3D Animation. Completed 3D Character Animation

Here is my finished and rendered 3D character animation. After identifying the problems in my previous post, I started to find it easier and easier to perfect the movements within the animation. Although I produced a rough storyboard, I did change my ideas as I progressed with animating on Maya. The reason for this is I found better ways of showing character and expression more effectively than what was on my storyboard. If I were to stick strictly to it, my animation would be very dull and lifeless. Although I should have followed my storyboard, I think it was okay in the sense as I had no idea what the sequence would've looked like in 3D, considering animating and using Maya was new to me. So adding and enhancing the majority of the motions seemed ideal for my animation, and I did stick to the basic idea of the story board I originally made. It was basically that with added features, such as more facial expressions and secondary actions to purely enhance the animated sequence.


The actual additions I made appealed for both characters in the animation. I wanted them both to represent their roles stated from my storyboard, with that element of a victim and main threatening character. This was devised from the sound clip I chose, because of it's fearful presence, it felt right to represent that through this animation. That is when I came up with the idea of having a character creeping up to another to frighten him/her. Once that basic idea was planned out, I began animating it through onto Maya, where from there I could analyze the data and enhance movements that I think would make my animation stronger. For example, to start off I had the 'creeping' motion very basic, but after close analysis with the sound, I discovered shuffles that would replicate a different sort of motion. It was then that I thought to make the character appear to drag the foot alongside him, to add to that 'scary' appeal of my animation. Adding that drag to the foot made the character have much more 'edgy' personality which helped highlight that element of fear I was after. In addition to the creep cycle, I alter and moved the facial expressions to give the character that personality of being a truly frightening figure. This was done be altering the eyes and mouth into more exaggerated poses, such as wide sinister smiles and dramatically inverted eyebrows.


For the 'Victim' character, everything had to reflect from the sound clip and the action from the main opposing figure. I wanted to add a bit more character to the victim, so I paid specific attention to the emotions before and after the action from the other character. I made the victim appear relaxed and content, until when the other character gets right close behind (where the dialogue begins) he becomes shocked and fearful of the figure behind. This adds personality to the character and allows us to understand the mentalities. Because the victim doesn't play a specific action based role within the sound clip, I added motions to further enhance his personality. Elements such as rolling of the eyes, scratching and tapping the foot. Once the other character interacts, I over dramatized his emotions by stretching the body out with both facial expressions, hands and legs. I really  wanted to portray the fear within this figure, so I added an extra emotion of 'nervousnous'. I represented this by radical shaking of the knees and eyes, whilst the arms and hands scrunch over the face (to potentially hide his eyes from the foe behind)


 Within doing these extra animations, both characters gain specific roles that clearly represent their personalities. Although I am still very new to Maya, I have come to understand the importance of posture and expression through the face and body languages. I have also learned the importance of researching motion, as it greatly helps within understanding the mechanics of animation. Without it, it would be impossible to be able to represent accurate and fluid movements. Although it seemed simple enough to start with, I soon found that the 'easiest' of movements required a lot of study, so I could replicate the motions with success. Overall, I have found animating in Maya quite difficult, but in the same sense exciting and I often found myself ambitious to play with new things in order to make my animation better. I am glad I chose 3D as I have learned so much about a new type of art.

3D Animation. Progressing in Maya (Identifying Problems)

With Maya been new software to me, I thought it would be useful if I documented the issues that I came across, so in the future I would have better knowledge of how Maya works and how I could tackle some of the problems. During the production of my 3D animated character, I noticed some issues that seemed hard to resolve at the time due to the lack of knowledge with the software itself. I found my self often noticing parts of the body and face moving in peculiar directions, that I myself did not set or 'do'. Usually it would involve rotations or timing errors where certain movements had less fluidity and generally made my animation robotic. This usually occurred when I adjusted the wrong axis curve on the graph editor, basically through lack of understanding with how the system worked.

One screen shot of my graph editor:

When key frames are made at both start and the end of 'dramatic' poses, it is then padded out with in between motions in order to make the movement smoother. However, I found myself key framing a lot of the motions I made, which in result often messed up with the timing to the audio and actions became swifter for the worst. This was done for the fact I didn't pay attention to the start and end poses of the movements, I just did them as I went along. So to resolve this, I began figuring and planning the poses at both the beginning and end of the motions. Once this was done, I could then analyze the animation and add pieces in between to smoothen out the movements. This was done through looking at the graph editor and tweaking the curves in which key frames/moves where set. As previously stated, I found that sometimes my character would move in peculiar ways, such as radical rotation of hands or arms. Before I had no idea how to resolve them and ended up going back and deleting those key frames so I could re-do them. However, within paying close attention to how the graph editor replicates the animation, I began figuring out how to fix those problems.

With the image above you can see how the different coloured lines replicate the animation on XYZ axises. The dots on the lines show the key frames which I have made during the movement sequences. Where curves are, indicate how the axises are being manipulated for different motions. So when I came across those rotation errors, I went to the graph editor and found the axis in which I thought the error had formed. Once I found it, I could then playback and see how the curves on the axis change where the issue is and from there I could tweak them and resolve that issue. It took me a considerable amount of time to understand how the graph editor actually worked, within moving the curves to adjust the timing and positions. However, once I grasped the axises and saw where animation took place on the curves, I found it easier to fix problems and tweak movements to give my animation more life.


Evidence of me planning the timing of a movement:

Within taking this small documented post, I feel comfortable to use it to reflect back on, So I know that I understand Maya a lot better than previous and feel less daunted by the software.

3D Character Animation - Finding Expressions

Before i began actually producing my 3D animation, i wanted to play around with some facial expressions. I think it's important to understand facial features within representing both emotions and body language. Without it an animation involving character's such as this, would be dull, boring and have little inclusion within the 12 principles of animation (squash and stretch, secondary actions etc). Also without using lip sync, i have to rely on facial expressions in order to highlight the dialogue within the sound clip.

From my idea in a previous post, i am going to have two characters that both react to my chosen sound board in different ways. One character is going to be menacing, evil and generally quite creepy. He will be the one who represents the majority of the motions and expressions from the dialogue. I chose menacing because the voice within the actual sound clip is quite disrupting and eerie, so i felt it was important to capture that sort of side with my own character. The other figure will be the 'victim' of the   main character's actions. It will respond to the dialogue through facial expression and emotion.

I have done two sets of facial expressions for each of the two characters, The main character and the victim. So as previously stated, my main character is going to be menacing and creepy. So i played around with the facial anatomy of the figure through Maya and took some screenshots to show what i thought worked well to represent the character. I paid specific attention to the eyebrow shape for the simple factor that is easy to change the emotions through that muscle, however, i didn't want to stick with that element as it made the face look pretty inactive and lifeless. I decided to give the figure a very broad smile, which would aid me to express that 'menacing' feel. The best way to represent the figure's sinister intentions, was the addition of adding eyelids to the facial features. This gave made a squint, which gave the character's this appeal of being slightly crazy/evil/psycho. Adding these extra elements helped over exaggerate the emotion, which is ideal as it represents fragments of the 12 animation principles.

Here are some images of the facial expressions i formed during this experimentation:

For the second character known as the 'victim', i adopted the concept of playing with all muscle structures within the face, alongside the eyes. However, this time i had to make the character calm, fearful and horrified. I need this figure to react to the other character in shock (from the soundboard) to what has been said, or how it was approached. Judging by the sound clip and how i have produce my other character, i need this one to react horrified and scared. I need to make sure that the emotions expressed through this figure really show distress to the action that's taking place. Similar to previous, i  adjusted the eyebrows first to show the innocent and calmer side to the character. I then played around with the mouth muscles in order to get smiles, frowns and open jaw shock (=O). Changing elements of the mouth allowed me to create different depths of exaggeration, and with a bit of time playing with them, i think i achieved some food expressions. I finally did some minor adjustments to the eyelids again, to really enhance that sense of fear with the ongoing action from the opposing figure. Doing those small adjustments, really made a difference with how the character looked within my chosen emotions.

Here are some images of the 'victims' expressions:

Within doing this small exercise, i managed to find new facial expressions i wouldn't of found so easily if i went straight into animating. It also gave me a better understand of how the facial anatomy worked within the rig and on the 3D software. Without doing this small practice, i doubt i would have been able to find such good facial expressions for my animation.

:)

References to existing 'sneaking' movements.

To understand movement better for my animation, i looked into a couple of existing examples that represent the 'sneaking' motion. I chose to concentrate on the sneaking aspect as it is one of the crucial movements within my animation. So to get a better understanding of the psychical and mechanical changes, i found two videos that highlight different examples of sneaking. They're different in a sense because of the age difference and products used to make them.

Here is the video introduction of a very successful game called 'Oddworld, Abe's Oddysee', created in 1997 for Sony's Playstation (1). I chose this one from memory, as i remember the use of  over exaggerating the movements to give the character more personality and add more emotion to the story/action. In this video, the character known as 'Abe' works in a food processing plant, until he discovers a new product 'New and tasty'. With his curiosity he creeps into a meeting held by managerial figures to find out this new recipe, and it turns out to be him! (his race). In this scene however, you learn a lot with what Abe is like as a character. Working as a slave with his fellow Mudokons (same race) in a big corporate factory, to earn a small living for the protection of his life. However, Abe is different, ambitious and daring, through this it is evident with the 'sneaking' clip that he will make sacrifices to know truth, even if it threatens his very existence. The animation itself of Abe creeping is very precise and accurate to the mood in which is set. Knowing the information of his current life, you also feel threatened for him in an emotional connection. So when he approaches the meeting of superior's, you can see the dread and fear within his exaggerated steps, which adds to the tension emotionally for us as the player.

I thought it was a good idea to use this video clip to understand the way emotion is represent through movement, so i could use it for myself within my own animation.

Here is the video introduction sequence:

(point of reference at 2:13 - 2:16)

Here is the second animated sequence i remembered from my childhood. I this scene represents the early stages of animation that became very good with expressing personality through motion. From the animated film 'Fantasia', 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' created in 1955  by Walt Disney. There is not a lot of heavy information of the film to date, and is still unclear who and how it was made (to an extent) The idea was taken from the Goethe story and made into an animated story. From watching this scene myself, i can firmly say that the animation itself represents emotions strongly through the unfolding action/movement. In this particular scene, Mickey Mouse or known as the 'Apprentice' is doing chores for the Sorcerer. It is evident the curiosity Mickey has by the way he watches his master perform magical spells and tricks, to the point he doesn't even watch what he is doing within his duties. Later on in the scene, the sorcerer finishes his work and heads off to sleep, leaving his magician's hat  to the side. This leaves Mickey left not only in awe from his practices, but also curious of the power that is withheld within the hat. Left to his own devices mickey creeps to check that his master had vanished, and then went to examine the hat.


When Mickey checks on his master going off to sleep, you see and feel his emotions by his movements around the scene. He is cautious and aware of his masters presence, he knows what he wants to do, and knows if he gets caught it would be serious punishment. So he creeps and follows his master off to bed, so he is comforted knowing he can go forth with his intentions. The whole creeping scene adds suspense to us as the viewer, as you can feel that connection between the Sorcerer and Apprentice, that they both have clear representations of superiority and obedience. I think considering the age of this animation, Disney did well to represent the atmosphere and emotion within this animation. Also taking into the account that this was all strictly 2D animated and hand drawn. There are many references to the 12 principles of animation, especially through the secondary action and exaggeration of movements: Ideally with the 'sneaking' clip. I chose this to obtain inspiration for my own animation. I think it is good to look at older and newer examples of animation, that were both made differently, yet both show similar representations of motion through over exaggeration. 


Here is the scene from 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice:
(sequence of interest: 1:18 - 1:24)

Small video demonstrating 3D animation of  'sneaking':

( point of interest - posture and weight)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ar_gHZoR0&feature=related

3D Animation. Artist Research (Cultural)

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese film studio that produces quirky, animated movies. The majority of the titles they produced are known world wide for their unique character designs alongside unusual yet compelling stories. The most recognizable of the movies is probably 'Spirited Away' and 'My Neighbour Tororo' who have won multiple awards for their innovative flair.

I admire the company for inspiring the public to enjoy different forms of animated movies, that promote culture in a variety of weird and wonderful ways. Ghibli have a very specific art style, which is one of the main reasons they have achieved so well. Sadly, Japanese animated cartoons (or also known as anime) is frowned upon within animation for it's small frame rates and little attention to detail. Thankfully, Ghibli differs from the mainstream and successfully achieves beautifully animated stories with that like no other. There is a heavy influence of the Japanese culture within the movies, that is shown through character creation, landscaping and traditional drawing/colouring etc. It also has a slightly higher frame rate than standard anime hitting up to 14fps,  which results in smooth and more intricate animated details. 

In Japan, they worship all sorts of idols and gods for religion or cultural beliefs. It varies mainly from animals, the planet and historical legends. This is shown often through the majority of Ghibli films, by producing idols that exist or make their own that could potentially come to life. For example, 'My Neighbour Totoro' is about a large rabbit creature known as the king of the forest and bearer of the element of wind. Within the film he is known to be a guardian over some children, and uses these elements to connect with them more so spiritually than physically. This combined with the beautifully drawn scenes and instrumental soundtracks, you're left feeling very emotionally connected to the story. It's different from other animated movies on that basis of accepting differences in a more primitive way, through sound and movements more so than dialogue. Every story is different, but each host incredibly unique ways of making you feel inspired, educated and excited to all the new forms. It is with that, that Ghibli are one of the most successful, international animation studios to date. By inviting their audiences to new worlds, that have not been seen before, that are inviting new and exciting for everyone at any age. It is that, where i admire the Japanese for their incredible talent at making their audiences use their imaginations,  to be more open minded and to become more spiritually connected with a story.

Bibliography:

. Google Images

3D Animation. Historical Research

Animation has been around for much longer than we think in terms of traditional artwork, not digital. The subject of 'motion' became a fascination across many countries in history. The first initial discovery of motion within drawing was in 1600 BC when and Egyptian Pharaoh named Rameses II built a temple for the goddess Isis which had 110 columns. Ingeniously, each Clem had a painted figure of the goddess in a progressively changed position.  To horsemen or charioteers riding past, the optical illusion gave the impression that Isis actually moved. Another in recorded history, is when the ancient Greeks decorated all sorts of ornate pots with figures on them poised in successive stages of action. The result in turning or spinning the pot would result in an animated sequence of that figure.

However, as this form of art became more recognizable, it was then where artist's took different measures in order to capture motion in a more appealing way. In 1824 Peter Mark Roget discovered the vital principles, 'the persistence of vision'. This principles rests on the fact that our eyes temporarily  retain the image of anything they've just seen. If this wasn't so, we would never get the illusion of an unbroken connection in a series of images. Roget's principles quickly dawned various optical contraptions, such as the Thaumatrope. A circular piece of cardboard with two sides showing one of a cage and the other of bird, also attached to two pieces of string either side. While pulling or spinning the cardboard whilst holding the two ends of the string, the bird will appear to sit inside the cage. This is due to the same principle that Roget discovered about our eyes registering the last image we saw, so here an illusion is created.

From this, it became evident that animating imagery was a very compelling way to produce artwork. It was from the Thaumatrope that the Americans produce the 'Wheel of Life' or also know as the 'Zoetrope' in 1867. 'Zoe' in Greek meaning life, and trope meaning turn, which evidently gave the name to 'The Wheel of Life'. This was a contraption that had a sequence of poised characters inside a cylinder with small slits around the outside. It would then be positioned on a stand and be spun around. The speed in which the cylinder moves gives off the illusion that the character inside is actually moving, although it really wasn't. This is an early example of how timing creates animation through a collection of 'stills'.

It was from these contraptions that dawned animations today, through the use of traditional and digital practices. Even today items such as flip books are still used to show motion within drawings. It is mainly occurred for productions in 2D format, but can also be used to demonstrate a storyboard for 3D creations too. It is how we today have managed to sustain animated imagery within all forms of entertainment, from movies to video games. In reality not a lot has changed since the Egyptians to now! a lot of it is still drawing frame by frame.

3D Character Animation

For my character animation, I decided to go ahead with 3D as I want to understand the software better for future purposes. I also think it's a good opportunity for me to learn new things that I would not in strict 2D formats, such as different perspectives, textures and dimensions. However, instead of diving straight into animating, i want to take time and think about what i will be doing. For example, story boarding, researching human motion and existing examples.

For my 3D animation, i had to pick one of three sound clips to animate over. I decided to go for the third which highlighted sounds of footsteps, shuffles and dialogue such as "They're coming to get you Babara". I chose this sound clip because of the emotion portrayed just through itself. It sounded creepy and evil/sinister, but not only the way in which the voice is spoken, but the accompanying footsteps etc. It was then i began imagining animations to the sound and thinking what would work best for it.

Okay, so my idea was to have two characters within the animated sequence. One playing as the main figure who conducts all of the motion, the other would be known as 'Babara' or in other words the receiver/victim of the action. As previously stated, this sound clip made me think of more evil and frightening concepts, so i needed to plan how my animation would show elements of that theme. It was then that the footstep sounds would be turned into a tiptoe/sneaking motion, that would add to that element of the character becoming 'creepy'. I also envisioned from there that the character would have his hands perched just under the head with strained, bent fingers. With these small elements, already my main character hosts the image of being a frightening character. So from this creeping idea, i want the character to sneak up on the 'Victim' who will to start with, be calm and unaware of the other figure. In the sound clip there are multiple footsteps and shuffles, i have decided to use one of the shuffles as a stopping/halting motion as the main character finalizes his journey behind the 'Victim'. From there, it will raise one hand onto the shoulder of the 'Victim' and then express the dialogue through various facial expressions. In result of the sudden touch and the threatening dialogue, the Victim reacts in terror through the rising of the shoulders and facial expression.

To represent what i mean clearer, i have done a rough story board that has annotation to the 'fear' element i want to portray.

 

Sound clip for Animation chosen: 

I thought a lot about how the camera would be positioned within my animation, as i want both characters to represent different roles. In my story board you can see that i have made the 'Victim' the main focus, so that the other 'main' character appears in the distance and is more secretive/sneaky. It makes it appear that the Victim is unaware of the other character's actions as he cannot see him. I also chose for this figure to have part of his face showing, as i don't want to take away any emphasis on the other character's actions but obstructing the camera angles too much. This way i think works good, as i can see all the action portrayed by the main character, but also can have the Victim's emotions shown through facial expressions, based on the action taking place. Lip syncing is not part of this particular animation project, so i really have to think about portraying the correct emotions through both facial expression and body language.

To understand the correct postures and movements within my animation, i thought it would be a good idea to make small records of the action in reality. From this i can analyse the mechanics of the human form, with how the weight and shape changes during movements. For this particular idea, i want to look at how the body moves whilst 'creeping' or 'sneaking'. I filmed 3 different angles of the sneaking motion, side, front and back to gain a wider perspective on the transitions of form.

Here is the video clip with the 3 angles. I managed to get the actor to mimic the initial posture of the main character in my animation from my storyboard, so i could get a better idea of how i should manipulate movements:

 

From taking these clips I learned a great deal of how the body reacts to that sort of movement. The body lowers and rises depending on the posture of the legs. For example, when  a leg rises up, the body goes with it, and when the leg impacts with the floor, it squashes down. I think that is an important element to remember, not only for a more realistic animation, but it also emphasizes one of the 12 principles of animation 'Squash and Stretch' which i should use to exaggerate the movements of my character. It was also interesting to see how the force of weight and gravity affects the leg as it transitions between the motions, for example with this creeping motion, the knees fall very low to the floor in relation to how the body moves.

From this additional research, I feel more confident in making my animation now. Looking into the facial expressions, story boarding and even taking references from real time movements, I have a much clearer head for what I want want to do within Maya. So now it's just a case of going and doing it!

3D Animated Bouncy Ball

For the next part of this unit, I had to make a 3D animated bouncing ball within the software 'Maya'. This task felt daunting at first simply for the fact I had never used Maya before. Thankfully, with the help of the tutor and some production notes, I believe I was able to follow through the software at a good pace. I learnt a great deal of importance with the graphs and the numeric side of the software. These elements are all vital for accuracies and where to pinpoint animation locations, so i had to pay strict attention to them. I often found myself forgetting to add in details and parts of my animation began to take on unrealistic characteristics.

I really enjoyed plotting and playing about with the curves in the graph system. Using the graphs helped me gain more realism within the ball's speed which helped give the animation more visual depth and appeal. Another structure was adding numeric values to my object, as this change the shape and volume of the ball, which really helped in give my animation that 'squash and stretch' principle. What i found more crucial however, was the importance of making 'keyframes' as slightly different with 2D animation in Photoshop, not making key frames in Maya really affects the outlook of the object you are animating. Forgetting to add key frames in important animated sequences in which i discovered (by forgetfulness) made the ball stay in one shape throughout. Making different key frames, pinpoints the impact of force and gravity. However, i found it far more easier within Maya, as making the key frames is fairly straight forward, the rest of the animation is done for you. All I had to do was pad it out with playing with the graphs and adjusting the numbers in the statistics of the object.

Overall I really enjoyed playing with new software, and i felt i did okay considering it was a first try. I found it far easier to animate on Maya than with 2D on Photoshop, as with that software it felt more about traditional 'flipnote' production, and took the majority of animating time, plotting and correct speed paths. I think my animation as whole is good, the only thing I believe looks wrong in my production, is that on impact the ball seems to squash a bit too much. However, I believe I can honestly say it was a simple mistake, as when rendering the images on Photoshop into a video, I took the images of my animation from a higher angle of the action. That's why i think you cannot see the ball's true form with that impact in the animation, as in the initial Maya sequence, the flattening of that force is less dramatic.

Here is my animation:

Software used: Maya, Photoshop CS5, Quicktime 

Bouncing Ball Animation Exercise.

For this part of the unit, i was introduced how to make a simple 2D animation on Photoshop. The task seemed relatively simple to start with, as all i had to do was make a small 1-2 second animation of a ball bouncing. However, from the first two animations i produced, i began noticing that there were elements that were stiff, unrealistic and didn't comply well within the true physics of a bouncing ball. It took me roughly around 5 attempts of playing around with the structure until i began to understand the statistics that helped me refine my animations.

First off was to understand the importance of speed, trajectory, gravity and forces. When  a ball bounces, it is based on how it was thrown, at what rate of speed it was thrown at and how the object reacts on impact from the rate of that force. As i began playing around with different paths for my bouncing ball, i began noticing patterns in where to go to make the animation look more realistic. Of course the ball's main focus of bounce is depending on what material it was made out of, whether hard or soft etc. For example a tennis ball bounces, but an actual bouncy ball would bounce higher and more rapidly. So different bounces can be based on imagining the material in which the ball was made.

When planning out my animation, i used guidelines in where my ball would bounce and the angles. These angles look like curves/bounces which mimic the course in which the ball will follow. This was 50% of the difficulty, as creating the right amount of curves had to be completely accurate based on how the ball was falling and at what speed. Another important element was understanding how speed worked within the sketches. The more drawings in a section of the animation would slow down the process, whereas less drawings would make the sequence faster. So for example, drawing the sketches for a bouncing ball, there would be less drawn balls when the object is falling to the ground and then there is more balls at the heights of the bounce (where it would slow down) to decrease the speed. In doing this, it adds more realism to the idea of force, gravity and weight.  Here is what i figured out whilst sketching the curves and arcs for my ball's trajectory:

. The thinner the arcs (closer together) = The slower the bounce.

. The wider the arcs (further apart) = The faster the bounce.

. Thinner arcs = More balls = Slower speed

. Wider arcs = Less balls = Faster speed

. More balls = more frames of balls = takes more time (slower)

. Less balls = less frames of the balls = takes less time (faster)

 Here is an image showing an example of what i mean:

In this image you can see where the ball is at it's fastest and slowest. As previously mentioned, to add the effect of speed as the ball falls to the ground, there are less drawn balls. Whereas, enhancing the slowing down of the ball adds more drawings. The basics in this drawing are evident of the ball slowing down, with the height in which the arcs drop. Also the appearance of more drawn balls highlights the speed reducing which is very visible in this image. As the ball slows down and reduces height, the balls are drawn closer together, which if you think if more frames are drawn the same way would emphasise the stationary appeal of the object, instead of being more spaced apart in the previous arcs.

Here is  one example of my animation, where i tried to get to grips with speed, trajectory and force. I didn't pay to much attention to the physical changes of the ball at this time, as i wanted to pay more attention to the directions and heights in which the ball followed. Although the first few bounces seemed pretty accurate, there was no sense after of the ball reducing speed. My arcs reduced height but not width, so there was the error of the ball not slowing down sufficiently after the forces of the bounces. As the ball loses speed, there are more bounces towards the end, which previously stated highlights the visual effect of reducing speed. Also from the first bounce, the ball gradually loses force, which also shows the impact of reduced speed. In this animation, there is no evidence of that after the first bounce.

Here is another example from my test animations. I paid slightly more attention to the physical alterations of the ball, so i had better practice of what the object would look like from the impacts of force and speed etc. I think this animation is good in terms of reduction of arcs and height etc, However, it is far to slow in it's peaks. My error here was that the arc in which the ball initial fled from would of had more speed. I also added more FPS because i wanted the animation to look smoother. However, in doing this it was evident that it slowed down my entire animation because of that factor. It should have been faster to start with, then slowed down, but i misjudged the effects of the guidelines i drew for the balls bouncing path.

I went back to not focusing so much on the ball's appeal this time. As from the previous error, i needed to re-focus on the trajectory of the ball's path etc. I think i did a lot better this time around, as the ball has the correct amount of speed and width of arcs. However, the only element i got wrong, was after the second bounce, i didn't reduce the width so much on that third arc, which would've highlighted the ball slowing down much better. It seemed to wide for the path in which it was taking, but everything else i believe went according to plan. Although truly this is a simple task, it does take a lot of focus to understand the true physics of a ball bouncing. I have probably made about 7 animations now in order to obtain the right idea.

Programmes used: Photoshop CS5 Extended, Quicktime Player 2011

Bibliography:

. Google Images

12 Principles of Animation: Kung Fu Fighting Animation (bad example)

In my last post, I showed the 12 animation principles within a good animation. However, In order to obtain a greater perspective I will look at the bad examples of animation as well. I found it quite difficult to actually find a bad animation, so to aid my search i went onto Youtube and typed in various animation titles that i thought might host bad animations. After a lot of researching, i managed to find a composed music video that represented an animation to the 'Kung Fu fighting' soundtrack. After reviewing it a couple of times, i noticed the appearance where the 12 principles were or should have been. Here are some images from the video to represent what i mean:

1) Squash and Stretch:

Whilst looking at this animation, I found it hard to pinpoint examples of squash and stretch. However, I thankfully managed to find the set images above from a small section of the sequence. The character in the orange seems to have produced a ball of fire in which he projects towards the enemy in blue. Although granted, the ball does change form on impact to highlight that sense of force, but the initial release of the ball had no change at all. I assumed that with something that was meant to have so much force in the impact, should of had more motion or fluidity at the beginning of the action.


2) Anticipation:

Within the good animation example, anticipation plays a very important role within the 12 principles. It is an element which is used to enhance the action and realism of a scene. However, within this part of the animation, there was a section in which could of had a lot more potential and strength. In the image above, the character is about to throw a weapon at the hero of the video, but uses little expression or force in actually projecting it. There is no overlapping action or secondary movements, but a simple robotic arm swing. This disabled the suspense elements because of the lack of emotion in the movement, which really makes this certain scene bad in terms of both story telling and the 12 principles.

3) Staging:

Staging is an important element with any form of video, as it emphasises the theme and gives us as the audience more information as to what is going on. In this image it isn't exactly clear to represent how I felt when I actually watched it, but although this seems simple enough by the setting in this picture, you still felt like you weren't 100% sure what the purpose of the video was. From this image alone you get the impression that this character is going into this structure in order to fight. However, it's not really evident why this is actually happening, because irrelevant things take place within the animation that through you off balance of what's really going on. For example one minute there is fighting, the next there is a dancing skeleton on a dance floor. You feel confused and unsure what the purpose of the animation was, which I think is poor staging.


4) Follow through and overlapping action:

In this image, the two characters are fighting each other with what appears to be exaggerated judging by the amount of rotations etc. However, this scene lacks any other form of animation to the details of either characters. For example, within this combat sequence, the characters are jumping and falling all over the place, but the only parts of the character that seem to have mobility are the hands and legs. No part of the clothing or facial feature moves in reaction to the combat that's taking place, which really takes away that sense of realism and quality of a brutal fight.

5) Slow in Slow out:

In this part of the video clip, i noticed a prime example of how the animator has not taken into the account, the speed in which it takes to do certain motions. In the images above, the character on the left takes a jump in order to kick the character in black. However, in this sequence the character looks as if he slowly flies or hovers upwards instead. There is no sense of speed at the start of the jump, or after as he falls back down. It has a unrealistic look to it for that factor within this fighting scene.


6) Arcs:

In the best animations to date, Arcs are used to emphasise the fluidity of movement and accentuate realism. Granted this animation is a cartoon and isn't exactly accurate in terms of realistic, but it still lacked personality and thought in which could have made this animation bolder. For example in the images above, the character takes a simple two frame arc with his arm in order to paint a picture on the easel. However, the only animation in that part is just the two key frames, start and finish. There was nothing in between to enhance that fluid brush stroking arc. Aside from that, there is no evidence of the character actually making that stroke with the paint, what seems to appear is a green line below the transition, which says to me that the whole arm movement was pointless in terms of relevance to what was happening.


7) Secondary Action:

In this image, the character jumps up to avoid a thrown weapon. The actual jumping transition contained no other principles to enhance this motion, so it just stayed solid as it arched in the air. The only added feature in order to highlight this action was that of the character closing his eyes as he made the jump. However, this didn't really add to the hype of missing the weapon at all, as no other forms of movement took place to highlight the action. It would have been better see a change in the position of the arms, legs and how the head would tuck into the body when performing this sort of move. Leaving out these details ended up making this scene lifeless and very dull.


8) Timing:

Timing is used to correctly coordinate actions within an animated sequence. It is also used to show drama and exaggerate what's happening in the scene to give it more visual depth. Without it, action would simply not happen successfully within animation or any other variation of film. In this fighting sequence, the character is jumping out of the way from a thrown weapon.    The rate in which the weapon flies however, is extremely slow for any thrown object. It seems to fly more than be thrown. This results in an unrealistic attempt to show suspense within the drama, simply for the fact that this scene has more frames in it showing the weapons flight path, than the character actually dodging it.


9) Exaggeration:

As stated in the previous blog post, exaggeration is used to express emotions and personality within productions. Adding this element immediately gives the sensation of feeling connected with what's going on, by the use of over exerting expressions in order to set a mood. In this animation, the character randomly has a scene in which his expression changes and what appears to be fire behind him. This is probably the best principle in which the animator managed to do okay in terms of trying to set up an emotion within the action. By adding the fire and changed expression, you can get into grasps of how the character is feeling and what could potentially happen. However, due to the lack of follow other principles such as appeal with the facial expressions and solid drawing for the fire, this scene lacked visually pleasing depth and didn't really change how I felt about the action that was taking place.


10) Solid Drawing:

This part of the video contains a scene, where the skeleton above starts to dance. This is an example of solid drawing where the producer would have taken pre-existing knowledge from studying the human anatomy. However, it is evident from this image, that the animator had little clue of what the human skeleton includes. This shows lack of preparation and study as the figure is entirely incorrect anatomically.

11) Appeal:

This image really says it all. That main character within this video clip is proclaimed to be 'a good ninja' or in other words the protagonist of the sequence. To be honest, if i hadn't of noticed this part of the video, i would have assumed that this was just a random video. But this text pretty much highlights what the rest of the video would entail, good versus evil. The character then obviously lacks appeal to begin with, because the producer cannot portray his good intentions through any other animation, so resorts to text in order to make it clear at the start of the clip.


Video Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVl8UOhtKZc

oh and on a personal and irritable note. Kung fu fighting and the song is Chinese, the character's in this sequence are Ninjas...and there for Japanese. -___-"

12 Principles of Animation: Geri's Game (good example)

Animation today has crucial principles in which should be followed in order to make a successful production. To show examples of these principles, I have taken screen-shots of a favoured animation. 'Geri's Game' was the first short film animation from 'Pixar' studios back in 1997, just after the release of 'Toy Story'. I chose this particular production because of it's attention to detail within the 12 animation principles.


1) Squash and Stretch:

This sequence of the film, i believe successfully shows the principle of 'Squash and Stretch'. The reason for this is due to the attention to the facial anatomy with both skeletal and muscular structure. In this image we can see that with this smiling expression, the muscles in the character's face contract and distort it's original shape. From this expression the cheekbones are risen and the mouth is broader, which emphasises the emotion. This is the reason that the face becomes squashed vertically and stretched horizontally. 

2) Anticipation:

Within the film, I found multiple components in which resembled the anticipation of the action taking place in the story. In this image, the character needs to think strategically before he decides to move correctly. You can identify the decision making through the facial and bodily language. The character's hands are held back yet poised ready to make the move, whilst his eyes move around the board in which he would be calculating his next position. In this current stage the opposing side is more confident and has better chance of winning, and because of this the suspense for the other side to win is higher. 

3) Staging:

As you begin watching this film, you have the basic idea that this character is going to play a game of Chess. However, it soon became evident from this shot what exactly was going on. You can see that in fact this character is going to play against himself. As with a vast amount of Pixar animations, humour is evident in ways that you probably wouldn't expect and this is a prime example within 'Geri's game'. From this one image I can determine what the rest of the story would entail.

4) Follow through and Overlapping action:

Although it's not really easy to see from these images, this principle is clearly represented within that scene of the film. In this certain sequence, the character's dramatic motions from when he falls off his chair are in four solid poses. In each pose he pulls, his glasses move in a delayed reaction from the force. In the first image the character rocks back, the force from the pose causes the glasses on his face to also rock back in a slightly delayed manor, a bit like a knock off effect. The same follows with the second image, when the figure projects himself forward in a quick fall, from this force that glasses then fall forward off his face. The glasses move within a rippled effect from the force, which gives the animation a more realistic. Paying attention to the weight structural elements gives an animation more realism and life, not everything is as solid as it seems. This sequence in 'Geri's Game' perfectly shows an example of how animators pay attention to the 12 principles.

5) Slow in and Slow out:

For animations to look realistic, they need to abide by the laws of physics. For example if i was to bounce a ball the rate in which it would bounce would go from fast to slow depending from the force of the throw and gravity. Although these images aren't clearly representing the physics, they do in another way add to the personality of the character and the rate in which the story progresses. The character comes across as quite a fragile old man, who takes time with his movements, this is shown within this principle of animation. He takes his time walking to and from the chairs around the table, in fact in these series of photos 4 of them showing that process. The two main images are where the character moves a chess piece on the board. The action was so fast that I could only capture two screen shots and one with which had a lot of motion blur. This shows the other side to the character's personality within the story, where one side is careful and slow, whereas the other is fast and confident. Using this principle within the animation makes the audience understand the personalities of the character and also how the story is progressing.

6) Arcs:

Within animation, no motion is stiff or solid. One way to portray fluidity is by using 'Arc's within the structure of making an animation. To demonstrate what I mean, I have taken a series of screens from a particular sequence within the film clip of 'Geri's Game'. Although it may not be entirely evident from these images, you can see two forms of arc movement. The first is with the motion of the arm putting on the glasses to the character's face. The arm swerves up from the chest of the character up to the face. The second motion which is clearer in these images, is the direction in which the actual glasses move to the face. It resembles the same movement as the arm, but is more arced because of the way glasses are put onto the face. For example the bent section of the glasses arms are made to wrap around behind the ear, so in order to put them on properly you have to turn the glasses around the face in order to fit them properly. This is an arc within the animation that shows realism and also that no function is ever stiff or rigid.

7) Secondary Action:

Secondary action is where little animated details are added to highlight the action taking place within the story. These can vary from facial expressions to bodily movements, for example a man could be running and then itch his head, or wipe sweat from his brow. These other factors in addition with the main action, enhance the emotion and atmosphere. Within the animation I have chosen, I chose a basic facial change in which added to the story progression. The character has successfully beaten his opponent in a game of chess and from the victory has won an award. He is sitting with his arms folded with a smiling expression, However he also adds a 'chomping' like action with his mouth, almost to insinuate what his award would entail. True enough, at the end of the animation he won himself some false teeth, so that is where that previous action relates to the final outcome. Details like that, give the situation a subtle yet more realistic feel with both the personality of the character and the plot progression.

8) Timing:

Timing is a very important principle within animation fundamentals. Every part of an animation needs timing and pace in which the story can progress and take form. With all the other principles included, timing is needed to keep the order of action and suspense etc. It is also used to emphasise the weight and volume of objects and the anatomy. For example, if I knocked over a glass of water, there is timing in which how the weight of the fluid in the glass would affect the speed in how fast the glass would fall. Taking into account those elements would result in a realistic motion, which is what should be aimed for. In these images from 'Geri's Game' the character knocks over a chess piece whilst he is playing. The animator here has cleverly taken into the account the elements of weight and force in which the object was pushed. Although it's not very clear in these images, the rate in which the piece functions and moves is very realistic and believable. It wobbles, rotates and moves in all different rates of speed based around the impact of the force. This is a prime example of how timing is effective to achieve a realistic look and also to show the understanding of how objects would react depending on there characteristics, such as weight, shape and structure.

9) Exaggeration:

Exaggeration is used a lot within animation to portray personalities and emotions more effectively. Without using these forms of drama, animations can become dull and a bit lifeless. Overdoing it, gives a really sense of what's going on and also adds to the mood of the story or theme etc. For example, facial expressions can be over exaggerated in order to fully express the concept within an animated story. In these images, you can see how the character is exaggerating a scene in order to portray what's going on within this certain part of the plot. The facial expressions are enhanced and strained in order to get across the feeling of distress on this particular sequence. The body is also reacting with the expression by clutching and flailing in the air. All these over exaggerated elements makes the viewer believe and understand what is going on with the plot and how the character is feeling. Without using this functions the scene would be boring and would not fully grasp the emotional attention of it's audience.

10) Solid Drawing:

Animators need to have a basic idea of the weight, volumes and structures of both objects and anatomies in order to make good animations. Solid drawings, is the understanding of shapes, how muscle and bone form together, how shadows and highlights are portrayed around objects etc. Here is a simple example demonstrating where the animator has grasped the concept of accurate drawing alongside grasping the idea of tonal depth and texture. You can see how the animator has understood the design of a chess piece by creating not only the wood like effect but the shapes and contours of the object. You can also see how the direction of the light affects the shadows around those contours to get that realistic lighting appeal.

11) Appeal:

When making an animation with characters, they need to have characteristics in which would appeal to the audience. Within doing something like this, the viewer can become more emotionally attached the that character whether positive or negative. This is an appeal in which the character has on it's audience. All sorts of characters have a variety of appeals such as villains within a story would have the appeal to be evil or non likable. This adds personality to the characters and makes them come to life within the animation and the other principles. Within these two images, I wanted to show two sides of the character's personality which would appeal to me on a personal basis. Within the film, Geri comes across as a fragile elderly man, who takes precautions whilst he moves around. You get the impression that he won't be a very excitable character judging by his reactions and time it takes for him to do much within the sequences.

However, as the story unfolds and you notice what's going on, you begin to feel humoured and attracted to the way the character reacts to certain situations. As he begins playing Chess with himself, there are two sides in which he plays that show completely different sides to the character's personality, both fearful and brave. In these two pictures you see one side of the character being fearful of the situation, his eyebrows are inverted and his head his low, which makes you feel sorry for him as you can relate to his reaction. However, later on as the story progresses you see him where he has won the game of Chess and is reacting with happiness and laughter. From this you feel humoured by the sudden change in emotion and how he is reacting less frail than before. All these characteristics and personalities send off different appeals in which us as the viewer may or may not relate to.

12.) Pose to Pose and Straight ahead action:

. Pose to Pose action is when an animator makes key frames of the beginning and end of a pose, usually the most dramatic. Once that is set, the animator then pads out the animation by entering in between motions that smoothen the movement and enhance the animation. 

. Straight ahead action is when an animator makes key frames as they go along, without making setting dramatic poses at the beginning and end. They go straight through with the animation

Video Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSg-GWXBurQ

 

Bibliography:

. Youtubecom

. Google.com