Donatella's 3D Computer Animation Blog
My 3D Computer Animation Progress

Category: 3.12 Week 12

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3.12 Week 12 Advanced & Experimental Project 2

Week 12: Body Mechanics Blocking

Introduction

This week, apart from working on my blocking animation, George gave us an overview of some aspects we need to apply on our animations.

Blocking Process

First Outcome

In order to create my blocking sequence, I added my reference videos into the Maya scene.

This helped me to create the key poses and breakdowns of my character.

Even though I added the squash poses of my character, I failed to add the stretch poses.

Second Outcome

For my second draft, I added some stretch poses when the character jumps off and lands on the ground.

The main aspect I need to work on for next week is to change the last jumping sequence as it is quite repetitive. In addition, I need to work on adding more breakdown poses.

Blocking Plus

Blocking Plus

We learned the concept of ‘moving holds’, which is a slight movement we need to include when a character has to stay in the same pose for a long time.

We also have to think of how many breakdowns we need to include in our animations and make sure to track the arcs.

We should also work on anticipations (pre-movement) and overshoots (post-movement) to enhance our animations.

Further Thoughts

For next week, I will try to apply the new concepts we learned in class into my blocking sequence and make sure I track the arcs of my character.

Categories
3.12 Week 12 Advanced & Experimental Project 2

Week 12: Animated Artefact – Idea Presentation

Introduction

This week, we held a presentation of our animated artefact and showcased our concept, storyboard/animatic and pictures in development.

Concept

I will create a body mechanics shot, emphasizing on the idea that the body can be perceived as a powerful medium of expression. It will be heavily influenced by silent films as they convey the narrative visually and the characters communicate their feelings only with their body.

Narrative

Synopsis: The character in the story has the feeling they are being observed by creatures and it is their fear and obsession that leads them into a paranoid state of mind.

Animated Comedy

Cartoony Techniques: I will implement cartoony techniques into my animation, as I want my animated artefact to be an animated comedic short film.

Sketching my Storyboard

Storyboard 1/2

Introduction

  • A mysterious creature appears from a bucket.
  • When the character inspects the bucket, it disappears.

Main Body

  • A giant creature pops up from the back.
  • The character runs to the next room, however, more creatures start appearing (climax).
Storyboard 2/2

Conclusion

  • The character crawls back into the main room.
  • Looks around to see if they can find the huge creature.
  • No creatures are in sight anymore.
  • They leave the room failing to notice that a creature is attached to their back (plot twist).

Creating my Animatic

  • Animatic: I converted my storyboard into an animatic, as it will help me in the future to pose out my characters and record my reference videos.
  • Key Poses: I will also use it as a reference to create the key poses of my character.

Work in Progress

  • Environment: My animation will take place in an indoor environment, and I will use Buster Keaton’s interior spaces as a reference.
  • Visual Language: I want the environment to be displayed in grayscale to suggest the idea of silent films. However, I want the characters to be in color, so that they stand out from the background.
  • Characters: For my main character, I will use a cartoony and friendly character as my animation is targeted to a younger audience. Ideally it will not have many facial features as I want to only focus on body mechanics. When it comes to my creatures, I want to incorporate one-eyed monsters, as I want to tell the story of how my character has the feeling they are being observed.