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[nadia-guerreiro]

Using technology in telling stories

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Milligan, M. and Milligan, M. (2020) Within Makes Wonderscope AR Kids Story Library Available for Free | Animation Magazine, Animation Magazine. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/immersive/within-makes-wonderscope-ar-kids-story-library-available-for-free/ (Accessed: 2 April 2020). 

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Ref. Video

Link to critique and comment: https://syncsketch.com/playground/4d4b0e4f76f149d6bd0b6bd48f7ecf97#1400730/1474037 Posing: https://syncsketch.com/playground/f1a8d9ddfb1e405fa3384f93dac910e8#1401028/1474633

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FINAL PROJECT - Light and Shadow

Monkey Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Wukong Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/wukong [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Pig Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Zhu Baijie Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/zhubaijie [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Swords | Eder, D. (2019). Psylocke Maya Rig. Gumroad. [Online]. Available from: https://gumroad.com/l/psylocke [Accessed 23 October 2019]. Bamboo | Scritta (2019). Lowpoly handpainted bamboo grove. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lowpo... [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019]. Food Cart | J. Beltran (2018). Japanese Ramen Stall. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/japan... [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019]. Mountain | Akbaragill (2019). low poly mountain. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/low-p... [Accessed 20 Dec. 2019]. 

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FINAL PROJECT - Place of Mind

Final render of Place of Mind

Rig | Sober, J. (2019). Josh Sober Rigs - Bonnie Rig. [online] Joshsobelrigs.com. Available at: https://www.joshsobelrigs.com/bonnie [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019] Landscape | Pxltiger (n.d.). Fantasy Landscape. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fantasy-landscape-b86ceddee3394444818bb3ed4a4773d8 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019]. Bow | Hombal (2011). wooden bow wood obj free. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/wooden-bow-wood-obj-free/601149 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Arrow | ThyHolyJebus77 (2015). free sample arrow pack 3d model. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-sample-arrow-pack-3d-model/943130 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Tree | Nathramn (2019). Birch tree low poly handpainted. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/birch... [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

[nadia-guerreiro]

undefined

Rig | Sober, J. (2019). Josh Sober Rigs - Bonnie Rig. [online] Joshsobelrigs.com. Available at: https://www.joshsobelrigs.com/bonnie [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019] Landscape | Pxltiger (n.d.). Fantasy Landscape. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fantasy-landscape-b86ceddee3394444818bb3ed4a4773d8 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019]. Bow | Hombal (2011). wooden bow wood obj free. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/wooden-bow-wood-obj-free/601149 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Arrow | ThyHolyJebus77 (2015). free sample arrow pack 3d model. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-sample-arrow-pack-3d-model/943130 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Tree | Nathramn (2019). Birch tree low poly handpainted. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/birch... [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

Monkey Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Wukong Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/wukong [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Pig Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Zhu Baijie Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/zhubaijie [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Swords | Eder, D. (2019). Psylocke Maya Rig. Gumroad. [Online]. Available from: https://gumroad.com/l/psylocke [Accessed 23 October 2019]. Bamboo | Scritta (2019). Lowpoly handpainted bamboo grove. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lowpoly-handpainted-bamboo-grove-free-download-00978c2ea2f34f1ab152778275001c99 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019]. Food Cart | J. Beltran (2018). Japanese Ramen Stall. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/japanese-ramen-stall-2e3ea2a141324c29be0a20d3bfe0c90d [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].

Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JZaUP_nmWrn0TV82nbgaFf-OadCD0hMlVEFi4DnsJWY/edit?usp=sharing

[nadia-guerreiro]

Annotated Bibliography

Spark, A. 2016. Andi Spark – Pursuing the Animatrix: Musings on Defining a Term to Describe Woman-Centered Animation – Animation Studies. [Online]. [Accessed 25 October 2019]. Available from: https://journal.animationstudies.org/andi-spark-pursuing-the-animatrix-musings-on-defining-a-term-to-describe-woman-centered-animation/.

The writer grabs the topic of “female workers in animation” to describe the changes that have happened over the years. Up till the day this was written, woman were able to gather some significant roles (mainly going for storyboard artists, and some for animators), but most of the self found conceptions still apply, studios would still choose a man over a woman for a creative roll. For me, as a woman in the field, this kind of exclusion is not understandable. Woman can be as creative as man, and the only explanation provided is that woman tend to bring their own feelings for animation, while man do the most creative out of the box ideas.

Herhuth, E. (2019). Eric Herhuth – The Animated Will: Intelligent Movement and Embodied Intentionality in Character Animation. – Animation Studies. [Online]. [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019]. Available from: https://journal.animationstudies.org/eric-herhuth-the-animated-will-intelligent-movement-and-embodied-intentionality-in-character-animation/

During his journal entry, the author explains the importance and evolution of the technic for the character’s will. The was used to show that a character could do any actions without thinking, that it was free to choose whatever it was meant to do, nonetheless, it was only an illusory freedom (or as he would call it “insincere promise of freedom”), as the choices that they go though have been meed previously made. Personally reading this text was really important for me since I tend to concentrate on character performance, posing, movement and acting takes a great part in this relationship with the creation of freedom.

Martin, B., Yecies, B. (2004). First Monday: Peer-reviewed Journal on the Internet, [online] 9(6). Available at: https://documents.uow.edu.au/~bmartin/pubs/04firstmonday.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].

This journal entry shows a variety of titles a corporation may have to battle while climbing the ladder to success, and analyses the variety of changes the company itself had to grow from, especially with the rise of the internet and NET communication technology. The author goes through an analysis to understand each site’s reason to take an anti-Disney approach and question each of them creating a table of sites, reasons, goals, methods and their strategies. I feel lithe this article is a good approach for everyone to understand what a rising company such as Disney can go through the years, while they gain more fame, their actions will be more criticized and noticed, so more and more of this sites will appear. It’s good to understand that any animator might be on their shoes one of these days.

Berney, S. (2016). Does animation enhance learning? A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, [online] 101, pp.150-167. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131516301336?via%3Dihub [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019].

The author took this journal to analyse whenever would be easier to learn from graphics or animated videos. They tested both methods in various forms consecutively with different studies, such as pure animation, animation with sound and animation with no explanatory text, they grew in results substantially, understanding that the most efficient method would be the animation with sound a no explanatory text. This induct to a transition of the media, that implies great research in the animation field, with more development, this kind of animation could bust the way people study. This topic was particularly interesting from my point of view since I can give more time of my attention to video lessons other than reading, this method could prove really useful in various fields of study.

Telotte, J. (2019). Letting Go: Representation, Presentation, and Disney’s Art of Animation. Animation, [online] 14(2), pp.132-148. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1177/1746847719858159 [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].

This article shows how Walt Disney was able to present both sides of animation while developing his drawing to tv, he made a series of behind the scenes so he would be able to let people understand when and how their favourite films were being made. This was a way to show various differences in the animation studied by the studio, as for example, from the realistic style Pinocchio (1940) to a more fantasy/cartoony one as in Lady and the Tramp (1955). This source was relevant from the point of evolution, as a person and a company leader, how to develop a whole variety of shows that appeal to your work and are able to demonstrate your development.

Neuman, R. (2019). Disney’s Final Package Film: The Making and Marketing of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). Animation, [online] 14(2), pp.149-163. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1177/1746847719858678 [Accessed 21 Nov. 2019].

During this journal, it is analysed the conception of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949), how it was developed even in times of war, how it took eight years to assemble and how the conjunction of two different origin stories gave birth to this final script. A great point made by the author is that film shows the division they had in subtle ways, like for example having one character more cartoony and other more realistic. Unfortunately, this movie wasn't a big hit for Disney but was good for many experimentations and answers. I particularly like this journal entry as a form of making movies as a research method, a way of understanding the public needs and likes, and as a proof that no matter how much a movie can fail, it does not mean the next one will follow the same path.

Death and Coping Mechanisms in Animated Disney Movies: A Content Analysis of Disney Films (1937–2003) and Disney/Pixar Films (2003–2016). (2019). The Psychosocial Implications of Disney Movies, [online] pp.17-30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-03897-849-7 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

During this chapter, the author decided to examine how Disney has portraited death over the years, what were the differences from the old traditional movies to the newer versions, and how children are dealing with the concept of death transmitted by it. It’s referred that some stories are supposed to help the children deal and learn the state of grief. During the studies, it was noticeable that protagonists were the ones who die the most, and that normally it had negative emotion embed with the feeling (and was unjustified), while when an antagonist died it was a positive emotion (and was justified). In a personal analysis, the recent movies made the grief make more sense, and developing the stages of character and having it pass the same stages of grief is something that, in my opinion, will help children understand such a complicated topic.

Pluralsight (2014). Animation for Games vs Animation for Movies. [online] Pluralsight.com.  Available at: https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/film-games/how-animation-for-games-is-different-from-animation-for-movies [Accessed 1 Dec. 2019].

In this article, it was pointed out the main differences between working as an animator for movies or for the games industries. The author argues that while movies only have to worry about the shot they're working at, and have a wider amount of time to develop it, relying mostly in acting, in games, the industry demands good and fast animation, it needs to be ready for every camera angle (since it’s interactively based) and relies mostly in character performance and body mechanics. This was a great article for me as since the beginning of this course I was trying to explain what I pretended to do, this helped me decide that developing character performance and acting is my main focus.

Neistadt, W. (2018). From School to Studio: Sir Wade Neistadt’s Journey to DreamWorks Animation. [online] Animation Mentor Blog. Available at: https://blog.animationmentor.com/from-school-to-studio-sir-wade-neistadts-journey-to-dreamworks-animation/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2019].

During this blog post, the author explains his own experience developing himself to enter the world of an animator’s career. From starting in a subject he didn't enjoy, to learning what animation could bring to his life until he learned of an online animator’s school, this opened his eyes for software and prepared him for future opportunities. He started in a studio, but not directly as an animator, he does believe that being inside the studio and getting to know people is already a major first step. This blog was a major help for me, as I was lost in whatever way a student could even be able to approach or even enter a studio by himself.

Barnes, B. and Sperling, N. (2019). Why the ‘Joker’ Movie Was a Risk Warner Bros. Wanted to Take. New York Times, [online] p.1. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/movies/joker-movie.html [Accessed 10 Dec. 2019].

This newspaper article main focus point was how everyone, including some Warner Bros. employees were worried how the film would be received by the audience. Since it tackled such violent issues and gave the main character a “reason” to justify his action, they worried it could have a negative impact on the already occurring disasters. The author says that “This was a risk Warner Bros. wanted to take” and I totally agree, as films should not be considered documentaries of real life, but imaginary worlds we create to live their stories, making that separation was what made this topic so important, it was a risk worth taking.

[nadia-guerreiro]

Time Management Chart - Practice 1

I had to get totally focused on finishing my Research and enquire work, so my development for this week in the animation was close to none. Changed the repetitive shots that were referred by Alex, and started to add the “second character” the shadow figure. (As the development wasn’t worth mentioning I’m keeping myself from losing time with a render to apply it with something else).

Alex referred that I should re-evaluate the storyboard and make more sense out of the shots, so I did draw new storyboards for the first animation. As always I tried to keep in mind the limitations of the 3D space I had built so I don't disturb much of the suspension of disbelief.

[nadia-guerreiro]

Critical Analysis

Herhuth, E. (2019). Eric Herhuth – The Animated Will: Intelligent Movement and Embodied Intentionality in Character Animation.  – Animation Studies. [Online]. [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019]. Available from: https://journal.animationstudies.org/eric-herhuth-the-animated-will-intelligent-movement-and-embodied-intentionality-in-character-animation/.

For my critical analysis, I have chosen the journal entry The Animated Will: Intelligent Movement and Embodied Intentionality in Character Animation by Eric Herhuth an assistant professor at Tulane University, author of Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination: Animation, Storytelling, and Digital Culture and he has published some articles in the Quarterly Review of Film and Video, and animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal. I selected this piece because it centres itself around the use of “Will” to make characters more believable, giving more embodiment and integration of itself and the world around. The author argues that since tradition, characters always use a Will, having this form of will represented as much as what is shown, a representation of intentionality.

In this first section, the author focuses on the introduction to the significance of will, explaining that the use of deliberated techniques of manipulation and fabrication was the most efficient form of creating the illusory freedom, having said so, this expression was mostly used in theatre and literature. The substantially mediated performance, as so he says, was considered the idea of showing who truly makes the decisions, the author behind the character, the “hands pulling the strings” in a search for the closest representation of true human action. The author is making sure to affirm what he is analysing what the subject of will represents. It’s said that this definition of will was stabilised during the mid-twentieth century, greatly originated from American animated cartoon, where autonomy and agency where markedly violent, this practice would create an illusion of freedom to the character while giving away that it’s being manipulated by an external force.

Thinking deeper into the embodiment of freedom, the humans are only subjectively free, this is due to the fact that while they are able to make the decisions and are conscious of their actions, they are unaware of the what is causing them to act. The author affirms that “to have a will and to will something is not the same as taking action”, this shows that humans can maintain their will even in restrictive or depressive moments, but this assumption might be misleading, the author refers to the philosopher Hannah Arendt work in Willing (1981), “simply that every philosophy of the Will is conceived and articulated not by men of action but by philosophers” this would represent that the definition of Will is thought about, rather than acted. Arendt does not agree with the modern use of Will, arguing that for that definition to be truthful it would imply that the individual has personal freedom within, something to battle the external forces.

The Author points the argument of his journal entry as: “many forms of character animation offer an insincere promise of freedom”. To prove his point while annalizing the concepts from theory animation from the philosophic point of view, he takes on the example from Joanna Quinn short film, Boby Beautiful. Analysing this film, it’s shown that the character goes through a progressive depiction of will, demonstrating that there’s much more to the dialectic of freedom and constraint that the simple act of moving, something that represents the mental life and connects with the illusion of will. As part of the character evolution, behaviour development as individual non-sovereign freedom, embodiment and movement are all connected in a representation of human everyday life, coping the real world, and making both the action and the character seem more realistic. Having the skills to understand this point of view and apply the connection between physical, mental and the world, is something that helps every practician grow in the media environment.

Furthermore,  the author examines Sergei Eisenstein’s work, as a continuous proof of argument. Eisenstein’s uses a comparison between the human attraction to fire and the early Disney animations, explaining that humans are fascinated by flames because they lack their own qualities, which are: freedom of movement, freedom of transformation and will of elements. The fire is, in this metaphor, representing the will, so the character would be in need to comprehend the fire to understand itself. Here it’s introduced the concept of plasticity as compared to the same theory applied before, that being, it supports the idea of animation constructing the movement by the person pulling the strings of the character. Both these theories are applied in real-world where just like fire, everything is able to change in time and space.

Resourcing to Eisenstein’s work, the author believes the animators admit that in animated films there is an insincere promise of freedom, this contradicts with the notions of freedom, especially the modern ideology of the capitalist society like affirmed by Esther Leslie. Similar to his words, Scott Bukatman speaks of the tension of labour and anima as the main points in early animated cartoons. He says that animation is the idea of expressing life, autonomy, movement and freedom, while this speaks as the form of labours, the materialistic analysis decreases the presentation of the freedom and autonomous agency, revealing to be more distributed, shared and interdependent. It is a modern idea that the concept of the drawn character comes from a group of actants on the background, this dismantles the difference we see between subject and object, nature and culture, making all this concepts part of our everyday life.

In conclusion, this journal is an examination on the perception of character will, how to develop it, and the various points of view it may have, be it in action, in freedom or in philosophy. The author itself had to make various points to defend his argument, even if it meant analysing other theories. All things considered, the argument comes to an end when successfully persuades the reader to believe in the theories presented for the representation of will. All points made in the text were valid and supported by real work and solid theories. In the present, practitioners are still using and understanding this topic, as it has various kinds of definitions and fields of study, hopefully in the near future animators and psychologist will come to an agreement on this matter.

Word Count: 1010

[nadia-guerreiro]

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Used the breakdown technic, this seems to help me a bit with timing, and will eventually help with slows in-out of motion; Render stills too dark; Still problem with the eyes (gotta give it some time to solve); timing looks mostly good, apart from the quick camera motion at the start (would be used to place an initial title, and start a piece of background music with it);

What I lost more time with? Make assets work, find rigged models to fit the story and the same for the environment. Why only worked on this one? Setting aside all the troubles this one already gave me, I feel like all I need for the other project is some environment, that I’ve been looking while I was researching for this one too, the rest, all comes to animation and motion.

Rig | Sober, J. (2019). Josh Sober Rigs - Bonnie Rig. [online] Joshsobelrigs.com. Available at: https://www.joshsobelrigs.com/bonnie [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019] Landscape | Pxltiger (n.d.). Fantasy Landscape. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/fantasy-landscape-b86ceddee3394444818bb3ed4a4773d8 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019]. Bow | Hombal (2011). wooden bow wood obj free. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/wooden-bow-wood-obj-free/601149 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Arrow | ThyHolyJebus77 (2015). free sample arrow pack 3d model. [online] Turbosquid.com. Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-sample-arrow-pack-3d-model/943130 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2019]. Tree | Nathramn (2019). Birch tree low poly handpainted. [online] Sketchfab. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/birch… [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

[nadia-guerreiro]

My Resolution After Continuous Problems With Marketplace Models

The character model Sparrow had a major problem, her rig was so detailed that there were even unnecessary bones that would get in the way on using the ones that actually moved the character, not even talking about the facial rig, where a great commotion of bones made it hard to identify which one controlled what. Here I decided that I needed a rig with facial controls, that would ease my time animating and have total control over the character. Unfortunately, this long search for resources bought me back to Bonnie, the rig I originally use, as it was the most efficient one that still was able to fit the theme and convey the emotions I needed. 

*insert image*   Unfortunately, the scenery did the same! Low poly models stacked on top of the high poly versions, textures unassigned and lots and lots of other things didn’t work at all. At this point I was just tired of trying to rely on the Marketplace assets, they looked amazingly good in engine, but didn’t seem to export well from there. Wish there was a way to download them directly as they are into Maya.

[nadia-guerreiro]

Habits of Effective Artists

My thought trough the video:

Dayle Practice - Although this is something simple that everyone knows, it’s not always practical. The fact that he noticed that working one hour every day is better than a one day 5h train, was really something I hadn’t thought about. Using the “One session 5H method”, information won't be absorbed, and the workload would turn too big and tiring to tackle it with the same passion as a shorter session. Another important advice was to make yourself agree to do the bare minimum even when you’re tired, that will bring you to a greater end line where you end up doing more work than you initial even planned to.

Volume, Not Perfection - Perfectionism while learning something new, won't bring good feedback. It makes you lose more time and takes experience time that you could use to explore more options and practices of work.

Steal - Referencing is part of all artist, referencing to real life is something we all must do to bring credit to the image. While we are always warned as artists to not use others content, to be 100% original, he defends that we should steal others work! The biggest point made is that if you’re inspired by someone, make their art your own, research other artists that could meet well with your inspiration and that would help you make a mix of all your influencers artists. Thant makes you original. Mood boards are the best example of good practice in this subject, always bringing inspiration that you picked yourself.

Conscious Learning - As he said “Practice makes perfect”, but it won't always bring those results, insisting in a subject where you get lost doodling and lose track of the learning curve, you forget why you’re learning and how you learn. Stop doing what you know, explore what you’re missing out in and develop that point when you’re ready, you’ll know it, and then take the next step to a new feature you didn’t learn before. This was a great point proven, as I have been stuck with Blender since my BA and I’m now learning Maya. Most of the tutorials are really hard to go through in the sense of boredom or meticulous software implication. Maybe using this feature, I’ll be able to understand what point I have been progressing with.

Rest - The so-called artist blocks. He says that getting away from your work for a while actually bring you a totally new perspective of what you’ve done since your mind has been busy with other things, this will help you have a more analytical vision of your own project. I tested this just looking at the first project I did entering the MA course, looking back at some of my works from the BA make me see so many other possibilities that I could have used to answer the same problem and other things that can always be improved.

Get Feedback - For me this is already a habit, I just love to show what I do, I show it mostly to my family and friends since they're out of the practice, they will have a totally different read of the project. Showing to people that understand the practice is great too, because they have an inside vision of the work, and can help to develop a better final work/practice that you might not even have thought about so far. The most important part is to have honest feedback!... And listening to it, developing from it.

Create What You Love - Develop what you believe in. Any topic will become obsolete and you’ll lose motivation if you’re not doing what you love. The media is animation, but the topic you develop is something that will make it special and make you have a passion for what you do.

Each of his topics made me realize that some of my tactics aren’t the best way to advance as a practitioner. Listening to his words was a good wake up call, and I’ll apply his advice, especially on the “work a little every day instead of intensive hours on one day”, the mood board is something I’m not using at the moment, because all my models are outsourced, but I do have a collection of videos with the motions I want to reproduce, so that’s my way to apply that tactic. I guess what I need to work out the most it’s the Conscious Learning, so far I feel like I hit a wall while making the transition from Blender to Maya, I’ve acquired enough Maya knowledge to make it functional and do all the basic tasks I need to be doing, but I feel like I should be doing more, especially learning to light the stage well, or even to make some visual effects.

Conference | Price, A. (2016). The Habits of Effective Artists. [online] Blender. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g [Accessed 28 Nov. 2019].

[nadia-guerreiro]

3D Pipeline Analysis

I want to analyse this image in comparison to my methodology of work, personally, to try and understand what I could be doing better, what things I can skip and how could my kind of work methods be used in a team environment. So let’s start by taking a look at this pipeline from “3D Animation Essentials” book by Andy Beane.

Well, analysing what he has it's simple and straightforward. He represents the line of work as a semblance line, where one step cant be done without the other, this way we can be sure to have a better end product. Some of the steps are taken as repetitive circles of trial and error when something needs fixing, it will go a stage back to fix any found issue.

Comparing to my methodology

What I do, putting it simply is:

Theme > Idea > Storyboard > Search for Models > Test Models > Arrange environment > Animate character > Pose Camera/Render > Edit/Compose Shots > Final Output

Now, I’m able to skip some steps for the simple fact that I use outsourced material, and I already look for rigged characters and a fitting environment. Sometimes I feel like this can be restrictive in many ways, but for the time given and my skill with the standard industrialized software Maya, I really can’t take the time to model, texture and rig.

I would like to research a bit more on the visual effects, as I feel that and lighting the stage is something I still miss out a lot. In all other senses, I think my pipeline is pretty following the standards given, of course, working for a team would ease my process even more, as all the resources would be prepared for the goal of the designated movie. Teamworking and helping out other fields is something that doesn't scare me at all, I want to have a bit of knowledge from every end to be able to understand what works or not, where the mistakes could have been made and where is space to improvement, both in my practice and on the team effort.

Image |  Beane, A. (2012). 3D Animation Essentials. Sybex.

[nadia-guerreiro]

Marketplace Materials + Mixamo

During my search for materials to use in the first project (Places of Mind), I found the assets from the Unreal Marketplace really intriguing. As you can see, the character on the right is Sparrow, and she would perfectly fit the theme I wanted to convey in my animation, using this model would give me room to work in a more realistic realm, with more weighted movements and slower/realistic timings. the character on the left was a back-up plan, as she could fit the theme anyways and the rig was easy to understand, the only downside was not having facial controls, that would take away the ability to convey emotion with her face, and make the movements seem even more unrealistic and unrelated.

Another great piece I found in the Unreal Marketplace was this forest, with just the placement of the target, this scenery was the ideal for the realistic look on this piece.

The scenery in Engine:

The scenery in Maya:

With my assets more or less planed was time for my routine investigation, I looked for videos of people shotting arrows and the correct poses, holdings and all those details. Found this video of different types of bows and was really interesting to see how the arrow would actually react, something like the simple fact that the arrow cures itself on the bow it’s something that can really go unnoticed.

Another great place for inspiration was this short from Brave (2012) where she continuously shoots central hitting arrows. Her posture and concentration made me realise that the timing is especially important in this piece, she holds her breading with each shot even when walking forward, then stops and it closes up, slows time and conveys all the emotion of her last true central hitting shot.

My hope is to be able to achieve this kind of stops and slow movements with a charge of feelings and emotion, the camera shots help a lot conveying this notion as well, making her seem confident and determined.

Left Model | Mixamo.com. Mixamo - Characters. [online] Available at: https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&query=erika+archer+with+bow&type=Character [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019]. Right Model | Epic Games (2018). Paragon: Sparrow by Epic Games in Epic Content - UE4 Marketplace. [online] Unrealengine.com. Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/slug/paragon-sparrow [Accessed 25 Nov. 2019]. 1st Video | DevolverDigital (2019). SCUM - Archery Skill. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsjZoeKVsPc [Accessed 26 Nov. 2019]. 2nd Video | Brave. (2012). [film] Directed by M. Andrews and B. Chapman. United States: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 

[nadia-guerreiro]

Choices for Development

These two were my choices to develop.

Why did I choose both of these pieces? I believe they have good room for improvements, on both aesthetic and technic. Since I’m only focusing on character animation & performance, all the models will be outsourced from free fonts licenced for personal and portfolio showcase.

 How to further develop each one of the animations? Starting with the first one, at the time, I lost a lot of this piece of work, and this was already a more advanced version than the one I was able to show in class. What I truly wanted, was to turn this piece into something more realistic! I was thinking of using characters and environments from the unreal marketplace, where I can just work with them and worry about the animation itself. So far been having some complications with the character rig I piked (Model: Sparrow; the transition from unreal to Maya breaks them rig most of the time), so I’m still studying the best solution to still work with that method, if it turns out impossible at the end, I'll just use this same model (Model: Bonnie), in terms of rigging its really good, just have to understand what happened with the alpha on the eyes, but easily solved.

The second pice, fighting scenes are great for great moving and ambitious camera plans! That’s exactly the point I want to make with this piece, using inspiration from Japanese manga, and some sequences of Teenage Ninja Turtles series, I would like to understand which is the best technic to make it look good and feel the emotion of the moment. I would like to develop the relationship between the two, so it looks more master\student, and the whole point of the video turns more of a lesson for both. Another thing I want to do with this piece is to explore the quick\slow movements, where I make quick movements and then use slow motion to hold the moment, this would imply more suspense and hold the audience attached to uncovering the result.

Rig | Sober, J. (2019). Josh Sober Rigs - Bonnie Rig. [online] Joshsobelrigs.com. Available at: https://www.joshsobelrigs.com/bonnie [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019]. Tree | Turbosquid.com. (2017). 3D model cartoon tree - TurboSquid 1213267. [online] Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/1213267 [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019]. Arrow | Turbosquid.com. (2004). Free max model broadhead arrow. [online] Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/233548 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2019]. Bow | Turbosquid.com. (2015). goblin weapon pack fbx. [online] Available at: https://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/952643 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2019]. Monkey Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Wukong Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/wukong [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Pig Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Zhu Baijie Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/zhubaijie [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Swords | Eder, D. 2019. Psylocke Maya Rig. Gumroad. [Online]. Available from: https://gumroad.com/l/psylocke [Accessed 23 October 2019].

[nadia-guerreiro]

Some Inspiration

Well, for the first time, I’m happy to say that I’m gladly watching a CGI made anime. From the “Orange” Studios, that landed a hit with smooth CGI animation with the series “Land of the Lustrous“, now a new, and with deep meaning anime, that had his manga made great success in Japan.

Seeing this kind of high-end 3D animation enter a totally 2D ruled world brings me great hope for the future, where we could even be able to speed up some processes without having the spectator feel “Oh no, they used CGI...” I really feel they made great advance with it, the characters look clean, the movements look realistic and the principles of animation still apply, they might still use some 2D to add effects on the editing process, but the whole motion is brought by the 3D.

What they did well? - Used shaders - This softens the 3D heavy use of lights, representing the shadows in a more 2D sense, with the result being hard shadows. - Simplicity models - Overcomplicating a model not only brings more work to the animation but brings the animation further apart from what we are used to with the 2D field. Making it simple is as good for animation purposes as the character reliability to the viewers. - The feeling of some 2D usage - I can’t confirm this, as the only behind the scenes we got so far was for the stop motion opening ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaBCY7QvIkY ). Especially on the eyes, seems like some images were tweaked to look right. - Environmental render - All the spaces feel real and the characters belong there, unlike some other infamous CGI that has been used. This takes the viewer into the continuous perception of the world, not breaking the suspension of disbelieve. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3R6cf6njz4 ) - Use of various shot types - CG opens the door for this option the most, you're allowed to move the camera easily to test your vision with ease, and looking for the best shot, and taking advantage of it it’s what they did here. (Land of Lustrous has an even bigger impact in this point as it takes the dynamic shots to another level in the acrobatic fights) ( https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box/ah-piab-film-grammar/v/dynamicshots )

On the other hand, something like this is a major inspiration to me as well, seeing how an individual (with help of a musician) is making a full hand-animated game by himself, with such defined quality, makes me think of all the great things one can achieve. Seeing his progress throughout the years has been great, and the fact that his project is now being funded at Kickstart with great success so far really brings light to all developers and creator out there that are trying to achieve something in life.

What he did well? - Fluid animations - Old cartoony style - Quick passed motion - In pair with all the animation principles

Looking at this game reminded me of Cuphead, another amazing game that made most of its success from the old Disney style animations and great soundtrack.

1st Video | Beastars. (2019). [video] Directed by S. Matsumi. Japan: Orange. 2nd Video | Guinea Pig Parkour. (n.d.). [game] Directed by J. Mumm. Canada.

[nadia-guerreiro]

Animation Breakdown

Animation Breakdown its a really useful technique. Using this video I’ll explain the process and reflect on how I have my own take at it.

As we can see in the upper video, working from storyboard references (and maybe even a 2D animatic) the animator starts with:

 Position Layout - Where he understands where the characters will be in space;

Reference Videos - They act the scene to understand the movements of what the characters will be doing;

Blocking Pass - This phase is repeated various times with different takes. In each pass, with each cycle, we add in-betweens of our main keyframes, some retweets are made in movements that need more detail, for example, expressive scenes;

Spline Progress - Is the wonders of 3D animation, the missing in-betweens are filled with automatic keys that take the bones from one position to the other calculating its progress;

Arc planning - Used to correct subtle movements that make the final action seem more natural in the way the body moves, making the action curve correction;

Spline Polish/Final - Manually correction of the automatic fill to refine movement;

Render - First complete render without the light to take notice of all space and character relation, second render with light to complete the scene.

This is the method used by a big company such as Disney where the animators have a certain amount of time and scenes divisions between themselves, now...

How do I apply this typology in my practice?

Personally, I feel like my approach to this method is closer to the simpler take represented here by Remy Terreaux video, where he jumps from the animatic to the rough blocking (I’m sure he made some cycles on this step, especially with such a quick-paced scene), he calls animation to the spline phase, and then jumps to the final render.

In my practice, I would follow closer to his line of work, quickly understand where characters would be in space, so I could make the best of time and start the rough blocking straight away, sometimes I do the spline as I go, but that gives the feeling that its a bad habit, not only I get a real-time motion, but makes me forget a bit about timing and not concentrate so much in the positions as I should. After I finish the first cycle, I go through it some more times to clean up some mistakes made by the automatic filling. Unfortunately, special effects and lights are the subjects I’m still missing out in Maya, so I don’t do that stage and just finish with a basic light for the final render.

Analysing this made me notice that my process as a single practitioner is close to professionals and still applicable to the industry, in a way that even in a team I would be able to fit in and make the little adjustments to meet their professional standards.

1st Video | Bradley, J. (2012). CGI 3D Breakdown : "Progression of Animated Shot" - Disney"s Tangled. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-S7wQx_hvs [Accessed 28 Nov. 2019]. 2nd Video | Terreaux, R. (2019). KDA POPSTARS - Animation Progression. [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/310207092 [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019]. 

[nadia-guerreiro]

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Light and Shadow - Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, I feel like I was unable to make my point proven. While the sunset light was well executed, the rest of the lights failed to give it any meaning, what I intended was for the light to be the main eye leader, so it would highlight scenes as such as the close-up eyeshot and the dumpling cut.

What are the problems with this piece?

Certain movements, I went for bold motions, and risky actions, but by the end, the timing didn’t feel right, especially on the monkey turn around, he needs so feel more weighted and have some kind of difficulty while doing the black flip. Bending the knees on landing and destabilizing the pose will make it more real, as making the movement less smooth and more quick on the body throwback. As for the pig, he needs to feel more like the body mass he has, more weight, difficulty to move around and tiredness from the effort, he might be trained to do so, but there should still be some complication, rolling his ball-shaped body might be the best and funniest option to solve this problem.

Light, the missing in light (especially because was the main theme), was a point I couldn’t get solved. I succeded with the sunset and the atmosphere it creates, but the absence of other sources of light to bend the emotion on the other cuts made the light theme obsolete.

Environment, the insufficiency of objects to build the world breaks the suspension of disbelief, this implies that the viewer won't have any kind of connection with the world presented.

What I did well?

Scene montage, camera panels and movements are interesting and were one of the best things pointed out by the class. My intention was to bring the feeling of the comic book style, a bit like “Into the Spider-Verse” tried to do, imitating old comics and manga.

Movement perception, it's a good and a bad point. But in the good terms, I was able to make a distinction on weight and skill between both characters, behaviours such as eating with his hand versus using the chopsticks, sitting with a straight pose or bend over the table. My intention was to create a clear distinction between the two that would help to understand the reason for conflict.

The main light, although the sunset/sunrise was the only light system I was able to achieve, it created the initial momentum light I planed, giving the sense of peace at start developing into an ominous feeling between the two.

Monkey Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Wukong Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/wukong [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019]. Pig Rig | Nguyen, T., Truong CG Artist and Nguyen, L. (n.d.). Zhu Baijie Maya Rig. [online] Gumroad. Available at: https://gumroad.com/l/zhubaijie [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].  Swords | Eder, D. 2019. Psylocke Maya Rig. Gumroad. [Online]. Available from: https://gumroad.com/l/psylocke [Accessed 23 October 2019].