Evaluation...

When i first started this module i didn't really think i was going to like it very much, i must admit 3D is not my forte and i find it quite hard. I enjoy the modeling part and thats what i think m better at, but im sort of glad that i have had to do this module as it has made me realize ive got allot to learn in 3d animation and allot of skills to build on but im pleased ive experienced it and gained new skills and experiences in doing the module. My final animation i am actually quite pleased with as i think its a step in the right direction animation wise. It has made me analyze not only animation techniques with the software but the human element of why and how we express these emotions in real life and how to try and replicate these onto a 3d model or character with good effect.

There where plenty of things that my animation could be improved on, for example it would have been nice if i could of got him properly skinned with a biped so i could move all his individual elements with a much more human like movement. But i had so many problems with the biped and due to time constraints i had to move forward without the use of a biped which will probably effect my final mark but it had to be done in order for me to finish the module on time. I also would have liked to do a much more detailed sound track for the Animation but i was just running out of time and had to do as much as the time constraints would let me do. its tricky with 3D because you can easily spend to much time on it and neglect your other modules but i had to divide the time up evenly between all my modules. Any way enough of what i could or should have done im happy with the final product and i myself have learnt a great deal of skills and research techniques which can be carried forward into future 3d and other media pathways in the future, thanks for a really well taught and fun Module Jo :).

(I know i didn't get round to actually improving my nod animation, so i decided to do a practice walk cycle to show the techniques and skills involved in animating a character with my monster model as jo stated in the feedback sheet(animation techniques). I also added research into facial expressions and created a character analysis for nod along with research into body language and clean up the blog. I hope this has come together to get me through this module.)

3D Character Animation finished...

Finally im done, here is my finished project i just added some titles and ending credits to the animation before i rendered it and its done... :)

Adding sound to the Animation...

Logic pro audio editing

Audio editing whilst Animation plays

Most people would just use premiere pro to add sound to there finished projects but i prefer to render just the editing in premiere pro to a MOV file and then open it in Logic pro 8 to add sound to the project. The reason i do this is because i find it much easier and quicker to Add and produce audio for film and animations. Logic has massive audio database of thousands of sounds and iv been using it for 6 years so im very familiar with its interface and functions. The basics of adding audio to the animations is to aid the visuals and increase the effectiveness of the animation and i think the sound really does this well. Most of the audio added was cartoon style sound effects like for example where he hits his hand on the breeze blocks i used a sound which is the opposite to what you would expect to hear and creates a sense of comedy, then followed buy a twirling noise to help aid his twisting eyes while he is in pain which works really well i think. lots of scenes in this animation use this technique and i think it just works well with the style of the animation.

The next move is to then export the audio or (Bounce as its called in the audio world) back into premiere pro and line up both the audio and video so they match and then do a final export (render) of both the video and audio together for the final version of the MOV file animation. As you can see below in the screen shot (Both video and audio synced up reader for final render of animation).

Audio and video synced in premiere pro ready for final render.

Editing in premiere pro...

Premiere pro rendering finished edit...

During edit in premiere pro...

I Had shot the 3d scenes in 3DS Max in such a way that i had almost already done some editing because i fort about how i wanted the animation to be edited before i started animating and rendering it. I started off buy putting all the 18 rendered clips in premiere pro and played them side buy side until they had finished. I then started to use the cut and drag tool to edit the clips lengths so that the animation started to transition between scenes with more ease and fluidity. The editing wasn't particularly hard as premiere pro is a fairly straight forward piece of software to use and ive used it allot over the 3 years at university. The key is making he transitions between cuts not effect the flow of the animation and aid the transition between scenes and expressions. More often then not the animation itself can really be boosted buy the aid of some clever editing which is what ive have tried to do here with my Nod animation, lets just hope jo agrees :)

I kept the import and export settings to the same specifications as the rendered files from 3ds max, i think the resolution was width 800 height 600 as you can see below:

Render panel in Max

I do realize now that i should have just rendered it in the HD TV setting in 3DS max but i was so worried about having hideously long render times i decided to go for the middle resolution, as i thinks its big enough for viewing and the quality is really good as long as you don't try and maximize the window while the animation is playing.

General rendering specs...

As i said earlier in the blog i originally wanted to use the skylight but because of the massive render times it was causing i had to look for another light source with a nice effect on the animation and shorter render times. In the end i settled for a omni light which i changed to mental ray rendering setting and expanded the far attention so it covered the entire animation boundaries and changed the shadow density down 20 points so it was a soft shadow like that cast buy the skylight. It doesn't have the same look and quality as the skylight but it is still a good looking light and has very short render times which is brilliant.

Animating... Final few scenes

Rendered scenes in uncompressed avi format ready for editing

After nod has thrown the sword buy accident I decided to end the animation with nod doing what he does best, sleeping... before that I used some free cameras to capture a few close ups of the water melon still in one piece, and of nod looking at his hand as if to suggest where is the sword he was holding. This then nicely cuts into nod hoping on his back and sleeping as the camera pans out and up to a black fade in the edit. The last few scenes have used simple animation techniques and lots of cool camera angles to hopefully express nods lazy quiet personality. most of the animating and rendering has been completed and now its on to the editing and sound work before i get the finished animation.

Animating... the sword scene

This is a crucial scene in the animation as it is where nod once again tries to do another ninja task (cut the melon in half with the sword) but we all know he wont be able too... im not the greatest animator and i really struggled with trying to make this scene work, so I had to try out a few different ways of going about it. in the end I settled for a lot of close up camera angles like the karate chop scene and some quick animating. Once the sword had been raised I then set another camera up behind nod sideways on to capture the sword spinning past as he lets go of it. I set up a path for the sword to run past the camera and then set the sword on a 360 rotation with the angle tool as it goes along the path. Lets hope it looks good in the edit...

Animating...

This is the scene after the chop scene where the camera zooms into nods blank expression with his twirling eyes expressing his confusion and pain. I got a target camera and got it to zoom in on nods face as his eyes twirl round using the angle tool and the auto key to keep them twirling for 100 frames. A quite simple scene but one of my favourites at the same time.

Animating... The chop

This is the scene were nod tries to karate chop the breeze blocks in half and hurts his hand instead. when animating this scene I wanted to keep the camera angles close and snappy to try and emulate the actions, It worked well but maybe needs to be edited quickly between cameras. I set up 3 cameras for this animation and tried to capture a side view, front and hand close up while he chops the blocks. The animation involved was quite simple but effective, it involved the use of the move and angle tool to position him and his body into a karate chop motion which looks good in the render and then into the end position which will be explained in the next post...

Progress so far...

So far ive got about 9 clips done, which is just over half the total animation so im eventually getting there just the sword part and the end credits to go. Its going ok at the moment ive had a few problems e.g. the whole meshing and rigging part which ive had to scrap and just try and be creative with what i know, but apart from that its going well...

Animating...

Heres a screen shot from the scene where nod tries to break the block with a karate chop and doesnt lol. I decided to get a free camera to slowly zoom into his face while his eye's rotated 360 degrees to replicate that classic cartoon pose when a character has been hurt and stunded. this zoom lasted about 120 frames with the eyes rotating for about 200 so gives me time to edit the cut away...

Animating...

Here is a screen shot from the scene were nod is traveling on the floating disc towards the blocks he will try and break. This was a fairly simple scene to animate because there was only the use of the set key and auto key along with the move tool to move his body and the angle tool to shake his head and eyes. May re-do the camera angle as i am not to sure it works maybe from the side will look better only time will tell...

Environment and lighting changes: Above you can see a screen shot of some of the technical changes applied to the environment and the lighting, I changed the environment colour to a gradient pink. I then changed the Omni lights shadows to a slightly lighter density which looked allot better and less contrasty. And the final touch was making the far attention of the light go way past the edge of the floor plane to create less shadow on the floor and just where it ends which looks allot better int he rendered scenes.

Render testing, early stages...

I always wanted to render my animation in a skylight but the render time is taking far too long for me to able to use it and get it rendered for the deadline. When i used it last year for the group project i rendered four outdoor scenes and it took 90 plus hours all in all and they were all no longer then 5 seconds long... so i think i will stick with the Omni light and use the advanced ray trace render for it because it give a nice light and defines some detail in the scene much like the skylight.

I may change this depending on the later scenes...

Animating first couple of scenes

I have began animating my first few scenes with nod the ninja. These are fairly simple scenes as they are of nod a sleep and the camera zooming in to him then waking up. I havnt really used any complicated animating tools just the auto key and the move tool to shakr his head and roll his eyes using the angle snap tool. More work has gone into the camera angles as i have been using target cameras to cover more creative and interesting angles for the viewer...

The scene above is of a close up of him waking up...

Rigging Nod...

I'm currently in the process of finishing rigging up my character nod the ninja. This has taken way longer then it should have and has given me real problems because of the odd nature of nods body shape. So far i have just used the original biped and made the pelvis much wider and shorter and generally tried to fit the skeleton neatly inside my characters mesh. Ive gone through the process of skinning him and am currently trying to neaten up the envelopes so that his body parts move correctly with the biped attached... :S

In the end i haven't bothered using the biped for nod as it created far to many problems in the animating stage. Basically i couldn't get the skin to cover the biped properly and it kept getting left behind and having very odd effects on the overall model. So i have decided to use alternative techniques and not have him walking in a lot of the scenes...

Ready to Start animating:

Here's the envirroment for the animation with all the models present. This is a quick render with the skylight and omni light as mentioned earlier. the postioning of the models is just for the snap shot obviously they will be laid out for the camera angles and lighting when ready to render the animation. Fingers crossed for the animation... :s

Adding materials to objects

Table texture:

Water melon jpeg:

Adding table material:

The sword had a glossiness map and reflection map added to it to gave it a metalic look in the render. The water melon and the table both had textures gathered off the internet which where modified in photoshop and then applied to the objects in max with the use of the UVW map modifier. The breeze blocks were materialed the same way as the two above but a bump map was added to give the material more of a rough texture as it is meant to be concrete.

I then added a skylight and omni light for the still render which worked well with the material maps and will give a representation of the light used in the animation.

Other modeling for scene's

All models created:


model's being created



Once nod the ninja had been created i then started making the rest of the props and models needed from the story board. The first item to be made was a sword which was actually a tutorial off the web which i foillowed and got really good resuts. The sword is bacically plotted out in illustrutor and then extruded and shaped in max using the edit poly tool. After that i then created a table which is fairly simple and consisted if a rectangled shaped apropriatly and then two cyclinders placed underneath. its a fairly simple model but looks really good once the materials where added to it.


Then a water melon and concrete blocks where modelled which were very simple to create but what makes them is the materials used. i added a preset plant coz it just makes the back drop more interesting and vibrant.

Story board explained:

Storyboard

Nod the ninja animation (60 seconds)

Scene 1

Titles-Nod the ninja by matthew menzies in 3d text or 2d not sure yet.

Scene 2

Nod the ninja asleep on a plain white floor

Scene 3

Nod the ninja waking up and looking at the block he has to break with his ninja skills.

Scene 4

Nod not breaking the brick and then falling over from the impact

Scene 5

Nod the ninja picking up his sword and getting ready to cut the watermelon on the table.

Scene 6

Nod the ninja-loosing grip of his sword and it flying behind him into the distance.

Scene 7

Nod the ninja then getting sleepy and falling asleep on the floor

Scene 8

Nod the ninja sleeping while credits roll and then finish animation.

Adding materials to nod...

Here is the material and rendering stages of Nod's creation. Firstly i just added the variuos colour materials by highlighting the areas with the polygons and picking a material and draggin it over the desired area. The top image is rendered using the skylight above and a omni in front to give the character more depth and shadow.

Modeling Nod the ninja continued...

Here i have modelled the head which was a simple spere and then i used the poly modifier to extrude -5 on the front to create the face indent on the nod's head. This works really well as later i will apply the skin tone to that part with the black eyes.

Modeling Nod the ninja

Here i have started modeling nod the ninja, i used the basic box modeling technique to do his body using the poly modifer and extruding the various parts of him. i then decided to keep his legs and feet fairly short like the illustration of him. its a lil diferent but i think so far its coming along nicely.

New character: Nod the ninja

Here is my illustration of my latest character his name is Nod the ninja. Im gonna have a crack at modeling him in 3ds max coz i think he will make a great character for a children's animation. the reason he is called nod is because he is gonna be a really lazy and clumsy character, the polar opposite from what a ninja stereotype is perceived as.

Character development

After sitting down with jo and discussing my character in more detail i have decided to have a go at modeling another character. I was thinking of modeling a ninja character i made in illustrator many months ago because i think he will make a great character for an animation. Im still gonna keep my robot in wait if this doesn't turn out very well, we will just have to wait and see.

First attempt at robot character

Final rendered Robot character using the skylight/mental ray:

Choosing materials-bump map and render settings:

Max development, putting objects together:

Here is the first attempt at a robot character, i just took bits from all 3 designs and basically waited to see how it would look. I am quite pleased with the robot character, but i might still not use him or might change the way he looks, ill have to wait and see what jo says on friday.

First ideas for my character

I defiantly want to create a robot character with human feelings and personality. Ive been watching films such as wall-e and toy story to give me inspiration for my character and ive done a few sketches of what i think he might end up looking like, obviously there will need to be more development of him but its a good start. sorry about the quality of the pics my scanner is broken and i have to use my iphone to take pictures but you can see the basic design.

More research: Character ideas

whilst searching on the web for ideas to get my character design rolling, i came across these really nice characters which have got the ball rolling for me. My personal favorite is the red and white robot at the start :P:

Research: Animated characters continued

Whilst researching on creating an animated character, i found a really good site which ran through some really good advice and quotes on 3d character animation.

The Integrity of Character
The character body is an integral system so even seemingly separate movements involve the motion of other parts of the body. For example during a head turn in dependence of the situation the character will slightly move his shoulders and his centre of mass. During a walk the entire body will be involved in the animation not only the hands and the legs, even the head will have specific movements.

Acting the 3d Animation to show Personality
The animator is first an actor and only then a technical guru that knows how to put 3d models in motion. With present animation tools, animating a 3d model of living being is relatively easy from a technical standpoint, but showing a distinct personality that has a long history and character that's where the art starts. That's why it is called Character Animation and not Human or Creature Animation.

When animating try to understand your character personality and feelings.. Spend time acting the animation you work on in front of a mirror until you can achieve believable results only then start animating your character... This is the way to create appealing and interesting 3d animation.

Create the Effect of a Thinking Character while Animating
As in the words of the father of animation motion pictures Walt Disney himself, "In most instances, the driving forces behind the animation are the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character" or all three. We think of things before the body does them."
Every single movement of an animated character creates an impact on the audiences, and that is why it is there for a reason, and is an essential part of the story. It is needless to explain that the very purpose of an animated picture is to tell a story and to make the viewer believe its characters. Unless the movements of a character are not related to each other, the flaw of the animator would become obvious to the viewer and the fact that an animator is behind the characters of the story reveals itself, which takes all the fun out of watching your movie.
According to Walt Disney, a thinking character is what can help make its actions look life-like, due to their connection with a thought process. This also makes these movements look believable to the viewer, who can relate to them. You should understand that it is the mind and personality of the character which is behind his or her actions, which the character thinks of something before he or she does it.
The best tools for an animator to convey the emotions and thoughts of a character are the eyes and the heads of the character. If you need to give the idea to the audience of what a character is thinking and what move he or she is going to make, then make sure you convey the message to them through the eyes by focusing on their movement.
But sometimes you have to deal with 3D models with no eyes and when animating objects like these, the head of the character becomes even more important, when it comes to the movement of the character.
The animator must create the animation while keeping in mind what the character is thinking, and his or her job is to convey the message from the eyes and the head of the character.

For instance, if you are working with the character of a mouse who needs to make a decision on whether or not he should take a chance of plucking off the cheese set on the mouse trap you should allow the character the time to think, and the eyes of the character will be the key to conveying the message while deciding whether the cheese is worth the risk or not.
But head and eyes will not be your primary leads for movement when the character reacts to an external stimulus, such as a bear dodging a large ball. And of course, when the ball strikes the tummy of the character, the impact it will create will cause the body of the character to move backward and so on.

content found on: http://www.3dmd.net/forum/3d-discussion-5707.html

Research: Animated characters

The beauty of Buzz Lightyear is that, beneath the superficiality of the initial premise he's an utterly delusional toy who thinks he's a real Space Ranger there's real emotional depth and endless capacity for reinvention. Witness Toy Story 3's neat reprogramming gag, wherein Buzz becomes a flamenco-flecked Spanish-language toy, complete with an eye for the ladies and neat dance moves. But we love Buzz for so much more than that. We love him because of his bluster. We love him because of his never-say-die spirit. We love him because he's a leader of plastic men. We love him because he's faintly ridiculous. We love him because Tim Allen's macho voice work is so perfect that it almost removes the universe's need for William Shatner to exist. We love him because he has a little light that blinks. We love him because he. Is. A. Toy. And sometimes that's all you need.

The chief failing of the Shrek series is that the title character has always been a little bland, and always a lot overshadowed by the more colourful supporting cast. But who cares when, as in the case of Puss In Boots, they're this entertaining? A glorious reimagining of the swashbuckling charm of Zorro, transplanting his derring-do spirit and Latino swagger into the body of a cat just about higher than the boots he wears, Puss In Boots gave Shrek 2 a welcome shot in the arm just as Shrek and Donkey's banter was beginning to wear thin. Voiced to perfection by Banderas, it's Puss' loyalty, his indomitability in the face of overwhelming odds, his supreme self-confidence, and his ability to make his eyes as big as Lazy Susans, that make him more than worthy of his own spin-off. The only mercy we'll be praying for is from laughter.

If you're not quite sure why everyone's looking forward to Brad Bird's take on Mission: Impossible IV, check out this beautiful and moving adaptation of Ted Hughes' already-powerful children's book. Bird's film may have sunk without a trace at the box office, but it's one of the great animated films, a tale of friendship, tolerance and fear for the ages. The Iron Giant himself, voiced with surprisingly delicacy by Vin Diesel, manages to be by turns mysterious, childlike, warlike and heroic. His final decision to emulate his comic-book hero, Superman, will break your heart.

roof, if proof were needed, that strong silent types are infinitely preferable to their chattier counterparts, Wall-E is an almost-mute waste-shifting robot who is easily the most adorable automaton ever created. With R2D2 genius Ben Burtt giving him a voice comprised chiefly of exclamations, hums and snippets of the Hello Dolly soundtrack. Combined with Pixar's genius for creating character with the twitch of an eye-shade, and you have someone who won audience hearts in about ten seconds flat, despite being rusty and rickety and probably smelling of trash. No mean feat for a guy who hangs out with a cockroach.

How could we separate Woody and Buzz, you ask? Well, because Woody just edges his spacey BFF in the character stakes, springing fully-formed from the screen as a living, breathing, er, child's plaything. He always tries to do the right thing, but it's not always easy for him, and Pixar's genius lies in showing that even such a Dudley Do-Righter sometimes wishes he could take the easier road. Still, his intense loyalty to his friends, palpable humanity and the deeply emotional character arc he's given put Woody head and shoulders above the rest.

Gromit doesn't ever say a word, but there has never been a more expressive character (animated or otherwise) to grace our screens. The long-suffering companion to inventor Wallace, Gromit is a mechanical genius in his own right, a vegetable-grower par excellence and an unfailing example of British pluck and can-do spirit. He also boasts a flair for deadpan that Buster Keaton would be proud of and the ability to let us know exactly what he's thinking with no more than the twitch of an ear. With the fingerprints of genius animators all over him (literally), Gromit is an example to us all.

Start of research

Im going to focus on looking at current animated children's characters to get a good idea of how to develop a character and his emotions and actions to effectively complete the module. This is probably gonna involve watching some episodes of animated series like the Simpsons and the children's 3d animation on in the early mornings. Also this process should get me to start having ideas for my character and start designing it on paper.

First eye ball animation test

Quick eye animation using ffd box and point helper to animate both eye lids and eye ball with ease and speed. Very useful stuff indeed!

Intial brief

We have been asked to produce a 30-60 seconds animation of a cartoon charcter aimed at 4-14 year olds. The main focus of the animation is developing a charcter with personality and expression, hence more focus on animation rather then modeling. The best start for this project is to do some research into human expressions and start decidng what the character will look and act like with some basic sketchs.