Week 10 - Parkour Blocking

Upon starting the scenes I imported the video into the maya file just to ensure the fluidity of the animation, and for the most part progression seems to be going well, the only afterthoughts I get are how I can augment the environment in the second parkour scene, to hopefully give it an interesting story as opposed to just a basic run.

Parkour 1

https://vimeo.com/96794483

Parkour 2

https://vimeo.com/96794484

Week 9 - Parkour

To add to the ensemble of different animations that I want to put into my showreel, I aim to make some parkour animations. A strong and high paced display of animation practice it is a great feature that I would like to complete and put into my animation.

Parkour Sequence 1
https://vimeo.com/96691847


Parkour Sequence 2
https://vimeo.com/96691850


I went with two parkour scenes that were rather short just to keep full quality completion manageable. Taking simple video reference from youtube it was merely a case of getting the framing right and then creating the environments in maya to then start animating.

Week 8 - Video Referencing

After cementing these two choices with my tutors, I began video referencing the scenes just to see which one I should progress with into blocking stage in maya. For the most part referencing both scenes seemed to go well.


Spiderman - Main Character reference
https://vimeo.com/96685738

Spiderman - Sub Character reference
https://vimeo.com/96685739


The Big Bang Theory - Main Character reference
https://vimeo.com/96687663


With the video reference relatively sorted out I began taking steps to create the scenes in maya.

Week 7 - Audio Clips Chosen

After scrubbing through the audio clips several times, I eventually narrowed down to just two pieces of dialogue.

The first was an excerpt from the second spiderman, in which Peter Parker reflects on the negative ramifications of his heroic actions.
The line of dialogue shows us the maturity of Peter Parker as he develops as the superhero Spiderman.


I however when mind-mapping, decided to take the dialogue in a more comedic route, though keeping the initial dramatic overtone. The scene I envisioned for the line was to have one character in prime focus, speaking the line and being overzealous in his delivery, only for him to then seem to snap out of his melodrama take his drink and look to his friend to pay for him, to which the friend begrudgingly obliges.

The second clip I chose to storyboard was a line from a The Big Bang Theory episode, in which one character Leonard Hofstadter, errs caution to his friend Penny in regards to a feud she is in with Leonard's roommate Sheldon. The line itself is a somewhat comedic piece of advice regarding his roommates behaviour, which is said in a sincere manner despite the craziness of the statement. 

When storyboarding the line itself, I chose to relatively keep the context the same, but slightly change the composition of the scene. The original in show scene sees Leonard walk over to Penny to offer advice, and his body language is more defensive and reserved. With my scene I elected to just have one character in a scene rather than try to completely mirror the show's scene. The character begins by 

rummaging through a fridge then upon "hearing the prior line" returns with the dialogue clip, and within his lines his body language hits certain words in his sentence for emphasis.

Week 6 - Choosing Audio for Lip Sync

This week while continuing to smooth out my body mechanic animations, I started looking towards the other element of my final showreel: Lipsync animation. Deciding what audio clips to use became the more difficult part of the process, simply because with such a large variety to choose from, taking a clip then altering in any particular way comedic or otherwise left me spoilt for choice.

After mass amounts of deliberation I went with choosing two audio clips, one I would only animate the face of a rig, the other a full body animation complete with body language.

For the facial rig animation, I have decided to use an excerpt from the 2008 Sherlock Movie, where Sherlock Holmes attempts to calm a startled house maid:
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/trustProfessional.wav
From the outset I aim to match the smoothness of his voice with an equally calm faced character, hoping to see how much charisma I can display with only a head.

Choosing an audio clip for the full body lipsync was difficult simply because of the possibilities I could work with, not too mention that some clips were deceptively long, which would see my priorities shift from a decent work plan. So I altered my choice selection in favour for some clips are maximum 13 seconds, so as to finish with two strong animations with condensed quality, rather than animations that aren't completely finished to respectable quality due to lack of time.

Here are a selection of choices that I'm looking at, by weeks end I will have my choices along with storyboards for the lipsync animations ready for me to start video referencing and blocking out.

The Big Bang Theory - Leonard Hofstadter
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/supervillain.wav

The Incredibles - Syndrome
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/everyonewillbe.wav

The Dark Knight - The Joker
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/heresmycard.wav

The Dark Knight - The Joker
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/myjokes.wav

Monsters University - Sully
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/grabpig.wav

Spiderman - Peter Parker
http://www.dailywav.com/sites/default/files/wavs/oneswhopay_0.wav

For the time being, I will make mind maps and quick storyboards so as to cement ideas for each scene which will help me decide which dialogue piece I use.

Week 5 A Second Push Animation?

As I was about to begin video referencing and blocking out the pull animation, I instead opted to make a second push animation that will feature two characters, just so I can create a comedic event occurring between two people. My intended plot for this animation is for one character (the brawny one) to first approach the object, attempt a push initially fail then continue to struggle until the second character (the scrawny one) walks up, pushes the brawny character out of the way, and then proceed to easily push the object out of frame, to the brawny characters stunned dismay.

https://vimeo.com/88141183

For the "unyielding" resistance push, I used a small TV trolley and pushed it up against a wall, in order to show a full body motion push simply because it faking a hard push would not translate well because there is not physical reaction to the struggle of the push.

https://vimeo.com/88141184

In the second push I threw some partial acknowledgement and reaction just so there is something to work from when animating the secondary character. I did retrospectively notice that there is a stark difference in camera angles from the first reference to the second, however it is simply a visual guide not a complete shot for shot copy, just to allow wiggle room when key framing.


https://vimeo.com/88141185
https://vimeo.com/88149305

Here is the initial playblast, stepped and smooth of this sequence so far, I focused on one character at a time just so that a can manage each portion of the animation in an efficient manner. My next step is to introduce the second character who will complete a walk cycle (I have to decide whether to overly personify it) into the scene, push the first character out of the way then proceed to push. These steps do seem rather straight forward on paper, however I have encountered a few keyframing issues with my second reference, but I have been informed of a method of animating where I key the frames at the beginning, then dragging them into time. I am a tad uncertain about this method of animation but it is one I have to work with as I have no other method of resolving my problem.

Week 4 Push 1 Animation

When referencing the video for the push animation, I changed the object size - opting for a lower set resistance push, just so the body language is at an extreme from the outset. Which when animated fully translates and highlights the sheer weight of the pushable object.

https://vimeo.com/88140845

Right after referencing, I jumped straight into maya, blocking out the character's movements. There were slight problems I encountered, particularly with the dragging of the feet when progressing forward.

https://vimeo.com/88140844

https://vimeo.com/88140846

As you can see the evident discrepancy with the right foots ankle drag, but I now know to remedy that, simply because I tried animating by mixing foot and ankle animation control, where just using the foot control is all that is needed, especially because the anchored footing will further enhance the realism of the push (to avoid foot sliding etc)

The Heavy Lift Animation

I began by re-recording the heavy lift reference video.

https://vimeo.com/88140731


Here I ignored the storyboard as advised, and just went for a one time pick-up of the heavy object, this time actually using a heavy object, in order to have a strong full body motion lift to reference from.


https://vimeo.com/88140732


For the record this is still at a stage where I aim to adjust the ending simply because I'm still keyframing the resolution of the animation Blocking in Maya progressed at a comfortable pace, simply due to only having one focus, it streamlined my workflow. I did find that certain human "slight movements" were hard to animate and keep in a smooth motion, however is something that can easily fixed when stringing together inbetweens.


https://vimeo.com/88140733


The smoothed version does show more fluidity, however it is still to stiff and almost robot like. Sanding down the rough edges within maya with be a simple enough task, and I do aim to finish the pre-rendered animation soon.

Week 3

In this week I began recording video reference, though I have done this for many other animations it seemed to be a bit of a challenge, mainly because certain subtleties in human movement doesn't always translate to film. Upon recording my first reference video, I thought that acting out my storyboard shot for shot would be the best idea, as that is what I want my animation to look like.

It was only after feedback, that I realised over acting a sequence can reduce its usefulness as reference, because it is in the animating that you exaggerate the action, timing and secondary action. From there I began reshooting, focusing purely on the movement not the acting, in order to have good referencing material to animate from.

Pull Storyboard

For my final body mechanic animation, I will make a pull animation. The storyboard I created for this didn't give me 100% confidence, there were certain elements that did have me wondering wether I could complete this to a good quality.

I at first entertained the idea of having multiple smaller objects on top of a bigger object to be pushed, which when the climax in the sequence occurs (see frame 5 and 6), there would be a mass amount of other animations happening within the smaller objects as the larger story continues, from this point I knew that video referencing these storyboards, would be paramount in order to progress to animating in maya as quickly as possible.

Push Storyboard

The second animation I wanted to feature is a push animation, a simple action in and of itself but can very easily look flawed if done incorrectly in an animation scene. When creating the storyboard I wanted to have the character explore many different levels when struggling to push the object.

The flow of the animation is as follows, the character approaches the object, after examining he then begins to set up his push, after his efforts see him hit the floor in exasperation, he then sets up to push the object from the floor out of frame.

Heavy Lift Storyboard

The first body mechanic animation I wanted to make was a heavy lift. I knew from the outset that there is a mass amount of generated body movement when lifting a heavy object, not too mention many an example of comedic turns when lifting heavy things.

This storyboard was a straight forward creation for me, I didn't have any afterthoughts, doubts or reconsiderations regarding what takes place as it has a relatively understandable and simple story premise. The character initially meets the object, 1st attempt to pick up, failure, re-adjust then second attempt, success then walk off. From the outset I feel that I can successfully translate this into a entertaining.

Week 2

After finishing my initial research and referencing, I began narrowing down what animations I wanted to complete and feature in my showreel regarding the body mechanic animations and the lipsync. I started by organising the body mechanic animation, opting for a push animation and a heavy lift.
Upon deciding this I immediately began storyboarding, looking to achieve animations with strong comedic storytelling qualities.

Animation Mentor Student Showcase 2013

Animation Mentor Showcase 2013

AnimSchool Animation Student Showcase Fall 2013

AnimSchool Showcase 2013

Animation Mentor Student Showcase Winter 2007

Animation Mentor Showcase 2007

Week 1

In the first week I merely broke down what I wanted to achieve, simply because I changed my fmp idea from a character design project, which would see me design, model, texture and rig two characters who I would then attempt to partially animate. After talking in length with one of my tutors, it became apparent that focusing solely on animation was a better focus for me, with that in mind I began researching all that I could regarding body mechanics and animation.

By taking inspiration from Animation Mentor and Animschool whose student videos I diligently watch and take note from, I knew what level of quality I was aiming for when creating my showreel, as well as what not to do: in terms of blatant copying.

Let Us Begin

Hey there, welcome to my 3rd Year Final Major Project.
For this project, I will be creating a showreel comprised of a variation of animation, mainly body mechanics and lip sync. Considering that most large creative projects require a "production bible" of some sort, I have elected to document my work and progress on this blog in the form of storyboarding, video reference, blocking, smoothing and reflection up until the final animation render.