Shot 42 re-animating part 2

This is the update so far, needs more work though. Let me knowhow I can improve it.

shot 06

This is one of the shots I animated apart from the camera movement. Everyone else did the texturing, lighting etc. I'm very happy with how this turned out because this shot gave me hell as well. Also this isn't even the final shot it has no occlusion, so when it does it, I imagine it will be a real "jizz in my pants" moment.

Shot 42 re-animating part 2

This is another progress I've done. Here it's showing me animating the guard on the scooters movements. Even though the scooter is supposed to have drifting in it, it's movements are a bit to flowery in movement. It needs to have sharper turns as id zig zags from letf to right. The same rule applies as always, I'll be animating the gaurds movements afterwards.

Tomorrows hand in

Sorry no pictures just here to say that the deadline will be tommow for handin in and I'm ready for it. One thing though concerning the folders I can't decide weather or not to call my concept or the animation work the strongest. In all the years I've been at Rave, the 3rd year contains the best animations I've done so far. Think I'll just call my concept work strogest one sinmply because it has more stuff and then animation my 2nd, a very close second. Anywa whoever reading just like to thank everyone including tutors who helped me through the years of being here. However it's not over yet, Pirates still intend to finish for the degree show. I say, bring it!

Shot 42 re-animating

This is a real pain in the ass, the deadline for this animation is this wednesday and it's monday today. I highly doubt I'll get it done by then. This scene was originally wider, however I've now actually been given an environment and it's a lot narrower. So I have to reposition the animation, not easy. This is the first attempt which is pretty cack, so I'll just concntrate on the scooter and work from there. I'm getting a little bit more comfortable with the graph editor though.

Shot 34 Stress!!!!

Man been working on this all day trying to make the fingers look right. Today I realised that even though fingers are easy to move, to make it look believeable especially when someone is completely scared completely out of their mind, is a very hard thing to do. Dunno if Lewis will be satisfied with this, if not I'll attempt it later. What a crappy day.

It's been a little while

It's been a while since the casper scream... I think. Anyway just here to post up a couple of shots and that will be that for now. This shot above is the scene where the guard is about to drive up to the cereal again. After all that's happened.

Here is the part where the guard is all banged up from his struggle with the pirates.

It is complete

Lewis gave me a little example, for this shot, he told me to take a look at Casper the movie. There's a scene in there where the guy that plays the president from independance day, gets scared and freaked out gradually as he sees a ghost. So following that, I came up with this.

He (Lewis) also told me to animate the fingers aswell.

atahings are getting heavy

Things are starting to get meore intense now. The animations need to done ASAP, lew told me that we have to try and get all of it done by next monday. Over half of it is already done, and I don't think the quality needs to ba absolutely flawless but, good enough. Anyway this shot is done with. Onto the next animations.

The torch hell is finally over

Lewis did the camera shot for this as well as slow down the animation a bit, to match his liking. Now time to get with the other animations. Apparently I have 4 more to do, and all animations need to be done for next monday. Yikes!

Torch!!!

Man never before have I been so pissed with a piece of animation before, in my life! Just so many redoin and redoin and so forth. And after so many redoing It then gets brought to my attention that the torch isn't supposed to have 3 bounces and that it shouldn't bounce so far but neare to the middle. Sigh...I wouldn't expect anyone to get it, basically it was a real stressful day, you fix one part of the animation, something else changes and you can slightly see it and it bothers you like that itch you get when you don't wipe your ass properly. These are the results of my animation. I did the best I could with it.

Another update on this. If you look at the previouse 2 plays, you will see that the torch stays still then mysteriously, starts moving on its own so I managed to fix it though. Looks better.

Drive up progress 1

Ok, what you see here is the emotional phase that the guard goes through, from bottom pic to the top pic. I actually made 2 playblasts which are down below. This is the bit where the guard drops his items and drives up to the pedestal where the cereal is. The bit that worries me a bit, is the fact that the guard has a box in the middle of his tummy, there's no body movement to make it fall off along with the rest of the items. Now I know it's a cartoon but Lewis says to have it fall anyways. I was gonna have the box fall, when he swerves to go up to the pedestal.

See the box? It's dead center, to have it fall off is....strange isn't it?

This is my first attempt where the guard goes staright into awe. This is the one Lewis preferred, to my surprise. The second is underneath.

The Torch and accessories

I finally managed to input the accessories...yay.

Here's the update on the torch roll.

Dodge Progress final

This is the final animatin for the guard dodge. Lewis is happy and has green lit it, so now I have to put it up on the A-Drive and go back to the torch roll scene, see you there.

Dodge Progress 3

I had mentioned in my previous post (if I haven't I am now) that I would be using a motion curve to help with the basic path that the guard will take. It seemed to work, he and the scooter was following it perfectly. However maya decided bite my ass once again.

See this? the gaurd isn't even in his seat and any adjustments I try to make to him, like leaing in the opposite direction, he would just return to his default position or not follw the scooter anymore. It makes no sense since he and the scooter was both parented to the line in the first place, so why he won't follow is beyond me.

So I had to do it the hard way which is the way I did it before.

I had to key frame at the end of the path and then go to the starting point and animate while the scooter and guard made their way to the point. The good thing is I have more control now, as it's shown in the vid. However THIS IS THE MOST FUSRATING ANIMATION I'VE DONE! just getting the guard to stay in his seat is a real be-otch because he would either get left behind, go past the scooter or his fat back would phase though the seat. However that said the big movements are do now, I only hope that the worst has past. I should have this done by monday or tuesday. Stay tuned.

Melon Dodge progress 1

Man this has to be the most trickiest shot I've ever done up till now. I'll hopefully have it done by next tuesday. It's just that there are so many elements to consider. In this little demo I wanted to add a sort of "Shakey Jake" kind of thing goin on with the guard, like he wobbles like jelly. Lord give me strength!

Torch Roll

This has to be one of the best animations I have done in all the years I've been at this college. Though I have completed the scare animation there is another dilema regarding the torch. In the picture above the torch drops down the front of the scooter. In the animatic the front of the scooter is designed like a slope, so of course the torch would roll down with ease. Lewis seems to want it to roll down, but if it did, it would look awkward and unbelievable. I need to speak to him about this, but if he wants it to roll still then so be it.

Here's what's been done so far.

More scare progress...

Here's the progress so far, the shaking is too much so it needs to be morer finer. Also Ash gave me some items to animate with in this sot so in the next post you'll be seeing that. Not much to say here, stay tuned for the next post.

UPDATE:

This is the progress I made even more. For those who dont know this cam shot will only hold for 3 second approximately. He's still shaking with fear only that the focus will no longer be on the guard but on the torh that guides the audiences eyes towards the cereal satnd in the background.

The action cam!

A little joke here, I tried to get the same camera movemant from the animatic but I accidentally made a shaky cam instead, still good fun though. Lewis is happy with the guards animation. I have to do him scared now.

Lookin around progress 2

This is another one from the original, a few more tweaks have been put in to this, don't know if you'll notice any but the eyebrows, blinks and the pupils dart around more. Last time it looked as though he was tracking something with his eyes.

Lookin around progress 1

This is my firts attempt at the guard animation, I really like that suspicious look he has as he turns to the side, still loads more work to be done though. Sigh, I highly doubt we'll get this film done, at least to the standards we want, we are on a tight schedule here and there have been too many set backs. However we'll see how it goes.

A little more progress

Progress so far, after learning more about the controls, I made is back arch more and his foot support his weight when he lifts the melon. I was thinkng that Patches should take the effort to bing the melon up higher to show his struggle, however regarding the time that this shot lasts which is I'm assuming isn't long, 2 1/2 sec I'd say; it would be too ambitious.

UPDATE:

Still doing the main block out poses....got a little shuff goin on in there.

The Melon Pick up progress 1

I suppose you know how I work by now start with big block out movements, then work my way in finessing. I'll say this, the rigging on patches is F.U.B.A.R (f'd up beyond all recognition) he can't walk only shuffle, his arms bend for no reason like Flubber and he has no upper torso control. So I'm literally forced to animate him like he's lifting up like Robocop, heh heh it's so funny. Anyway stay tuned.

Dummy is no more.

J.B has decided that the Dummy project will be dropped because we're too far behind and we just don't have the time to catch up. So I will dedicate my time to Pirates now, I already have some animations that has been assigned to me. As for all the work I did for Dummy, it can go towards my folders stil so no problem. As of now, I will dedicate my time to Pirates.

Coin Flip Progress 1...

The fisrt thingI did is to choose 2 points on where the first part of the animation phase begins and ends. Then I work to produce the first part which is the step. After acting it out, he must drop his weight near the edge of the coin to flip it, the tweaks showing this comes later. As withh all the previous animations, I work on the big movents first and then the smaller movements afterwards, tweaking is last on the list.

So far...

Just a simple post today. MuLi told me yesterday that J.B won't be able to do any of his allocated shots, something to do with Ashley's texturing work not looking up the standard he wants. That means that I'll have to take over for him, thing is though I already have some of Lewis's animation to do. However Lew says if it gets over bearing then he can offer me the 2nd years, we'll see what happens. Right now I'm having trouble with making the male dummy flip a coin from the floor, onto his shoulders, this will be the hardest animation I've done yet. I've tried once but failed utterly. In the next post I'll show the progress of each process.

Sitting Angry progress 1

Another animation progress. This takes place after the male dummy laughs at the female dummy, after the paper aeroplane hit's her in the head. This was a itch in the ass, where the folding of the arms were concerned, also for some reason the maya software became unresposive, after a simple movement of the limbs. However I managed to get it in the end. Still though more tweaking to be done.

UPDATE: I made some little adujustments in movement such as the head tilting back a little more to show, a more fed up, sighing attitude. Also her upper torso moves away more, plus her lower torso moves away as well, she is pivots on her bottom. To show this her legs lift slightly away from the box. Thibk it might near be done, it's only supposed to last 2 1/2 to 3 seconds long.

Dummy laugh near completion!

These are the animations far. People have sais that they are very good.

Lighting Testing

Right these pics came from Final Fantasy 13 and were posted after the dummy posts. However do you see what I mean about low lighting?

The light source is from the fireworks and also from the night sky, but the low lighting adds a private atmosphere. Of course it won't be exactly like this in Dummy.

The lighting will be used to display different emotions, happy, sad, excitement, etc.

You see the light bouncing off the edges? I was picturing that happening with the female dummy as the male looks up at her, in all her beauty, a treasure to behold.

Again the light glow around adds for the magical ambience surrounding the two. Now it's highly unrealsitic for us to achieve, and maybe it's too overwhelming as a refernce. But now you know my point.

Trying to get a sense of romantic lighting going here. The blue representing the night sky and the pink representing the screen. Believe it or not this is the female modell.

Decided to add a warmer colour, these images contain 5 lights two directional, one ambient one big cone-thingy one. What??? Anyway romantic settings usually have a low light setting. Not much shadow here.

Again night light moon light, but hardly any shadows, at this angle either.

This is somewhat hopeless. My first time experimenting with lighting on my own. But I don't see what these images are communicating across to me or you, except for a blend of nice colours. However I have tried to mount this model on a box and put it in a feminine position, but the cpu is freezing, with just a simple movement of the limbs, so that is a no go. In the meant time I'll be disscussing some reference lighting (see above).

More developments

More deveopments.

Dummy Laugh New!

This is the new laugh that is in deveopment stages. Again I'm focusing on big movements.

UPDATE: This is the step close up included, in the laugh animation.

Laughing reference

I figured this, will help with the animation somewhat.

Progress of Dummy Laugh

This is my first attempt at doing the animation for J.B. It's about time we started on this, man! The way I'm approaching this animation that goes from a laugh to a giggle, is to start on the big movements first. From here I started from the upper chest area using the rotation tool on it's "Y" axis.

Then I did the head next. It's not written in stone but maybe I should gone for the lower body, next. Oh well whatever. Got me thinking though, for such a simple movement that we do naturally and on instinct, there's a lot of thought process that goes into animation. Like how may times and how far back does he rock backwards and forwards, how low and how many times does he drop his body, etc. This is the first time I used J.B's dummy model, it ain't to bad however I don't know why the legs also get affected when I select the lower pelvis.

UPDATE: News just in it looks like sh*t to everyone else. I need reference to show laughing, this animation looks like he's puking hard or doin a forced blow job, according to J.B. I need some references.

Walker Blend Shapes 3 UPDATE

Working on the smile....

Done but there is a real itch in the ass problem still.

Getting Walker to smile with mouth closed is another no easy task to do. I've highlighted the area where the geometry will continously deny you. I was trying to turn that hook shape and turn it upwads, however it just wasn't happening.

Arching the rest of the mouth was not a problem, and I wanted the smile to affect the creases in his face some more. Better shot below. Well that's it for Walker I hope, 24 shapes in total.

Walker Blend Shapes 3

These top 3 pictures display the smile with walker's mouth opened and when his mouth is in neutral position. I've been duplicating from a head, with the outh opened, obviously. Tom says that we'll leave the neutral mouth position closed, till last.

However after looking at the guards blend shapes, I don't think I have many to go. Walker as far as I know only has one line to say, 'He's getting away captain.' So I don't think he should have that many blend shapes to begin with, but it ain't my call.

These are the rest I've done, so all in all I've got 23 emotions down now. To be honest I'm starting to get a little confused about what emotion I've got down, and if he really needs that much blend shaping. Guess I'll speak to Lew about it. I must also start experimenting with lighting soon.

Walker Blend Shapes 2

As you can see more blendshapes. If you look at the top pic of him pouting, or kissing it has been brought to my attention that I need to bring the corner of his mouth in towards the middle more. Which is in fact true, the corners pulls into the middle. Go on and try it in the mirror right now...I'm serious.
UPDATED: I went back in spending like another hour on the pouting. It's no doubt one tricky piece of blend shaping I've had to do.
Judging from the previous close up of the pouting, the corners of the mouth was pulled in a lot more this time.

Walker Blend Shapes

My very firs blend shapes of Walker. Apperntly I showed Lewis the first ones I did but they were all wrong because, let's say you do a happy expession, all the controls must be sepearte.So you position everything on the face as a seperate element like the eyebrow, eyes, lips etc. One al those are done then when they come together you can pretty much create any emotion you want. Also the file I got was from Dean the eyebrows weren't supposed to be seperate rather built into the mesh itself. So Lew gave me the right file, however I still have concerns with typology of the model, moving some the vertices just causes it to look ugly sometimes. I 'll speak to Lew about that tomorrow.

Anyways in other news I have to make I've allocated the scenes to the guys in our groups. All there is to do is get those updated rigs and start the animation. Next thing to come up on the blog is my lighting skills to fill up the technical folder, no doubt my strongest maybe my artistic folder, or maybe a combination of the artistic and the animantor folder...who knows. Anyways stay tuned.

Walk Test

Yo guys this is my first walk cycle, which I haven't done in a loooong time. It's quite basic and robotic at the moment, however so unless it's a robot its in need of some major tweaking. The animation is based upon the personality of Walker, for the pirates group. Though we never see him walk, this is a test to try and get a feel for his character since I will be animating him. Not much to say on this one, just gotta drill through this.

In other news I have to give people shots to do instead of letting them choose. Personally I think the latter will make things go faster, but if J.B says 'You don't let people choose shots, it's the director's responsability to give it to them. That's how it's sone in the real world.' Then J.B's will be done.