This website had a great side on view which helped me achieve the 'body bounce' which was required to give an authentic feel of the character Moom having 'in-world' weight.
In this session with Will we spent the first hour focusing on how to capture hands correctly, so he asked the model to pose for a series of exaggerated (in some cases) hand gestures to test our skills.
Will mentioned that in order to avoid the fingers turning out like sausages, we need to consider every joint and ligament in the hand as an angle, and to join these angles accordingly. This is why in some of my pictures the hands seem quite rigid.
Another good tip, was to make sure that if we drew on fingernails, that they should be subtle, and not completely outlined - otherwise it gives the impression of them being 'stuck on'. The fingernail should also always be set in lower than the flesh of the finger - so show the real shape of the hand.
The photos below, are of the 1hr 45min drawing of our life model. The challenge for this piece was to accurately foreshorten the body and arms, at the odd angle that I was looking at her - without it all looking the wrong size. I spent a lot of time measuring and adjusting size and widths. I especially found the proportion of the chest area tricky. On reflection, the thing which stands out for me is her left calf muscle. The wall that the model was balancing her legs on was white -and so I cannot show that her legs are pressed against a surface very well. Her calf muscle looks slightly too large because it was pressed against the wall - thus pushing her muscle mass out horizontally. Next time I will look into was I can show that she is leaning against a surface, even when that surface has no defining features!
Learnt how to create Photoshop animation through Video layers and Onion skins!
Here is my feeble first attempt at animating a ball bouncing from the top of the 'screen' to the bottom;
Here are some photographs and videos I took whilst learning the basics of Maya Animation. They show how I progressed from a simple translation movement, to a 'slow in slow out' motion, to a ball which visibly squashes when it hits the ground.
The above video and photograph show how I have used the graph editor to adjust the balls movement and speed of movement through the curves shown above. Y translation is in GREEN.
This is a close up of the previous animation.
This is the same animation with the added squash and stretch, using a different type of translation curve.
This is the curve which shows the squash and stretch side of the animation. Notice the difference in shape to the translation curve. I tried several different curve shapes including a step curve to try and achieve an ultra-realistic movement. I decided at this point that the squashing was happening too soon in the motion cycle and I then tried several different curves to achieve this.
ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT PROJECT SET WHEN STARTING WORK IN MAYA.
File > Project > New.../Set...
Name the project
Locate the project
Use Default names for Project >Locations
Accept
Create projects in Maya to keep your files organised.
When using saving files in Maya; make sure you enter at least 3 number values each time so 1 is 001 two is 002 ten is 010 etc.
When naming save-files in Maya; use underscores instead of spaces and try to avoid capital letters unless used like this; robinSilcockArtwork - never use them at the start of a file name.)
When you first start playing around with a model/scene, always make sure that you File > Save As...> then put in a new scene name. For example if your original scene is robin_000 your next scene save should be robin_001, and the next robin_002 and so on.
Animation Notes
Whenever you work with any kind of animation data, start with a reference file. File > Create Reference > Select the file you want to be the reference.
Before you begin animating your ball you need to change the animation preferences (bottom right hand corner) so that the animation is set to 30+ frames per second, not 24 which is its preset and is used for film.
Preferences > Settings > working Units > Time > NTSC (30fps)
Preferences > Time Slider > Playback Speed > Play every frame > Max Speed > 30 fps
To set a key frame press the S key.
To bring up the Graph Editor; Panels > Saved Layouts > Persp/Graph. Perspective graph outlook will show you speed over time etc. The graph editor will produce a smoother more polished chain of animation than using the click and drag method of WYSIWYG. This will be far more flawed.
Honeyslug:
An exciting company with some great artistic collaborations in their showreel. Their advertisements for jobs and internships are very promising!
Pong - The sound for Pong was created by passing electricity through the already existing components used in the games hardware. This was done because the company had run out of room and funding to add any more components to the circuitry. Pong uses 'Procedural Animation'.
Space Invaders - 2 frame 'Sprite Animation' is used.
Toejam and Earl from the Planet Funk. Use Sprite animation also, they just placed it within a more elaborate setting.
Wolfenstein 3D - 1st 3D Game
Doom - Uses 3D environments with 2D character animations. This was used in order to combat the lack in processing power with the demand for impressive visuals.
F-Zero - Uses 3D environments with 2D Sprites.
Quake 4 - Activision
Max Payne 3 - Uses reactive cinematic experience, triggered by the players actions directly rather than passively. (ie cinematics are accurate to players actions, to generic to the point in the game).
Journey - a game which explores humans passion for exploration!
Mount Dash - a game used as an example for character modelling and animation.
The Assassins Creed series uses Timing with great precision and success in it's fight scenes. Each blow delivered by Etzio/Altair is pin pointed to affect the victim in a certain way, and it is the chaining of such blows together which makes some moves so poetic;
Unlike the mis-match of jolty and almost 'stiff' movements of 'Bayonetta' as she fights adversaries;
The fighting style does seem to be more Pose to Pose animation style, with very little in-between. Whereas the Assassin's style of conflict is far more fluid and suggests more work has been concentrated on everything between each pose as well.
As for Appeal, Creed has a distinct style and setting to its games. The games have become iconic, and thus their appeal is great. For me, the detailed towns and cities of Tuscany were the biggest draw, and meant that every cut scene was appreciated, every viewpoint enjoyed.
A bad example of appeal would be a game such as; Metro 2033. I found the game trailer didn't really give any information about the plot of the game, or what game play would be like bar a lot of explosions and the hint of radiation being a problem. Therefore it did not sing the game's praises and was not appealing.
Another bad example of Pose to Pose animation would be the PS2 game Genji; Dawn of the Samurai - see below;
I found it quite hard to find examples of Slow In Slow Out, but I thought this Burnout 3 trailer featured a lot of high speed movement towards and away from the camera angle which utilises Slow in Slow Out.
Another great example showing speed through Slow In Slow Out ; Forza 4 Trailer (0:23-0:26) Great setting to music too as it happens!
A terrible example of Slow In Slow Out is the way that the ping pong ball in ping pong does not seem change in shape or size even though it is quite clearly moving across the table and back and forth between two players. This is but the tip of the iceberg for the lack of considerate animation in Wii games, though this example is enough for what I want to illustrate;
This video shows from 2:40 a very classic device used for staging in games. A quick pan of the camera around the area to physically show you all that you have yet to explore. I think the camera is unstable and a frankly boring way of setting the scene. A similar technique is used in the Assassins Creed Series but with much greater effect. (See next video)
The above video also shows a very simple anticipation device. The character which is with you in the cut scene looks off into the distance, which shows the anticipation of more action happening below. (This happens at approximately 3:06)
This video shows several viewpoints (I think you get the idea from the first 2 shown)
A Video which looks at some movement elements in Assassin's Creed II;
This next picture is made from screen shots I took from the above video's ending scene, these show squash and stretch and anticipation well;
This image shows Etzio killing the two guards below him as he lands from his jump; this shows Secondary Action.
These actions in Tomb Raider show the Secondary Action of a jump right after a climbing action which is not very true to life and I feel add nothing to the move. It simply gives Lara a more bouncy movement style than she needs;
These Tomb Raider Anniversary screen shots show Squash and Stretch and Anticipation blandly;
Lara Croft's actions are not very natural, (bad use of Arcs) and I feel that instead of the company looking at how they can improve on movement from past titles, they chose to mimic it with simply better graphics. I also feel like Lara's jumping action is somewhat Exaggerated to show the skill involved in jumping such a distance.
In the above video of 'kills and jumps' at 0:40 - 0:43 Etzio's natural walk cycle is shown in slow motion. As he moves his body weight from one foot to another, his cape sways and ripples in the breeze - and he can usually be seen clenching a fist every so often. This demonstrates subtle Overlapping Action.
A less subtle version of this 'walk cycle embellishment' can be seen in Tomb Raider Anniversary, where Lara Croft's plaited hair swishes whenever she walks. It would be a nice feature if it wasn't so very repetitive. (0:06-12) It tends to be something you don't notice until it is mentioned to you, and then it is the only thing you see!
At 1:05-6 there is a prime example of Exaggeration to show the weight of the object Etzio is holding and the force with which he swings it. His over the top backward preparation with the hammer shows this really well;
The next screen shots are from the following film and showcase the natural movement of falling. (3:42 - 3:45) Arcs are used in the animation process to form this.
Squash and Stretch
Define the physicality of an object in a realistic environment so that it appears to exist naturally within said environment (eg laws of physics and muscular movement)
Timing and Motion
Define weight and size by actions and placement. This develops personality of the character
Staging
Camera angle needs to tell the story in the plot - much like a narration (as no speech is usually present in animations) This is essential for developing character and thus creating the illusion of life.
Follow through and Overlapping Action
The termination of one action linking it to the next action.
Straight Ahead Action
Change object in every frame by hand.
Pose to Pose Action
Uses key frames to show poses > and uses 'Tweens' in between which are generated by the computer to fill in the gaps. This process has less control available from the animator, and the computer will always use shortcuts and this can sometimes be to an animators advantage/disadvantage equally.
Slow in and Out
Shows subtlety of movement, created by adjusting movement in between frames (using graphs of velocity in maya)
Arcs
Pivot points and natural movement points. The computer will put in straight lines, you will need to adjust to arcs.
Cause and Effect
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and this needs to be shown in your animation.
Appeal
Plot needs to be endearing and humorous to draw in the viewer for example Pixar short "The Birds".
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The Fundamentals of Animation Notes
These are my general notes following the Fundamentals of Animation Introductory lecture;
- Make observations of how people walk, talk, move, write etc. to help you plan your animation well. Once the bare bones of an animation are there, your instinct of what looks 'right' fills in the rest. To help with this you can film you and friends acting out your desired animation and studying it to pick up on natural motion.
- No matter how fictional your character is, their animation needs to be grounded in reality. For example a centaur is a blend of real horse movement and real human movement otherwise the audience finds it unbelievable and boring.
- Animation is about good scripting and illusion. If a viewer begins to feel like the characters they are watching have personalities, and they want to know more, you have succeeded. This point can be seen clearly in the first Pixar short featuring two lamps playing with a ball. (include reference to from pencil to pixel DVD here)
- Explore the human form, and it's shape from all postures poses and angle through exploratory life drawings and be sure to include these with your submission.
- Ensure you use your blog as a form of a Reflective Journal. This means you need to document research and ideas, and then push them, analyse them and comment on what you plan to take forward and what you have decided is irrelevant to your project.
- Use screenshots in stages of your work, even playful work, to show how your models progressed and comment on how you changed ideas or learnt new skills along the way in the form of a timeline.
- Be exploratory in your experiments on maya and mudbox, but make sure that your final submitted piece of animation shows finesse and professionalism the experiments are for the blog, not the submission.
- Animation can be described as 'Sequential images in motion' which I think is a rather handy succinct way of thinking about it.
- In animation, as opposed to film, you don't have to work in linear. You can make frames out of sequence and indeed edit them too.
- Film = 24fps
- Game = 30-60fps
- PAL = 25fps (UK TV speed)
- NTSC = 29.97fps (USA TV speed)
- Eyesight = 60fps then it becomes a blur.
Below are research objectives and general notes for myself.
Research :
- The Illusion of Life by Thomas and Johnston (Diseny)
- Persistance of Vision vs. Phi-phenomenon and Beta Movement.
- The making of the corpse bride
- Phill Tippet - "Go Motion" and Peter Nichols film 'dragon slayer'?
- Look at the making of the game Limo for their blend of 2D and 3D animation.
- Look up the term on-model and off-model and consistency in animation. Original Simpson episodes highlight this well. Look at what model sheets are, how they are used and consider making one for your own character.
These are my general notes following the Fundamentals of Animation Introductory lecture;
- Make observations of how people walk, talk, move, write etc. to help you plan your animation well. Once the bare bones of an animation are there, your instinct of what looks 'right' fills in the rest. To help with this you can film you and friends acting out your desired animation and studying it to pick up on natural motion.
- No matter how fictional your character is, their animation needs to be grounded in reality. For example a centaur is a blend of real horse movement and real human movement otherwise the audience finds it unbelievable and boring.
- Animation is about good scripting and illusion. If a viewer begins to feel like the characters they are watching have personalities, and they want to know more, you have succeeded. This point can be seen clearly in the first Pixar short featuring two lamps playing with a ball. (include reference to from pencil to pixel DVD here)
- Explore the human form, and it's shape from all postures poses and angle through exploratory life drawings and be sure to include these with your submission.
- Ensure you use your blog as a form of a Reflective Journal. This means you need to document research and ideas, and then push them, analyse them and comment on what you plan to take forward and what you have decided is irrelevant to your project.
- Use screenshots in stages of your work, even playful work, to show how your models progressed and comment on how you changed ideas or learnt new skills along the way in the form of a timeline.
- Be exploratory in your experiments on maya and mudbox, but make sure that your final submitted piece of animation shows finesse and professionalism the experiments are for the blog, not the submission.
- Animation can be described as 'Sequential images in motion' which I think is a rather handy succinct way of thinking about it.
- In animation, as opposed to film, you don't have to work in linear. You can make frames out of sequence and indeed edit them too.
- Film = 24fps
- Game = 30-60fps
- PAL = 25fps (UK TV speed)
- NTSC = 29.97fps (USA TV speed)
- Eyesight = 60fps then it becomes a blur.
Below are research objectives and general notes for myself.
Research :
- The Illusion of Life by Thomas and Johnston (Diseny)
- Persistance of Vision vs. Phi-phenomenon and Beta Movement.
- The making of the corpse bride
- Phill Tippet - "Go Motion" and Peter Nichols film 'dragon slayer'?
- Look at the making of the game Limo for their blend of 2D and 3D animation.
- Look up the term on-model and off-model and consistency in animation. Original Simpson episodes highlight this well. Look at what model sheets are, how they are used and consider making one for your own character.
I am a Second Year Games Art and Design student at Norwich University of the Arts. After exploration of a number of roles in my first year, I am now looking to graduate as a 3D Artist with applicable skills in Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush and Photoshop. I understand that my skills in this field are not there yet - but I aim to achieve this goal through consistently working through the programs in my University and Personal Projects.
I love to be busy - I have always had a lot of things on my plate since the age of 7 where I successfully balanced school with Ballet, Tap, Horse-Riding, French, Piano and Singing Lessons! In the same fashion, my university schedule is just as hectic and varied; I am a Peer Mentor to first year students, Student Rep for Second Year, and President of the Enterprise Society. Like I said, I love to be busy!
I am a Games Hippie - so to speak - I believe that Games if designed and harnessed in the right way, will be able to help solve many of the global issues we have today - even if it starts off in a small way. Just look at the positive effects that Facebook and Twitter have already had...
When navigating my blog;
Works in Progress - This section is a constantly running account of all my current projects - personal and for university. It will contain reference images and website links and sometimes less than coherent posts, so be prepared!
Finished Pieces - This is where you will find my more polished artwork.
Looking for help with Maya? Check out the posts tagged "Maya How-To's"
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