Character Animation - Week 3-8

As promised the next article... Character performance or acting is what this project is all about. Its our first real encounter with proper acting, and the techniques of acting. And goddamn its difficult...

So the project's objectives is to find an audio clip with someone speaking, develop a suitable character for the dialogue, and animate the character.

The first task of finding the audio clip was a bit more challenging than I initially expected. Although we had all forms of media to choose from, ei. radio, movie, audio book, interviews etc. The problem was in the specifications that we were recommended to follow. Firstly its a single character talking for 10ish seconds, which limits a lot of dialogue. Secondly it had to be interesting, and that's not interesting as in what the person is saying, but how its being said. We basically needed to find a character talking for ca. 10 seconds, whom experiences an emotional change expressed through the voice.
I finally found a piece of dialogue I was happy with. The audio clip is from a movie called "Boondock Saints" with Willem Dafoe playing a detective trying to solve some murder cases (there is only black screen, so you can hear the audio on its own):-

With the dialogue clip in place, I could proceed onto developing a suitable character for the performance. My initial idea for was a teacher. The setup would be the teacher having a go at a pupil. This idea I developed further with design sketches. Though when I had discussed the character with friends and mentors, I found the idea to be weak. It was too generic to just have a teacher. I then went back to the idea stage, and explored other ideas like a caveman, psychologist, priest, TV presenter (at Countdown or the danish "Lykkehjulet"), Jesus, judge. The one I found to be most promising was the idea of a priest. Then after some further exploring, I combined the two ideas to a sunday school teacher at a catholic church. The designs and the rest of the preproduction can be view here:-

Further in the this stage there is the figuring out who your character really is, like; his age, his name, his upbringing, sexual orientation, temperment etc. All this is never shown on camera, but it helps me to understand who this person is and how he might react in a certain situation.

The next thing to do is the acting. This is an extreme weak spot of mine, and my god I need to get better. Just need to practise I guess. After this project I have a much greater respect for actors/actresses for their performances on screen. Anyway here the best reference I did:-

As you can see I didn't give myself very much to go on. So the caricaturering and nice poses need to be created in the thumbnails. The thumbnails can be see in the flatwork at the end. To get a better understand about whether a pose or the whole sequence works, you need to make an animatic. An animatic is a simpel animation, usually drawn since its easier to draw a pose than having to pose a character. This stage is used to determine when, and how long a pose should read. The animatic can then later be used a blueprint for when you pose the character in a 3D application. Here's how my animatic looked:-

Since this is my first animatic, I learn a lot during the process which I can use the next time. One thing in particular is the level of detail I should but into the animatic, which is a lot more than I did for this one. One of my teachers alerted me to the second function of the animatics, which is for the directors. The director or superviser should be able to watch your animatic, and get a pretty good sense of how the final thing is gunna turn out. This way they can adjust the changes before the animator gets too stuck in the animation (even then they might change a lot of stuff). So for the next time I should be more descriptive in the animatic...

We can now move on to the blockout stage. Here I follow a well tested process of creating the animation, which originated from Keith Lango. In the blockout stage you focus on creating the keyposes and breakdowns, and more technically your animation jumps from pose to pose. This makes is easier to focus on just the poses, and not worry about inferior animation like lip-sync. Here my blockout:-

There is quite a difference between this and the final thing. The whole process is a working progress, and poses are constantly changing because of feedback from the director/audience. I had a quite a few people to look a the different stages, which provided me with incredibly important comments and changes. So if you are one of those people then I thank you for the awesome input and I'll most likely ask again for some feedback:-)

Alright so the next I want to show is the final thing, BUT before I do that I want to make sure that you might understand the amount of work that is put into this (6 weeks of my life:-s). The process of going from the blockout stage to the final thing is a big step, so I'll show you a screen recording of one hours worth of work. The video is fastforwarded about 20 times realtime:-

This is a really boring video to watch cause I don't do a lot. I just seem to fiddle about with the head/neck/eyes. But this is nearing the completion, so its a lot about adjusting small details, and not actually creating any poses. So I'll hopefully remember to make a more interesting timelapse the next time around, maybe early in the blockout stage where you can see the creation of each pose.

I think I have been ranting on a while now, so I'll just show the final rendered version:-

And now you might say; "You SPEND 6 week of you life on these measly 13 seconds of animation!?!?"..... but hopefully I have given you a bit of insight of what I have been doing with those 6 weeks. Apart from the animation, I have learnt a ton about acting and character performance. So I'll be able to make some more interesting animations from now on. Further I have been working on other personal projects, which I will be able to show at some point in the future (what a tease:-)

Hope you enjoyed the random brainjuice spilled onto this article, I will leave you with the original video clip from the "Boondock Saints":-

Storyboard - Week 1& 2

Hello Hello, quite some time since I updated the blog. I the meantime I have started on the second year of my course. Currently I'm in the last phases of my minor project, this being the reason why I haven't updated my blog because I thought that I would get the minor project on the update as well. BUT I felt that I should give a little prelude and say that I'm still alive and animating:-)

So the first two week of in the brand new ATRiuM building (that's not a typo , that's apparently how its spelled), started with the storyboard project. Storyboards are thumbnail like images of the camera angles, shot sequence, action sequence, dialogue sequence and basically everything. In animation storyboards are one of the most important processes in the development of an animated sequence, as this stage can simply make or break the movie/animation.

To make any film sequence, live action or animation, interesting you need to have some dynamic shots, else the audience is gonna get bored very quickly. In live action you can just go out with your camera and find them, but in animation we have to build them. This is why the storyboard is immensely more important for animation than live action. If you can plan the shots before building them, you can save time and money.

For the protect we had to make two storyboards. The first was to storyboard an advert. Find any advert, live action or animated, analyze the shots/action and draw a storyboard based on the advert. This is the reverse of what a storyboard process is, but it was to get us into the concept of storyboarding and learn what the professionals do to make a shot interesting.
I chose an animated commercial from Framestore (http://www.framestore-cfc.com), that they did for the bank Abbey (http://www.abbey.com). Click the image below to view the advert:-

A simply gorgeous piece of animation from the makers of the polar bears in "The Golden Compass". Absolutely a dream workplace!!!!

As you can see the advert hasn't got that many shots (14 to be exact), but there is a ton of movement that needs description for the animators to follow. And so here is my attempt (click the images below, to view a larger version):-

The second part of the project was to storyboard to a script. The script was an episode to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Now this was where the real fun comes in, when you sit and invent the shot on your own. It can easily go horribly wrong, but if you get into the thought process of camera angles, you can get quite creative with it. Before throwing one self over camera angles, you should read the script very carefully. We each got one page assigned, where mine was page 33:-

ronnie

I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

Donatello picks up a mobile phone, dials.

donatello

I know what I’m doing.
(a beat)
It’s ringing.

int. national phone switching network - night

The Globfather reacts.

globfather

So, those Turtles think they can tap into this network, do they? Well, they’ll soon regret it.

PUSH IN on the Globfather as his expression turns evil.

back in the turtle van

Donatello reacts as the Globfather’s face appears on his monitor screen.

globfather

You’ve dialed the wrong number, fool.

Suddenly the “fold out gun” drops down.

leonardo

He’s got control of our weapons! Get down!

Leonardo pushes Donatello to the deck as the gun fires, blows the opposite door off. Donatello rolls out. Leonardo grabs him, holds onto him as...

the two guns on the roof

suddenly aim upwards and fire, blowing...

a radio antenna

off the top of a building. It falls, crashing to...

the street

as the Turtle Van swerves, barely avoiding it.

The story before this is that the villian (Globfather) has stolen a protein computer, which he has used to hack into the National Phone Switching Network. This allow him to control all electrical equipment. Ronnie is the son of Professor Huxley, the inventor of the protein computer. The Professor is held hostage by the Globfather. That basically what you need to know now. The storyboard turned into this (click the images below, to view a larger version):-

If you wanna see who the professionals handled the same scene, then here's the link to the episode; http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2YmzW2NNyzY&feature=related, my scene is 3:06 into the video.
I my opinion I think my version of the scene is better:-)

Thats it for now, Ill be back soon with the minor project. Hope you enjoyed the post....

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....