Animation - Stop Motion - Final Version

We decided between us to redo our stop motion piece and use our first one as a practice piece.

We started from scratch and planned to use a larger variety of shots throughout, as well as add more aspects to our story, despite how simple the story is, many couldn't grasp the concept of a blob eating someone in our first showing.

To do this we gave the blob more character. We began with him literally sitting still then coming to life. We gave it eyes and at times a little mouth so as to portray a level of emotion and character to it.

We decided we'd record some custom audio for the animation. I didn't want too much dialog as the animation is very short and dialog may be distracting or seem out of place. Instead we agreed on using single sounds such as a "Hmm".

Animation - Computer Generated - Final version

After finishing my second attempt at this animation I decided I wanted to include more "dynamic" cameras, and I needed to slow some of my shots down a little. My animation ran smoothly and all of the action was visable, but the cuts of shots left no frames between action as I hadn't taken that into consideration when I'd planned out my frames.

As such I started over keeping my set and introducing the water shader I had created. The water shader unfortunately didn't animate well at all, so it was removed.

I decided to add a few new shots to create a lengthier piece, and hopefully build a some tenstion between actions.

I tried to smooth out certain pieces of movement so as to look a little more professional, and hope this can be seen throughout the piece.

Animation - Computer Generated - Version 2

I've redone my animation now and got the kind of feeling I was going for, however some parts run through a little quicker than I'd originally planned. With this in mind I very well may go ahead and try a third and final version of the animation, especially seeing as I've learnt how to create a water effect which I can animate:

With this at my disposal, I feel it would be a shame not to feature it in some part of my animation, if not just to show off some of the skills I've learned throughout the project.

This is the second version of my animation:

Animation - Computer Generated - Planning

I decided that using more custom sound clips may cause the animation to be too long for it's purpose. Seeing as I wanted to create a parody, the animation obviously builds towards a punchline. The longer I take to do this, the less effect it would have on my audience.

While animating and deciding on camera angles and various different shots, it became apparent that I'll be switching views quite a lot throughout my frames. As such I've created a "frame plan" that I will use to remind myself of the exact numbers.

Some shots last slightly longer than they need to, to give me room to edit and add effects and transitions.

I have a few more shots to create, and a few more props to build (such as a table and checkers board).

With my current render examples, I like how neat the room looks without a texture on the walls, however I'll still experiment with textures and perhaps render two different versions of the animation for a comparison.

Animation - Computer Generated - Revamp

After showing my animation to the class I received a mixed bag of feedback.

Some people pointed out one error that I was already aware of (the hands of a character weren't touching a table).

Others said it was a great piece and have asked if I will record their audio, as my audio was completely original, recorded with my own voice.

Some on the other hand refused to believe it was my work.

I also got some fantastic feedback from my tutors who've given me a boost of confidence to go a step further.

I'm keeping the original idea of parodying "Saw", however I've decided to build an entirely new set, as well as add more audio, and reanimate my characters to have smoother movements, and to show a wider variety of movements in an attempt to show my understanding of the rigs and their limitations.

With this in mind I worked up a new story board, which doesn't differ too much from the original.

I had also decided to create a larger, more detailed setting.

One of the first things I wanted to do was to show a deeper understanding of lighting and shaders. To do this I decided to create some strip lights.

Render Comparison

I used a surface shader for the bulb and changed the properties to get the desired amount of glow. I added two small spot lights at either end to light the inside of the cover much like a real bulb would, and then used the light linking editor to stop the spot lights from effecting anything else in the scene. I then added an area light to try to create a specific lighting area.

I duplicated this to give my scene the required amount of lighting and played with positioning and shadows to create a gloomy atmosphere.

Lighting Example

During this process I noticed that these lights weren't giving enough light to effect my characters, and much of their detail was being lost.

To combat this I created to spotlights outside of my scene, one for each character, and again edited the relationships of the lights to be character specific and to have absolutely no effect on my scene.

Character Lights

This allowed the facial movements of the characters to be entirely visible.

By using hierarchies I was able to create sections of my scene that are interactive. My favourite being a cupboard. By creating hinges and a door, I used the parenting feature to make sure the door will only move with the hinges.

Hinged Door

Although this is very basic it allows for a smoother interaction within my scene. My characters will be able to interact with the item and it can look fluid.

I've done the same thing with a valve handle on a pipe within the scene. This item will probably not actually be animated at all, but for practice's sake I decided to make it nonetheless.

Finally I've been playing with making cameras, and moving them through my animation.

Cameras

When planning my frames I decided to look at where I would want my cameras, and started creating different cameras and then locking them into position (unless I want them to move) so that during my rendering I can quickly switch between views and have the correct shots waiting for me.

Animation - Computer Generated - First Draft

This is the first draft of my animation. There are numerous things I need to fine-tune, and a few sound effects I need to put in place.

The lighting did what I had planned, and placed all focus onto my characters, but at the same time left me feeling like there's more I could do with the area. It just felt lazy, so I'll build a set for my next attempt.
I recorded the audio myself.

Animation - Computer Generated Part 2

 After finishing customising the Moom rig I did the same with Max. Once I had both finished and scaled correctly I moved onto creating a set. In the image above you can see two walls and a floor.

The set is quite small but it doesn't need to be large, as I'm focusing on closer shots of the characters. I took some stock textures from the internet to use for my floor and walls.

Next I moved onto building a chair prop. It's very crude but hopefully it's obvious that it's a chair.

It was built to fit Max, and will only be seen for a few seconds. Again the textures were found online.

Next I made a table that the characters will interact with in a later scene.

I decided that my walls were probably a bit too bright. As such I found some bloody textures to match the genre. Although I'm doing a parody of horror rather than horror itself, I feel it's still important to have the aesthetics in place to suggest darker themes.