And Again....

I have changed all the camera angles and frames like I mentioned in the previous post. I really think it helps with how the animation looks as a whole.
However, I have actually now noticed that there are some touch ups needed in the animation.
In the run cycle, the back foot doesn't extend properly and the leg that hits the ground doesn't extend enough.
Also, after he turns round to start running, his back leg lifts then comes forward, when it should only come forward.

Apart from this I am now really happy about how this has turned out. I think despite it's flaws, its a pretty good first attempt at a 3D animation and I want to stop working on this and just continue with future projects that I can now see are possible due to what I have learnt in this project.

Improvements

These are the ways in which I have decided need improvement, not in the animation, which I think I am very happy with, but in the post production - when I put the frames into i-stopmotion, and how I move the camera.

I-STOP MOTION EDITS (copy and paste frames so that they last longer - which saves on rendering time.)

- Pause before jumping

- Pause before turning round

- Pause for a bit longer before turning to run away

- Pause for a bit longer on the floor before getting up

- Pause before putting arm up to cover face.

CAMERA ANGLE EDITS

- Get a longer turning round shot of the turning from the first angle & a longer shot of him turning from the second angle - overlap the two cameras (two separate renders)

- Reposition the second shot so that he fits better in the frame.

- Just before he falls rotate the camera angle so that the falling shot and his pose can be seen better.

- Also shoot that shot from a few frames before & shoot the getting up and shaking his head shot for longer - overlap the two cameras.

- Reposition the final shot so that it zooms in better and that his head fits better in the frame.

Evaluation

Overall I am really happy with how my animation turned out. I think I was able to create some good character posing with good secondary animation, using the practice from my tests, and the video referencing that I took. I also think that the style in which I rendered it turned out to be very visually nice, and the colours really helped bring to life my character.

If given more time I think I would have re-rendered my animation and have worked on the camera angles. In some places, I'm not sure that the camera angles do the animation justice in some places, which is a shame, as I was quite happy with how he was animated.

I would also have added some sound effects to my final animation if there had been more time. I had had a look into various eerie background noises and the making of footsteps and making echos, but there wasn't time to add this to the animation, when then animation was the main focus of this project. I had looked at a program called Audacity, which is a program where you can edit the sound of your music file to create strange and wonderful effects.

Obviously one thing that I regret is not being able to successfully rig my character. It is a shame because she was very successful in the modelling part, but the rigging just wouldn't work.

SPECIALIST STUDY 2

In the next project, I want to make sure that every aspect of the animation or game is perfected to how I want it to turn out. I think I will have to manage my time a lot better, but I definitely need to practice rigging effectively so that I can animate my own 3D characters exactly how I envisage them. I will definitely add music next time for my final project, because I think that it really is the finishing touch to any animation or game, and really draws you into the scene or experience.

IN THE FUTURE...

At somepoint, I want to go back to this project and firstly, re-render my animated character with better camera angles that I feel show off my animation better, and also I would like to re-rig my designed character, so that she can also be animated in Maya as my own designed, rigged and animated character, as I really am fond of her design.

Final Animation

This is the final animation that I have created. I heavily relied on the video shots of my friend acting out my animatic for reference on the posing and the transitions of the animation. By looking at these I was able to get a better idea about timing each pose, and how best to capture the secondary action.

Because of the failed rig of my own character, I have used this downloaded rig that worked really well when animating it as a replacement. To pay homage to my own character, I have lit it and coloured him just like I would have my own character.

Lighting

These are some test lighting effects for the environment of my character. I have decided that by creating a white floor for my character to move on, her movement will become much more believable, as she has a place to stand on. I also think that the glowing white floor contrasts nicely with the colours of my character. Beacuse I have put toon shaders on the white feet of my character, even though both the feet and the floor are white, a shadow is cast on the character that makes sure it stands out. I am now glad that I have decided to keep the red arms instead, as these definitely would blend in with the background, due to their large surface area, which would make the animation very confusing to watch.

This is the finished lighting test of my character. I was attempting for ages to work out how to add a shadow in with the character, but eventually I just found the one button on the light source that fixed it... The shadow looks very effective because it makes sure that the character looks like she is standing on something - she is grounded to the floor, which helps create depth and a better idea of how she moves across a surface.

This colour scheme and lighting actually reminds me of Sin City - a film where it was mainly in very highly shadowed black and white, with splashes of colour that really stand out in comparison. It was made to look like the graphic novel it was made from - so it has a very toon-like style to it. I will try to create some nice shadows in a similar style, with my character being the colour part of the image that stands out - helping her poses stand out as she has all the focus of the shot.

Animation Tests

For these tests I have been looking at various run and walk cycles. I am really interested in the movement from Kingdom hearts. I like that Sora (the main character)'s run is very exaggerated in terms of how far the arms and legs reach forward, and how he looks very light on his feet.

I feel that I have emulated the movement quite effectively. I worked especially hard on the key frames, measuring the height of the model's poses up against Sora's. The Kingdom Hearts Run cycle is very bouncy, and has that old game appeal where they are animated to leap really far, but don't actually make it that far with each step. I think this was very common in old games where due to the very tiny pixel sprites, the animation was minimal, but I think this has been reproduced here as a mix between a homage to old games and exaggerated Disney animations.

This animation is a quick test with my downloaded test character, of him retreating in fear. I think that I have done this fairly effectively using the key frame shapes and timing the back steps well.

This animation is an extended version of the above one, to show a continuation of the movement of the character, and how the action of stepping back would result in the secondary action of the character moving forward. I think it is fairly effective, but I think I should probably make the transitions much quicker and more snappy, and have him hold the poses for slightly longer - this would emphasise the acting of the character, and let you focus on the body language a bit more.

Animatic

This is the animatic of my storyboard, just planning out the timing of the shots a bit better.

I have also taken videos of my friend acting out different clips from my storyboard so that I can have actual moving reference on how a character could move, while acting out my scene.

* UPDATE*

I have actually found these videos extremely useful in posing the key frames of my animated character. By pausing these videos I can see the shapes made by the body that I can transfer to my character to ensure good acting and effective secondary motion.