animation-project

[animation-project]

Evaluation

07/08/2021 - 15/08/2021 - AX4333 - Post 117

To evaluate, the animations created for this show reel are an attempt to showcase a variety of  animation performances to test the rigs created for the female character, Mickey Mouse model, (Disney, 1929) and the Star Wars ATAT vehicle (Lucas, 1977).  Overall, this second attempt at the rigging process was far more successful than the first in semester two.  Caveats regarding the rigs were minimal, with only minor problems during the painted weights phase, which still needs to be improved, however, this is an ongoing learning curve, which will vary from models and rigs that are being worked on.  As a result, the rigs have allowed the models to perform a diverse set of animations, which on the whole have completed the tasks again without any major problems with their performances.  What minor issues did occur with the animating phase of this semester have been due to lack of knowledge of cleaning up or smoothing out animations within the graph editor in Maya.  Although great strides have been taken to understand this process, some elements of smoothing out animations within the graph editor remain beyond comprehension at this time and require more time to gain a better understanding of this process, in order to be a complete animator.  However, what elements are known is impressive given the short period of time using the graph editor in Maya and having to learn the process from no prior knowledge before this course and from online tutorial sources such as Udemy and YouTube as guides.  

In addition, although it may not be directly related to animation, experience with cameras, lighting and rendering has also given new but brief insight into other aspects of this media form.  At this point, very little has been explored with cameras, lighting and rendering,  however, it has become apparent in the final stages of this module, that understanding the rendering process in terms of where to place the camera or having an option to animate a camera and the placing of lights and their outputs and render settings, are also an equal element of animation, in order to make the animations appeal and appear pleasing to an audience.  Lighting and render settings also have a profound effect on the animation's render outcomes.  As a result, understanding what the options are within lighting and animation performances correctly and using the correct render settings can save a lot of time and produce the desired outcome for rendered animations.

Additions that could have been made to the rigs before the animation phase had begun would be the addition of rigging the faces of the characters, as well as a forward kinematic switch option.  It became apparent during the animation phase when watching various tutorials, that having a facial rig for the characters can help the model appear more life-like and authentic to the audience and show what emotions the character is feeling at the point in time during the animation.  Thus making the performance and the character more believable and convincing to the audience to show emotions of anger, fear, frustration or relief and happiness.  Another addition to the rigs would be the option for an FK switch on the arms and legs.  Although the rigs were all IK, (inverted kinematics), and the rigs were able to carry out the animations as desired, it did become apparent when watching tutorials on various animation performance creations that the rigs and models in the tutorials had more capabilities to the ones that had been created in semester three.  As a result, the animators in the tutorials had more options available to them when creating animations, for example, minor adjustments could be made to the spine, arms or legs, without moving the parented child joint move out of place and then having to constantly re-adjust each linking joint back to its previous position.  Although this was easily overcome, in terms of options for efficiency and convenience for animators, this would have been a useful option to have.  Further to this, this option also might have allowed for the locators for objects to be parent constraint to body controls of the rigs when required.  At this stage this was not always the case and a solution to why this could not be done had not been found.  Once again, although this did not hinder the animation creation and objects were still animated along with the model, however in terms of convenience and efficiency to make the animation more effective, ideally the object would be parent constrained, for example to the wrist and the object would then move when required to the wrist actions in the animations rather than animating the object separately.  Another addition that also could have been made to the Mickey Mouse model, would be to have rigged the tail inline with the rest of the body and have the tail move appropriately when required within the animation performance.  A similar addition could have also been made for the ATAT vehicles' guns, allowing them to move or recoil, to appear that they are being fired.  Overall, all these experiences have been of great benefit moving forward.  It also gave a greater understanding of the importance of naming conventions, correct hierarchy layout when creating a rig, as well as creating the right shapes and colours for controls of joints, in order for the animator to correctly move the joints quickly and effectively without any confusion.

Overall, this final semester has produced the desired outcomes.  There is still room for improvements, however, given the limited time and resources during this project, the learning curve for 3D and technical animation has been shortened and as a result a greater understanding has been developed from the difficulties found in semester two and the greater successes had in semester three.  This has given a solid foundation to the processes of 3D animation, beginning with rig creation and ending with rendering of animation performances and the creation of a show reel, which will ideally lead to employment within the games industry.  Following advice from the likes of Rusty Animator and Academic Phoenix via YouTube tutorials, the show reel has been completed and filled with performances that have been suggested will appeal to the games industry such as, jumps, kicks, weight lifting, throwing balls, pushing objects, somersaults and sword swings.  In addition, these performances showcase anticipation, impact and follow-through.  Although the animation performances are not perfect, what has been said from talking to different animators and listening to their thoughts via YouTube, is animations just need to show a basic understanding of the movements they are implementing.

[animation-project]

Fig 308 - Show reel.                                                                                                      

07/08/2021 - 15/08/2021 - AX4333 - Post 116

Finally, with all the animations completed and rendered, the show reel was put together in Adobe Premiere, using advice from How to make basic showreel?, (University Coursework, 2020) as a guide.  A music track was downloaded via a copy right free website called Bensound.com for the show reel.  The song is called Funny Song, (Tissot, 2021).

The show reel is no longer than one minute thirty seconds as had been advised by Rusty Animator and Stormy Studios, show casing various animation performances that would appeal to the games industry and placing a musical sound track that best compliments the animations in the show reel.

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Fig 307 - Weight lifting.                                                                                                      

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Fig 306 - Female character with walking stick.                                                                                                      

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Fig 305 - Female character walk cycle.                                                                                                       

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Fig 304 - ATAT Walk, (Lucas, 1977).                                                                                                        

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Fig 303 - Turn.                                                                                                        

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Fig 302 - Tree Jump.                                                                                                        

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Fig 301 - Sword attack.                                                                                                         

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Fig 300 - Spiderman, (Lee and Ditko), climb.                                                                                                          

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Although alterations and improvements were made for this animation to resolve some of the popping with the knees and hands, the climb admittedly is still sliding more than I would have liked.  However, the animation is still satisfactory given the time, knowledge and skills working with the graph editor inside of Maya.

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Fig 299 - Run and Jump.                                                                                                          

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Fig 298 - Box pushing.                                                                                                          

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Fig 297 - Pose.                                                                                                          

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Fig 296 - Platform jump.                                                                                                          

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Fig 295 - Ball throw.                                                                                                          

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Fig 294 - Backflip.                                                                                                          

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Fig 293 - Limp walk cycle.                                                                                                          

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