Artefact 2 -Secondary Action

I've made this animation from a tutorial and character provided online. It is focusing on secondary Action. Secondary Action is an important principle that adds a realistic complexity to the animation. The expression and facial movement is the primary action in this first test, and the body movement adds to it as the secondary action.

I extended this on test 2, just by slowing it down a tad, to see if it had an impact and emphasised the secondary action.

Artefact 1 - Final

This is my final version for Artefact 1. After taking on board feedback from my presentation, it was mentioned that the motorbike didn't really have any relevance to the actual animation. Although I did question this, I thought it was a little more interesting than a plain background. However it seems the bike drew more attention than the actual focus and purpose of the artefact. (Even though I prefer this one!)
So, I have kept the plain background, keeping it simple, and rendered several angles with, and without the anticipatory move. It was also mentioned I could slow some parts down so the difference of the with and without anticipation was noticed more. I have done this on one angle for each.

Artefact Presentation

Research Question: What are the key principles of animation and how can they create a more believable character?
Artefact 1 - Key principle: ANTICIPATION

Purpose of Anticipation:
>To communicate to an audience that a character is initiating a movement/action
>To communicate to an audience that something is going to happen, and makes sure they are looking in the right place.

I researched ways in which ANTICIPATION can be effective:
>Characters eyes must be set in the direction where the action is going to take place
>The anticipation action must follow a path in the opposite direction prior to the main movement.
FOR EXAMPLE
>Before bending down to pick something up, they will make a slight move upwards in the opposite direction to the main downwards movement
>Before throwing something, they will pull their arm and body back before the throw.


ANTICIPATION ARTEFACT TESTS


I know the it needs to be sped up when he is froze in the air...


I prefered this action to the jump, I think it shows the anticipation better.



The before and after.....Your thoughts please!

Artefact 1 - Test 3

These are tested with a plain background to see if the movement is emphasised in anyway. I will be presenting my final artefact on Monday so will hopefully get some helpful feedback on how I can either improve it, and which scenario works best.

Artefact 1 - Test 2

I amended the ending position here as it almost looked like the character didn't finish balanced. I am going to edit two animations together - one showing the 'before anticipation' and then the 'after'.

Good Exaggeration Example

This video shows an action animated twice, once realistically, and secondly very exaggerated. I don't think I will want to use so much exaggeration in my artefact, but it is a good reference material showing the difference of the two actions.

Artefact 1 - Test 1

I may change it slightly before presenting it on Monday, need to change his finishing position and maybe will just use a plain environment. I have experimented with a prop, so the action almost ties in with his action (winning a bike race or something!) Or even extending it further into an actual sequence including  using clips from 11 second club.

Anticipation Artefact Scene

Using the example from the principles of animation of anticipation on a youtube tutorial, I created my own with the Max character.

Mac 'N' Cheese

This is an animated short created by 4 students at the Utrecht school of Arts in the Netherlands. Also watch the production process - very inspiring!


Mac 'n' Cheese from Mac 'N' Cheese on Vimeo.

Anticipation Artefact

Researching more into anticipation for an artefact idea, I came across different scenarios in which i can portray the principle.

Anticipation is preparing an audience for an action, and to make an action seem more realistic. 

>A golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first

>A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend his knees first

>Before throwing a ball you must swing your arm back first

An example of a jump using Anticiation.

Tutorial of this character using anticipation with a backward swing before swinging the arm forward.

Client Project

The above clip is what my client project will be based on. After narrowing it down from a few other clips with my client, who also passed it on to one of the animation directors and agreed that the delivery of the dialogue is quite expressive, and when you take away the funny visuals it is still quite funny. The animation director suggested to have the 'squirrel' character talk off screen to someone. A goofy character would be good to sell the dialogue and voice, lip sync will obviously be used too. There isn't much action so it is all about the delivery of the dialogue through her performance and expressions.

In regards to the actual animation, I may base the red haired character on my own ideas or I could recreate her performance - there is no specific preference, will have to see where it start to take me once i get more involved with it.
At the end of the day I am going to try and create the best character performance!

Maya ...First Impressions

So I have been playing around with Maya for a while as I would like to further my knowledge and develop my 3d skill set. I like the layout and interface design - very much the same as 3DS Max, just slightly more in depth creative toolset to learn.
For my research project and client project I will be using characters. 11 second club resources provides a wide range of characters, the majority of them being for Maya. I therefore have been practicing with the Morpheus Rig and the Eleven Rig. I still need to get the hang of the animation aspect - the most important part. I was having trouble with key frames, but something I am willing to keep learning and experiment with, however I think for now, I will produce my artefacts in 3DS Max as i can perfect the animation a lot easier than I might be able to do in Maya. Plus, my artefacts are relating to what makes characters believable!

Morpheus Rig.

Eleven Rig.

Research Project: Artefacts

Research Question: What are the key principles of animation and how can they create a more believable character?

Key Principles I am looking into: 

>Anticipation

>Exaggeration

>Secondary Action

>Timing

I have been doing some observation on anticipation to start with, and have found some very useful online videos/tutorials. The video below uses a character in 3DS Max, showing Anticipation and the build up of a certain action can be used effectively.

This link also provides files for examples of all 12 principles of animation, so has become veery useful for practising potential artefacts!