Author: Donatella Mikulasch

Introduction

For my Final Major Project I created a stylized character animation, which was a great opportunity to showcase the animation skills I gained during the course and express my personal artistic style.

Since this article is my last blog entry, I would like to share my critical reflection focusing on the skills I learned over the course, as well as my experience working on the FMP project.

Critical Reflection

Animation Workflow

Working on my FMP project has enabled me to gain a better understanding on the animation workflow. This was essential as it helped me to understand how animation studios develop their projects within their different departments.

Given the fact that this course prepared us for being a 3D generalist, I had the opportunity to discover different fields within the industry. This enabled me to learn different skillsets and also helped me to define which areas I enjoyed working on the most.

Character Animation

The FMP made me realize how passionate I am for character animation. For this reason, the main focus of my work was to create appealing character moments and polish as best as I could the animations. This enabled me to create shots which I would like to include into my showreel to apply for jobs in animation studios.

Visual Language

When it comes to the visual language of my animation, I reflected my findings on the grotesque and the uncanny based on my thesis research. The topic of my research was: ‘How does Tim Burton make use of the grotesque and the uncanny in the characters of his movies to evoke empathy and create an emotional connection with the audience?’

Even though my thesis is more focused on the characters and the engagement with the audience, by analyzing in more depth Tim Burton’s movies, I learned how to apply grotesque and uncanny features into my animation.

The grotesque — can be described as something distorted and absurd (Merriam-Webster, 2023) — and the uncanny — can be defined as something mysterious and supernatural (Merriam-Webster, 2023).

In this sense, I reflected the grotesque by distorting the shapes of the props in the environment, and the uncanny by including peculiar decoration items in Halloween Town.

For this reason, it was truly rewarding to not only analyze in depth in form of case studies Tim Burton’s movies, but also apply my findings into my visual aesthetic of my FMP project.

(Please refer to my thesis blog entries for further information regarding my research: https://dmikulasch.myblog.arts.ac.uk/category/thesis/)

Previs Animation

Working on my previs animation during my preproduction process was essential, as it helped me define the duration of my animation and the place of the objects in the environment.

In addition, since I collaborated with a sound artist, they needed to know the exact timing of the sequences to compose the background music and sound effects. In this sense, I learned it was a very efficient way to work animation and music simultaneously.

Reference Videos

Furthermore, I also learned that the best way to record reference videos is by placing the camera from a 3/4 perspective, apart from recording from different angles. This helps animators to understand the movement of the characters from different views.

In the future, I would like to learn more acting skills, as it will help me to create better character moments in my animations.

Feedback Sessions

Attending feedback tutorials in class was essential, as it enabled me to improve the movements of the characters. It helped me to sharpen my eye in terms of understanding the timing, spacing and arcs of the movements.

In this sense, the draw-overs I received from George helped me to create smoother character animations and get a better understanding on the key and breakdown poses.

Lighting & Rendering

When it comes to the lighting and rendering process, I must say that it was the aspect I enjoyed the least. Not only does it require you to be extremely meticulous in setting up the scenes, but also sometimes the rendering process cannot go as expected.

I learned that it is highly advisable to double check if the renders turned out as we had planned. Sometimes, it can happen that we manually setup the wrong file format, camera or renderer and therefore it can affect the quality of our productions.

Final Comment

Finally, it was truly rewarding to see reflected all the skills I learned over the course, taking into account that last year I started the course without having any knowledge on animation.

Even though I came from another background, it was extremely helpful to apply my knowledge in graphic design, as it enabled me to create appealing visual compositions.

Reference List

‘Grotesque’ (2023) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grotesque (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

‘Uncanny’ (2023) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uncanny (Accessed: 5 June 2023).

Introduction

This week, I focused on the postproduction of my FMP animation, where I imported all the frames I exported on the Render Farm and made some minor color corrections.

Adobe Premiere

What follows next are some pictures that show the post-proction process of my animation.

Work Methodology

In order to edit my FMP animation, I used the Adobe Premiere file I used when I created my Previs Animation. All the placeholder playblasts that I had, I replaced them with the final renders. In this sense, I made sure that the timing of my animation was the same as the one in my previs animation.

Interpreting Footage

Interpreting the footages in Premiere was essential in order to make sure that the sequence was being played in 24fps. Even though the animation sequence was set to 24fps, when I imported the different renders, the frame rate automatically changed to 29.7fps and for this reason I had to manually set it back.

Adding Animation Title

Then, I also included the logo and credits captions into my animation, where I could easily animate how these elements appear into the scene by using the opacity controllers.

Adding Effects and Filters

I added some filters and effects on the shot to communicate the idea that a CCTV camera captured the moment where the pumpkin is being stolen. To do so, I created an adjustment layer with the grid and added some noise in the animation.

Creating Newspaper Articles

When Skullchaser is tasked with the mission of finding the suspect who stole the Golden Pumpkin, I wanted to showcase some newspaper articles. I applied my background in graphic design to establish a typographic hierarchy in the newspaper, in view of highlighting the titles on the titles.

Newspaper Article 01

Newspaper Article 02

Newspaper Article 03

From ‘Lorem Ipsum’ text to Chat GPT

Adding 2D Effects

In order to create a cartoony effect of the shots, I integrated 2D animation into my scenes.

Further Thoughts

It was truly rewarding to see the process of my animation, especially when I replaced the previs animation shots with the actual renders.

Furthermore, Adobe Premiere enabled me to make some minor color corrections and adjust the brightness and contrast of some of the scenes.

In addition, working on the animation has also enabled me to apply my graphic design skills to create appealing visual layouts. From my personal perspective, the arrival of artificial intelligence can simplify the process of creating placeholder texts.

Finally, it was truly interesting to implement 2D animation into my scenes in order to add the special effects such as the explosions and ‘puff-effect’.

Introduction

This week, I focused on the lighting of my scenes and setting up the Maya Files for the Render Farm. In this sense, I focused on the more technical aspect of the project.

Lighting

Given the fact that I have never properly worked with lighting, I asked my classmates to help me set up the scenes. Special thanks goes to Shizra Manzar, Jixuan Chen and Roos Stolk, who kindly explained me how to create the environment lights for my animation.

Environment Lights

What follows next, is the list of the lights I used in my scene and their purpose:

• Skydome Lights (for the purple tone and brightness)
• Directional Light (for the moonlight)
• Area Lights (for the fog effect in the forest)

It is also worth mentioning, that I learned how to use relationship editors. In this way, I could enable or disable which objects are affected by the different lights.

Render Farm

In order to setup the scenes for the render farm, I had to define the format of my animation and make sure that the Arnold Renderer was enabled. I also used in the environment setting the aivolumetric environment to create the fog effect in the scenes. I also had to increase the samples of the lights to decrease the grainy texture of my renders.

Setting up The Files

In order to set up the files for the render farm, I needed to make sure to set the project of the Maya file in order to have all the assets and textures linked. For this purpose, I also created a list in which I detailed the frame range I needed to render for each shot.

Some Challenges I faced

Some of the issues I faced were that I set up the wrong frame number or wrong camera. In this sense, it is always advisable to double check if the results turned out fine.

Another major issue I faced during the rendering process was that the university server was not working properly, and therefore, my renders failed. Even though I executed the rendering process over the past weeks, I could not rerender some of my shots properly.

Unfortunately, even though I spent several times trying to sort the technical issues out with the IT team, I had to use my personal laptop to render many of the frames. This implied major setbacks in terms of my time management planning and it was truly frustrating not being able to fix these issues.

Critical Reflection

When it comes to the lighting, it was truly rewarding to learn the different uses of lights (skydome, area light and directional light). It was also highly beneficial to use the relationship editor to manually adjust how the lights are affecting the objects and creating shadows.

In addition, I truly enjoy learning from other classmates with more experience than I do, and I will surely implement their advice in my future animations.

When it comes to the rendering process, I learned that I always have to double check if the renders turned out as expected to avoid mistakes in my animation.

On the other hand, I learned that the rendering process is extremely technical, and therefore, I have to be meticulous when I set up the scenes.

Introduction

This week, I focused on creating the logo design for my project. Not only will it appear in my animation, but also in the poster and postcards for the Postgraduate Show 2023.

Naming

Skullchaser: The protagonist of my story is called Mr. Bones, also known as Skullchaser. The name implies that the character goes after skulls and skeletons, which are characteristic creatures in a Halloween environments.

Logo Development

Logo Design

Applying the Logo

Postcard Design

Furthermore, I worked on the postcard design for the postgraduate show. I wanted to showcase the protagonist of my animation in the Halloween environment, as well as the logo and name of my animation.

Further Thoughts

Working on the branding of the film is essential as it helps the audience to identify and differenciate the animation from other ones. In this sense, having a simple yet memorable logo is the key to catching the audiences’ attention.

Introduction

This week, I focused on modelling the environment and the props for the scenes. To do so, I created first a moodboard with reference pictures to help me get inspired.

Padlet Moodboard

I created the moodboard on Padlet and divided the sections according to the different props.

As you can see on the moodboard, the reference pictures are dark and gloomy as I want the aesthetic of my stylized animation to be grotesque.

Picture Analysis

After analyzing the moodboard I learned that:

• Adding a fog effect will enhance the aesthetic of the grotesque environment.

Modelling Props

Setting Up the Props in the Environment

Introduction

This week, my blog entry will be about blink animations, as it was not the first time I struggled with these types of movements.

Blink Reference

I used The Animator’s Survival Kit to learn the simple formula on how to approach blink animations. In the past, I struggled with blink animations as the spacing I implemented was way off.

Blink Animation

In order to animate the blink, I first focused on the spacing of the eyes. After animating them, I also worked on the movement of the eyebrows. In order to make the sequence smoother, I animated as well the cheeks, as well as the nose.

Studio Library

Critical Reflection

Using Studio Library, for instance, for blink animations is extremely efficient as it is an animation that I need to include in every shot.

Furthermore, when it comes to blink animations, I learned that I do not only have to focus on the closing and opening of the eyes. In this sense, by animating the eyebrows, cheeks and the nose I am giving the character a smoother facial expression.