Month: March 2023

Introduction

This week, I worked on my final draft of my previs-shots for my Skullchaser animation. I am looking forward to using these preproduction videos as a reference for my final major animation project.

Previs-Shots

Further Comments

Learning how to create previs-shots was essential to understand the preproduction process of any animation. They are crucial to not only save resources but also time before working on the animation itself, as they give a rough overview of how the film is going to be structured.

Introduction

For this week, I focused on creating the final animated renders of my mechanical arm showcasing the details that I have modeled.

Animation Renders and Close-Ups

Mechanical Arm Animation

As opposed to character rigs, I wanted the mechanical arm to make robotic movements. For this reason, each part of the model moves in a sequential way.

Finger Animation

In the following animation, we can the flexion and extension of the fingers. In addition, we can appreciate in more detail the pads on the palm of the hand.

Elbow Animation

The following close-up showcases the details on the elbow and the screws that connect the different parts of the mechanical arm. Furthermore, in this render we can appreciate the variety of metallic materials in different colors.

Final Thoughts

Over the past weeks, we have learned extremely useful tools and shortcuts to create our 3D models efficiently in Autodesk Maya. The main features I learned in this term are how to:

• Extrude, bevel and insert edge loops to our surfaces.
• Change, center and snap the pivot point to different vertex points.
• Create locators and use parent and aim constraints on our models.
• Use shortcuts to isolate selections and zoom in on a object.
• Name our layers and control the hierarchy in an organized way.

We also got an overview of the compositing workflow and had the opportunity of filming a footage using a green screen sleeve. Even though my video edit did not turn out as I had expected, since the size of the mechanical arm and my actual arm were out of proportion, I enjoyed going through our modelling, rigging, animation and post-production process.

Even though at this point of my professional journey I would like to focus on character animation, getting an overview on some modelling skills is essential in that I can customize character rigs and props I use on my animations.

Introduction

This week, I worked specifically on Skullchaser’s shooting and running sequence. I used the storyboard and reference videos I recorded last week to create my previs-shots.

Previs-Shots (Shooting & Running Sequence)

Process Breakdown

In order to create my previs-shots, I used my reference videos to help me pose the Skullchaser rig. On the left, there are some pictures of my previs-shots and on the right some shots of my reference videos.

Running Away from Bats

Aiming at Bats

Dropping the Pistol

Jumping off the Cliff

Introduction

For this week, I edited my mechanical arm onto my footage we recorded in class. Since it was my first attempt at editing a video of such nature, I encountered numerous challenges and difficulties.

Video Editing Attempt

Major Challenge

Proportions: The major problem I had was that the size of the mechanical arm was not the same as my actual arm. However, when I scaled the arm to cover the blank spaces, it looked out of proportion. For this reason, what I actually should have done was to use a tighter green sleeve to avoid this issue.

Further Comments

Even though the video editing did not turn out as I expected, it was important to learn the workflow of compositing. In the future, I will make sure to wear a tighter green screen suit to create more convincing animations.

Introduction

This week, I specifically worked on editing my running and shooting sequence. Before working on my Previs-Shots, I created a Storyboard to go over the camera movements and transitions with George.

Storyboard – Shooting Sequence

Storyboard – Part 1

Skullchaser starts running, gets chased by bats, aims at them, drops his gun, jumps of a cliff.

Feedback – Part 1

I should include a bat chewing at the pistol in frame 4.

Skullchaser should jump of the viewport in frame 5 and land on the ground in frame 6 to create a smooth transition.

Storyboard – Part 2

Skullchaser turns around, aims at the bats, kills some of them, gets attacked by a bat and kills it.

Feedback – Part 2

I should create a smooth transition between frames 11 and 12.

Skullchaser should not cover his face in frame 12 as it communicates the idea that he is frightend and he should be more brave instead.

Storyboard – Part 3

Skullchaser looks at the bat chewing at his pistol, kills it and recovers his pistol back.

Feedback – Part 3

After killing the final bat, George suggested to include a pistol rotation before putting it back into the pocket (frame 6).

Reference Shots – Shooting Sequence

After creating my storyboard, I recorded some reference videos from different perspectives as they will come in handy when I work on my previs-shots. I used a hair dryer and a splash spray cleaner to simulate the shape of Skullchaser’s pistols.

Introduction

This week, we used motion capture to record our background video footage for our mechanical arm animation.

Motion Capture

Nick helped me to record and edit my video footage using a motion capture suit. In the following weeks, I will use this video to animate my mechanical arm on top of it.

Testing in Maya

I imported the frames of my video footage into Maya and placed the mechanical arm in front of them.

Even though I will have to scale the model and adjust the shape of it, I wanted to get a rough idea of how the video footage is going to look like.