Character Animation II: Project 2

Character Animation II (CAN2)

Project 2: Sound Clip

Back In Style

Our second assignment, probably the most freedom

I've been giving on an animation project. Our

goal was to pick a sound clip from a group given

to us, and then decide what might be going on in this

scene and create our animation from there. The

biggest rule was to not pick a sound clip if you

knew what movie it was from, which made sense;

it was to keep our animation from being influenced

by the original scene. 

I pictured my scene happening in a really ritzy mansion,

but considering we need to keep our props to a minimum,

I just gave him a glass of wine, and then made the picture

frame on the wall to show a sense of taste in the character. 

I struggled a little with figuring out how to make his

attitude and sass really show through in this scene. 

But over all this project was more fun to animate because

it focused on getting the facial expressions to match the

timing of the sound while making sure that these could be clearly seen

even with the movement of the body.

Pre Pro

Exploratory

This one was harder for me to decide what so of angle I

could use to tell this story. But I certainly had more

possibilities in my exploratory poses, the ways I 

could do it; sitting, bending down, belittling using

height. 

Storyboard

Took a bit to narrow down what I really

wanted to do for this, and in the end the animation

differs from this, as I ended up using more 

poses that I had not previously thought

of.

Breakdowns

Understanding anticipation a little more

this time around, I think I was able to

do this better. Thinking on things like pushing

a pose to far just to settle back into the

pose I really want, just to add a little more life

to the character.

Software Technology: Research Project & Vehicle

Software Technology (STE)

Research Project & Vehicle

Feels like 3DF All Over Again

To start out this class was to open our eyes

to programs that weren't Maya, yet are

used to do the same things Maya can.

We were introduced to two programs,

Soft Image and Houdini. Both we're

strange to learn, though Houdini

felt a little like the crossbreed of Maya

and Nuke. While Soft Image just completely

messed with everything we knew about

modeling programs. I picked two projects to

showcase, one that used Soft Image and one

that used Houdini.

Research Project

Marble Machine:

This was fairly simple, yet there were still complications.

It took several aspects that we had learned with various

mini projects throughout the months and threw them

into a single concept. Only with this project we had to

fend for ourselves, no helpful videos or guides, just

new knowledge and the internet. I did this with 

a partner (groups were permitted); Alex Lempel.

The hardest part of the entire thing was figuring out just

how to make the marble interact with the other objects properly.

It was a matter of a couple of setting changes, but when you're

still learning you don't always know of these simple things.

In the video you can see that we still struggled with

getting the marble to run smoothly through

the coil, the teacher afterwards told us a few quick

ways to fix it for future issues. It was an interesting learning

experience, but it really helped with understanding Houdini.

Vehicle

1967 Chevy Impala

Considering two things: One, I've never modeled a car before

and Two, I've never touched Soft Image before; 

I think this came out fairly decently. It took me the entire month

to get this baby done, obviously struggling with the new program

as well as trying to keep good topology; it doesn't have the greatest detail.

Also I wish there was a smooth tool, if there is one I couldn't find it, 

inside the program to help this thing from looking like its full of dents.

And most people would, hopefully, be able to tell what

this was from just a glance. I might take this into a program

I'm more familiar with, like Maya, and polisher her

up to make her look a little cleaner and more complete.

I'm personally proud of this, considering modeling isn't my forte,

and think that its a great first car.

Character Animation II: Project 1

Character Animation II (CAN2)

Project 1: Pantomime

Everyone smile! -Blue Steel-

Our first real animation project since CAN1, which I struggled

a lot in. This time around I think I may finally have gotten the

hang of how to do a walk cycle. Our current teacher expresses

strongly how important it is for us to really understand how

to animate a walk. So while teaching us new things, like facial

expressions, she continues to encourage the walk.

This particular assignment focused on an emotion change,

and how to really express an emotion based on a certain 

senario, all while doing both a walk and the other fitting

actions for the scene. This was my second or third time 

doing a walk cycle this month, and I had finally

began understanding it; I think it shows too. I also

got to have fun with the rest of my animation by going

Looney Tunes style with my reaction. 

Pre-Pro

Exploratory

Showing my possible camera angles to try and get the

best out of my scene and actions. As well as testing a few

of the more extreme poses to see how well they could

be in silhouette.

Storyboard

The story boards didn't need to show the walk for more

than a couple of frames because she wanted to make sure we placed

in everything we need for the proper reactions.

Breakdowns

Showing any anticipation that we need to go from

one extreme pose to another to make it more interesting

rather than just going from point A to point B.