Summervacation stuff..

Alrighty then. This is the last days in Denmark, before travelling back to the UK to start the new life in Cardiff!! I'm very excited about that, and simply have been all summer. But I had to get the time going somehow, so I have been practicing a bit.

First of all; drawing! I was ordered specificly to practise my drawing skills during the summer from my tutors. And as a good student I have been practising. I started on hands/feet (my own), but this got pretty boring very quickly. As naked people are hard to come by, I had to spent a lot of time in museums, drawing after sculptures.

As you might notice some of the sketches are freestyled. One of the doodles I did, I simply enjoyed so much that I had to try and do it in 3D:-

This is still a WIP (Work In Progress), and something work on when I feel like it. But here is the progress so far:-

My intention is to take this one into a sculpting program to do the fine detailing. A sculpting program basically allows you to add details like wrincles, vein and skin texture. I just need to get happy with the base first.
And now when we are on the subject of sculpting application then I have played around a little bit with Mudbox, a program we are going to use next year. Here are my doodles:-

I hope you can see that its a female and male back. Its really harder than it looks in the video tutorials, but its really fun. I struck a dead-end though, with my laptop and no tablet it kinda makes the process tedious and slow.

So other things I have done during the summer is a small assignment from a friend of mine; Henrik Bacher. As a progamming student he is making a small program that needed some illustration. Here they are:-

Lastly I kept my animation skills up by entering small competitions on; www.threedy.com. The first topic was wrestling move, where I basically tried to copy a move I researched:-



The second topic was fishing, where I went all out on trying my best:-



Well that was it for this time. I didn't talk a lot this time, but at least I had something to show:-) Next stop..... Cardiff!!!!!

Industrial Brief & Misc.

Looonnnnggg time since I last updated this blog, and there is quite a few things to tell. First I would like to thank you for reading the blog and finding it interesting enough to read;-)

Lets start where we left off; THE GLAMMIES. The industrial brief, which counted as a project for next year grad vise, was the most exciting project of the year. I think the sole reason for this, was that we, for the first time, worked in teams just like in the industry. In this project you really see who's a team player and who's not.
My first taste of the Glammies was actually already during the last week of the Character Exploration project, when I was privileged to be chosen for the storyboard team. The teacher had already come up with the storyline, and then we "just" had to do the storyboard. This turned out be a bit more challenging than I first imagined. One thing is to imaging the scenes in your head, another thing is to figure out where everything compared to the camera. Further we had to consider the audience, and how they perceive the "mise-en-scene". Fortunately we had a great team, that pulled through and came out with a good and readable storyboard.
The next stage was to make the shots. The storyboard was divided into the three animation disciplines; Computer animation, 2D animation and 3D animation (stop-motion). In computer animation we got divided into animators and 3D artists, just like in the industry!! In the animators team, which I was a part of, the different shots got divided between us, and then it was just "ready, get set... animate!". I actually forgot a very important stage between the storyboard and animating; the previz! Previz or previsualization is where you make very rough animations to see how long the whole piece is, and where you need to short and where you might be able to prolong the shots. I cant stress how important this stage is. Not only does it help visualise the time of the shots, but further down the line, when the shots are getting made, you will be able to just slap the animations into the previz. The previz will then in the end become the final compiled version. This task kinda resulted in a teamleaderish position. Mark Nicolas and Sam Wright were the wonderful people, that got the burden and did a remarkable job on it!!
So now I just skip forward to the Glammies day, BUT that doesn't mean that the whole project went smoothly. There were some really hard working people on this one, cause unfortunately it's not everyone that has the same sense of responsibility for a team project. Despite that we pulled off a magnificent show!!!
The Glammies day came, and on that day we (the first years) are runners. Helping out with setting up the cinema for the show, welcoming industry people, managing tickets etc. Definitely not as hard as making the show, so it was a relaxing day. Personally I got nominated for "Most Promising First Year", but didn't get the award:-( The award went to James Hodges for his brilliant stop-motion Character Exploration project. You can have a look at all the nominees and winners at; http://www.glamfest.net/08_glam08movs.htm
To sum up the Glammies day, then its definitely something to look forward to every year!!!!

Right what else have I been up to?? Just before leaving Wales for summer vacation in Denmark, I joined in on a competition on www.threedy.com, which is a forum for 3d artist and animator to get feedback on works. Other than help, advice and feedback, they also hold monthly competition in digital sculpting, matte painting, speed painting, speed modelling and animation. I wanted to try out the animation challenge with the topic "Guitar Hero". The basic rules were to an minimum of 5 second of animation involving guitar hero or someone rocking out with an instrument. A pretty open topic, but good to let the imagination run free. Here is my stab at the competitions topic:-



I gotta say that I had some trouble getting use to not working with the biped. But the biggest mistake I did with this animation was a really rookie one, not doing enough PLANNING! I simply just jumped into animating, without doing anything thumbnails or a clear idea of what I was doing. This resulted in spending more time on figure out what the guy would be doing than actually looking at the animation. MISTAKE -> LEARN -> MOVE ON. Unfortunately I didn't win the challenge, but Ill just have a go at it in the next challenge with the topic "Wrestling Move".

The next big thing thats happened since the last post is my sister WEDDING!! The wedding was so beautiful. It could not be anymore perfect. It was held at Vindeholme Castle, which is a small castle with bedrooms as well; Vindeholme Castle. The reason I bring this event up on this blog is because I made an animation for the bride and groom along with a speech, as my wedding gift to them:-


The initial idea was developed and storyboarded 6 months ago, and then I have been spending some of my spare time on the project. I'm pretty happy with the result. The animation in it isn't anything to be proud of, but the somewhat seamless transition between the different objects was a bit harder than I initially thought it to be. In the whole piece there are 22 animations that needed to be fitting together so the audience doesn't get distracted by the transition from to the other. If I look at the animation only, I gotta say that the animation where the sperm cell transforms into the plastic scooter is the best one. You really feel the impact of the plastic scooter colliding with the ground. And if I look at the modelling only, I think the Ganesh model is one I'm proudest of.
As the animation was a personal gift to the wedding couple, I included a lot of things that is only understood by the wedding couple and close family/friends. So if the the whole piece doesn't make sense, you can just mail me for the whole interpretation. Its basically the wedding couples upbringing and how they meet, displayed through objects.

Well I think that was it. As some of you know I'm currently in Denmark, Ill remain here until the 2nd of September. A nice long vacation, where I plan on improving my drawing skills, learn some digital sculpting, do some animation, visit friends and family, and maybe relax a bit:-) I will most likely update the blog at least once before going back to Wales, so Ill just say have a nice SUMMER everyone and see ya later....

Character Exploration - Part 3 - Week 18 & 19

Hello hello, everyone. The final project of the first year is DONE! There hasn't been a lot of changes since the last article, only the addition of the final performance of my character. The most difficult part of this project was to fit everything into 10 sec. which was our limit for the final performance. Well, I don't want to do a lot of talking on this, Ill show instead:-

The copyright is reserved for the University of Glamorgan, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

If you are having trouble viewing the video above, try this clicking here.

I'm pretty happy with the final performance, I went very methodical about the process, focusing on thing at a time. This helped me to get a cleaner workflow, where I didn't confused about what to do. The only critique I have about my work is the thought process, and the facial expressions. The thought process being the thought process of Emlia. In my opinion she thinks too fast, I would love to go over the 10 sec. limit with more thought being displayed in her face. But there is always sacrifices to be made on a limited time schedule.
The facial expressions could be more "animated", she could have a more rubbery face. But thats something to practice on for next year.

The next three weeks we are going to work on the Glammies, which the annual award show. Looking forward to finally work in a group, and get a little feeling of it is to work in the industry. So next stop....................... THE GLAMMIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Character Exploration - Part 2 - Week 16 & 17

There is is not a lot to say about the last couple of weeks, BUT there is definitely something to show. The last two week it's been about animating our character with a walk cycle and two traits.

If you haven't read the previous blogs then here the Golden procedure of animating; Research, research>Planning>Thumb nailing>Blocking in the key poses>Do the inbetween poses>Polish>DONE.

Actually the very first thing is to think about the walk/trait. Figuring out how the character moves and where it moves from and to. Then some do a rough thumbnail and then moves on to the video reference (acting it out). I found it better to act it out from the beginning. In any which way you do it, you have to have a clear idea of what is going to happen before recording your video reference. Here is some of my video reference:-

Heh.. The humiliations we have to suffer, all for the glory of animation:-) Allright, let's have a look at what that turned into. This is NOT the final animations. They are close, but they can undergo change before the deadline in two week:-

The copyright is reserved for University of Glamorgan, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

Well that was it for this time. Next time it will be the final thing. Looking forward to it:-) Hope you enjoyed the reading and animations...

Character Exploration - Part 1 - Week 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15

Final project of the school year, and probably the most important one as this one is the project thats is going to be send to the industry for judgement in the Glammies for the best first year student!!
In this project we have to design, model, rig, and animate our own character. The animation is going to be;

1. Walk cycle.
2. Traits
3. Lip-sync.
4. Performance.

The walk cycle does not have to be a vanilla walk (see figurative) or realistic, but suitable for the character. The traits are characteristics shown through a situation, and how the character reacts to the situation. The lip-sync. (lip-synchronization) is the synchronization of the characters lips to a monologue. And the performance is the acting to the same monologue.

My character is a 10 year old naughty angel called Emilia. Emilia find heaven incredibly boring, and wants to spice up the place with some pranks. The problem is that nothing goes unnoticed by God... Ill leave the rest up for the animation, cause that is our main purpose of this project To portray these characteristics through the design and animation.

The first week was spend on the idea and concept drawings. Nailing down the idea is the hardest part, cause of the number of character that has been made so far. Something truely original not only needs a good imagination, but also a lot of development after the initial idea. My initial idea had a feeling of realism instead of cartoony. When I pitched my initial idea to out teacher, Gareth Cavanagh (his blog), he pointed out that my idea was not suitable for the amount of modelling/animation that we are doing for this project. So I simplified the idea.
The first week of this project was the week before the easter holidays, so I had 3 weeks off to develop the concept of the character further.
This past week we have been modelling and setting up for the rig, so we are ready for animating the walk cycle next week.

My concept drawings developed alongside with the story of the character. So first I tried to nail down the gender of my character, then avanced to the head where I had to convey 10-year old girl to the audience. Lastly the body, which also had to say 10-year old, but still making the character interesting by playing around with the proportions.
When I finally had a clear idea of the character, I went on to the facial expressions and action poses. The whole process can be viewed here, by clicking the image below:-

After getting your character down with expressions and poses, its time for a model sheet. A model sheet is the character view from different angles, where the most common is a front and side view. As the purpose of the project is to animate rather than modeling character has to be split into simple shapes, and linked directly to the biped rig. This is visualized on the model sheet (click on the image, to view a bigger version):-

Now to the modelling, the part I really enjoy:-) I dont really want to comment on the modelling process, cause it gets quite technical, but if anyone has any questions they are welcome to ask.
After modelling comes the rigging, which was quite easy as it was linking the objects directly to the biped. Now comes the rush of the whole project, seing your character move for the very first time. Very additive to breathe life into something you made!!!
Unfortunately I have not got any animation to show, that will have to wait to the next time. But I got a beauty shot (a rendered pose, with nice lighting), and simple turn around animation (the halo got adding after I did the beauty shot):-

The copyright is reserved for the University of Glamorgan, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

Well that was it for this time around. I am really looking forward to start animating Emilia. Hope you enjoy the reading, see ya next time....

Animals - Part 2; 4-Legged - Week 8, 9 & 10

A human has two legs, and with just two legs there is a lot going on in the body when we are walking. Then multiply that with two, so you got 4 legs and "two" hips to control. There you have our project; animating a 4-legged animal.
As with the last bird-project we had to hit three motions:-

1. From rest to walk (start)
2. Walking (walk cycle)
3. From walk to rest (stop)

The first thing was to determine which animal to go for. Although our brief says 4-legged animal, it was not allowed to choose lizards, crocodiles and general reptilian animals, as these have a very different walk than a horse, cow, cat, dog etc. As I am very indecisive and I did not know which animal to go for, as they all are interesting to explore. I made a list of animals, I wanted to animate and draw one at random. Fate wanted me to animate a bison.

Then the decision has down, the research could begin. I was actually surprised of how much video reference, there is on the net, of bisons. If you did the same search, but a more common animal like a cow, there is a lot less material. But if you chose a cow, you should be able to get some first hand video reference. And that was actually my backup, if there wasn't enough material on the net, I could use the cows motion as reference.
To be honest I did not do as much research and studying as I did with the bird project. This might have been why the project didn't turn out great. The method of research and study of the motion was the same as always; research > study > thumbnail.

If anyone is interested in the research and planning, here is some videos and my flat-work:-

The research is down and done, now the fun starts; animating. I got to say that it is much easier to animate a grounded animal, than a flying one. The walk cycle went very fast; keys > passing position > inbetweens > done. As our walk cycle was one the spot (the animal is not moving forward) there was a lot of issues that I didn't encounter until the stop and start. One BIGGG issues was the way I had constructed the rig. The rig is basically a biped (see the Figurative project's pull and lift) that is posed bend down to walk on all fours. The problem was that I put the feet/hands on the bones right above the hooves. This meant that the pivot point of the feet/hands wasn't centered on the hooves, which messed up my curves in the workbench. Sorry for the very technical talk, but in the end I had to do a lot of bodging (local animators term of having to do a lot of work, like keying every frame). The messed up pivot point also meant a lot of sliding feet hence the bodging.
This project got really tiring in the end, because I felt that I wasn't animating but just adjusting all the time. Alright lets have a look a the labor for the last three weeks:-

The copyright is reserved for the University of Glamorgan, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

In my opinion the is lots of stuff wrong with the whole animation. Some basic stuff is things like I didn't get enough weight in the movement. As the bison is such a heavy animal, you should REALLY feel when the animal steps and the weight balance is off-setting. I think my time could have been spend on improving the animation so much, if it hadn't been for the pivot point problem and sliding feet/hooves. I spend most of my time fighting against the rig, where we should have lived in harmony:-) But then that is a lesson to learn for the next time: make the rig properly!
I don't really have any wise words to say about this project. It kinda did the job, but I don't think I am going to sweep anyones feet away with this one.

The next project is going to be a long one; 6 weeks!! And we are getting into the easter holiday with 3 weeks off!!! So the next update to this blog lies quite a long way into the future. But maybe I will update it during the project, or maybe a surprise article... ehh, who knows, just a little head up on the time between this update and the next one.

I am all out of words now, and to be honest a bit hung over from my birthday, so I will rap it up here.

Animals - Part 1; 2-Winged - Week 5, 6 & 7

If anyone thought it was/looked difficult to animate a human character, then try animating an animal..
Our assignment was to animate a bird, going through it's whole range of flight motion. This was split into 3 parts:

1. Take off
2. Flight cycle
3. Landing

As always the first thing is to determine which bird you are going for. As our bird had to be able to go through the whole flight motions, then our choises were somewhat restricted. E.g. we couldn't choose a orstritch or a penguin, as these are non-flying birds.

At first I did not have a clear idea of which bird I wanted to do, so I just started on researching random birds. In my research I stumbled apon a lot of video reference of doves in slow-motion. When I first saw that dove's way of flying, I was immidiately hook on that. The dove's flight is actually very graceful, therefore I don't want to try and describe it with my halfbaked vocabulary so I'll show you; http://corbismotion.com/Popups/ViewClipDetail.aspx?clipID=7fffab13-0000-d4ed-2b02-162b20291941.

The dove's wings has a very wide range of motion which I imnidiately found interesting, though this would actually be the ting that would be biting my behind later on.

The whole research stage was pretty straight forward; find video and still image references. On the net there is a lot of reference material for a dove in slow-motion. The primary websites I use is; http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/, http://www.corbismotion.com/, http://www.gettyimages.com/.
These are great for getting video/still images references of any kind of motion, and the material is royalty-free. The first week went with only doing the research part. In the Computer Animation class we were kind of forced to only do the research for the first week, as they didn't teach us how to rig our bird untill after the first week. In my opinion this was a good forced choise, as it forced us to do all the research and planning for both 1. and 2. part of this project. The second part is about 4-legged animals, but more on that in 3 weeks:-)

In the same week as the research we went to Bristol Zoo Gardens with our lifedrawing class, which was a great oppertunity to get some first hand references material. Unfortunately for me it waas hard to catch the dove they had on camera, though they had an outdoor cantine area which provided the oppertunity of catching some pigeons on camera. Whenever you cant the first hand reference, then expand to animals/motion thats near the one you are lookng for.

After the research there is the planning of the animation, and here there is no shortcuts. Get the best reference you have got and start drawing your keys (key-poses). Personally I get the best understanding of the motion, by analysing each key then analyze and write down the motion between the keys. This kind of relieves you from drawing the inbetweens, but you still have the motion down on paper which is easier to look at when sitting infront of the computer instead of shifting between programs.

If anyone is interested in the research and planning, click the image below:

With the research out of the way, we can start animating!!!! BUT no, we need a rig first. In this part of the project we are going to build our own rig from the bones in 3Ds max. For this stage it is extremely important to have some proper reference material of the proportions and the skeletal system of your bird/character.
Understanding how the bird's skeletal system is build is going to help you very much when making the rig. Not only do you then know the proportions of the birds wings, spine and legs, but you also know how each bone interacts with the next one.
I learn quite a bit from rigging this bird, and I now can seen how rigging as a specialisation could be fun as you decide how the character should be able to move.

Now for the animating. Nothing special to tell here except for the usual; pose the keys > do the inbetweens > space the keys > time out the animation > polishing > done:-)
Sounds easy enough doesn't it?? Well it would have been if I wasn't so stupid as to forget some basic stuff, like proper spacing of the keys. I tell ya, if I were training to be a ninja I would get a beating from the master for forgetting the basic stuff. Luckly I am only training to be a ninja animator, where it is up to yourself to beat yourself up for poor animation:-S
Well enough about the mental pressures of strugling animator, time to show the labour:

The copyright is reserved for the University of Glamorgan, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

If you want to have a look at any of the tests, here is the link; http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1148849394693293515

In my opinion the level of quality animation increases from take off to landing. The take off is far from getting my own recognision of a job well done. This is of course my own fault, and I know where the problem occured; in the research stage. I did not have good enough reference material for the take off motion.

The flight cycle is decent and I dont terribly mind handing that in for assesment, though there was a big problem here aswell. In this stage I did actually have the proper reference material, the problem lied in the speed of the wings flapping. If you time the wings of a dove/pigeon flapping, you will probably notice that a whole wing action is 4-5 frames or 1/6 of a second long. If I had to hold true to this, and make the wings complete it's motion in 4 frame, it would be so fast that you would only see a blur of motion where the wings should be. So I had to compromise and use 8+ frames for the wings flapping, though this still kind of works. It doesn't scream dove/pigeon, but more of a generalized bird flight.

The landing is the best animation that came out of the last three weeks. I wouldn't nesseceraly say that it screams dove/pigeon, but it comes quite close to the real thing. That is not so much for the landing, but more for the small step after the landing which gives the animation that extra touch. Definately going to remember that for part 2 of this project:-)

Well, thats was everything I had to say. Hope you enjoyed the reading, and Ill scribbling some words down in 3 weeks for part two of this project...