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.

Animation - Computer Generated

The first thing I've decided to do is find a rig I feel would be suitable for my current idea and then develop this rig further to make a more personal character.

I chose to use "Moom" of the 11 Second Club.

When I first opened the rig, I need to play around with various parts of the skeleton and controllers to make certain options become available. For example, in the image above the controllers for the right arm can be seen (red rings) but the left arm was missing. To fix this issue I needed to select the left hand set of controllers and change the arm from the IK switch to the FK switch. I've since realised that the IK controls were giving me much more accurate results while animating.

The next step was to make the character less vulnerable, by adding clothing. Having done this previously a Max rig, I found it quite simple and easy to do.

Although he now has a distinct change to his visual looks, I also wanted to go ahead and start adding a few details, perhaps turn-ups on his trousers, a belt, and even a wrist watch.

So far, I have managed to add a belt and turn-ups. The watch will wait until I edit the character again.

Simon showed me a way to parent the clothing items to the joints hidden within the rig, so that once the character is animated, the clothing will move at the same time. Hopefully I've done this correctly.

The image above shows the joints and how the turn-ups interact when they're moved. They do infact move with the joints, but they remain level throughout, meaning that during animation they will require fine tuning to create a smoother transition of objects and characters.

The next thing I did was begin working on a set design and a story board to use as a first draft.

I wanter the area to remain quite bare so as to create most of the focus on the characters, and I planned on using hard spotlights which would tone out most of the surroundings.

Stop Motion - Story boarding Part 2

After talking with the other members of the group, I suggested that we completely revamp our idea as our initial storyboard was limited due to the use of a set we made.

I figured that with a small and limited space to work with, we would be technically limited to a small variety of shots and camera angles.

To overcome this issue, we would need to remove the box, but in doing so major points of our story would need to be removed. As a result we opted to completely overhaul our idea.

We decided to stick with using clay for our animation as we wanted to show a use of creative skill.

Story Board Part 1

Story Board Part 2

I created a story that kept in line with the horror genre required, and used human interaction to an extent (the use of human hands in certain frames).

We began designing our characters. I took a lot of inspiration from the character "Jack" from "Nightmare before Christmas" which can be seen in the skeleton like face and the long and thin limbs of the character. I decided to let the character emote purely through facial expression, and to not use voices. A lot of emotion can be portrayed through the eyes of a character.

Character Design Part 1

Character Design Part 2

A simple character design felt like a good idea seeing as none of our group have modeled with clay before. I created a wire framing to use for our character, and Anna and Adam began creating them using PlayDoh.

Unfortunately, the playdoh was far too heavy even with the wire supports. The only way we could make them stand was to thicken them to a point where they stopped looking like people.

Modelling

Modelling 2

Drew noticed we were having trouble and gave us some copper wiring which was much tougher to bend, but even still the characters would not stand on their own.

The result was the decision to scrap using playdoh.

Given the fact that we'd already restarted our idea before we needed to save some time to redeem ourselves, and I suggested using pre-made models for our animation.

A third storyboard followed.

Doll Story Board Part 1

Doll Story Board Part 2

This idea incorporates the use of some creepy dolls that my mother collects. At the time I was simply quickly creating an alternative story to get started on next week, after getting to my mother's home I found the dolls don't quite move the way I require them to. As such I head to a local toy store and found some small figurines with a vast amount of articulation points for us to use in our animation.

Next I moved onto storyboarding a new idea. I wanted to keep the premise quite simple and try to use an array of different camera shots. My aim was to create a smooth animation through the use of movement with the characters I would be using. We also wanted to use clay to a certain degree so we decided to use a simple "blob". As none of us has any real experience with clay at this point so we figured simplicity could be advantageous.

Story Board Attempt 1

The first story board I began for this idea seemed to be progressing far too quickly, so I decided to start it over to try to add a few more panels.

Story Board Attempt 2 Part1

Story Board Attempt 2 Part 2

This story board was then taken forward to create our first draft of our stop motion animation. We used the story board as a guideline, and at times we decided to improvise slightly.

We chose to use a piece of music that fit the actions within the animation rather than finding/recording voices for this piece as we wanted to tell the story purely through the actions.

The process has been long and arduous, but at least its taught use of many different aspects to consider in the future, such as scale, proportion, articulation etc.

Stop Motion - Brain Storming/Storyboard

 We were told we needed to create a stop motion animation based around the horror genre.

The first thing we did was write down things that we all associate with the type of animation and the genre, and figure ways we could interpret these things into our animation. By outlining the fundementals of animation types, and this specific genre, we had hoped to create a kind of frame work to begin creating our ideas. We each suggested different ideas and different areas we should think about, then discussed the pros and cons of each. For example, if we were to use clay, would we use a wireframe to give us more precise control of movement etc.

Stop Motion Map

Horror Map

After discussing the genre and animation style, I suggested using "The Raven", a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, as inspiration.

"The Raven" Map

The overall theme of the poem is quite innocent, while remaining dark by using specific imagery and suggestive vocabulary. I figured that this would be a good way to communicate certain aspects of the poem to our audience, and took key extracts from the poem to use as parts of a script. We didn't want to use the entire poem, as the piece is quite long and would be too much work for us to undertake, so using small extracts to suggest the poem seemed a logical route.

Highlights of script ideas

Next I considered the setting, and began designing a set. The set itself was to match that described in the poem. Colours such as black and purple would dominate the scene, creating a darker atmosphere. I opted for using an empty cardboard box and decorating it appropriately.

Set Idea

Set Idea 2

With the introduction of the script, and the inspiration for setting and story, it became possible to begin storyboarding our animation and planning keyframes.

For now, the story board is very rough and quick, just to communicate basic motions and ideas.

Story Board Part 1

Story Board Part 2

Next I started designing the character for our animation piece. As we'd opted to use clay/Plasticine we needed to keep the design quite simple as none of our group has any real experience with this medium. I realised this is a risky approach, using a new piece of media, but I feel the practice will be valuable.

I wanted the character to still look slightly creepy in a sense due to the genre of the animation.

Character 1

Character 2