Final Animation

            My final animation of the Snake Charmer went better than I had originally thought. Looking at the various elements of what went well and what didn't will help me to develop for any future animations. Firstly, the opening shot from 0:00-0:04 clearly identifies the character and the theme of the animation with a smooth transition camera movement that eases into the shot. We can then see the main character in the background which further sets up the scene.

               The wave at the six second mark helps to create the opening emotion of the character before his descent into anger. He plays the flute and there is appeal in the character as he blinks repeatedly at the audience. The audience can see what is going on as the scene unfolds. The movement of the fingers on the flute show nicely that the character is meant to be playing it. The snake then pops it's head up and is able to move just enough for the audience to shift attention to it, see it's squashing action and shift back to the main character before the anger sets in. He immediately drops his arm to the side which I think is nicely timed, this is followed by a reasonably well weighted foot stomp before leading on to what I believe to be the weakest part of the animation.
     
            

           The part where the character throws the flute to the ground suffered from the fact that I didn't block as many poses as I should have before doing straight ahead animation and so had to animate every keyframe to fix the timing here. There are clear issues but I managed to make it much better than it was by fixing the arc of the arm and constraining the flute to the character's hand before it hits the ground. When the flute hits the ground at 13 second, there is not as much of an impact as I had wanted but I tried to look at how it would work in real life and incorporated a reverberation into the impact which causes the flute to bounce slightly.

                          

         All the way through this, the camera is transitioning through the action fairly smoothly, guiding the eye to where the audience should be looking.

            Next we come to the jump. This took a lot of manipulation of the pole vectors and it is clear that technical animation is the main problem here and moving into the walk at 17 seconds which has a slight pause in it. This pause is down to the foot roll that I had on the animation in order to make the movement more realistic. This works in the rest of the walk and the straight arm march that I created really highlights the anger/frustration that the character is feeling.
                       
                             

           We see this as well when the character picks up the basket, shakes and kicks it. The character's motivation and emotion is clear throughout the animation and we can see the slight triumph and relief in his character following the kicking of the basket. Looking at the kick itself, I exaggerated the character in order to add anticipation to the kick.

            When the snake appears behind the character, there is a subtlety as the character looks back before the snake launches at the camera to finish the animation. The snake is well timed and the audience can see the build up in the scene before it strikes. I think that the timing is better on this because the character had a much simpler rig than that of the lion and this reduced animation complexity.

                

             Looking at the characterisation overall, I think that a lot of emotion and thought can be seen in the characters. The story is clear as is the movement but the timing and execution of these movements needs work. Going forward, I know what I need to improve and fix for the future as stated above. The Render and the background is nice as we can see clearly the scene and the setting of the character. When it comes to music, I tried to recreate a circus theme and at the end added a hiss for dramatic effect.  

         In conclusion, there are good and bad qualities to this animation. Most of the good qualities stem from the character animation which is powerful and clear. Most of the bad qualities stem from the timing issues that can be seen and the technical aspect. I plan to continue working on this and learn from my mistakes. This has been an enjoyable project and it has helped me to develop as an animator.              

















References
 I DO NOT OWN THE MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO. IT WAS FOUND HERE:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjedLeVGcfE, CIRCUS MUSIC, SuperJessTheMess, Uploaded 1/11/09       and Snake Hiss, https://www.freesoundeffects.com/free-track/snakehiss2-466277/,   "Partners in Rhyme"

Front, 3/4 and Side Renders of Character

Here are the front, 3/4 and side renders of my character using Mental Ray. I wrote about the modelling and rigging in an earlier blog post which also detailed the rigging and skinning process.

Optional Diving Animation

                       Here is the optional animation for the class. We had a choice between animating a diving scene, a death scene or a trap door falling scene. I chose diving as it seemed like a good chance to practice my timing using some diving videos for reference. These videos are as follows:

                          by "Tales of Duster"     Published 25th of April 2011    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ZGyBLqb3g

                                          "Slo Mo Lab" Published 5th September 2015   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKmMcGj80z4


                                     I chose to use the generi_rig that was in the animation folder (I DO NOT OWN THIS RIG) instead of the Daffy Duck one as there was much better rigging and skinning on it as well as facial expressions that could make for some more interesting movements. The objects were taken from the Daffy Duck rig, ready to animate folder.

                                     I'm happy with how this animation turned out. The movement contains fluidity and is reasonably well timed. I'm happy with this as timing has always been the worst area of my animating so it is nice to create something where I feel that the timing is well done. Following on from this, the characterisation of uncertainty that I gave to the character, coupled with moving it's mouth to create the idea of what he is thinking helped me to create an animation that I am proud of. I'm happy with the movement on the diving board, subtle as it is, and the blocking and poses in this animation work well. If i was to criticise it, I would say that there may be some issues with weight in the character and that the curve on the dive could have been less sharp. I hope that I can incorporate what I have learnt here into my future animations and create some nice work.

   AGAIN: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTER/RIG AND OBJECTS FEATURED IN THIS ANIMATION. THEY BELONG TO JASON THEAKER AND THE UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD. I HAVE THESE ME FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THIS ANIMATION MODULE.   

The Saga of Biorn Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5w262XvCU&feature=youtu.be

    The use of a narrator in this animation gives a nice context to it. The story itself was nice but I didn't find it anywhere near as funny as it seemed like it was trying to be. It was still enjoyable to see the reasons why Biorn's enemies were incapacitated. The animation style is a different story.

 The animation did have some nice touches to it though such as the beautifully timed spear shot  during the fight with a warrior and the eagle scene.

                                 

The short is comedic in it's approach with a lot of work clearly having gone into creating the environment and character designs (such as the symbols on the sword) with some 2D elements making it all seem very Scandanavian in it's look. Although the characters seem quite flat on the background, they still seem to convey weight and depth. The main character exudes a lot of body language and facial expressions that helps to convey his emotions.

 This is coupled nicely with his roaring sounds but overall it seemed like a series of well timed shots and action scenes which reminded me a lot of Genndy Tartakovsky's style in "Samurai Jack" and "Sym-Bionic Titan".

 This film seemed well paced with some nice follow through and secondary action on the characters' hair.

                                                        

This animation is pretty powerful as it is engrossing but there are still some problems such as with the movement of the main character seeming off and the character design making some characters look strange in this cel shaded environment. Other than this, i enjoyed the animation as there were elements of the principles involved with some good strong storytelling that made this an effective animation to analyse. 

Image reference: Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky,  https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=samurai+jack+fight&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_rMGxlrXQAhXlAMAKHUIDDqIQsAQIMw&biw=1920&bih=1094#imgrc=1dpX6g6lxGBJ9M%3A, Accessed 19/11/2016

Analysis of "The Backwater Gospel"

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


    This animation has a very interesting style and idea. There seem to be some subtle messages in this that deal with religion and death.  The animation is really nice and really adds to the atmosphere of the film. It feels dark, murky and gritty with a deathly tone to the skin and clothes of the characters. The light and darkness compliment each other and both appear dark and filthy.  The characters of the crippled man, the priest and the Undertaker all represent different ideas and interact in a way that every scene is well animated and directed.

       The non verbal communication of anger and fear on the character's faces help to reveal their emotions and in doing so adds to the character of the Undertaker who just coldly sits and waits.

 Chaos and destruction is created through the concept of death as the characters follow a fear filled monotonous lifestyle under the priest's word. The storm that arrives at the end of the film just as the all out war for survival begins may be representative of the destruction and death that will soon take place.

    Looking at the death of the characters, in a gruesome manner creates a more gritty atmosphere with the death of the crippled man looking somewhat like Jesus during the crucifixion.

 

The animation as a whole is very nice and there are a lot of emotions that are conveyed through this. The pain of the characters are highlighted and the animation principles of anticipation and appeal are clear here. These things all put together help to create a beautiful animation.

Walk Animations

 

 This character is one that I found in the session folder. Following this, I began to animate a sneaking cycle as I liked the way that anticipation and exaggeration adds to the action and emotion of the animation. Oversall, I like the timing and movement on this as there are some nice distinct poses that really convey the character. The exaggeration in the leans of the character also help to get across the idea of the action. The weight of the character is especially interesting as the impact can be seen when the foot lands forward. I think that there are some very slight issues in the positions of the hands which could be fixed if this was attempted in the future but overall, the movement seems strong and not much of an issue. If i were to compare this to the Daffy Duck animation then I would mention that this seems to have a lot more character in it where as the other one doesn't and in having this emotion in the character it better puts across the idea of the character's actions, motivations and thought process. This was an enjoyable process though as i got to practice with a walk cycle, something that I had not done before in 3D animation so I could work on timing, spacing and overall characterisation through the body movements.     

 This is a Daffy proud walk cycle. It was created through the analysis of the walk cycle on the Preston Blair movement image at the bottom of this page. I am happy with the timing of this animation but there are some issues. Unlike in the animations that were in the lecturer's examples, there were some issues with getting the feet to be snappier and flick upwards. The hands had originally been more bent but following this i straightened them to give more of an insight into the possibility of power walking. There were no eyebrows or eye lids on the character so the animation seemed slightly more generic. The emotion therefore had to be conveyed solely through the non verbal communication of the lower body. This worked to some degree as there was a clear sense of weight in the character's footsteps but still the character seemed lifeless with dead eyes. I think if i was to do this animation again with more time, i would rig the face in order to create a better opportunity to animate facial expressions to better get across the emotion of the character. Looking at the poses, which i created through blocking the movements in four frame intervals, it was a fairly systematic animation which didn't cause too many problems. I prefer the animation on the other walk cycle though as I feel it has more character than this one.       

                                         

Using rigged characters by Jason Theaker found in the session folders from the class, Advanced Character Animation. I DO NOT OWN OR CLAIM TO OWN THE CHARACTERS OR THE RIGS IN THESE ANIMATIONS.

A look at Body acting

 Body acting is an interesting way of working out the timing, charaterisation and movement of a character before starting an animation. In these examples, it is easy to see the relation between actor and animated character.
      
         The first one, I picked so the body acting couldn't be seen just so that I could see if I could work out the body acting and weight without seeing the real movement and I could. It is believable. Looking at the second video, it is nice to see the development process and how the actor is channeling the character in order to make the most out of the scene. It is a reference than can be studied during the animation process and makes the process of blocking out the poses much easier. It shows a good thought process with powerful storytelling. The creative poses that the actor creates helps to enhance the performance of the character as it works towards the final render.

         Finally, the positions of the body during this make it so non verbal communication is the most powerful element that takes priority. If you have this and can communicate a story, which is clear in both of these videos, then that is the core of good animation. The technical elements can follow. Looking at these animations in relation to the 12 principles of animation, they are well timed with some good key actions of anticipation, exaggeration and appeal. Overall, looking at body acting has helped me to further understand the importance of characterisation in animation.












Video reference: Garrett Lewis,     https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=body+acting&&view=detail&mid=4802EDD70A6D5ABBFB6A4802EDD70A6D5ABBFB6A&FORM=VRDGAR, published 19 of July 2015


AndresStopmo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1-Z_6Jr_Lk, Published 2 October 2013

Analysis of French Roast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=228&v=eboANSeXEiU



       French Roast


             This short, for me, didn't work as well as it could have. There were many flaws but at the same time some things worked well. I liked the appeal and the characterisation of the begger and the old woman but other than that, the other characters, such as the waiter and the main character most notably, didn't work and i felt no actual link to them as characters. There could have been better use of exaggeration and squash and stretch in the character's movements to give more dynamic looks and poses. Something that I liked was how it was easy to tell exactly what was going on in the film with very little audio other than the music track, therefore highlighting the power of non verbal communication. The ending of the animation seemed rushed and predictable and the overall quality of motion in the protagonist seems like it could have been worked better. The CG elements and timing is very good, however and attention has been given to movement in walking and this is what makes the woman and the begger stand out. 

           The idea of using reflectivity to tell part of the story works nicely too.

 

My favourite part of movement is this part where the main character moves his hand towards the woman's bag before pulling away. This is beautifully animated and the fingers each have believable weight. There is nice use of camera movements, even though it only moves from left to right and back again.  I also like the secondary action of the main character's moustache moving as he does and you can see that he is beginning to get flustered with each passing cup of coffee. Other than this though there are some issues that could be made much better but overall it is a nicely, technically animated short.  

   

Lion character: Modelled, Rigged, Skinned

 

Starting out i made the model roughly before lining up the verts and using duplicate special. From here, I began working on the character's features.  

                                         character with features.

 zoomed in character plus features. Following feedback, I changed some elements of the model. One of these was making the beard, a mane like part.

 

The finished model.

 I then used Photoshop and UV mapping in order to stretch a Uv to form textures for the character.

  

Beginning the rigging process. The joints in and tail.

 

Finished the reverse foot, footroll and attributes.

 

 IK on the arms and adding better controllers.

 

  

Working on the arms. Following this, I used Parent constraint on the IK and orient constraint on the wrist. I then created pole vectors. 

 

 The controllers and creating groups.

 

The model with controllers parented.

 

 The skinnig process, painting skin weights.

 

texture used on the basket plus basket.

I DO NOT OWN THIS TEXTURE: http://images.naldzgraphics.net/2012/09/3-three-Basket.jpg, accessed 7/11/2016,  http://naldzgraphics.net/textures/basket-texture-for-free/

 http://hotaru-tenten.deviantart.com/art/basket-pattern-82230484 by Hotaru-tenten.

Flute and Snake that I modelled and rigged to be used in the animation. THESE ARE NOT TO BE GRADED AS MY 10% MODEL.

sand texture:  http://images.naldzgraphics.net/2014/07/1-fine-sand-seamless-texture.jpg

READY TO ANIMATE!!!!!

Rocket animation

    This is my animation for the rocket.


https://youtu.be/4m7zAH7uPI0

The idea here follows that of the storyboard as the character attempts to dispose of a fly from the take off platform. The emotion expressed here is a combination of anger and frustration. As the animation starts, it is easy to see from the rocket's expressions that the character is already suffering from the presence of the fly. There is no audio here but i think that i managed to accurately convey the emotions through the non verbal communication such as the movement of the eyes, eyebrows and "arms". The fly had originally been harder to animate as i needed a lot of swift curves but now it seems relateable to the actions of the other character but there are still some small issues of speed here. This is noticeable also in the part where the character claps. The clap itself could be slightly faster in order to create more power and realism in the movement. The eyebrows and eyes are something that i really like though as i this the rocket's hatred can be clearly seen. The frustration does build as the animation goes on, to the point that he has a tantrum without actually taking any notice of the fly at all. This climaxes in the step by step slow out take off as the character accidentally launches himself into the air. Using the principles of animation such as exaggeration, anticipation and slow in, slow out worked well in improving the story understanding and the timing of the animation. Maybe the take off at the end could be slightly clearer but i think that it's better thanks to the use of the emotions and graph editor manipulation.    

Reference: Model and rig by Jason Theaker and Jordan Grant Hall

Nonverbal communication

    Other than through our words, our emotions can be conveyed in a variety of ways, from body language to facial expressions to the way we move, dress and act.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9YTxff3pHU

     Communication is not just about our words, the simple motions of our bodies can have affects on the understanding of our emotions by others. An eye roll or a pouting of the lips can do as much for frustration and sadness as saying it can. Folding one's arms can be taken as a sign of wanting a person to keep away from you. Other body language like this can also help us to analyse what a character is thinking. Tapping fingers can signify impatience, a downturned brow in animation can be seen as anger, even your posture can tell someone a lot about your mood, (slouching for example can signify a lack of enthusiasm or tiredness). The distance in which people stand away from each other could also be a sign of how much they like/want to be around the person. Even silence is nonverbal communication that makes a point about the mind of a person. Hand gestures can say a lot about a character too. Open hands with a lot of movement could indicate enthusiasm where as a clenched fist is representative of anger. Overall, looking at the various forms of non verbal communication, it is clear to see that all manner of movement can send a message to others about what they are thinking and feeling. This works the same way in animation too, a character can tell a story without having any sound involved and where sound is involved, then it can enhance the realism and understanding of the emotions of the character.  







References: video, Mitchell Rose Films, Learn to speak body: tape 5,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9YTxff3pHU, June 13,2006


 in slideshare, Nonverbal communication, http://www.slideshare.net/waqasdilasa/nonverbal-communication-8696831, published July 26 2011, Accessed 29 October 2016.


UK Essays. November 2013. Study Of Body Language Thesis Psychology Essay. [online]. Available from: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/study-of-body-language-thesis-psychology-essay.php?cref=1 [Accessed 29 October 2016].

Storyboard for Rocket Animation

 

This is my storyboard idea for the rocket animation. The character will be expressing anger/frustration, similarly to that of the character in my final semester animation. On the post before this, you can see the thought process and the research that went into this animation. The character is getting ready to take off but can't due to the irritation of the fly that is hanging around the launching area. After trying to kill the fly a few times, the character lets his anger get the better of him, causing him to take off and launch unexpectedly out of the scene. I feel that this is relevent to the brief, a character with emotion, taking off and I feel that i have thought about how to not make it a generic take off. I tried to incorporate a few different camera angles without it becoming too complicated. The overall animation is not meant to be very long so too many camera movements would make the animation choppy, dissjointed and wrong for the setting. Simplistic cameras but with a lot of emotion and character to the rocket fused with good use of the 12 principles of animation will be the things that make this a good animation. I used a lot of directional arrows and movement lines to try and further get across the gestures of the head and the movement of the rocket. I also added some words that explained the images further and I feel that this will help me when it comes to the animation process. Finally, the flag wasn't necessary for my story and so chose not to use it. 

    

 I DO NOT OWN THE STORYBOARD TEMPLATE HENCE WHY I DID NOT INSERT MY NAME AT THE BOTTOM.

Research process for the rocket animation

I started out by looking at various images of cartoon rockets, (the rocket being the character that appealed to me the most) and the facial expression that they portrayed. This allowed me to get a better understanding for possible character emotions. I then looked at the various possible emotions that I could portray and how a rocket moves before looking at anger as that is the emotion that I will be doing for my final animation. I worked out a pinterest board for the ideas and looked at various aspects of anger. I thought about how the character could be angry and why before finally settling on the idea of a fly in the take off zone. This provides a good basis for possible comedy. I wrote out some notes on the situation and possible camera angles and facial expressions. Following this, i followed step 3 of the incubation period and took a break. Whilst at badminton, I noticed someone getting angry and frustrated when losing a match so I looked more at his body language. It was a good bbasis for my animation as I could see the rocket in that situation and I began to think about the movement of the character within the space. I moved on to look at the possibility of animating other problems such as the flag not popping up or a countdown timer breaking before finally deciding that the fly was the best option. Following the creation of my storyboard, I will be seeking feedback on the idea and look at changing anything that may not work in the overall animation.

Here is a link to the pinterest board on this research. The storyboard will soon follow.

    https://uk.pinterest.com/josephlearoyd/rocket-animation/

Reflecting on the 12 principles of animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ0GgaPBTfQ


   Reflecting on the 12 principles of animation, i tend to see them at play a lot more. Things such as the subtle movements, the follow through and overlapping action and the secondary actions are now far more noticeable than they were this time last year. I have started noticing the principles at play in the real world. Anticipation, follow throgh and obviously appeal (due to various people's character traits) are all at play in the world around us. When it comes to my animation, although timing is still my weakest aspect, i feel that i have managed to get much better at noticing the differences between good and bad timing. When watching 2D and 3D animated films, the inspirations that are drawn from real life can be identified and things such as anticipation and exaggeration are more noticeable. Squash and Stretch is one such example of how exaggeration can play out. The more exaggeration in the squash and stretch, the more effect one will have on the overall realism or cartoonish style of the animation.  I have been thinking more about how the 12 principles can be incorporated into a story in order to make a more realistic, identifyable or netter understandable piece of animation. Slow in and slow out is one principle that I practice with in order to perfect timing, (using the graph editor) this is good as it helps with my technical ability as well as buid a better understanding of how various animation principles compliment each other.

     In conclusion, I believe that my animation ability has gotten better over the past year and my animation principle understanding has developed further also.    



Video: Indianeers,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ0GgaPBTfQ,  
published 25 October 2015

Critique of Gorrillaz animatics

Storyboard:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7YWIshHtE&feature=youtu.be

animatic layout:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcV52OfJMOg&feature=youtu.be

Finished animation:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7Ovshz1UI&feature=youtu.be


   These three videos look at the Gorillaz music video, "19-2000" and the development of it's animation. The storyboard firstly is well drawn with the framing clearly showing the actions and expressions of the characters. The characters, although still can clearly be understood from these drawings. Shots and camera angles have been taken into account and look at carefully in order to get the best affect from the overall animation. The annotations on the storyboard clearly depict what is going on in the story with sound effects being placed into the animatic to allow for a further understanding.

 

Something that this video also does nicely is adding dotted motion paths lines in order to convey the speed and directions in which characters are moving. Emotions can even be expressed through the subtleties of the half closed eyes.

    Moving on to the second video, we can clearly see the development into an animation. Although some aspects of this animatic layout are quite blocky and primitive, almost like an early 3D video game, the camera angles and directions of movement are clear with more depth given to the characters and an overall better quality in the visual effects such as the explosion at 2:20. The movement isn't as fluid as in the final video but the development and the process in which the two transition is clear.

   The finished animation has a polished look and feel and manages to combine 3D and 2D effects that work together and allow for an interesting flow to the story. Although the music has very little to do with the video, the story of both still comes across as a coherent narrative. The movement seems slowed down in places though but still well timed. The subtle movements of the hair due to wind also adds a sense of realism to an otherwise cartoony atmosphere. More of the animation principles can be seen at work here too. Anticipation is a big one here as a character seems to move slightly before an action in order to identify the motion that they are about to carry out. This is clear with the character moving his fingers before pressing the button to release the rocket at 3:17. Overall, I see this as a successful animation that has its own look and style that makes it stand out as being quite unique. It is a well timed and well animated piece that draws you in and creates an interesting narrative.  

Blink eye emotions

Quick animations that deal with animating emotions. First of all i animated tiredness or exhaustion. It was a difficult process as i had to find a way to make the character emotive just from it's head and eyes. I then animated it again but with a more suspicious, darting eye motion to the character. The timing has gotten much better here but there is still a slight issue on the timing if the head falling to the floor in the tired animation. I do feel that the animations do accurately manage to portray emotion though and it is easy to tell what the character is thinking in each animation. From a technical aspect, it was a nice rig to work with and fairly simplistic and even though the character has such basics, the subtle movements of the eyelids and the head makes it clear that little movements and body language all add majorly to animation and overall understanding of what a character is feeling. The graph editor helped me a lot here when it came to animating subtleties such as the slight bounce when the tired head bounces off the ground and the short sharp darting of the eyes in the suspicion animation. Overall though, this has been an animation that has helped me with a study into animation emotion and how it is portrayed. Hopefully, I can replicate this in my snake charmer animation.   

Favourite Characters

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7n8vJWzDq8ORFhKNzhaYXpTZlE



Word Document writing about my favourite animated films and characters, the animation and everything that makes them good.

Characters owned by Disney, Image: http://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/69/77/3B4p9J.jpg