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...