i was happy with! However, sadly, this is where my animation ends...
Due to severe time constraints and working on other modules I've managed to leave myself without enough time to animate any more than what i have already created. Despite this i hope that what i have created effectively demonstrates the quality that i aimed to achieve for the entire animation.
Here you can see production renders of the two shots i was shooting for, as well as a full body shot to show the animation in detail.
[1] This shot turned out exactly how i hoped it would, though it does look a little too precise in it's positioning, a very minor shift upward and with a small amount of rotation would most likely have solved this.
[2] The lighting on this animation seems to be a bit off for some reason, there could have been something amiss with the cameras settings but i have no recollection of changing them.
[3] Here you can see the walk animation in full view, i am very very happy with how it looks, especially when rendered to such a high quality.
To render the animations i had to use an image collaboration technique i'd learnt in another module; this was because using mental ray as the renderer meant i had no option to render directly to a video file. I opened the images using Adobes Lightroom program then, using a downloaded preset intended for time-lapse videos, created a 24fps video of them.
[BONUS CONTENT]:
To give myself a base to work from i decided the first thing to do would be to set about working on the scouts positioning and camera shots, i would do this on a page by page basis, with one page being six windows on my storyboard. At this point the only animation done with the scout model would be movement and rotation, no animation to the actual body of the model.
 |
| The green box in the top-right window lets me see the area that will be rendered. |
Having set up all the camera angles (making sure to name each one as in one case there are several in close proximity) and basic movement for the first storyboard page i set about creating a detailed animation set for them, beginning with the first scene which sees the scout walking down the street.
I decided to focus on the legs first:
 |
| Starting Pose. I tried to capture a 'cocky strut' pose. Don't think i pulled it off at this point... |
This movement required me to maneuver not only the foot controls, but also the main hip control around the waist, so that the upper body followed the movement of the legs.
Right away i noticed a problem: the starting position was in shot of the camera (below) when i wanted it to begin clear, with the scout walking in from the right.
To fix this i offset the keyframes of the model so that they came about later in the animation, in addition i added keyframes that placed the model out-of-shot at the first frame. Effectively all i did here was add another step.
Next up i focussed on hip movement, something that seems to be a common oversight among beginner animators. But while i had remembered their importance in creating a convincing walk cycle, i had difficulty getting timing right. Eventually however, after some experimentation with the keyframe timings i had something i was happy with.
Shoulders. Another subtle part of the walk cycle, i added some slight forward and backward movement, with some vertical to-and-fro in their as well. A subtle but effective part of portraying the 'strut'.
Next up: the arms. I started at the shoulder by creating animations for the swing of the arm as a whole, before moving on to the elbows, which added the essential 'swing' to that cocky strut i was aiming for.
Doing this was not as easy a task as i'd hoped, i found that the keyframes i had initially made for the elbows were too jerky, so i made adjustments to give them a smoother flow. Then I decided that the elbow animations were completely mis-timed. thankfully, a simple shift-back of the keyframes by 6 frames fixed this.
Next, i noticed that there was no vertical movement to the arm-swing, so i added lateral movement to the shoulders to make the whole swing seem that much more cocky.
At this point i decided i was making good progress but that the walk cycle was too quick so spending even more time to this first animation i went back and adjusted all of the keyframes so that rather than walking on 12's (one foot down every 12 frames), the scout would walk on 16's.
Common sense dictated that I not make all the changes at once so i decided to adjust just the leg keyframes first of all, with the assumption that this may lead me to the need to adjust the entire models forward movement keyframes to compensate. To do this was fairly simple, it was just the number of different keyframes that i would have to move that would be time-consuming, all i had to do was shift click the sequence and drag it so that the beginning keyframe is at the time you wish it to be.
Having done this i decided it gave a much more relaxed pace to the walk cycle, aiding the conveyance of an arrogant strut. So i decided to stick with it and go ahead and adjust the rest of the keyframes. I worked my way from the bottom of the model up, checking for keyframes and adjusting where necessary, this process lead me to the thought that some way to keep track of the parts of the model i had animated would be very handy be it something built into the program or me just making note of these parts as i go along.
As you can see the walk cycle is far from being finished, but it certainly shows how much the slower walk cycle does to remove the 'urgency' of the gait i originally gave the scout. Admittedly the animation was still lacking something very important, so i addressed that next:
Adding vertical movement to the feet turns the animation from an odd looking shuffle into a semi-decent looking walk cycle.
At this point i noticed noticed rigidity of the walk when viewing it from the side, so i decided to add some up and down movement to the upper body control, in keeping with the arc theory. I really felt this subtle change made a huge difference to the animation.
My happiness was cut a bit short when i realised that for some reason the feet were diverging in opposite directions along the x-axis, essentially forcing the scout into an eventual split-like pose. Deleting the x-axis keyframes for the feet had no effect, so i decided all i could do was to try and tame this bizarre unprovoked movement by adding new x-axis keyframes.
At this point i decided it was time to make use of some of the features that make this model so great in my eyes: its controls.
As you can see above there are a number of adjustments that can be made just to the foot of this model, though in this case i only made use of 'toe roll' which pitches the foot forward on its toes,but most importantly, they meant i didn't have to do any rotating of the ankles myself. The downside to this, or so i thought, was that there was no easy way to adjust the keyframes but that proved not to be the case as the controls all had their own curve in the curve editor.
In the above video you can see the difference using the foot control functions makes to the animation. Admittedly achieving such an effect would be possible without the use of controls, however their incredible ease of use is the deciding factor here, it simplifies the animation process for this model a very great deal.
On a whim i decided to try the idea of offsetting, in this case it was the mid-arms which i felt didn't look right. I offset the animation by 4 frames (forward), creating a much more natural looking swing.
I then moved on to the scouts bag, adding some subtle 'swinging' movements to it. Whilst doing this i noticed the bat which currently had no place in the animation. Originally i had intended to have the scout carrying the bat in one hand, but instead opted to position the bat as if it was sticking out of the scouts bag, and make it a child of the bag control so it would inherit its movement.
Being relatively happy with everything i moved onto that subtle secondary animation piece: the face. I wanted to give a facial expression that matched the scouts confident strut without looking over-the-top.
At this point, whilst looking through the camera through which i intended to render the animation, i noticed that the heel movement was very rigid, almost too sudden. I fixed this by smoothing the animation curves, this simply involved me making the heel take longer to rise.
At this point i had reached a point that i was happy with! However, sadly, this is where my animation ends...
Due to severe time constraints and working on other modules I've managed to leave myself without enough time to animate any more than what i have already created. Despite this i hope that what i have created effectively demonstrates the quality that i aimed to achieve for the entire animation.
Here you can see production renders of the two shots i was shooting for, as well as a full body shot to show the animation in detail.
[1] This shot turned out exactly how i hoped it would, though it does look a little too precise in it's positioning, a very minor shift upward and with a small amount of rotation would most likely have solved this.
[2] The lighting on this animation seems to be a bit off for some reason, there could have been something amiss with the cameras settings but i have no recollection of changing them.
[3] Here you can see the walk animation in full view, i am very very happy with how it looks, especially when rendered to such a high quality.
To render the animations i had to use an image collaboration technique i'd learnt in another module; this was because using mental ray as the renderer meant i had no option to render directly to a video file. I opened the images using Adobes Lightroom program then, using a downloaded preset intended for time-lapse videos, created a 24fps video of them.
The animation process:That is how i intended to go about creating my animation, and i had really high hopes, but in the end i just didn't have nearly enough time, the complexity of this model and my own perfectionism worked against me during this time, but even so i thoroughly enjoyed it.
I thought it would be worth mentioning the process i used to create this small section of my animation, as it is how i intended to approach the animation as a whole.
- Camera Angles and Character Positioning
The first thing i did, as mentioned at the beginning of the post, is to set up the camera angles, along with basic character positioning. This allows me to set up the scene for the second part of my process.
- Basic Character Movement
In this part i 'block out' the basic movements of the animation, creating a draft, as it were.
- Increasing Levels of Detail
This is a repeat process whereby i simply expand the blocked out animations to progressively higher qualities until i am happy with the results.
[BONUS CONTENT]:
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Final Project - Scene Setup
The final thing that needed creating was the scene in which my animation will be taking place: A wide rustic city alleyway.
Given the focus on animation for this project i intend to spend very little time on the environment for this piece. Here's where i started off:
Originally i had intended to simply use primitive shapes to create a very ambiguous suggestion of the surrounding scene, but i do plan to add a little more to these things such as a few extra cubes in the walls with darker textures that suggest in a very brief way that this large cube is a brick wall.
Of note is the fact that i have added a 'Physical Sun and Sky' to my scene, as you can see in the image above. Found in the render settings window under 'Indirect Lighting', this provides me with a very nice lighting setup for my scene that actually fits in with my original vision for it.
After this i proceeded to add windows and some minor details to the buildings to give them a vaguely similar look to those seen in this photo:
I may add a few more minor details to the scene, and, if i have time, some shop faces to make the street a bit more varied. For now however, i am happy with the scene as it is.
Given the focus on animation for this project i intend to spend very little time on the environment for this piece. Here's where i started off:
Originally i had intended to simply use primitive shapes to create a very ambiguous suggestion of the surrounding scene, but i do plan to add a little more to these things such as a few extra cubes in the walls with darker textures that suggest in a very brief way that this large cube is a brick wall.
Of note is the fact that i have added a 'Physical Sun and Sky' to my scene, as you can see in the image above. Found in the render settings window under 'Indirect Lighting', this provides me with a very nice lighting setup for my scene that actually fits in with my original vision for it.
After this i proceeded to add windows and some minor details to the buildings to give them a vaguely similar look to those seen in this photo:
I may add a few more minor details to the scene, and, if i have time, some shop faces to make the street a bit more varied. For now however, i am happy with the scene as it is.
Friday, 3 May 2013
Final Project - Character Setup
 |
| A little test pose of the moment when the scout appears to have hit his ball over the wall |
First things first i wanted to create my second scout and immediately i had a realisation: i needed to mirror my scout model for the mirrored universe! Unfortunately this task was not as easy as it sounded, the model has been created in such a way that all the geometry is unselectable, cannot be manipulated without unlocking various attributes, and is also hidden within the Outliner (A window in Maya that lists all the elements in a scene) so even using that to select the model is very difficult.
Above you can see the slight problem i had, mirroring the geometry was easy enough, as you can see i decided to only mirror the parts that needed mirroring. However, as i understand it, i will be unable to remove the extra geometry without having to re-rig the model, and this is a very complex, well rigged model that i would rather not mess with.
However, not wanting to give up on the idea i proceeded to try a couple more ideas before giving up completely. The first idea involved the manipulation of the texture maps given that i couldn't mess with the model itself, it involved taking the UV mapping for the original objects and moving it all into an alpha space on the UV map. This would make those models invisible. As it turned out even the UV maps couldn't be manipulated so i had to drop that idea.
Next i had the idea of duplicating the objects before mirroring them, in the hope that this would grant me full manipulation of them again, allowing me to delete the extra geometry. Having done this i would proceed simply to parent the object to the original, unmirrored mesh, which would then have its visibility attribute switched off. Duplicating the objects did not grant me manipulation or easy selection of the object, and i also noted that when parented the child was not moved as the parent was; i believe this is due to the models 'control-centric' setup.
Having tried these ideas i felt close to giving up, however, whilst poring through the menus for something that might help, i stumbled across something called 'Separate' under 'Mesh'. Feeling utterly unoptimistic i clicked it whilst i had the bags geometry selected, and was blown away.
This function was EXACTLY what i was looking for, it had taken the bag geometry and turned it into a group containing both the original and the mirrored model's as SEPARATE MESHES!! This meant i could simply delete the original meshes whilst still keeping the mirrored object as part of the initial rig.
Sadly, i got my hopes up too soon... i encountered another major problem: The mirrored meshes had reversed axis or movement AND rotation meaning that if i moved the rest of the model in one direction, the mirrored meshes would move in the opposite.
At this point i decided i had had enough, i was spending far too much time on this problem without finding a solution. So in the end all i had was compromise, and i believe i found a good one as it meant i had more to animate as well(a plus given my concerns about the run-time for the finished animation).
My compromise would be to remove the objects that needed to be mirrored from the model, but rather than simply not including them in the first place, i would instead start my animation and show the Scout taking off these various items, meaning at the point he comes face to face with the other scout their is nothing that needs to be mirrored.
Admittedly this dictates the only obvious way to show the mirrored world, which will have to be through the movement of the character. However, i am still excited for the final product.
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Final Project - Storyboarding
Storyboarding is an essential part of the animation process. Every event, camera angle and piece of dialogue for every scene of your animation will be noted here. I have found it to be a very useful means of fleshing out the idea i wish to take forward for my final piece.
To make the process more manageable and let me think more in depth to develop my idea, i used a 3-stage method.
1) Firstly, i create a very rough write up of the events of the animation, this would appear in the form of a brief, bullet-pointed list.
2) Secondly, i take this initial write up and flesh it out with detailed descriptions and camera angles.
3) Finally, i take the detailed write up and apply it to a storyboard template, allowing me a visual representation of the events of the animation that i can then take forward to Maya to create the real animation.
I feel it's worth noting my awareness that this heavily simplified, elongated storyboarding process may not be necessary given the general 'roughness' of the storyboarding stage. Regardless, i felt it allowed for a more manageable workflow and provided me with a great way to visualise my animation and in the process provide me with new ideas.
[Final Storyboard]
To make the process more manageable and let me think more in depth to develop my idea, i used a 3-stage method.
1) Firstly, i create a very rough write up of the events of the animation, this would appear in the form of a brief, bullet-pointed list.
2) Secondly, i take this initial write up and flesh it out with detailed descriptions and camera angles.
3) Finally, i take the detailed write up and apply it to a storyboard template, allowing me a visual representation of the events of the animation that i can then take forward to Maya to create the real animation.
I feel it's worth noting my awareness that this heavily simplified, elongated storyboarding process may not be necessary given the general 'roughness' of the storyboarding stage. Regardless, i felt it allowed for a more manageable workflow and provided me with a great way to visualise my animation and in the process provide me with new ideas.
[Final Storyboard]
Monday, 15 April 2013
Final Project - Reference Videos
Given that i wanted to try and catch the personality of the Scout's character as he is portrayed in Team Fortress 2. I thought it'd be best to refresh my memory of how his character moves; i'm already well aware that his characters peronality is sharp, boisterous one. This is no more evident than in his introductory short video "Meet the Scout":
This is just one of a series of videos for each of the classes that appear in TF2, and the scout appears in many of them, but in this he is the focus and we get to see his bold, cocky demeanor reflected in his expressions and all of his movements. It is this essence i would like to capture in my animation.
"Meet the Spy" (above) is another good reference as it features the scout heavily, though if you watch the video you'll see why I'm a bit dubious about that statement. Nevertheless i believe it's still something that can be taken into account.
Finally, "Meet the Medic" features the scout briefly, but still demonstrates some of the scouts character:
Together with my knowledge of the scouts movements in-game i believe i should be able to recreate his personality to at least an acceptable level.
This is just one of a series of videos for each of the classes that appear in TF2, and the scout appears in many of them, but in this he is the focus and we get to see his bold, cocky demeanor reflected in his expressions and all of his movements. It is this essence i would like to capture in my animation.
"Meet the Spy" (above) is another good reference as it features the scout heavily, though if you watch the video you'll see why I'm a bit dubious about that statement. Nevertheless i believe it's still something that can be taken into account.
Finally, "Meet the Medic" features the scout briefly, but still demonstrates some of the scouts character:
Together with my knowledge of the scouts movements in-game i believe i should be able to recreate his personality to at least an acceptable level.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Final Project - Ideas
Okay, i realise it is good practise to have multiple ideas, but the single idea i've had, heavily influenced by the scout model and its only included prop model, the bat, is something i feel leaves me without the need to think of more. Though admittedly at this time i do not have a complete story in mind.
 |
| Testing out an angry/strained facial expression, this model really has been fantastically rigged! |
Scout and his Ball
In this idea the scout is seen alone, in an unknown location, hitting a ball against a wall and catching it, he does this for a short time before he has a bad shot and sends it flying up too high, but for some reason it doesn't go over, even though it should have. The ball falls to the ground and the scout picks it up confused. It is revealed to the viewer that the ball is rebounding on an identical version of itself and falling right back down. this leads to the discovery that above this wall is a window into an identical, mirrored parallel universe, with the only difference being that the scout on the other side is wearing a blue t-shirt, not red.
Final Project - Scout Model
As i mentioned previously, i was considering the use of models from the game Team Fortress 2 as an option for creating different characters, i found this rigged version of the Scout through a simple Google search.
After some issue with the textures not working (this was simply down to file location issues), i was greeted by the model you see above.
It's a very well rigged model, nothing is done through direct interaction with bones, it's fully controller based. Here couple of poses i whipped up, well i say whipped up, this is a very complex model to pose, so it took rather longer than i'd have liked and is making me re-estimate how much time this project will take me.... *gulp* anyway, here they are, i'm particularly happy with the second (despite the awkward left arm):
I believe this model will be great as an asset and also as an aid for my idea's, with this model i have a theme i can build around.
Notes on the scout as a model/character:
- Given the amount of time taken to pose this model i believe i will have to re use animations like run cycles where possible, by storing them in negative frames.
- Scouts character is very sarcastic, i can try to imitate this or create my own character using the scout model, however, i find that seeing a well known character given a new personality to be quite jarring. I would like to avoid this if possible.
- Scouts character is very quick and agile, therefore his movement will have to reflect this.
After some issue with the textures not working (this was simply down to file location issues), i was greeted by the model you see above.
It's a very well rigged model, nothing is done through direct interaction with bones, it's fully controller based. Here couple of poses i whipped up, well i say whipped up, this is a very complex model to pose, so it took rather longer than i'd have liked and is making me re-estimate how much time this project will take me.... *gulp* anyway, here they are, i'm particularly happy with the second (despite the awkward left arm):
I believe this model will be great as an asset and also as an aid for my idea's, with this model i have a theme i can build around.
Notes on the scout as a model/character:
- Given the amount of time taken to pose this model i believe i will have to re use animations like run cycles where possible, by storing them in negative frames.
- Scouts character is very sarcastic, i can try to imitate this or create my own character using the scout model, however, i find that seeing a well known character given a new personality to be quite jarring. I would like to avoid this if possible.
- Scouts character is very quick and agile, therefore his movement will have to reflect this.
Monday, 8 April 2013
08/04/13 - Final Project
Today we were informed that for our final assessment we must create an animation that is at least two minutes long.
Important notes!:
It's a fairly exciting prospect and i will be posting my ideas up as soon as i have them!
As for the software package, i would be tempted to use Sources Filmmaker as it provides an easy way to create something that looks professional, though there are some drawbacks:
UPDATE:
After a quick Google search to see if importing animations from Maya to Source Filmmaker is possible i have found that it is, BUT, sadly it seems the method is rather complex and it seems that the payoff will most likely not be worth the hassle. link
Despite this i may try and obtain the TF2 models that are included in the Source Filmmaker files, i believe these come pre-rigged which is a bonus.
Important notes!:
- It can be about anything
- We can use any animation package we choose as long as we show the creation process
- We do NOT have to create our own assets, we could even use the models we have used throughout the term
It's a fairly exciting prospect and i will be posting my ideas up as soon as i have them!
As for the software package, i would be tempted to use Sources Filmmaker as it provides an easy way to create something that looks professional, though there are some drawbacks:
- I am fairly unfamiliar with the software
- Due to the ease of incorporating pre-made animations into your film i would have to make it very clear which animations were my own, and that it was truly me who had created them.
- Animations inside the software are hard to do so i would hope that there is a way to import my own animations.
UPDATE:
After a quick Google search to see if importing animations from Maya to Source Filmmaker is possible i have found that it is, BUT, sadly it seems the method is rather complex and it seems that the payoff will most likely not be worth the hassle. link
Despite this i may try and obtain the TF2 models that are included in the Source Filmmaker files, i believe these come pre-rigged which is a bonus.
Monday, 11 March 2013
11/03/13 - Walk Cycle Practice
Today we were asked to download a familiar human animation rig from moodle, this guy:
For the majority of the lesson we were supposed to just be following our lecturers instructions as he walked us through the creation of a simple walk cycle using this rig. As i have been creating animations for the last month in Professional Team Brief i decided i would have a go at creating something a bit different. Note the crosses in front of the models knee joints, these not only allow you too move the knees, but also to dictate which way the knees bend.
So today i decided i would create a walk animation using a backwards knee joint. Here's what my starting point looked like!:
I made sure i arched the back of the model to compensate for the different balance postion required by the odd leg structure, but i'm quite happy with how it looked.
Below you can see the animations i made using this setup. I made sure the weight was shifted from left to right as each step is taken and as you can see in the second cycle i exaggerated this movement. I allowed 30 frames for a single step, with the second cycle differentiated by its high cross over point.
Whilst not entirely convincing from the angle i've rendered i'm still happy with the outcome as being able to work with a backwards knee joint will come in handy when animating any animals that have leg structures like this.
So today i decided i would create a walk animation using a backwards knee joint. Here's what my starting point looked like!:
I made sure i arched the back of the model to compensate for the different balance postion required by the odd leg structure, but i'm quite happy with how it looked.
Below you can see the animations i made using this setup. I made sure the weight was shifted from left to right as each step is taken and as you can see in the second cycle i exaggerated this movement. I allowed 30 frames for a single step, with the second cycle differentiated by its high cross over point.
Whilst not entirely convincing from the angle i've rendered i'm still happy with the outcome as being able to work with a backwards knee joint will come in handy when animating any animals that have leg structures like this.
Monday, 25 February 2013
25/02/13 - Richard Williams Videos
Today we were shown three educational videos created by Richard Williams, famous for his animation work on the film Who framed Roger Rabbit.
The first focussed on simple human walk-cycles and how to go about creating them. First thing to do is to set the Tempo, meaning the number of frames over which a step takes place.
Here's a quick list of some examples and how they could correlate to a human walk cycle:
The first focussed on simple human walk-cycles and how to go about creating them. First thing to do is to set the Tempo, meaning the number of frames over which a step takes place.
Here's a quick list of some examples and how they could correlate to a human walk cycle:
§
4 Frames – Cartoon run, too fast for any living
human to achieve
§
6 Frames – Human sprint/run
§
8 Frames – Human run/jog
§
12 Frames – Supposedly most common pace that
real people use when walking
§
etc
25/02/13
Animation
Richard Williams (Who framed roger rabbit)
#1
Walk-Cycles:
-
Set the tempo
o
Differentiated by number of frames in a step
§
4 Frames – Cartoon run, too fast for any living
human to achieve
§
6 Frames – Human sprint/run
§
8 Frames – Human run/jog
§
12 Frames – Supposedly most common pace that
real people use when walking
§
etc
-
Start with contact points
o
Front heel on ground with NO weight
-
Create passing position (mid-point between contacts)
-
Create in-betweens to progressively fill in the
gap
#2
Walk’s with personality
-
Exaggerated movements
-
“Break” a joint
o
Extend a limb further than is physically
possible (Extreme exaggeration)
-
Combine breaks and exaggerations to create
interesting walk cycles
#3
Variations (Sneaking, Run) and animal movement
Monday, 11 February 2013
11/02/13 - Poses
Today we were given a rigged humanoid/cartoony model and introduced to the concept of creating 'poses' for a character model.
We were initially left to familiarise ourselves with manipulating the model, which demonstrates good practice by having helpers attached to all of its bones.
We started off by creating a 'shy' pose, which you can see below.
This pose was created by making the character seem smaller. The forward tilted head creates a very timid appearance.
Next we created a 'confident' pose for our characters:
The wide stance and generally larger appearance creates the impression of someone with plenty of confidence.
After being talked through the creation of the above two poses we were let loose and given the task of creating as many different poses as we could for the duration of the lesson, you can see all of them below, enjoy!
Laughter:
I think this pose would be helped if we had some means of manipulating the eyes, the blank expression means that the meaning of this pose could be lost on many people.
Cowering:
This was originally supposed to be scared, but the term scared can be showed in a number of ways i think. This example hear shows fear of an outside force in my opinion, like something harassing the character or an imminent impact of some kind. Again the ability to manipulate the face would help this pose greatly.
Ascension:
This was the last pose i made during the session, not the most serious of poses but i believe it conveys the holy nature of the characters state. Also, in case you were wondering, yes, i did use photoshop to create this image!
I greatly enjoyed this session, the pre-made model we were given was a joy to use and really demonstrates, through proper rigging and constraints (such as not letting the elbow be rotated in a non-realistic way) the kind of standards that would be expected from a professional model rig. Something i have definitely taken from using this model however is that facial expressions can in some cases be integral to portraying a certain emotion or character state.
I also understood from this session that posing is not solely restricted to character models. A pose animation could be useful for a treasure chests open and close states, or for more complex yet not humanoid models that have several different animations.
We were initially left to familiarise ourselves with manipulating the model, which demonstrates good practice by having helpers attached to all of its bones.
We started off by creating a 'shy' pose, which you can see below.
This pose was created by making the character seem smaller. The forward tilted head creates a very timid appearance.
Next we created a 'confident' pose for our characters:
The wide stance and generally larger appearance creates the impression of someone with plenty of confidence.
After being talked through the creation of the above two poses we were let loose and given the task of creating as many different poses as we could for the duration of the lesson, you can see all of them below, enjoy!
Laughter:
I think this pose would be helped if we had some means of manipulating the eyes, the blank expression means that the meaning of this pose could be lost on many people.
Cowering:
This was originally supposed to be scared, but the term scared can be showed in a number of ways i think. This example hear shows fear of an outside force in my opinion, like something harassing the character or an imminent impact of some kind. Again the ability to manipulate the face would help this pose greatly.
Ascension:
This was the last pose i made during the session, not the most serious of poses but i believe it conveys the holy nature of the characters state. Also, in case you were wondering, yes, i did use photoshop to create this image!
I greatly enjoyed this session, the pre-made model we were given was a joy to use and really demonstrates, through proper rigging and constraints (such as not letting the elbow be rotated in a non-realistic way) the kind of standards that would be expected from a professional model rig. Something i have definitely taken from using this model however is that facial expressions can in some cases be integral to portraying a certain emotion or character state.
I also understood from this session that posing is not solely restricted to character models. A pose animation could be useful for a treasure chests open and close states, or for more complex yet not humanoid models that have several different animations.
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