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