Hey Class,
Today I took my blocked lip synch animation, and splined it.
Steps I took:
-Splined all my keys. I usually start with Auto Tangents on everything.
-Because of splining, you might need to go in and add keys to create holds or moving holds.
-I start refining in this order usually. First body, head, hands, and then face. Don't be afraid to come back to something if you think you can make it better. A great example last night was while I was animating the mouth, I noticed I wanted to go back and change the head.
-Even though mouth is important, your performance will rely on what you do with the eyes and the eye brows. The eyes tell us the character is alive.
-Don't be afraid to begin offsetting you keyframes from each other. Have the hands move before or after the body. Have the head lead the body movement. You can even offset.
This is the final push for your animations! Due next Wednesday. You can send me quicktimes like you have been doing this whole time. Spline them and make them awesome! Google splining animation on youtube if you want to see how other people go through this process.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Class 14 5/4/2017
In class today, I began blocking out an acting animation with dialogue.
Notes I wanted you to take away from the demonstration:
-Be expressive and emote from the head and body. In my case, I tried to make sure the way the head moved was communicating what the character was saying and thinking.
-Act out the actions your self to find acting choices.
-Time the beats of the animation to how the character speaks
-Try to make every pose interesting.
-Come back to poses and modify them if need be.
Notes for Finals
Heejung
Try to simplify your actions. I think the main beats of your animation should be something like this:
"This drink" -holds up the dish, but not too high. Begins to sit back.
"I like it" settles into sitting back.
"ANOTHER" quickly sits back up and raises the dish up before slamming it down
See if you can try things with the camera so we don't lose the man's hand or the dish when he holds it up high.
Branden
Good progress. Work on really selling the moment when the bad guy flips from being good to bad. Don't have him gesture towards the background, since it will only distract from his face. Begin blocking some mouth shapes and facial expression to really sell how bad this guy is. Also make sure to pose and animate the fingers of the victim.
Joe
Great revision on your final. Keep adding breakdown poses and when you have it to a good place, begin splining. Watch out for weird shapes in the neck and spine. Think about the lines moving through the character.
Lana
Same as Joe, keep adding breakdown poses, and then start splining.
Vinay
Clean up a lot of your poses. Pose your hands and place a little cube in there to try and sell that you character is playing video games. Try to fix the suitcase swing so we get a nice view of the arc. Film your self shuffling on a bench so you can get some ideas on how to animate it.
At this point, I would like you to look at your own work critically and think about:
-do the poses make sense?
-are they good poses?
-does the timing work?
-can I read the characters well?
-is the story being communicated effectively?
Show to your friends to make sure your animations are working. Please try to consider these and make adjustments before showing your work next week.
Notes I wanted you to take away from the demonstration:
-Be expressive and emote from the head and body. In my case, I tried to make sure the way the head moved was communicating what the character was saying and thinking.
-Act out the actions your self to find acting choices.
-Time the beats of the animation to how the character speaks
-Try to make every pose interesting.
-Come back to poses and modify them if need be.
Notes for Finals
Heejung
Try to simplify your actions. I think the main beats of your animation should be something like this:
"This drink" -holds up the dish, but not too high. Begins to sit back.
"I like it" settles into sitting back.
"ANOTHER" quickly sits back up and raises the dish up before slamming it down
See if you can try things with the camera so we don't lose the man's hand or the dish when he holds it up high.
Branden
Good progress. Work on really selling the moment when the bad guy flips from being good to bad. Don't have him gesture towards the background, since it will only distract from his face. Begin blocking some mouth shapes and facial expression to really sell how bad this guy is. Also make sure to pose and animate the fingers of the victim.
Joe
Great revision on your final. Keep adding breakdown poses and when you have it to a good place, begin splining. Watch out for weird shapes in the neck and spine. Think about the lines moving through the character.
Lana
Same as Joe, keep adding breakdown poses, and then start splining.
Vinay
Clean up a lot of your poses. Pose your hands and place a little cube in there to try and sell that you character is playing video games. Try to fix the suitcase swing so we get a nice view of the arc. Film your self shuffling on a bench so you can get some ideas on how to animate it.
HOMEWORK
I would love it if you guys began your splining, and bring in your porgress next week.At this point, I would like you to look at your own work critically and think about:
-do the poses make sense?
-are they good poses?
-does the timing work?
-can I read the characters well?
-is the story being communicated effectively?
Show to your friends to make sure your animations are working. Please try to consider these and make adjustments before showing your work next week.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Class 13 04/26/2017
Hey Guys,
For today's blog, I am just going to outline what I would like to see from each of your finals for next week.
Heejung
I would like to see more varying poses for each statement the character makes. When he screams "Another!", perhaps it could be a bigger pose or gesture. Something to contrast more with his previous pose. See how much you can make them talk while moving their bodies and head. I showed a video in class of an animator who uses cubes to block out how his characters might move as they are talking.
For today's blog, I am just going to outline what I would like to see from each of your finals for next week.
Heejung
I would like to see more varying poses for each statement the character makes. When he screams "Another!", perhaps it could be a bigger pose or gesture. Something to contrast more with his previous pose. See how much you can make them talk while moving their bodies and head. I showed a video in class of an animator who uses cubes to block out how his characters might move as they are talking.
Notice in the beginning, the animator made sure the character was talking with his head, before he began to animate the lips.
Lana
Keep adding more breakdown poses to your animation. Remember to hold the poses a little longer for hits, so we can see them. Also take advantage of anticipation, so that all the hits and strikes feel good.
Lana, I found a great animator who put all his blocking animations on his youtube page.
blocking 1
blocking 2
Spline
Lana, I think if you have enough blocked out, so it is similar between blocking 1 and 2 of these videos, I think that would be great.
Joe
Joe, your timing is much better for your latest animatic. I would next concentrate on making appealing poses and facial expressions with your character. Keep your latest as timing reference, and go back in and make the poses better. Film yourself to find out how your body moves when you sit cross legged and drink.
If you can add more poses as well, that would be great.
Vinay
Same as Joe, your timing is better, but you need to work on your poses. Film yourself and really clean up the characters so they look more natural and appealing. Keep it stepped if you need too.
Branden
Bring your 3d animatic up to the level of your 2d animatic in terms of poses. Add more if you can. Keep in mind we want to feel like we are being held up by the bad guy, whether it is up or down.
Reminder, please feel free to send me your props and I can rig them for you.
If you haven't seen the videos I posted in Lana's section, please watch them. They come from a channel I just discovered today, and I wish I had to show you earlier. This person posts all his blocking passes to spline passes
This video is a great example of where I want most of you to be with your animation poses next week.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Class 11 04/6/2017
This class we looked at some animatics for your finals.
I demonstrated other rigs that will be possible for you to use for your final as well. I showed Malcolm 2.0, Mery and Eleven. I am having doubt about Mery to be honest, so it's best to stay away from it.
We watched some videos last night for some inspiration and ideas on storytelling.
The Cohen Brothers: An exploration in how The Cohen Brothers direct dialogue scenes, with wide angle lenses, and positioning the camera within the space between two characters. The effect to be more intimate with the characters, but also be uncomfortable with them as well.
Satoshi Kon: Amazing animation director who did interesting things with scene transitions, editing, ellipses, timing and space.
Double King: Great acting with the eyes. No dialogue. Also the timing and pacing of the action is appealing to watch and very very funny.
I demonstrated other rigs that will be possible for you to use for your final as well. I showed Malcolm 2.0, Mery and Eleven. I am having doubt about Mery to be honest, so it's best to stay away from it.
We watched some videos last night for some inspiration and ideas on storytelling.
The Cohen Brothers: An exploration in how The Cohen Brothers direct dialogue scenes, with wide angle lenses, and positioning the camera within the space between two characters. The effect to be more intimate with the characters, but also be uncomfortable with them as well.
Satoshi Kon: Amazing animation director who did interesting things with scene transitions, editing, ellipses, timing and space.
Double King: Great acting with the eyes. No dialogue. Also the timing and pacing of the action is appealing to watch and very very funny.
Breaking Bad: Scene revealing something about Peter's past. This is a wonderful clip because it tells us something about his life, through watching him, rather than using dialogue or exposition.
Characters holding objects
I talk about parent constraining a prop to your character's hand. I will go into more detail again in later classes.
Props are usually rigged under Control Curves. I usually use about 3, but you can make due with 2 or 2.
Make sure the geo is parented to the lowest curve in the hierarchy.
Make a group null and put the top Control Curve under that group null. You can do this easily by selecting your top Control Curve and hitting ctrl+g. That Group null you may call buffer, and use that to parent constrain to your animation wrist control.
The hierarchy will look something like this.
PropBufferGRP>PropCTRL01>PropCTRL02>PropCTRL03>PropGEO
It is good practice to create your prop rig in a separate file and reference it in.
I usually add attribute on the top rig control to create a custom attribute for toggling visibility. I did not show this in class, but will later classes.
I havent shown this yet, but I then use set driven keys to connect the attribute to the visibility of the geo. Please google set driven key for tutorials if you want to look ahead on the concept.
Throwing objects
When I throw objects, I would rather toggle the visibility of multiple objects than trying to keyframe the parent constraint. Usually I do this by referencing a prop twice, and parent constraining only one to the hand.
Homework:
Begin laying out your 3D animatic. Lay out the key poses for your story and time them. Set up your cameras. Bring in a quicktime in 2 weeks.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Class 10 03/29/2017
Last class we went over your animation ideas, and I begin to show you how I would begin to do layout and previz with your animation ideas.
You are picking "Long Live the King". Try to keep it around 11-12 seconds long. Even though you boarded out a POV angel, I would like you to try something more simple. I can see this happening with 2-3 camera angles. Please draw out those frames and the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with the audio and time everything out. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
Lana
You want to make a girl defend herself from flying objects. I think it's great that you laid out the poses, but next you need to think about how you will frame this in a scene. Since this animation will be very involved, I think it's best to use one stationary camera. However if you have idea for how you would like the camera to move, even it's a little bit, I am interested in seeing it. But make sure you really give alot of love to your animation first. Please draw out your frames and the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with any audio you might and time everything out. If you want to use the audio from the animation, I am fine with that. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
Heejung
You are having some dude smash his plate into the ground. You have drawn your animatic already, so go ahead and setup your maya file with rough poses and timing. Bring in a quicktime for next class.
Joe
I really love your ideas, but we need to shape them into something a bit more simple. I think you wanted to go with having a character drink when they don't want to. Please draw out the range of emotions your character might go through in this situation. Feel free to share them with me before next week if you want feedback. If you get it in a good place early enough you can time it out in After Effects.
Vinay
You decided to have two characters interact on a train, one attacking the other with his luggage. I think for this sort of animation, you might do well with one stationary camera. Please sketch out your scene's composotion and where the characters will be. Please draw out the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with whatever audio you would like to use (if any) and time everything out. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
This artist has a channel full of animatics showing her interpretation of the Musical Hamilton. These are really cute.
Final Project Discussion
BrendenYou are picking "Long Live the King". Try to keep it around 11-12 seconds long. Even though you boarded out a POV angel, I would like you to try something more simple. I can see this happening with 2-3 camera angles. Please draw out those frames and the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with the audio and time everything out. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
Lana
You want to make a girl defend herself from flying objects. I think it's great that you laid out the poses, but next you need to think about how you will frame this in a scene. Since this animation will be very involved, I think it's best to use one stationary camera. However if you have idea for how you would like the camera to move, even it's a little bit, I am interested in seeing it. But make sure you really give alot of love to your animation first. Please draw out your frames and the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with any audio you might and time everything out. If you want to use the audio from the animation, I am fine with that. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
Heejung
You are having some dude smash his plate into the ground. You have drawn your animatic already, so go ahead and setup your maya file with rough poses and timing. Bring in a quicktime for next class.
Joe
I really love your ideas, but we need to shape them into something a bit more simple. I think you wanted to go with having a character drink when they don't want to. Please draw out the range of emotions your character might go through in this situation. Feel free to share them with me before next week if you want feedback. If you get it in a good place early enough you can time it out in After Effects.
Vinay
You decided to have two characters interact on a train, one attacking the other with his luggage. I think for this sort of animation, you might do well with one stationary camera. Please sketch out your scene's composotion and where the characters will be. Please draw out the key moments of the animation and action. Plug the drawings into After Effect with whatever audio you would like to use (if any) and time everything out. For next class bring in a quicktime of your animatic.
Animatics
Even though it was not timed out yet, Heejung's animatic is great example to follow. She drew just enough detail for us to understand what is happening with the characters. Here are some other great animatics to watch:This artist has a channel full of animatics showing her interpretation of the Musical Hamilton. These are really cute.
Another version of Helpless from Hamilton done by a different artist. I think this one is quite good.
Maya Layout and Previz
I opened up maya and showed you guys how I would get started with setting up my layout/previz file.
1) Open up maya and reference character and camera rigs.
2) Import audio wav file.
3) If needed model a simple environment and props.
4) Set up poses and camera compostions for each shot and action in your scenes. Use your audio or animatic as timing reference.
Feel free to key your camera and set up multiple scenes in one maya file. Since many of you are not at this step yet, I will go over this information again.
Maya files
I will be emailing you maya rigs to try out. Feel free to play with them and try them out. See if you would like them for your final. Bring in any questions you might have. I will try to cover some of them next class.
I also have the camera rig ready for you. I will explain it during next class, but feel free to play with it.
I will also send you the maya file of my layout along with the audio if you want to explore it and see how I moved the characters and camera.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Class 9 03/22/2017
In today's class, I splined out head turn animation showing how to add life to the character.
SPLINING
-Moving holds- adding slight moves or drift to the character to keep him alive. You can see it in the graph editor at the beginning of the animation.
Keith Lango has a great write up on moving holds. I strongly encourage you to read it. Apologies for the outdated website.
-Moving eyelids- keyframing the eyelids whenever the pupils moved.
-How to use eye blinking
Carlos Baena's website about animators using blinks.
My selected note from this post
"That is after we looked in one direction for a while and get "enough" information from that, we blink and change focus of interest. By analogy, sometimes we blink to separate one thought from another in a thought process." "When a thought process is finished" "This is what I thought was interesting. Someone here told me about a book (sorry - can't remember the title right now) where a film editor discussed how he edits his movies. Basically, he makes the cut where an actor blinks or when
the viewer naturally "feels" like it's time to blink. His whole theory is that our brain is viewing a film whenever we are awake and that our eyes are the editors, and the blinks are our eyes "cutting" the "scenes." This is why we blink when our though process changes or eye direction changes," "Other stuff I try to do is to actually anticipate eyeblinks over a frame or two. Not that is very noticeable, but when you have closeups I really think it makes a difference. When we dart our eyes, the pupil eases out...I also noticed that with blinks. The eyelid doesn't close in a constant way, we have slows in and out of the open/close move"
Example in Moana:
-Smear frame- I attempted a smear frame on the character when he jumped backwards. His face stretched into the direction from which he was coming from. The stretch lasted for 1 frame, and reset over the course of the second frame. By the 3rd frame the stretch was gone.
examples of other smears from frameXframe:
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/158068690763/disneys-the-fox-and-the-hound
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/32803534310/don-bluths-anastasia
-Added some offset animation - to the head and shoulders at the end. The head has a delayed bounced while the shoulder happen one from apart from each other, instead of at the same time. Do these things to add some variety and asymmetry to the timing and movement. It will keep your character feeling organic.
Here are some extra materials on Head turns and splining animation. This animator is not using stepped keys, which is fine. But many of the concepts she talks about are very good.
I outlined what I would like to see in your final assignments. I showed more examples of Animation planning, and some videos that will hopefully inspire your ideas. You will have the rest of the semester to work on your final, with it being due on the last day of class. Each week's assignment will be to work on various aspects of the animation process.
Animator Acting reference:
http://i.imgur.com/UWmcpFk.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/mK9ZmYP.gifv
Every Frame a Painting.
These videos give some ideas and knowledge about how you can use the camera to enhance the actions you are trying to show. Remember, you do not have to be as elaborate as some of the examples shown here. I just would like you to see all the possibilities that are available within the frame of the camera.
Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Wolf Children (2012) - The Lateral Tracking Shot from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
SPLINING
-Moving holds- adding slight moves or drift to the character to keep him alive. You can see it in the graph editor at the beginning of the animation.
Keith Lango has a great write up on moving holds. I strongly encourage you to read it. Apologies for the outdated website.
-Moving eyelids- keyframing the eyelids whenever the pupils moved.
-How to use eye blinking
Carlos Baena's website about animators using blinks.
My selected note from this post
"That is after we looked in one direction for a while and get "enough" information from that, we blink and change focus of interest. By analogy, sometimes we blink to separate one thought from another in a thought process." "When a thought process is finished" "This is what I thought was interesting. Someone here told me about a book (sorry - can't remember the title right now) where a film editor discussed how he edits his movies. Basically, he makes the cut where an actor blinks or when
the viewer naturally "feels" like it's time to blink. His whole theory is that our brain is viewing a film whenever we are awake and that our eyes are the editors, and the blinks are our eyes "cutting" the "scenes." This is why we blink when our though process changes or eye direction changes," "Other stuff I try to do is to actually anticipate eyeblinks over a frame or two. Not that is very noticeable, but when you have closeups I really think it makes a difference. When we dart our eyes, the pupil eases out...I also noticed that with blinks. The eyelid doesn't close in a constant way, we have slows in and out of the open/close move"
Example in Moana:
-Smear frame- I attempted a smear frame on the character when he jumped backwards. His face stretched into the direction from which he was coming from. The stretch lasted for 1 frame, and reset over the course of the second frame. By the 3rd frame the stretch was gone.
examples of other smears from frameXframe:
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/158068690763/disneys-the-fox-and-the-hound
http://framexframe.tumblr.com/post/32803534310/don-bluths-anastasia
-Added some offset animation - to the head and shoulders at the end. The head has a delayed bounced while the shoulder happen one from apart from each other, instead of at the same time. Do these things to add some variety and asymmetry to the timing and movement. It will keep your character feeling organic.
Here are some extra materials on Head turns and splining animation. This animator is not using stepped keys, which is fine. But many of the concepts she talks about are very good.
FINAL
Animator Acting reference:
http://i.imgur.com/UWmcpFk.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/mK9ZmYP.gifv
Every Frame a Painting.
These videos give some ideas and knowledge about how you can use the camera to enhance the actions you are trying to show. Remember, you do not have to be as elaborate as some of the examples shown here. I just would like you to see all the possibilities that are available within the frame of the camera.
Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Wolf Children (2012) - The Lateral Tracking Shot from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Animator Progression reels:
The last two videos for Ratatoullie, and Monsters Inc, I want you to pay attention to. These two videos show very well many of the steps I would like you to do for your final.
Another source of inspiration might be the Frame X Frame Tumblr. Surf this website, and see if there are any animations or actions that interest you.
Mr. Buttons
I've shown this animation before in class, but I will be happy to link you to it again, since it is a nice clip that meets the requirements of the final project.
Blind Date Animation (right click, save as)
AnimSchool Student Reels have great examples of the type of short animations I am looking for.
AnimSchool Student Reels have great examples of the type of short animations I am looking for.
HOMEWORK
1) Finish Head turn animations. Splined!
2) Final Project Phase 1:
-Please come up with at least two animation ideas. It could be anything from a lip synch animation like the 11 Second Club, to an action, like dancing or fight choreography.
-Sketch out thumbnails of how you would animate these ideas. If you are not sure what thumbnail sketches are, here are some examples:
-Essentially, the idea is to sketch out the most important points of your story, or action. Bring in these images and present your idea for class.
-Bring in any material that supports your animation idea. It could be the audio, video, or animation reference. Like I said you could surf FrameXFrame for ideas, or bring in a video of a dancer for reference.
-Remember to pick an idea that really engages you! It will make it that much more fun to work on!
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Class 8 3/15/2017
Head Turn Animation
Hello everyone!
Topics cover in class:
*LINK* Lines and Shapes in a composition. - Very useful when staging your scene.
*LINK* Animation as music - The idea that the same principles for appealing music and rhythm can be applied to animation.
*LINK* Eyebrows - Tips for shaping the eyebrows and eyes when posing out the face.
One important point I wanted to impress upon you is to make sure and keep both eyes on the screen facing the camera. The eyes are important for emotional connections. If we lose an eye we might lose that connection.
For the demonstration, I blocked out key poses for a head turn animation, and added a change of emotion at the end. You can see my key poses in the maya scene I have sent to you. My poses are by no means an exact blue print. I think it was sufficient to get my idea across. You may need more or less depending on what you decide to do. This is why using reference video will be very useful for this exercise.
I also made sure to take care when posing facial expressions. I wanted to keep them interesting and asymmetrical. This might mean opening one eye more than the other, offsetting the mouth from the center, or changing the eye brow shapes.
Here are some helpful references on the topic of head turning. Hopefully these will reiterate what I went over in class, and you can use these as helpful reference for when you are doing your homework assignment.
________________________________________
**IF THERE IS ONE VIDEO I WANT YOU TO WATCH IT IS THIS ONE, WHERE AN ANIMATOR SHOWS YOU HOW HE BLOCKS OUT HIS HEAD TURN.** Sorry for the caps lock and the yelling. I just wanted to make sure you read this <3.
<3<3<3<3<3<3
____________________________________
Please take note, there are many different ways to do a head turn. A neutral head turn is completely valid, but whatever the emotion of the character might be would also affect how the turn is happening.
Other videos we watched in class:
Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Analysis of legendary animation director Chuck Jones and how he approached developing characters. Because he set down rules and very defined personalities, he was able to effectively create vivid believable characters. He has also mastered the art of communicating comedy and character through limited facial expression.
Some good eye blinks here.
One More Beer! from pedro conti on Vimeo.
Great character animation that tells a story and shows you who the character is just by using the eyes.
Mother (2009) - Telephoto Profile Shots from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Analysis of a great Korean film director who broke the rules of showing both eyes in order for the audience to feel disconnected and helpless while watching the characters.
Since animation is acting, much of what Micheal Caine is talking about here is relevant to what we do as animators.
Blind Date Animation (right click, save as)
This is the animation of the Cat showing up for a date.
HOMEWORK
Based on what was shown in class, and the reference I provided in this blog post, please create your own head turn. This is your chance to get creative. Don't just rotate the head and blink the eyes. Make me feel the turn in the body and the shoulders. Create an expressive face that might communicate what your character might be feeling on the inside. Please feel free to explore and experiment. Remember you are creating art. Let's see some emotion!
Don't forget to create a new perspective camera to view our animation with. I usually rename it "RenderCam" which is what many studios do. Find a good place for this camera, and lock it in place by locking attributes, or just keyframe it. Make sure this camera view is the best angle for viewing your work. Remember what I said about the eyes. Our animations will work much better when we see both eyes in the shot. Use your RenderCam to figure that out.
It is REQUIRED record yourself a few times turning your head and looking. Do it a few times and pick the best one. Turn it in with your animation progress!Don't forget to create a new perspective camera to view our animation with. I usually rename it "RenderCam" which is what many studios do. Find a good place for this camera, and lock it in place by locking attributes, or just keyframe it. Make sure this camera view is the best angle for viewing your work. Remember what I said about the eyes. Our animations will work much better when we see both eyes in the shot. Use your RenderCam to figure that out.
Think back to your assignment when you posed out the character to your drawings. You are essentially doing the same thing, but with poses that are sequential.
So in summary I want to see:
1 blocked animation of a head turn.
1 video of your filmed reference.
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