I finished the animation project a couple of weeks ago, and since then have been tweaking parts slightly and focusing on our other 2 projects too.
White Rhinoceros
Modeled using XSI and ZBrush.
The hidden world
Arranged using UDK.
ZBrush
ZBrush Sculpts.
Kitchen
Modeled using Maya and mentalray.
Companion cube
Modeled using Maya and mentalray.
Showing posts with label BA2 P1: Studio work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BA2 P1: Studio work. Show all posts
Monday, 20 February 2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Friday, 27 January 2012
Main poses marked out for animating in Maya
After researching animation cycles and drawing some draft sketches of Moom, I have now chosen the main poses for each animation cycle which will help make the animation look more smoother, rather than choppy. So far the poses seem to be working well, how ever I will need to adopt the pose-to-pose animation principle rather than let Maya fill in the gaps in some places because I seem to find problems such as the feet going under the plane at stages.
 |
| Walk cycle |
 |
| Run cycle |
 |
| Jump cycle |
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Animating a character rig
Recently we were given a task to animate a character rig given to us, we had to perform 3 different animations on this rig: walk, run and jump. Since this is just a test for animation, we aren't expected to model the character, texture it or light the environment.
During the lesson, we had time to familiarize ourselves with the rig, learning what joints moved parts and how toggling the IK and FK settings affected the movement of a rig.
At first it seemed like an easy task to do, how ever, I began to notice that it wasn't as simple as moving a leg or arm and setting a keyframe. The animation had to look believable, and I faced many problems with the rig's movement being very robotic. To aid this problem, I went through as many key frames as possible to tweak the movement that made the animation look robotic.
After this problem, I decided to go home and research animation cycle storyboards and video clips, so I could get an idea in my head on what sort of positions the body would move in. This proved incredibly helpful as I animated the same positions on the character rig. After this research I decided to make quick storyboards (30 secs per piece) to allow me to have a rough idea what the vital positions were in each animation cycle.
I am also facing a problem with rendering using the playblast feature because no movie codecs are appearing. I have tried to search this problem online, yet have had no luck in finding an answer, so I might have to ask Mark in the future how to fix this problem (incase we have to submit the clips at a later date.)
 |
| Above: "Moom", our character. |
At first it seemed like an easy task to do, how ever, I began to notice that it wasn't as simple as moving a leg or arm and setting a keyframe. The animation had to look believable, and I faced many problems with the rig's movement being very robotic. To aid this problem, I went through as many key frames as possible to tweak the movement that made the animation look robotic.
After this problem, I decided to go home and research animation cycle storyboards and video clips, so I could get an idea in my head on what sort of positions the body would move in. This proved incredibly helpful as I animated the same positions on the character rig. After this research I decided to make quick storyboards (30 secs per piece) to allow me to have a rough idea what the vital positions were in each animation cycle.
I am also facing a problem with rendering using the playblast feature because no movie codecs are appearing. I have tried to search this problem online, yet have had no luck in finding an answer, so I might have to ask Mark in the future how to fix this problem (incase we have to submit the clips at a later date.)
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Animating using Photoshop
I was never aware that Photoshop is actually quite a handy program for learning the basics of animation. I enjoyed using layers just like how you would when photo editing/touching up renders and found the UI very easy to understand because I am familiar with Photoshop already.
I was excited to get home and start work on an animation that I could spend more time on (rather than just one hour 30 minutes like earlier), how ever I was incredibly disappointed to find out my Photoshop doesn't offer this feature... Looks like this will be a skill I can only nurture using the PCs in the Media lab :-(
Examples of animations made using Photoshop:
Examples of animations made using Photoshop:
Monday, 23 January 2012
Animating a bouncing ball
After a couple of inductions on animating in Maya, we have been given a task to animate a ball that is bouncing on the floor.
Having not taken too much interest in animation in Maya before, the inductions proved very handy and taught me a lot in combination with animation fundamentals, such as the 12 principles of animation.
At first, the graph editor looked complicated, and to be frank, I still have to trouble in approaching the XYZ axis' and where they fit with the virtual space in the view ports, but hopefully that will come with experience in using the graph.
We have learnt that in order to make the ball animation look as realistic as possible, we have to incorporate principles such as 'squash and stretch' into the animation, thus adding volume and good flow to the clip.
Tomorrow we have a group critique, so it shall be interesting to watch other students' animations and learn how I can make my animations better through taking others' comments into consideration.
Above is a clip repeating the animation over three times. Unfortunately due to repeating the clip (I felt that I should repeat the clip over because the original animation is only 1 second long) there is parts where the animation seems to lag. How ever, this is not part of the animation, it is simply because I finish the cycle with the ball translated lower than the original height it is dropped at (to represent weight in the animation.)
I did originally change the texture of the ball, but changed the texture back to the original, as I didn't think the tutors would appreciate a gigantic moving ball of fluff!
Having not taken too much interest in animation in Maya before, the inductions proved very handy and taught me a lot in combination with animation fundamentals, such as the 12 principles of animation.
At first, the graph editor looked complicated, and to be frank, I still have to trouble in approaching the XYZ axis' and where they fit with the virtual space in the view ports, but hopefully that will come with experience in using the graph.
We have learnt that in order to make the ball animation look as realistic as possible, we have to incorporate principles such as 'squash and stretch' into the animation, thus adding volume and good flow to the clip.
 | ||||
| Above: A screenshot of my bouncing ball animation. |
Tomorrow we have a group critique, so it shall be interesting to watch other students' animations and learn how I can make my animations better through taking others' comments into consideration.
Above is a clip repeating the animation over three times. Unfortunately due to repeating the clip (I felt that I should repeat the clip over because the original animation is only 1 second long) there is parts where the animation seems to lag. How ever, this is not part of the animation, it is simply because I finish the cycle with the ball translated lower than the original height it is dropped at (to represent weight in the animation.)
I did originally change the texture of the ball, but changed the texture back to the original, as I didn't think the tutors would appreciate a gigantic moving ball of fluff!
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Life drawing #3
 |
| Above: Sketches of a lady in different positions, mainly taken whilst she was laying on the floor. |
Saturday, 21 January 2012
An introduction to Maya (sort of)
Recently, we have been having a few inductions on how to use 3-D modeling, texturing, rendering software 'AutoDesk Maya', which have proved incredibly handy for many members of the class who have not used this program before.
I have used this software before, so the inductions only reinforced methods that I am already used to, how ever it was comforting to know that the tutors use the same work methods as I do (thus far.) Despite this, I will continue to attend the sessions as the topics covered within them will prove incredibly handy for note-taking and learning more complex methods on how to animate and model - a skill I would love to learn more about.
I have decided to create a separate page on this blog named 'modeling references' as I tend to search into modeling methods quite often, but never seem to save any photos on topology, edge flow, etc, so I have decided this page could come in quite handy in the future.
http://capleass.blogspot.com/p/modelling.html
I have used this software before, so the inductions only reinforced methods that I am already used to, how ever it was comforting to know that the tutors use the same work methods as I do (thus far.) Despite this, I will continue to attend the sessions as the topics covered within them will prove incredibly handy for note-taking and learning more complex methods on how to animate and model - a skill I would love to learn more about.
I have decided to create a separate page on this blog named 'modeling references' as I tend to search into modeling methods quite often, but never seem to save any photos on topology, edge flow, etc, so I have decided this page could come in quite handy in the future.
http://capleass.blogspot.com/p/modelling.html
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Life drawing #2
 |
| Above: I decided to search into different types of frames (the torso and ribs area.) This will prove invaluable when I start to model characters in 3D. |
Animating using Flash
Recently Mark taught us how to animate on Flash, this was fantastic for me because I come from subjects that did not need us to learn Flash and therefore, this lesson was a great learning curve for me. I am aware that many games and clips have been made using this program, and therefore, the prospects of learning more about this piece of software is extremely exciting!
I thought the video below was very interesting to see what sort of artistic styles of animation can be used in Flash and generally just enjoyed watching videos using a program that I am being taught currently!
I thought the video below was very interesting to see what sort of artistic styles of animation can be used in Flash and generally just enjoyed watching videos using a program that I am being taught currently!
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Life drawing sessions
Recently it has been bought to our attention the lack of attendance to the life drawing sessions, unfortunately I am part of the group of people lacking in attendance, how ever for personal reasons I have had to miss a few sessions and this was unfortunately unavoidable (which I have informed the Games Art admin about.)
Despite this, I do recognise the importance of the study of anatomy and it's rewards when not only using traditional forms, but digital forms of drawing too. So to try and keep up with the others, I have drawn some pieces for life studies, with hopes that it will spur me on to keep drawing.
Despite this, I do recognise the importance of the study of anatomy and it's rewards when not only using traditional forms, but digital forms of drawing too. So to try and keep up with the others, I have drawn some pieces for life studies, with hopes that it will spur me on to keep drawing.
 |
| The line drawings were just starters and each piece took 1 minute. The shaded drawings took 3 minutes. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
