Tutorial 03 - Cow


Applying what I know to animate the cow in a funny way.

Tutorial 02 - Bat


Animation exercise using skelegons. I also made each of them repeat in time.

I couldn't make it textured with fur because every time I tried to apply it the Layout froze and crashed.

Tutorial 01 - Digger

VIDEO


It's an animation exercise where the model is rigged by using pivot points and not skelegons. All the moving parts were on separate layers and got joined by setting up the hierarchy.

HA14 Task 10 - Evaluation

Gain feedback on your animation and write an evaluation of your project. Use your blog posts to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your design process. Try to establish whether or not your finished product has achieved the aim of the project. Take into consideration anything said by interested parties.
Generate outline ideas for 3D animation working within appropriate conventions and with some assistance.
Generate detailed ideas for 3D animation showing some imagination and with only occasional assistance.
Generate thoroughly thought through ideas for 3D animation showing creativity and flair and working independently to professional expectations.
Create 3D animation following industry practice, working within appropriate conventions and with some assistance.
Create 3D animation to a good technical standard following industry practice, showing some imagination and with only occasional assistance.
Create 3D animation to a technical quality that reflects near-professional standards following industry practice, showing creativity and flair and working independently to professional expectations.
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Feedback

I gained a bit of feedback on my models through Facebook's individual responses received either from a group or privately. I didn't do any survey, since tasks didn't look like they required one.

Daniel (boyfriend)
"They're mostly very good, the fall on the jumps is too fast though, and you could make more of the body move in the running animation. The lunging one is the best though, since all the arms move as they naturally would."

Krzysztof
"Nietoperz wyszedł fajnie, tylko nie wiem co się działo z tą krową. A modele wygladają bardzo starannie."
(Translation from Polish)
The bat came out really good, I just don't know what happened to this cow. And models look very neatly done.

Anna
"Nie jestem ekspertem w animacji czy-de [3D - its a pun], ale wydaje mi się, że w animacji skoku marionetka chyba powinna przez chwilę wisieć w powietrzu zanim spadnie. A przynajmniej tak myślę, chociaż to podejrzenie bazuję na animacji 2D, która jednak często jest karykaturyzowana, więc to tylko takie przypuszczenie z mojej strony xD"
(Translation from Polish)
I am not an expert in 3D animation, but I think that in the jumping animation the puppet probably should hang in the air for a while before it'll fall down. At least that's what I think, though that suspicion I base on 2D animation which often is caricatured, so it's just the assumption from my side xD

Sandra
"Nie jestem pewna czy mam rację, ale szczególnie w dwóch pierwszych animacjach te pajęcze nóżki czy co to mogłyby luźniej latać."
(Translation from Polish)
I'm not sure if I'm right, but especially in those 2 first animations these spider legs (or whatever they are) could have moved more loosely.

Outcome
Some of the responses say that with jumping animation I should hang the puppet for a longer bit in the air and make it fall slower. I agree with that and I should pay more attention to such details and look out for more references while animating.

Others noticed that the legs don't always have a freedom of movement like normal puppets would have and I know that but couldn't implement them since I had to hurry while making the animations.

Strengths

I believe my strengths were mostly concentrated in imagining and thinking on how the 5-legged ad 5-armed creature may move while performing all of these actions. I didn't have problems with deducting how legs and arms should move for it to look convincing for the viewer. Same applies for the practice models, though I had the videos on how to animate a bat and I forgot about the rotation mechanics for the digger.

I also found it quite easy to build the puppet properly, apply the skelegons to it as well as weight maps and the textures as well as colouring and classifying the bones. Another thing I thing I was good at is deducting the time for each of the moments within the animation.

Once all frames were rendered I had no problem to merge them into a video as well as separate them. Making the storyboards wasn't an issue either.

For research-related issues I didn't have problems with finding relevant information, though I didn't write much because of little time left (read below).

Weaknesses

My main weakness were rotation coordinates for each of the arms and legs. Since they all were attached to a single bone and the number of limbs was odd not even, it made it difficult and slightly confusing to rotate each of the upper parts (thighs and shoulders). In short all rotation points of heading, bank and pitch were facing the exact same directions when they shouldn't (except for blue bones).

Every time I finished animation I had to ask for help with rendering because for some reason I can't remember how to set it up. 

When it comes to schedule as well as time management, I wasn't following it the way I should (moreover, I just started making the schedule in the last week to be honest) and because of that I didn't realise how little time I have and how many tasks are left for me to do. As a consequence I had to take a re-submission for 10 more days.

Aim Achieved?

I think the aim was achieved after all (and forgetting the amount of time that's left). During the re-submission time I done most of the tasks and they are completed at least for a Pass (which is better than a failure, but that's my fault really). All the animations were finished as well and to the standard I wanted them to be.

I think I really should watch how much time I have for a project and where the deadline is, because it's a bit embarrassing to apply for re-submissions. This time however I did pay importance of finishing all the tasks instead of spending a lot of time on one and then another, because some could be neglected.

finally I recommend not to have speakers/headphones on full while watching the final animation since at the end there is some weird sound that's really annoying and I had no idea it is there.

HA14 Task 9 - Presentation

Render out your completed sequence, upload it to your YouTube account and publish it to your blog.
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HA14 Task 8 – Production

Build your 3D gameplay animation by following your plans carefully using NewTek Modeler and Layout. You will need to review which assets are available to you and which you want to create for yourself or adapt. This is usually the most challenging part of the project management life cycle, because unexpected things crop up, new problems arise and perhaps even new goals become necessary. Remember to chart your progress carefully within your production log and monitor your time via the schedule. Use screenshots to explain your use of the software – animation techniques, camera, lighting, texturing and rendering.
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Preparation


That's the pose I chosen to be default for both beginning and end of each animation. I just simply used [Y] in order to rotate each arm bone to look like it's resting. It was a bit tricky because each of these bones is only parented to the main body (I mentioned it at the end of the task 5). Because there is 5 of them and not 4 for each end of axis it makes the rotation default to the main axis which is only good for rotating the blue arm by 3 axis wheels (exactly heading, bank and pitch) and not others.


That's the scene template the model is placed in. The default save file has both the arm resting position as well as the base one with all the bones perfectly straight in case I will need them that way. I also saved it with selected 60 frames on the graph below because that's how much (more or less) I want every animation to take.

Walking


I began the process with rotating the legs out with a small help of this video. Since the puppet has odd number of legs I rotated 2 in one frame and 3 in another. Then I created 2 mid-frames where the legs that are about to stretch out bend slightly. Once I was happy I copied the frames using [ENTER]. I didn't use the repeat post behaviour from the graph editor because I only wanted it to animate for 60 frames and because I forgot.



That's how the legs look in each of 4 frames for them. In every mid frame I used [T] to move the body down in order to give more sense of movement. I also rotated the arms slightly out every time the body tilts down.


At last I made the pink arm bend differently from others in order to add more interest to otherwise repetitive animation. For this animation I didn't use the same staring position as with others, since walking animations have to animate infinitely without end.

Running


After finishing the walk cycle I copied the file and renamed it. Then rotated the main body with [Y] and moved it slightly forward with [T]. Next, I slightly extended the legs and turned them slightly more forward or backward. I also made the puppet 'bounce' every mid frame and once I was happy with the outcome I began to rotate the arms like seen in the picture.


At last I made the arms swing backwards and forwards every mid frame with the blue one swinging sideways.

Jumping


After making another separate copy I started rotating bones. At first I animated legs to bend then straighten (while in the air), bend again when hitting the ground and go to the default position again. Once I was happy with positioning and after previewing the animation I moved to arms.



Those are two main parts of the animation, the bottom one's leg action repeats (by duplicating frame for selected body parts), but second time it appears the arms are up to balance out. At the beginning and end there is the default frame so the animation can repeat smoothly infinite amount of times.

Before rendering I copied and repositioned the second camera in order to see the jump from above. The camera was mysteriously lost.

Lunging


I began with rotating the main white bone of the skeleton with [Y] and then moving it slightly forward with [T] so it won't seem to rotate but lean forward. Then I lowered it on Y axis and rotated legs so they bend (except for the blue one).


I moved the main body forward again and started to rotate arms. First I just made sure that they won't go into the ground while tilting and then I made them in a 'threatening' position which is kind of an attack. Then I copied 1st and 2nd main transition and placed them in a reverse order and just slightly altered the arms.

Spinning


For spinning animation I began with rotating the model for a total of 1080 degrees since that number divides perfectly by 360 and I needed full 360 rotations in order to return the puppet to starting position. However, I didn't rotate it evenly because that would be boring. I tried to make it seem like it accelerates: speeding up then going slower until it stops.

At the 30th frame I copied the arms positioning to upright, so they basically start to be 'pulled' by forces and then they fall down into the resting position.

Final Touches


I used this preset on each surface of the puppet. From settings I only changed the colour to very light grey and blue from the ready colour palette under the colour wheel.


That's how it looks after it's fully rendered using either [F9] or [F10] shortcut command. It's the closest surface that resembles the uneven silver coating on a real life version of this puppet. Unfortunately, since I changed the surface in the layout not modeller the surface always resets to the default plain one, even when I press save.

HA14 Task 7 – Legal and Ethical Checklist

Ensure that you have carried out a legal and ethical check of your proposal and provided appropriate evidence of this.
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HA14 Task 6 – Storyboard

Use your rig and screenshots or frame renders to plan out storyboard treatments for the following movement cycles:

Walking
Running
Jumping
Lunging
Spinning


Make sure that you are clear and concise. Annotate and use symbols to describe action. It is really important that you indicate the timing of each section in both seconds and frames. Thinking the timing through carefully will not only help you to keep within the timeframe given to you, but will also help you to give your sequence rhythm. If you need to adapt it or refine it, then produce another. The test is whether you could give your storyboard to someone else within a team to guide them in producing the sequence. Chart this process within your production log.
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Walking


Running


Jumping


Lunging


Spinning


HA14 Task 5 – Puppet Rig

Construct a rig within the puppet model using Skelegons and then activate these within Layout. Chart this process within your production log.
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I have created skelegons in a similar manner to constructing the puppet: I made one (or group) skelegon for each part and copied and rotated using the origin. Then I either used [M] for merge points if they overlapped each other, or [CRTL]+[W] to weld them together if they were in other places. 

Later in layout I converted the skelegons into actual ones and applied them to the first layer. Then I made sure they are arranged in a proper way/hierarchy and painted each of them for a corresponding colour, so it will be easier for me to monitor each of these sides. Later I made the middle bone white, because I realised it had the same colour as one of the sides.

At last I painted all legs and arms in blue, red, pink, yellow and green and assigned a weight map to each body piece. I also deleted the 'shoulders' because they were unnecessary any more and applied the weight map to bones. That protected the puppet from distortions.

HA14 Task 4 – Puppet Build

Using the supplied Modeler object elements, assemble the Sophie Taeuber-Arp puppet. Chart this process within a production log.
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That's how the pupped looked like at the start. One of everything except for the rings, since they had to be implemented to show the initial positioning.

The assembly was very easy. Firstly I cut the arm pieces to a separate layer, clicked [F2] to centre it, used [Y] and [CTRL] command to rotate it horizontally and then [T] and [CTRL] to move on the central Z axis. After positioning, I highlighted it, copied, pasted and pressed [Y] and then opened numerics to rotate it by 72 degrees (1/5 of 360 degrees). I did similar things to other parts of the robot.

Final outcome.

HA14 Task 3 – 3D Gameplay Animation Research

Having completed the rigging tutorials, carry out visual and written research into examples of 3D gameplay animation cycles. Cite any sources you have used in your research, both written and visual.
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Animation in games is much more complex than animation in films. One of the reasons is that in films the animation is only viewed from a single angle (which starts being not true as some films and videos now allow the action be seen from different angles but that's not important right now). In games, unless it is a 2D game, animation and world can be seen from multiple angles and even from multiple perspectives! The player can trigger 1st or 3rd person view and rotate camera as he/she goes along. 



Another major aspect is that animation in games has to be interactive. In films they only animate several shots and only them. In games however, animator has to make all sorts of different animation cycles depending on how many actions there are available. So for example an animation for walking, running, punching, ducking, rolling, walking with a weapon, idle, etcetera. Furthermore all animations have to fit together by either short animations-transitions from state to state or by most having the same beginning or end frame (which sometimes doesn't work). Some animations also require to be able to repeat multiple times which usually applies to walking or running or other moving animations.

"Games, however, are meant to be interactive. When you play a game, you’ll have complete control of the character and the camera. You’re the one driving the story forward and making the character move. So not only does the animation need to look good, it needs to look good from every possible angle". http://blog.digitaltutors.com/how-animation-for-games-is-different-from-animation-for-movies/

iAnimate is the website about animation workshops for the game industry

The other difficulty is about timing. Not only it applies to working fairly fast for prototyping and overall requirements of the industry but also for animation to be fairly short for a player to respond quickly in a game and long enough to seem realistic.

"Since there is less time to refine your work, you will need to have a greater understanding of the animation and the purpose of it, and what you want the player to feel. Game animation isn’t about creating top-notch performances like in Frozen, but about ensuring the animation will work well for the player". http://blog.digitaltutors.com/how-animation-for-games-is-different-from-animation-for-movies/

HA14 Task 2 – Dada and Sophie Taeuber-Arp Research

Carry out visual and written research into the Dada movement and Sophie Arp. Cite any sources you have used in your research, both written and visual.
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DADA Movement

Dada movement started in 1910s and ended in early 1920s just before the World War I ended. It began in Switzerland but then spreaded to cities in Germany, France and even USA. The movement is "influenced by other avant-garde movements - Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism - its output was wildly diverse, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage". http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm

Dadaists (as they are called) didn't want to be popular or create a huge amounts of art, they didn't even want it to be visually pleasing in any way. Their works were meant to ask questions about modern society and the purpose of art. It can be said that it was one of the first modern art societies created. Its span was short and quickly ended just like the short span of being a baby whose first words are 'dada' - primal, basic, clumsy.

"Dada artists are known for their use of readymade objects - everyday objects that could be bought and presented as art with little manipulation by the artist. The use of the readymade forced questions about artistic creativity and the very definition of art and its purpose in society".
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm

Some of the major dada artist:

 Francis Picabia, France




Sophie Taeuber-Arp



"Born in Davos, Switzerland in 1889 as Sophie Henriette Gertrude Taeuber, Taeuber-Arp is now recognised as one of the key figures in the Dada artistic movement, though in her lifetime she fought for her less figurative style of art to be recognised as fine art". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12106374/Who-was-Sophie-Taeuber-Arp-One-of-the-most-important-female-artists-youve-never-heard-of.html

She was married to Hans Arp in 1922 (who I briefly mentioned above) with whom she founded the Dada group. In addition of being an artist she was also a textile designer and a dancer. She's known for her abstract geometrical paintings as well as the puppets she created.

"Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a leading member of the dada movement – but her works don’t look like our stereotyped idea of what it was. Instead of angry collages, she created joyous abstractions". http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/jan/19/sophie-taeuber-arp-google-doodle-dada-art


HA14 Task 1 - Schedule

 The stimulus for this assignment is your own professional development material; your portfolio. You need to manage your time carefully and account for your actions.

Complete a schedule for the project using the supplied template. This burn-down chart will help you allocate enough time for each task and hit the deadline. Your schedule will need to be reviewed and updated at least once per week.

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