Texture Development: Swamp Edition

November 2016

Allocated to texturing with the group, I have the task of developing the stylised textures for the scene. This involves observing and reviewing the concept art to ensure the style and colour is captured within the models.

Concept by Siobhan Gilmore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the concept, I saw the trees are coloured by the life that grows on them such as the fungus and moss, which breathes life into the image. Knowing this I used a base colour of brown for the bark and multiple layers of green paint for the moss. I saw the moss almost acted as a layer of snow where it would rest on top of branches rather than underneath; unless it was hanging from the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I experimented with different ways to create the appropriate texture including: Maya’s bitmapping, bump mapping and hyper shade as well as Mudbox’s paint tools and sculpt tools. I found that the concept art was not detailed; it has an illustrated look, which made me turn away from realistic bump mapping and texturing. Therefore I considered using Mudbox’s paint tools to paint the texture directly onto the models to create the appropriate style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will continue work on textures by continuing to experiment with different styles; most likely to move onto UVs and Photoshop. This may produce different results I am looking for. I believe I have learnt a lot from this experience, including the level of knowledge and detail needed to produce effective texturing work.

Sketch-A-Day: 3

13th November 2016

My sketch-a-day submission. 

Drawn using my tablet, and visualises my current feeling(s). 

11 Second Club: November

11 Second Club

November

As an aspiring character animator, I have entered the 11 second club competition. It is a monthly competition where animators must complete a short piece of character performance with a piece of audio which is provided on the website. This can be created in any medium the animator chooses.

This month’s challenge [November] includes audio where two characters are featured discussing a job opportunity.

I have created initial thumbnails to gain an understanding of layout, characters, cameras etc.

I have created two initial thumbnail sequences:

Firstly: I created a scene where a young boy wishes to work within a sweet shop. This came from the idea that the audio sounds an eager young boy, who wishes to work in a place which we would enjoy. This lead me to think about a dream job for a child; a toy shop and sweet shop came to mind. I have chosen to stylise the scene with a traditional look with an old sweet shop and an old shop keeper, much like the one in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (1971).

Secondly: As I wanted the idea to be more original; I thought about the situation and tried not to think about people. I thought about the job instead, thought about what job would someone want? Something that not everyone would want to do.

Then I thought about animals, and potential jobs of animals. This lead to the idea of a Plover Bird wanting to work for a crocodile. However this is a challenge as I do not have a crocodile or a Plover bird rig to use unlike a human rig.

I will continue work with storyboard boards, log sheets and possibly more thumbnails.

Look Development: Initial Work with Maya

Initial work: Maya

November

I have begun production of the concept piece using the concept art as reference. From the concept art I am considering: composition, space, lighting, shapes etc. To ensure the final piece resembles the concept art as closely as possible.

As we are within a group, we have allocated tasks to each other to ensure progress is organised and every member contributes to the production. My tasks include: modelling, animation and texturing. We have assigned these tasks based upon our skills and interests to create the best work possible. Through regular reviews and constant communication we are tracking our progress through the production.

Using the concept art as reference; produced by Siobhan Gilmore, I have created an initial set of the composition. I have used models which are free to use in an educational project such as this. This way we can quickly understand how to make the final piece and identify potential problems sooner rather than later. Searching the web for both free and suitable models was a challenge, once I had gathered them I imported them together to create the initial set. With a camera set up and a few lights to represent fire flies I test rendered a few shots.

I have used multiple renders including Mental Ray and Render man etc. This way I can compare the advantages and disadvantages of each renderer to find the most appropriate one for use to use for our final piece. In addition I have experimented with a number of the camera settings to see the different results we can use in our final piece including the manipulation of: focal length, translation within the space and aperture. Each of these features provided a different result and I will continue to experiment with these tools to acquire the result we intend.

I will continue work with the set by further research by attending events such as ‘Manchester Animation Festival’ and ‘Manimation’ for artist reference and inspiration. Live action video reference of trees and water for the animation, as well as modelling reference of trees.

CP2: Production of Narrative Map 1

Production 1

November

With an initial layout sketch scanned into the computer, I’ve begun to digitally colour and line the map. Layer by layer I am adding colour and line to the map with references from the film to ensure consistency of style despite contrast of settings. The colour pallets, shapes and atmosphere of each of the three worlds are very different; yet coexist in the same film; therefore I am keeping reference of the contrast of the worlds and what makes them so different.

I intend to show the passage of time through the change in landscape, this is visualised by the addition of snow to Halloween town at the end of the film because Father Christmas brings the season the Halloween town. This significantly changes the setting of Halloween town with the addition of the white snow covering a dark world.

Other ways of showing the progression of narrative could include character icons/ symbols moving within the space. The characters would move within the space, together and alone and the audience can visualise the film through these paths by the significant moments and the locations that occur.

I will continue to work in Photoshop to create this map. 

Look Development: Research

8th November 2016

Research

I have begun research into concept art, what makes a good piece of concept art? What would I like to do? How do I make it? I’ve started by looking at concept art for games, as I have played this games thoroughly I have a good idea what the games entail. By looking at the concept art of these games, I recognise iconic locations and moments even from initial sketches and rough paintings. From this have learnt that concept art is not precise and clean, its purpose is to capture the essence of the moment, be it action, calming etc. As seen from the great variety of artworks, each one has a unique feeling from its composition, colour and narrative. I intend to apply these ideas to my groups work, as this will give the piece depth for the audience to interoperate and engage with.

Assassins Creed Syndicate 

Dead Space

Dead Space

 

Bioshock Infinite

Assassins Creed Unity

Assassins Creed Black Flag

Assassins Creed Black Flag

Assassins Creed Revelations

Fallout 3

Gears of War

Initial Thoughts:

From these concepts I have been inspired to begin concept art. Firstly I needed to develop an idea on what the image will be, which will then be reference for the final image. As a group we discussed atmosphere, the objective of the image and the narrative as these are all important factors to consider. From references we intended to create a piece with a soft cartoony style which objects and the setting would be slightly warped to not have a hyper-realistic aesthetic. We intend to replicate this style because we believe simplicity is appealing and efficient in the time provided. 

Swamp

Our first thought was to capture an atmospheric shot of a swamp. This would be a low angle shot on the shore of a lake surrounded by trees which feel like they are reaching out to capture you. This concept would be spooky with an unsettling edge to it, that nothing is out of place but it feels “off”. This would be accomplished with disfigured trees, in contrast of the calm lake layered with a thick mist. Accompanied with blues and greens as this would be covered by the darkness of night, only lit by a lantern and moonlight.

 Underwater

We continued to develop ideas; from the swamp idea the theme of nature evolved as we thought we would like to create organic shapes which would be both challenging and appealing. However we wanted contrast, which lead to the idea of manmade objects which have been lost to the sea. Therefore we started to list possible man-made objects such as boats, planes and cars etc. Personally I liked the idea of an aged war plane; inspired by events such as Pearl Harbour and Midway; I believe this would communicate the message of humanity’s brutality would always be overpowered by nature. The contrast of the harsh shapes and colours of the man-made object and the soft curves of organic growth; we believed this would make an appealing piece.

Other factors we considered were the themes of decay; this would make the object rather abstract at first; then with closer inspection the audience would discover what the object is. This would engage the audience and give the piece depth. From an animation point of view; this would be interesting implementing organic life and animating this to its own movements such as anemones as well as the oceanic influence: currents. This would lead to further research by observing aquatic life at an aquarium for animation and concept reference.

I have created a mood board to generate ideas on the composition of the piece.  

Look Development: Introduction

Introduction

3rd November 2016

Another module within Animation Process and Practice requires us to practice Look Development. Look Development is the process of developing a concept into a medium, and example of this could be the Look Development of a children’s illustration adaptation into a television series. There would be a number of process and development to create this adaptation from design, transition and animation elements.

Our task is to search for an image which we can practice Look Development and produce a final establishing shot which will establish the overall look of the potential film, television series, music video etc. We have creative freedom in our choices as we can remain faithful to the source material or completely re-invent the concept as long as there are ties and reasons why.

From this I will begin research into current concepts and identify the creative choices made between the final product and the concept. I own a number of art books from games and films and I will research these and draw upon similarities and difference which can inspire my own work.  

As this is a an entire development process, we are recommended to work within groups no larger than three, I will consider members who have similar goals as my own so that we can effectively work together. 

Animation Process and Practice: Evaluation

Evaluation:

November 2016

Animation Process and Practice

During this project, we were assigned to create a character animation piece to an audio clip. The audio clip is from a film where the actor describes the physical characteristics of a swan and the subtext is the character feels silly that he has to describe a swan and becomes rather irritated towards the end of the clip.

Research

Research included reading, reference and live action video. I was surprised by the level of detail which can be compiled into a short acting clip through both context and subtext. I attended lectures where we discussed acting principles and how to apply these to our own work and I feel I have learnt a lot from this including accents, ques, how the body reacts to dialogue and much more.

I was influenced by my own live action video reference, because I started with the extreme positions of my character, then watching the reference I found I moved the character far too much. I believe I added the necessary animated nature of the character by over acting some aspects, but not over acting to ruin the scene. These included quirks such as neck jerks, facial ques and hand positions; these were all important factors which influenced the extremes of my character which created the foundations for my animation.

Richard Williams’ book ‘The Animator’s Survival Guide’ was my reference throughout this project through the principles and how to apply these to my animation. I found remembering all of the principles difficult at the start of the project, but with revision and blocking, I was able to manage the principles effectively to organise my workflow and the book to guide me.

In addition I reflected on my work almost daily with comments from both myself and others including lecturers, I took notes upon what they said and amended changes to improve my animation. These points almost always came down to a principle I had incorrectly implemented in a section of my animation.

Reflection

I discovered that a piece as short as this still has a significant work load to consider such as the long pipeline and the infinite option of subtleties you can add. From this I have learnt the importance of solidifying your ideas through thumbnails and storyboards to know exactly what is happening within the scene. I understand that no project is set in stone and that every aspect will be exactly the same from start to finish, but the foundations must stay the same and allow details fluidity to develop.

I have learnt a great deal about Maya, much more than before with previous projects. From the graph editor, render settings, settings and preferences, etc. These are all aspects I have had to teach myself through trial and error and I understand that this will be my workflow within the industry.

Reflecting on the choices I made during this project; I would improve the way I compiled the piece within Maya. Keys and extremes caused myself to create many key frames within Maya, which caused many problems later on with the graph editor.

I did this to create extremes which would break down the animation to create the extreme poses within the animation. This allowed me to time the dialogue with the poses without the distraction of in-betweens.

However; the model would snap erratically causing joints to break and not follow a natural arc because of these additional points on the graph. In future, I would keep my keys and extremes simple, organized and effective; that way my workflow would be far more efficient.

I chose to lead the extremes and keys with body positions, as the body language is the fundamental point of a character. Using this knowledge, I positioned my character in clear positions of what is happening, along with facial expression and even lip sync.

Reflecting on this point I believe I worked effectively to block out the body and time this with the audio file and this created the foundations of what my animation would become. However I also spent some time on facial expressions, eyes and lip sync at this crucial point. I would improve this process by ignoring these details until later down the pipeline. This way I can completely focus on the body alone, as this should be the first point to send the message to the audience of what is happening, and then the face re-enforces this.

I am happy with the choice I made with the medium of 3D; because with the rapid development of technology I must keep up with this change and join its evolution. I would have enjoyed trying 2D animation as that was the medium I chose to do animation in when I joined the course.

I did not expect these results with my knowledge of 3D animation software, despite this I feel that I have created an effective piece of work through my knowledge and revision of the animation principles.

Final Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMgX_wmrwc&index=8&list=PLOr0uDukkOO38GYj3xsyWkpf62PTmjJTL 

Overall, I believe I have worked effectively on this project despite external factors including medical reasons to hinder the time I could have spent on this project. I believe I have learnt a great deal from both Maya and what to expect within the industry.

I believe my final piece of animation is effective because of the application of animation principles and addition of learning acting techniques I have given my character appeal and life to the performance. Despite this, I would improve a number of points; Firstly I would improve the simplicity of the positions with clear a clear line of action. As seen I the video I can see how the animation staggers and the character may appear robotic, this would be amended with more time and understanding on the controls to ensure the positions are clear and smooth.

I also would improve the final compositing of the scene. I do not have a complete understand of staging a scene including position or lighting and found this a challenge towards the end of the project. I did research lighting basing my animation lighting on interview lighting. However, I believe I must spend more time to understand this effectively.

This project has also re-enforced what I wish to become; a character animator. I have enjoyed creating a performance with the character to bring a model to life, but I have much more to learn from applying the animation principles to Maya software. I have recorded all of my reflection in my blog by following this link: http://georgebowdenmanchestermetanimation.blogspot.co.uk/

Animation Process and Practice Submission: "It's A Swan"