Digital Skilling and Animation: 2012

The Textures Are On, Time To Bump

So the model is now complete with texture i have bump mapped it and lighted it so its done.

http://youtu.be/taq80pqnVkY

Model Complete

Yay the model is complete now comes texture mapping.

The model is coming along nicely and so far no errors because this is a scene for an animation i dont have to worry about the poly count as it is not being put into a game engine or anything like that.

Modelling Begins

So I have started on my scene and have modelled a bit of it at the moment it is very crude.

Scene Research

Ok so I'm working on my 3d scene I have a good idea of what i want to do in my head but i cant show you that so here are some images that communicate what i am trying to create.

Finished

Ok so the lip-sync is finished its time to move on too 3d modelling I hope you enjoy the Vid.

The Moves

I have finished the animation of the two characters now all that remains is to add the lip-sync (easier said than done) will post when done.

Corruption and Glitches

Breakdowns

I have been working into the animation and have discovered issues with the norman rig like if you change the mouth parts to stepped rather than splined animation you get this:

But anyway that set me back 7 incremental saves before I noticed it lucky that i save often so not that much was lost although it is still frustrating. The breakdowns all is going well with the animation but is is still very crude i am still working into it:

3D Animatic

Animatic in Maya

I have been working on this for a while and have had my file corrupted once (damned Maya) but its fine now so here are some progress shots and the key frames using stepped animation frames not splines, I have decided to work without splines because it would make the animation feel too smooth as if under water :

Scene Modelled

Modelling the scene

As this piece is mainly focused on the animation using the norman rig i am not going to use a detailed scene just basics with the props, For the animation I need to model a basic scene with some props that the character must interact with I have gone for a dark room with orange light cascading through blinds.

Shot from the camera

Research and the Animatic

Skill Reel Research

A Skill Reel/Show Reel is equivalent to an artists portfolio for animators, it is a short example of their work that shows the viewer the animators skills and previous work and projects. These usually include character designs, rough animation and storyboards showing the work flow and processes example:
Double Negative Showreel: http://www.dneg.com/showreel/

Freelance Animator Showreel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUDWQ5DFkgg

1st Piece of Animation

Animatic

This is the first piece of animation that I have started this year it is the lip synch animation that is described above the peice will be 10 seconds long and done in Maya using the norman rig.

Modelling ends and the Ideas Flow

Then we modelled a realistic hand:

That is it for the models next we were asked to think about what we want to do for a skill reel this year and write it up in a proposal to present:

I want to create a skill reel that shows off animation, for this I will create 3 pieces of animation using maya, modelling, animating and lighting.

1^st piece: a lip synch animation using the Norman rig 12 seconds long in a custom environment (already working on this in 2D lectures).

2nd piece: a detailed piece of animation, almost like a teaser for a game, custom character, rig, and environment. This piece will have concept work, layouts and animatics to back it up; basic idea is an artic environment with a derelict ice breaker ship. The character is outside looking at the ship during a blizzard then the shot changes and the character is on the ship opening a door looking in and around the room that he has opened then a sudden noise, the character makes a sharp turn and the shot ends, this is my planned project for next year so the I will start with modelling the scene.

This was received well as I cover all of the criteria and the 2nd piece of animation is an optional one if I have the time as it is quite ambitious, I will do as much work as possible for the animation but it is preparation for the 3rd year.

More Modelling....

We were then told to model the characters face but my files corrupted so I will skip that step to move to a real face model. this was done using reference photos: