Hannah Gregory

Monday, 12 March 2012

Artefact 5 Test Render

I've started on my final artefact which is a combination of all 4 principles of animation studied in my previous artefacts. This is slightly easier to portray as generally a combination of principles are considered in animations, and not just one. I've rendered out what I have so far as its much easier to see what needs improving upon. The sound I think is just slightly ahead by a second so will change that so the lip syncing matches a lot closer. Keeping the background simple for now, but may add a basic environment in nearer the time of presenting. But for now, I need to complete the rest of the animation.

Friday, 9 March 2012

Artefact 4 Evaluation - Creating believable characters through the key principles of animation : Timing

My fourth artefact concentrated on timing. The aim of timing is critical when establishing a characters mood, emotion and reaction to a situation. Timing also gives meaning to a movement, as the speed of an action defines how well it will read to an audience. For this particular principle I decided to focus on creating an animation to show timing through a reaction. To do this, I created a scenario where a character is slowly walking backwards, as though he is trying to escape from something or be unobserved. The character then slowly goes to turn around as though the coast is clear, and then hits his head on a 'Mind your head' sign, who then falls flat on the ground. I originally presented this artefact with no movement to this sign once the character had bumped into it, almost as though it was acting as part of a wall. After receiving feedback on this, it was suggested that I could try animating the sign as though it is free hanging. I then developed this artefact so that the sign swung slightly as the character hit his head on it. However, at certain angles the sign looks as though it swings quite rapidly at some point, therefore not looking completely realistic and believable. However, the main focus of this artefact is the principle of timing and the character. Other feedback commented on how this principle was conveyed quite well, and that on one of the angles you could almost hear a 'bump' as the character hits the sign. I am quite pleased with this as I feel this achieves the purpose of the artefact. And for this reason, I also feel that even though the addition of the swinging sign doesn't take any focus away from the main animation, it possibly works better with the sign remaining static.

Artefact 4 Developed

After presenting this artefact I received some good feedback. The concentration of the principle timing worked relatively well. There was only a suggestion to animate the 'Mind Your Head' sign, to see if this had any real impact on the animation. Iv'e added in the sign swinging slightly, but i think in some parts or camera angles it doesn't look very realistic. However, this just adds secondary action to the peice, and doesn't take away from the main purpose of the animation - timing.

Monday, 5 March 2012

Artefact 1 - Working Process

I realised I havn't really been posting much about my working process, on how iv'e got from start to finish. For Artefact 1 I looked at anticipation. Below is a viideo I found really useful when creating Artefact 1, and also reminding me of many points i wrote about in my PRP.

This video talks about motivating a character's actions with thoughts and emotions, as well as physical anticipation.
I looked at many reference images and then sketched out my own.

This is an animation that someone has created that i found online. I may improve my Anticipation Artefact and use this animation as reference. Although to enhance this, I would add an obvious upward movement before bending over to pick up the TV. This would show an anticipatory action more clearly, and takes into consideration everything i have learnt about this principle of animation.

Wild Dogs

I came across this whilst doing some research, and really quite enjoyed it, have a watch!

Artefact 3 Expressions Sketches

These are the range of expressions that I encorporated into Artefact three. The dialogue used was quite angry, and therefore no happy expressions were used. The characters expressions ranged from fear, anger, shock, surprise, confusion, sadness, upset and dissapointment.

Friday, 2 March 2012

Artefact 3 Evaluation - Creating believable characters through the key principles of animation : Exaggeration

My third artefact concentrated on exaggeration. The aim of exaggeration is to help make the scene more realistic, by exploring the essence of an action, so the audience can relate to it. It is used to emphasise an action, consequently making the scene more entertaining. As this artefact is answering how to make characters more believable through the key principles of animation, I had to remember to take an action and exaggerate it to give the scene more life, but not so much that it destroys the believability. For this particular principle I felt it was appropriate to create an animation to a piece of dialogue. The dialogue chosen expresses clear emotions. I was able to pick out areas that sounded like they had more stress and importance, and exaggerated poses and expressions that fall at that time. I kept the environment simple again so that the focus was on the character animation and exaggeration. The dialogue is a character expressing how unhappy he is with his appearance, so therefore animated the character talking to himself in the mirror, although there was a second characters voice in the dialogue, which was made out to be a character off screen. After receiving feedback on a completed version of this artefact, it was agreed that the exaggeration was shown quite well through the use of the exaggerated tantrum jump, and the throwing of the mirror to the ground. However, it was suggested that the second character could be his reflection speaking back to him as though he is going mad. This fits really well with the dialogue so I added in this extra clip on animation of his reflection speaking. I really like the whole idea and concept on this, I would just possibly change the last frame of the reflection talking facial expression, as though it looks more of a questioning face, to suit his dialogue line better.

Render test - Client Project

I know a lot of work needs to be done, feel I am slacking slightly on this project compared to all the artefacts but I am getting into swing of things with this project and Maya now so hopefully a lot of progress will be made. I sent these clips off to my client today so hopefully I will receive some useful pointers and some helpful criticism!