WEEK 1
Rule of third, camera lenses , sets/props, character designs, lighting, camera types; handheld/crane/static. Types of shots; Establishing, mid, close up etc.
During this week we were given a presentation on film framing and an insight into the rule of thirds and the golden ratio. We also received a camera crane that we used to set up different shots in Maya.
Assignment brief; Creating 3 previz ideas using the techniques above which will be reviewed over the term and eventually narrowed down to one to finalize in the next term. Animation analysis. Demos show casing contraints, effects, cycles and studio library.
We practised on how to use the camera, trying to copy some movie shots:
WEEK 2
Establishing your world
Assignment brief; Breaking down your ideas to the bare bones of the world that they are in. Sets and props. How will this influence the shot/scene/character. Animation analysis.
This week we had to come up with three possible animation ideas. Once we had found three possible concepts, we were asked to develop three different storyboards for each idea and moodboards.
PLOT 1
The animation begins with a man fishing in a small lake. The scene looks dark, and it is early in the morning. You can tell from the man’s posture that he is lonely and unhappy with his life. The man sets up his fishing rod and begins to fish. All around him the nature contrasts with the loneliness of the man, everyone has something else. A duck appears grazing some food just as the man does. After fishing the duck moves away and joins the rest of the family. The camera shifts to the man who remains impassive, emotionless. After a few seconds the man finally catches a fish. The man looks into the eyes of the fish and feels a connection, what is it? Love perhaps? After a few seconds of glances, the man feels the urge to kiss the fish. Animation ends with the two making out. There is plenty of fish in the lake.
PLOT 2
Same plot, but fish fishing fisher man. They kiss, and there is a switch of universe. Fish is in the water; it looks at the man and swims away. And the man starts fishing.
PLOT 3
a troll and an orc are playing a game in a box. during the troll’s turn the troll rolls the dice and comes up with 12. thus the troll wins the game. After looking carefully at the dice the orc realises that the dice used by the troll are faked, and therefore that he had cheated to win. The orc gets upset and hits the troll with his mace. After a couple of minutes of unconsciousness the troll comes to his senses and the two start laughing.
Mechanical Arm
Polygonal modelling exercises.
For this brief we had to model and animate an entire mechanical arm.
I found this brief very exciting as I consider myself a beginner in modelling but have always been interested in improving my skills.
In this lesson we started modelling our mechanical arm, we started by modelling the fingers from the phalanges.
After modelling the five fingers, we tried to animate them. To make the animation more fun, I decided to model a yo-yo to give the impression that the hand was grasping something.
WEEK 3
Telling stories through the camera
Assignment brief; Creating early stages of storyboards animating different types of cameras and shot angles. Being able to read and identify what is going to be used in your scene/shot before any character animation is needed. Rule of thirds.
In this lesson we saw how the movement of the camera as well as the environment already does half the work in the way we communicate in an animation.
Once we had the three ideas written down, we had to work on the story board and mood board of each idea
PLOT 1
The animation would take place in a lake under the light of the morning sunrise, I want to play a lot with the contrast of cold and warm colours. The environment would be dominated by the colour blue and I want the main source of heat to come from the light in the pier which illuminates the character in order to give an atmosphere of intimacy.
Storyboard
Mood boards
PLOT 2
The mood board of the second animation would have been very similar to the previous one. I was trying to figure out what effect the character would give when the animation was finished. While searching for reference images, I realised that this idea would not be the ultimate one as the fish’s mobility would be very limited.
Storyboard
Mood board
PLOT 3
I thought of using a top view camera to open the animation in order to present the scene, showing the game board. Afterwards, during the first part of the animation it is possible to see the face of only one of the characters. Throughout the game we only see the shoulders of the second character. Only when the orc realises that he has been tricked we are able to see his angry face. To close the animation I want to use the same top view camera.
Storyboard
Mechanical Arm
During this week we began naming our layers correctly in order to start working on the rig of the palm and fingers.
We also worked on modelling other parts of the hand such as the tendons that would help the movement of the fingers during animation. Finally, we also modelled and added the palm and dorsum to make the design more realistic.
WEEK 4
Establishing Characters
Who is your protagonist/antagonist. What drives them/ motivates them to do what they do and how will that affect your animation/story.
I first worked on the creation of a story board in Maya. This helped me to understand how the animation looked in 3D, and also helped me to place and choose the right camera. In order to do this I worked with simple shapes to focus more on the design of the scenes.
3D STORYBOARD
MAIN CHARACTER
Afterwards I started looking for my character. I wanted an old man with an grumpy look.
The main thing I had to take into consideration when choosing the character was his rig. I would need a rig that works well and allows me to use IK handles and a non-limiting facial rig.
Mechanical Arm
In this week we worked on modelling the other parts of the arm. First, we modelled the wrist and some bolts to make the design more complex. Then we started to apply some basic textures and lights to bring out the complexity of the arm and to make it more appealing.
Later on we started working on the modelling of the forearm. In this process we had the possibility to follow the design of Nick, our tutor, or to work on our own design. I decided to work on my own design since I wanted to have something in “cyber punk style”.
WEEK 5
I then worked on modelling and rigging and texturing the other main elements of the animation such as the fishing rod, the duck rig and the textures of the fish.
I then started to work on the creation of a simple environment that I would use for my preview shots. In order to have a vague idea of where to place the bushes and the main elements such as the dock and the seat, I first created an environment with simple shapes. Then using Bridge I started to work on a second environment trying to get as close as possible to the final one but still keeping simple shapes.
Mechanical Arm
This week we learnt how to model pistons to make the arm even more complex, and we also learnt how to utilise hierarchies for finger movement.
After understanding how the pistons functioned, I decided to model more articulated pistons that better matched the style of my design. This was very useful and it certainly improved the appearance of my arm, showing a more articulated geometry and making the 3D design more realistic.
WEEK 6
WORKING ON OUR PREVIS SHOTS
This week we started animating our previs and received initial feedback from Geroge during class.
FIRST PREVIS
I worked on my first previs with very small and limited animations. It was just to give a general idea of the movements. As I had already created the environment and had already found my definitive rig, I was suggested to try to push the animation more in the next previs and to improve the rig of some elements such as the geese, which was very limiting.
INTRODUCTION
ESTABLISHIN SHOT
MAIN CHARACTER
ACTION
ACTION
TWIST
INITIAL FEEDBACKS
The initial feedback I received related mainly to the positioning of the elements in the scene in order to have more sinuous and fascinating visuals.
NEW RIGS
Mechanical Arm
During this week we worked on the final phase of the construction of the arm, i.e. the modelling of the upper part and the shoulder. This part was very tricky as I tried not to follow what my tutor did so that I could concentrate fully on my design.
I divided the workflow into 3 steps:
- modelling the main geometry at the base of the arm
- add volume and details to give it a more realistic shape
- add pistons and extra elements to make the design more interesting
1
2
3
after this I worked on the rigging and texturing to create a couple of renders.
WEEK 7
This week I worked on the second belonging of my previs. Firstly I researched how to construct an effective close up since the second half of my animation was characterised by this type of camera movement.
The close-up is a shot often taken at a relatively close distance with a longer lens. I chose this type of camera because it offers a detailed and intimate look at what we might normally miss.
Refences:
“Stranger Things” Courtesy Netflix
A close-up that is also a 2-shot
The Dark Knight Joker
PREVIS ( SECOND HALF ) :
Once I understood how I wanted to film my close up scenes, I started to work on the previes. I started by finding a rig for the fish so that I could have complete freedom of movement. I decided to focus mainly on the fisherman’s facial expressions for the close ups, with the aim of narrating the story of the animation through the character’s facial expressions.
FEEDBACKS:
Once I showed my shots to George I received other useful feedback regarding camera movement. He made me realise how to have more effective close up shots and how to use the camera to better narrate the story and guide the audience into a better view of the scene.
Mechanical Arm
During this week I focused on animating the hand and on working on a basic rig that would allow me an easier and faster way to animate it.
Finally I worked on the render to see how the textures worked together, as I planned to concentrate more on the animation of the hand I could not experiment too much with the textures even though I wanted to make the textures more used and realistic.
First rendered animation:
WEEK 8
After finishing working on the previes I started to add music and sounds.
To do that at first I tried to find free copyrighted sounds but I couldn’t find many and the few I did find were not good.
I then decided to pay for up-beat subscription so that I would have a much larger sound library.
Once I had edited all the scenes together I sent it to George to receive extra feedback. The final feedback was about some changes to make the narrative smoother and more pleasing to the audience.
Mechanical Arm
This week we used motion capture to record the clip that was going to be the background for the animation of our mechanical arm.
Nick let us use his suit for filming but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for everyone to have their own recording.
Although I didn’t do my own recording, this lesson was very useful if only to see how to work with a mocap suit.
He showed us how to use Da Vinci Resolve to remove the green arm from the video footage. He exported the video file into frames, which we then imported into Maya .
Using his HDR camera, Nick captured the ambient light, which he also imported into his Maya file.
Since I didn’t have my video recorded, I decided to work on rendering the animation of my arm.
I decided to try to render a video that would be more impactful in a showreel, so I tried to give more importance to the modelling.
WEEK 9
This week I got to work on the post editing of the previes, adding as many sound effects as possible and editing the scenes together.
The finished work made me realise what I would have to alter and correct in the final animation which will be used in project 2 as an artefact.
Indeed, in this final phase I also worked with my partner on the textures and rendering of some scenes to get an idea of what the finished work would look like.
Seeing the effect that the final renders have made me feel even more excited about completing this animation and seeing it as a piece of work.
Over the next few weeks I would concentrate on correcting the animation and the final renders.
Mechanical Arm
This past week I’ve been focusing on creating effective renders in case I want to use this project for my portfolio. I didn’t want to focus too much on animation because I decided to concentrate my time on making my previes since character animation is my priority at the moment.
However, I thought that having some cool pictures would still be a nice way to end this project.
WEEK 10
To conclude I focused entirely on the realisation of my previews as I decided to submit this project.
I am very satisfied with the way I worked during these weeks, both projects were difficult and helped me to improve my skills in animation and modelling. I understood for example the importance of planning and organisation, which I am sure will be useful in the future in a professional environment.
Furthermore, working on this term made me realise that I am much more interested in animation than in special effects, which I want to focus on in the next term.
This experience made me grow as an animator and made me even more enthusiastic to start working on project 2.