Hannah Gregory

Artefact Presentation

2012-01-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

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.

The Anticipation action is Number 2. The arms swing back in the opposite direction before swinging forward.

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

2012-01-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-13T03:44:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T05:16:00.000-08:00

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!

Client Proposal

2011-12-05T06:25:00.000-08:00

Got the basis of the proposal done, just need to finalise on ideas with my client on the line of audio that I will be using. Browsing rigged characters, there a lot that can be used on Maya. I am going to play around with learning this over Christmas and enter this months 11secondclub competition to get some useful feedback. I may therefore use Maya to create the client project depending how I find it.

Client Project

2011-11-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

Axis Animation is where my client is based, and I have been speaking to the production manager about ideas for the project quite often. My client has been extremely helpful and has given me so much advice and information helping me decide on a route to take with this.
So far we have decided on a character animation piece. I was worried about the rigging of a character so I have been sent some links with already rigged characters I can use. I am currently in the process of finding a good line of audio as coming up with a script is slightly adventurous! I think I would like it to be something funny, with not too much dialogue in which I can show off some animation. Once I found the right audio I can select what type of character will be suitable to use.

Exhibition Package

2011-11-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

I need to create 5 images that would be suitable for the catalogue entry. As it is only a mock of what may be used in the catalogue I am using some images from work from year two. I plan on creating at least one image for this assignment as I feel I don't have many in the actual area I wish to focus on throughout the rest of this year - Character Animation.

Possible images:

Research Project

2011-11-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

I've realised I haven't been blogging much this year due to the amount of work being set for term one, and the lack of design work thats needed to be produced this term also. Much of it is writing! But the research project has been useful in terms of inspiring ideas to create artefacts in term two.
The question i decided to research is:
What are the key principles of animation and how can they create a more believable character?
I have chosen to focus on four principles to focus on and research; Anticipation, exaggeration, secondary action and timing.
Books that I have found extremely useful are:
Acting for Animators, Ed Hooks
Character Animation in 3D, Steve Roberts
The Animators Workbook, Tony White
The Animators Survival Kit, Richard Williams
How to Draw Animation, Christopher Hart

These are the books i have reviewed for the Lit and Works section of the project. However I need to include works - Looking at the bonus feature on a DVD is supposedly very helpful for this. I want to find a clip that focuses on the four key principles I have chosen.
Illustrations I may include I will use from these sources. I will scan them and post them on here soon.

Simulated Project Anamatic

2011-11-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Final Simulated Client Project

2011-10-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Simulated Client Project Process

2011-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

I have finished rendering my simulated client project but for some reason wasn't able to render it on Premiere Pro. Still need to find sound to go with it, still unsure what type of music would be best.
Here are some snap shots of the rest of my project:

Alumni Progress

2011-10-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

I've decided to go with the maze idea after having a tutorial session. I've started to render a few bits out but it is taking ridiculously long! Here are some screen shots:

The first scene is a fly over of the maze so the setting is made obvious straight away.

The next is the character walking through the maze (although I'm currently re-rendering this bit as the walls in this were my original maze and then i changed it to what the first scene is)

Close up of the first cancer awareness fact.

Character shows a shocked face at the fact.

Turns to carry on walking through the maze.

The next fact is 'thats one every two minutes' which follows 300,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year. (the first one) This is currently being rendered. I have one more fact after this '1 in 3 people will develop some form of cancer' and the character gets more scared each time he sees a fact and tries to get out. I will edit in text saying 'the only way out is to donate' something along those lines and will end with the character finding a way to an exit with lots of piggy banks.

Assignment 1: StartUp Factory

2011-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

The brief is to devise and model a new start up company which should combine my specific multimedia practice with practitioners from another multimedia discipline.
Things i need to consider:
>>Determine what kind of market the product exists already
>>Is this a new market?
>>How can this market be grown?
>>Who is the audience?

From this mind map there are two ideas that I think could potentially work. The interaction location finder ( firstly needs a better name) and the Animated Apps/ eBooks.
The location finder would be placed in the main areas of a town, such as the railway station, centre of town, shopping centre. The main audience for this would be people who are visiting the town, such as tourists, and in need of finding a certain place, seeing whats around or nearby or generally for something to do. It would list such as eating places, and then name lists specifics, such as Italian, Indian, Chinese, etc where you would then see the list of different places for each. Phone numbers and addresses would be included, with a map telling you the distance and the best route to take, via car, train or in walking distance. Maps could be printed with a 20p fee for instance. There could even be the opportunity to view a menu and place an order to collect or eat in. Other things include listing nightclubs, and special events of whats happening in the area. This is something that promotes local businesses and would need to be regularly updated.
The animated Apps/ eBooks idea I also like as it is an idea which specialises more in my interest , where I can involve character animation. To make this interactive I would need to collaborate with an Interactive media practitioner. I would be interested in creating this service with an audience of young children. I think animation is becoming much more widely used for teaching and learning, and would therefore create children's stories and learning apps.

Simulated Client Project

2011-10-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Our brief is to make a multimedia product for the Alumni Association. Such ideas include encouraging people to donate to help priority projects, such as cancer research and scholarships.
I brainstormed a few ideas, bearing in mind the timescale of the project:

I think I will go with the 'Police Line-up' idea, as it involves a few characters and character animation is my main interest, although the animation will be minimal as I have less than 3 weeks to complete it. The aim of the video is to show facts about cancer, and to encourage people to donate to the Alumni Association, which give to the cancer research department.
Facts I wish to include in the advert will be:
>>300,000 are diagnosed with cancer. (one every two minutes)
>>150,00 die from cancer
>>27% of all deaths is cancer (UK)
>>1 in 3 people develop some form of cancer
>>Today 230 people in the UK will be told they have either prostate or breast cancer.

PRP Project

2011-10-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

Within my pathway I am specifically interested in Character Animation. In particular, I was thinking about focusing on either the principles of animation, facial expressions or a characters body movement, so therefore maybe also including the understanding of acting.

I started off by brainstorming these ideas.

Questions that I came up with:

1. What makes a good character animator?
2. What does a character animator need to make a characters emotions believable?
3. What are the main principles of animation?
4. How can you display life in inanimate objects?
5. How does understanding of acting help with animating characters?
6. Are facial expressions the ultimate demonstration of our emotions?
7. How does a characters body language portray its thoughts without a facial expression?
8. What triggers a characters emotions to change?
9. Does a characters body movement and emotions have to be exaggerated to be believable?
10. How are different emotions portrayed through facial expressions?

My next steps would be:
STEP 1: Choose and develop a topic
STEP 2: Find background info
STEP 3: Find books and videos
STEP 4: Find Articles
STEP 5: Find Internet sources

Defining my research topic; things i need to research:
>>What is the history of the topic?
--Who invented/created the area?
--Who broke the rules?
>>Specify a specific development
--What changed recently?
--Who changed it?
--What are the new opportunities?

Year 2 Final Project - Anamation

2011-09-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Hannah Gregory on Vimeo.

Year 2 Final Project - Anamatic

2011-09-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Hannah Gregory on Vimeo.

500 word rational

2011-05-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Our finial project brief was to interpret an existing script. I decided to choose the Frankenstein script, the book by Mary Shelly. I chose to do this script, as I wanted to focus more on the visualisation side of things, rather than a great deal of animation, such as The Matrix script. I also wanted to improve on my modeling skills as I feel my last project was slightly basic.
To re-interpret my chosen script, I decided for my environment to be set in space. I included two characters, an alien – the scientist, and a human – the creation the alien makes come to life.
I started off by sketching and storyboarding what I needed to do. However, I made several environments throughout the project, mainly due to file sizes being too large, causing the corruption of my work. This made it very difficult under the time constraints. By starting various environments over, I feel my ideas did however progress and improve from the previous ones. There are still areas I would of liked to improve on, having had more time. There is a lack of animation, which I feel doesn’t portray the story very well. I would of also liked to of concentrated more on using effects, such as smoke, fire and particles, effects I originally wanted to include. I feel these factors would have definitely enhanced my project. Although I spent too much time trying to perfect my characters and lab, I am fairly happy with them. It is a definite improvement from my last project.
With the animation I do have, it took me a while to get to grips with. Eventually I had a reasonably good walk cycle for the alien. I also had a living object inside one of the tubes, which I created bones for and animated wriggling. I also unwrapped this, which was something new and challnging I had learnt.
Adding sound was also a challenge. I found many ‘lab’ sounds, such as bubbling, but I felt there wasn’t enough animation to add a specific sound to. I therefore found a track to play in the background.
In conclusion, I have enjoyed producing this project. I feel I have learnt a lot, and I am more aware of timings for specific tasks. I feel lack of animation has let down my project in terms of the story. Although the script I chose is more of a visualisation piece, I would still like to become a good animator. This project has made me feel that I have a lot to improve on, which I am enthused to do before and throughout next year.

Frankenstien's monster is in....

2011-05-23T03:29:00.000-07:00

Other half of the lab...

2011-05-17T14:06:00.001-07:00

Recent work

2011-05-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

Modelled lab..need to texture

2011-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I thought I would screen shot a few things as I some of my files are still playing up. I managed to optimise a lot of the objects to reduce the file size and may have to use scanline renderer as this seems to actually work whereas mental ray doesn't seem to at the moment! Although I would prefer mental ray, even though it would take so much longer...

Lab

2011-05-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

I've recently started my lab from scratch..again. This is probably my third attempt at it. The files have been getting too large or something because they eventually wasn't able to redner. Maybe it's my ancient computer who knows. So I've been extra careful in making this new one and trying tow work as quick as possible at the same time. I'm pretty sure this happened to me in the first term too! I must work better under pressure!
So I havn't textured most of it as of yet, as I just want to get the majority of it modelled first!

New alien

2011-04-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

Glass Texture

2011-04-20T09:20:00.001-07:00

Jenga reactor

2011-04-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Monster blink test

2011-04-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Monster

2011-04-15T04:50:00.001-07:00

This is my monster that my alien will be working on to bring to life. He looks a little abnormal, but I'm not complaining as that suits the theme of being made from different body parts. His neck definately doesnt look attatched to his body correctly but in this case I kind of like that. He won't be animated a great deal but I will be morphing his lips slightly and making eye lids for him to blink when he comes alive at the end of the animation.
I may tidy up his body slightly and I am still unsure whether to give him some trousers or something.

Textures

2011-04-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

This a a front of a shop I created in order to practice with texturing and compositing.

Frankenstien's Monster

2011-03-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

I have modelled the head for Frankenstien's monster. Without textures he looks slightly dopey, but I quite like that as I don't want him to look completely reaslistic as he is supposed to be sewed together with different body parts.

Recent work

2011-03-22T15:11:00.001-07:00

I experimented a lot with the lighting to create this scene. I'm not too happy with the wave movement, turns out they are moving more up and down than across. Shall have to try again soon.

Flickr Account

2011-03-11T14:10:00.001-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/context2-hannahgregory/

Jelly sequence

2011-03-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

Jelly tests

2011-03-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

I know the sounds a little off with the jumps, I'm working on it as it's the first of two parts.

Particle test

2011-03-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

Opening title test

2011-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Its a bit quick, and dark to begin with so will play around with it to get a good opening.

Fire effect in After Effects

2011-03-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

Didn't realise the length when I rendered it so it is a bit long.

lip sync 2

2011-03-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

Lip sync test 1

2011-03-02T03:22:00.000-08:00

Computer for my lab

2011-02-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

I think I will have a series of computers linked up, to add to making my lab looking technical and busy with intruments!

Modular Architecture

2011-02-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Rigged model

2011-02-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Alien model

2011-02-19T08:54:00.001-08:00

This is the basic concept of my alien, who will be the scientist in my Frankenstein scene. He will be deceived as very small against his giant human who he will be trying to bring to life.

The eyes just merged in from my robot project. Just to get the idea of what it would look like. I don't think I want them to look this way. I want the more merged into the skin.

More 3d objects

2011-02-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

I created a chain, something I will have in my scientists lab. I will be rigging and animating it for my scene.

I practiced with lighting for this one.

CAT objects

2011-02-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

Biomimicry

2011-02-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

Turtle shell- like building

3ds max rigging showreel

2011-02-07T06:52:00.001-08:00

E Sousa Vincent - Rigging Showreel 2010 from Vinzou3d on Vimeo.

This is amazing!

Hands and face

2011-02-05T02:52:00.001-08:00

I practiced on this model a pair of glasses. I Think I am going to give my alien a pair, to make him look more the scientist!

Foot

2011-01-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

More body parts modelling - Eyeball

2011-01-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Body parts

2011-01-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

Modelled a hand to use as 'spare' body parts in the aliens science lab. Might experiment with adding blood to the wrist or something. I plan on Having these stacked in jars on shelves, or possibly hanging/lying around on his 'work station'.

New alien

2011-01-22T04:56:00.001-08:00

Managed to get the head shape slightly more like my sketches. Just made some eyes that I've used previously to get an idea of how it would look. Although we are gettin taught how to do the eyes next week.

Expressions test

2011-01-21T14:13:00.001-08:00

Jellyhead can see!

2011-01-20T14:29:00.001-08:00

Jellyhead

2011-01-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is some work for an outside project I have been working on. Next steps are to animate - keeping it simple, using the different expressions.

Modelling my character

2011-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:00

This is the alien character I think I would like to use for my animation. To help with the modelling, I creating him out of plasticine - although it wasn't much help as I ran out so he is pretty much still 2D.

I tried modelling him on 3D s Max but had a few difficulties with his head and making his arm bridge to the body smoothly.

Modelling the figure

2011-01-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

These are produced without using reference drawings:

Below are figures using reference drawings:

Frankenstein scene

2011-01-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

The art of seeing

2011-01-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

I started making my collection of photographs as I was walking around Nottingham today. Why is it I feel such an idiot taking photos of buildings in public!? I mostly got different textures for the moment, as the route I walked didn't consist of any extraordinary buildings. I shall get a Flickr account to upload these soon. I'll post some on here also soon.

Visual Development

2011-01-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Erik Johansson is a professional photographer and retoucher. I've had a look at many of his works today and found them quite inspiring for the new brief of interpreting a script.

These were a few of my favourites. The last one gave me an idea for the Frankenstien environment. I could build the entire house and make it floating, possibly located on another planet so the interior could be slightly quirky or futuristic.

A good location:

> sets the stage for animation

> determines the mood piece

> supports the story

E.ON Brief 2011

2011-01-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

So we have been asked by E.ON to create a video that is lively, imaginative and informative, about their work in the UK.

We were shown a video they have been using the last 18 months. It was roughly a 6 minute film. Slightly too long than what I think is needed, especially if they were to use this to put on websites, it wouldn't be watched to the end. I think the backing track made it seem almost cheesy and didn't go too well. It was generally quite dull and doesn't promote what they are asking for in this brief. As a Virtual Environment student, I think producing a 1-3 minute animation is exactly what they need. It's a much more contemporary approach than Moving Image; live action, so I am very much enthused by making the video entirely animated. This will give it a much more fun, and initiative look.

My ideas are going along the lines of the British Gas advert:

Obviously it would vary from this and include clips of what they are asking for, such as how health and safety plays within the division.

Taking pride, value and importance of the roles and team spirit are the main focus and purpose for the film. This could be shown metaphorically. For example, a man with the florescent jacket on, hard hat etc, tightrope walking across between to pylons - 'taking care as he walks across in order to help others'. This was just a quick initial thought within the lecture. I will be meeting up tomorrow with a group to discuss and collaborate further ideas.

'Once you find out what you're about, your'll be fine!'

2011-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Brief 1:

'The art of seeing": creating your own pictorial lighting and texture reference library.

This will help in terms of becoming more attuned to my environment, developing my artistic eye. I've previously done this before when I studied Fine Art, so something I quite enjoy yet relatively simple which can have a great influence to my work.

Brief 2:

Select one of the three scripts - interpret the script planning mise en scene character design and cinematography.

submit:

1. A three minute animation

2. A three minute anamatic

3. Four high resolution renders

4. At least ten pages of sketches, and layouts for characters and environments, key poses and shots essential to making this animation and a full story board

5. A diary of your developing understanding of the project and 3D model render and composite pipeline and how you think you fit within this vocation and a 500 word rational for your solution.

Scripts:

The Matrix: The film by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski 1999

Fantastic Voyage: The film by Richard Fieischer 1966

Frankenstien: The book by Mary Shelly published 1st Jan 1818

Matrix:

I think this is looking like a possibilties at the moment. Not entirely sure on how to interpret them as of yet.

Fantastic Voyage:
This script doesn't really appeal to me. I'm not entirely sure I understand all of it and no initial thoughts spring to mind for it. So I'm going to stick to one for now.

Frankenstien:
It took me a while to get into the chapter set for the scene we would have to make a three minute animation for. I really like the idea of producing a laboratory, and having a character come to life. This would also probably be the most ideal one for me as The Matrix is a strong animation piece, whereas this is more architectual something that much more interests me.
My initial thoughts are along the lines of making it quite futurtistic, on another planet maybe where the house could be floating due to no gravity. We shall see.

I'm going to start sketching ideas and character designs down to start whilst researching images to see where this takes me.

Final animation.

2010-12-09T08:55:00.001-08:00

Little bit gutted about my final outcome, just couldn't get the walk right in the end.

500 word rational: Of Bots and Bananas

2010-12-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

I started this project by sketching quick storyboards of different ideas to meet the requirements of making robot walk, trip, slip and fall, or something of a similar basis. When coming to design and the construction of my robot using 3d s Max, I found the rigging the most difficult. With tutorials this made it a lot easier, but it was quite confusing at a first glance, something I found easier in time to pick up, after continually developing and changing my robot design. This made me realise to think carefully about future character designs, in terms of the rigging. Modelling the actual environment would be my strong point of my project, a I also enjoyed the most. I feel with the animation, some of my test renders were slightly better. I had a lot of trouble with this part when it came to producing my final piece. I would animate a standard pace walk, and when it came to adding more frames so my robot could walk further along, previous frames that I had already animated well, started to change, such as his feet for example, starting becoming detached from his ankle and sockets. This started to become very time consuming making sure the robot did not come apart. In my final animation, I am not pleased with the way he walks, I'm still unsure why they kept changing themselves. I will try and research why this was happening or what I was doing wrong as the walk turned out very jumpy and didn't look very natural.

It has to be said, I am not entirely happy with the way my project turned out, due to various external factors, such as my files corrupting. This put much strain and pressure on me to finish within the deadline, taking into account rendering and editing time of starting everything over again, I had to act fast. If I this hadn't of happened I feel my project could have potentially been a lot better, especially in terms of animating.

I used the 'range' option in the render set up for my different camera angles. I thought this showed good use of different camera angles as I had a lot of different shots I wanted to use.

I attempted to add music to my animation but unfortunately didn't find anything suitable in time. I would have liked to have possibly a quirky background track, with the added footstep sounds, along with the stretching and falling sound. This would definitely add character and depth to my work.

For the project overall, minus all the negatives, I very much enjoyed learning to animate and feel the project has been a great insight to future projects. The projects show the hard work put in, with an outcome to still be proud of.

I am very eager to produce another project with this same brief again over christmas to further myself and improve, so I have a project that is not as rushed and one I can feel happier about.

Test animations

2010-12-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

More texturing, lighting and starting to animate

2010-12-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

This is experimenting with the grass. It looked slightly sharp for hills, so I tried out another way:

Different material representing the grass test:

Testing various lighting:

Red robot..kind of clashed with the brick wall doesn't it?

Blue. Now that stands out slightly better.

The start of my animation - pushing open the gate to the park and walks down the path.

Thats all I've animated so far - a few steps! But all this took me all day sooo I'm kinda hoping I will have progressed a lot further tomorrow as it seems rendering is going to take some time.

Environment texturing experiements

2010-11-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

I've started to add realistic texturing to my scene. I've added in a gate at the end of my path as this was leading to the edge of the world going nowhere. Next step is lighting and I am ready to animate. Bit nervous of the time scale I have left but I'm motivated and working away so hopefully won't be a problem. Note to self..just keep saving scene. SAVE SAVE SAVE. I can't let loosing my work demotivate me!!!

New robot walking

2010-11-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

I know its not perfect and the end frame is wrong, but it was just a test.

Backing the evidence!

2010-11-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

After having to start again, I am not taking any chances of loosing my work again. I have screen shots of making my robot AGAIN - step by step showing how my robot is a working rig, mainly for evidence incase it does corrupt again, this might be all I have. I am in the process of rendering a short version of its basic walking.

Legs rigged and working.

Footroll and toe bend.

Arms, hand and fingers.

Spine.

Head.

Controls all linked.

Eyes.

Mouth.

Walking.

Good timing or...?

2010-11-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

So, 1 week to go before presentation week and all my files for my robot are corrupted, including my backups! Not my fault but hey, what can I do. Started all over again and its frustrating as there is so much to get done in so little time. I started on my environment instead as I have produced about 20 robots and they all keep corrupting - need a change of scenery!

This WAS one of many of my fully rigged robot and the proof of it being corrupted.

These are a few images of my environment setting so far. I have also started to experiment with texturing, such as the leaves, sky and pebbled concrete.

Below, I have started to create a sign post here which will eventually read 'One Way' with two directional arrows to add to the gag of whihc direction he should walk in before he spots the long extended branch of a tree that he attempts to jump and hang on.

Not bad for a days work, but still, a lot to get done.

Robot Developments

2010-11-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

Material experimentation. I want my robot to have a shiney effect, gives it more of a 'robot' look.

Environment Ideas

2010-11-23T10:01:00.001-08:00

Here are some images I have taken as part of my environment design:

I want my scene to be daylight, in a quiet park. These are images I took which I am basing my environment design on. I have also found some on the web:

Walking robot

2010-11-23T01:15:00.000-08:00

I think the legs need a more extension when stepping forward to help it look less bouncy and more of a stroll.

Testing walking robot

2010-11-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Robot walking

2010-11-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Today I have been working on making a robot do some basic walking. 'The Animators Survival kit', by Richard Williams is a book I have been finding very useful for animation principles. Although the book is mainly explained through imagery, the sketches are very descriptive themselves.

Below is a video of Monty Python - Silly walks. I found this extremely funny and therefore am going to create a sequence of a robot doing a silly walk too.

Head and eyes

2010-11-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

I have been working on making the eyes work, so that they follow the dummy when moved. Also I have been practicing making the mouth movements and expressions - just need to keep working on this one for this to work. Need to start animating this all too! But practing with this robot is really helping me when it comes to rigging my own design. Images of this are in progress!

Environment Ideas

2010-11-11T06:23:00.001-08:00

My robot is going to be swinging on a tree and repeatedly fall off. I think I will be using the loop still for him to swing and then fall.

Modelling buildings using reference photographs

2010-11-11T05:53:00.000-08:00

Acquiring adequateon site photos:

>>Straight on images

>>Far away to show shape

>>Take measurements - bricks (22 X 7) , someone standing at a wall can help estimate - knowing the height of someone

>>Ensure all faces (exterior walls) have been photographed including alleyways and corner shots

>>For long buildings take multiple shots that can be pieced together if not to facade in the frame

>>Take multiple pictures of each facade from different angles.

Using Swift Loop in order to create faces to extrude.

Extruding windows

Cutting on existing vertex's to create a curve to extrude.

Robot Spine

2010-11-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

This is the robot completed with working arms, legs and now spine.

Bennetts Robot designs

2010-11-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.bennettrobotworks.com/

I've come across this website on the now - it shows a number of robot designs made from a mixture of found objects, both old and new. The parts are found in various places such as rubbish sites, basements and construction sites. I thought these designs are quite influential to my work.

I thought the image below looked slightly like my own design:

Context 2

2010-11-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

The three companies I'm using in my essay include:

>>Studio AKA

>>Seed Animation

>>Aardman Studios

These are three London based animation studios.

I have also researched and rejected:

>>Pixel Circus

>>Fallon

Main reasons for this is their main focus - not entirely based upon animation productions.

Peter Smart - Careers consultant

2010-11-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

The main areas that were focused upon were:

>>Typical employers and where to find jobs

>>What resources are available

>>Creative job search

>>Your CV

This was a good reminder to know all the different areas of Multimedia out there. Computer games design, advertising graphics, new media and animation were ones I thought were most relevant to me. However, it turns out I can offer a range of skills - I don't just have to be a web designer or an animator for instance as no one has 100% in every aspect of Multimedia.

*Don't underestimate the level of skill required!!!!*

Useful websites:

www.ntu.ac.uk/careers

www.prospects.ac.uk

Looking at how to build my CV professionally was extremely useful - there were a lot of do's and don'ts that I have previously made. Such as writing a cover letter to tailor that employer or the individual company.

Creating Splines and Shapes

2010-11-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today I was experimenting with splines in order to create a table, using other tools such as Bevel and Sweep. This was also a great refresher on remembering the basic tools on 3D sMax which I used to create my table- weld, attach, mirror and boolean.

Robot Legs

2010-11-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hierarchies for animation and complex systems

Today I was working on the robot leg and how it would animate when walking etc. I found this a little easier after attempting the robot arms and fingers in the previous seminar. Practice is definitely helping. I didn't manage to finish but hopefully by the end of the week it will be complete, so I will have a better understanding on how to start my robot design.

Jim Shorthose

2010-11-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

The creative navigation exercise helped me in terms of the way in which you go about producing your work. It proved that 90% of the time you're going in the wrong direction, taking different routes to attempt in getting an answer, yet you will eventually land with the same answer.

Other exercises included lateral thinking. This shows how to think outside the box - just because you've been given a scenario in a particular method, doesn't mean you can't go about receiving the result in a complete different way.

Another pointer that I feel helped in terms of out essay is 'Navigation by asking around'. Asking better questions instead of sticking to what you know and what has previously proved to work, doesn't mean you can't try another way/ask different questions to get another angle on things.

In terms of networking, it was made apparent to me that as London is the capital and always has so much going on, there is so much networking going on. This can make it difficult to make London based companies part of my network due to the popularity and high demand for them.

Sketching

2010-11-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

We did a few sketching exercises to help with our storyboarding. These included discovering the difference between wide shots and long shots, 30 second observation sketches and sketching from around the room. Below is one of my sketches with the different shots.

Storyboarding

2010-11-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

From watching videos on how to create a perfect storyboard for my animation for instance, there are a few rules that I picked up that need to be considered:

180 degree rule - keep everything in one direction
Have to have meaning behind each shot
Identify with the character - so he matters
Angles and comparison - how to show it?
Upshots - show ceiling (or something that uses the background)
Downshots - showing the floor to represent
Establishing the shot - beginning of the scene to orient the audience
Give the eye something to follow
Cut in closer when you need to see a specific expression
Cut to the most important thing at the time
See the change in expression - 2 poses
Avoid centring characters
Use easily recognisable objects

Presentation

2010-10-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

I received some good feedback after presenting my ideas for my 'Of Bots and Bananas' project.

Ideas:

These were my initial sketches and ideas for a slapstick scenario. These included a tug of war competiton - big robot vs small, where the small one takes revenge, crossing stepping stones, where he falls and lands and then falls and sinks and finally a repetitive falling robot from a hanging loop. I produced a thorough storyboard for this below:

From feedback, I now know I need to come up with a reason to why the robot wants to jump up to the loop - maybe its magnetic or it's a branch on a tree for example. Once this is established I can therefore consider environment settings.

Robot designs

2010-10-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Iv'e been thinking of possible comedy gags for our one minute animation, but not yet come up with anything final. I have however been sketching up a few initial robot designs that I could possibly use to create in 3ds max. I still need to consider the environment setting - this will be easier once I have decided upon the 'gag'.

I drew this out on Illustrator quickly, but really need to see how it would look 3D. Going by todays seminar creating the planets in order to animate...not so sure it's possible. Need to start getting the practice in!!

Developing my network report

2010-10-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

As this essay is designed to get me thinking about how i might approach getting work experience, I looked at some companies in London, as it's not far from me. From our Visual Essay last year, I came across a London based animation studio called Studio AKA. I was really intrigued by their work so have decided to do some further research into it.

Studio AKA

Known for idiosyncratic and innovative work. Along with a range of commercials, AKA also produce short films and series. Their best known work is the Lloyds TSB campaign, featuring an ever expanding cast of characters.

AKA also created these idents of ITV's 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here'.

Guest Lecturer

2010-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Skywhales: a 1983 animated short film, depicting a fictional society of alien creatures.

I'm not entirely sure I understood this short film, the alien language used wasn't subtitled, leaving us the viewer to determine the meaning from the visual context alone. By researching more into this, it sums the film up as the 'aliens dwelling in the atmosphere of a gas giant'.

We also watched a short 2D animation for the film 'The big I am'. This was a lot more current and something I found interesting. There didn't consist much animation, yet the quality of the sketches and the way it was shot and put together made it flow really well.

This seminar made me feel slightly better about the sketches we have to produce for our presentation, and to obviously help us when designing our robot. We managed to look at a variety of images, some of which were just rough sketches. Therefore there is no need to go all out and spend too much time on these as its just a basic start to get ideas flowing.

I've learnt there are 4 different ways to produce a story board / display sketches:

1. rough thumb nails

2. working board

3. presentation board

4. animatic

I'm going to start off by creating rough thumb nail sketches and see where I go from there.

Context 2: Essay!

2010-10-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Assignment 1: Work Experience Sub

Title: Developing my network report

Task: Research and identify 3 companies that you will be following. Write a 2000 word report explaining considerations, describes the companies identified and discusses the types of companies researched and rejected.

Can't believe we have an essay already which we only have a month or so to do! But anyways, I went to the library after this lecture to grab the suggested book for this as apparently there is only 3 in existence, although there were 5 in the library at the time. Only managed to flick through it so far but hopefully this will be useful and I can get stuck into it and not leave it to last minute as per normal.

YEAR TWO: DP3

2010-10-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Title: "Of Bots and Banana"
Task: Design, build and animate a model of a complex bipedal robot that can walk, trip, slip and fall.

We looked at some slapstick comedy videos, such as Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and The three Stoogers, in order to see what makes a good slapstick comedy.

1. Are there any identifiable routines?
>>Falling over / stumbling into objects
>>Exaggerated reactions
>>Getting hurt
>>Repeating the gag
>>Series of unfortunate mishaps
>>Chase
>>Intention never occurring (not the obvious)
>>Fight

2. What are the settings / environments like?
>>Realistic / believable
>>everyday / normal / outside
>>cities

3. What kind of props are used?
>>Pies / water / ropes
>>Surrounding buildings / street

4. What does the sound track tell you?
>>When the incident is occurring / about to happen
>>Emphasises the chaos

5.What sort of costumes are worn?
>>Clown boots / shoes
>>Everyday outfits

6.Are particular camera shots used for certain effects?
>>Close up of what will cause the accident / gag
Wide shots of set - what might happen / scenario

7.What time of day are they set in?
>>Day

For my one minute animation I need to be thinking about articulation, timing, camera shots, compositing foley, texture, mise en scene and lighting. I also need to produce sketches and layouts for characters, key poses, environments and shots essential to making this animation and a full story board.