Reflection for Project 2

I really learnt a lot about Character Animation. Although I have done something similar in my previous modules, this time the exercises and projects are more in depth and the things I always do this time is not really easy. I have to do a lot of research and manipulated a lot of the graph editors. To make things look more smooth, I have to manipulate the graphs carefully, which to me is not an easy thing because there are too many graphs to change and it make looks messy if one graph is accidentally manipulated wrongly.

I am really satisfied of all the things I have done for character animation. It really makes me think that those people who do animation, such as cartoon movies, are really incredible as animation do require a lot of time and patience, and passion for it to make one incredible animation.

Character animation is really one of the interesting modules that I ever had and although I believe that character animation is not just all these that me and my classmates have learnt, but I hope if there are opportunities like this, I would like to learn more about character animation. Overall, I think that character animation is quite tough but still, I managed to do it. Thumbs up!

3DPF Project 2, Component 2 - Angry Walk

I chose the option 2 and animated an angry walk using the Mani rig.

It look like this:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eXqXDs7NB8

I referenced from an angry walk picture and animated my mani rig.

To make it look angry, i animated the wrists and made it clench its fists. Also, the posture of an angry person is not straight, so I made it bent for every frame, but bent at different angles for each frame, but the first and the last frame is the same. The shoulders and elbows are always bent too. The legs are always wide apart, to show that it is stomping on the ground instead of a stroll. And the final product is shown in the video above.

3DPF Project 2 Component 1 - Basic Mani Walk Cycle

I selected the cog and open the Graph Editor, and transform Y
in an up & down motion. I  selected Keys > Break Tangents>Free Tangents.
I clicked Tangents > Linear, and then flatten the curve.
I then selected the front foot on frame 1 and transform Z like the above picture.

I selected all keys and click Tangents > Linear. 

I did the same for the other foot.

Selected Transform Y and curved it like the above picture.

Did the same for the other foot.

Selected the cog again and transform X. On the pass positions, I moved the keys up or down.
I flatten the high and low tangents.

I selected the spine controllers and open the Graph Editor.
I select all the Rotate X tangents/keys and flatten them.
Select the curves and click Tangents > Flat.

I then select  the Rotate Z channels for both controllers.

.

Rotated Y for both controllers to make it look like this.

Rotated X channel of both controllers and flattened them.

Shifted all keys 4 frames to the right. Selected the whole curve. Click Curves > Pre Infinity > Cycle.
Clicked Curves > Post Infinity > Cycle.

On frame 1, 15 and 30, I keyed the head to look in front.
The final animation looks like this.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl6oJI_0PJQ

BASIC WALK CYCLE

In this lesson, we made a basic animation of a basic walk cycle.

I used this as reference for my basic walk cycle animation. It is found in the PDF provided on Olive.

At frame 1.

At frame 18.

At frame 36.

The final basic walk cycle looks like this:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83AIJnh2Gog

Reflection:

The basic walk cycle to me is quite interesting because it is my very first time animating a walk cycle and it makes me think like "so this is how one walk". In daily life, we walk a lot but we can't see ourselves walk so this exercise to me makes me realise that a walk cycle has a certain pattern to it.

Research - What is Character Animation?

What exactly is Character Animation?

"Character animation is a specialized area of the animation process, which involves bringing animated characters to life. The role of a Character Animator is analogous to that of a film or stage actor, and character animators are often said to be "actors with a pencil" (or a mouse). Character animators breathe life in their characters, creating the illusion of thought, emotion and personality. Character animation is often distinguished from creature animation, which involves bringing photo-realistic animals and creatures to life"

In my opinion, Character Animation is animating the character's movements and also make them look real and making them move like the way they supposed to be. For example, if one is angry, you wouldn't look like you are happy, jumping around. Instead, you will be stomping on the ground and with clenched fists.

EXAMPLE:
They say that Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) is often considered the very first example of true character animation. The video looks like this:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY40DHs9vc4

Posing - Spider Man Poses

I made spiderman poses in this lesson.

In this case, I posed spiderman upside down. We all know that Spiderman has a very unique pose, such that in one glance we all know he is spiderman.

Spiderman hanging upside down

The side view of Spiderman posing upside down.

Reflection:
Posing is very important to me because we do not want to always look at a character's face expressions to know what is he thinking or feel like at that moment. For example, without looking at one's face but the person is crossing his arms, means he is not very happy at the moment. In this lesson, I referenced from the powerpoint slides for tips for these spiderman poses. Although it is quite tedious, I managed to do it.

WEEK 6, LAB 3 - Exercise 1 Questions & Answers

Exercise 1:

i)                    If engineered or programmed badly, BigDog would fall over. Watch the full video again, and describe how BigDog’s legs move while walking– ie. what is the sequence of leg movements for one complete step? Use the terms BL, BR, FL, and FR for the back-left, back-right, front-left and front-right legs.

Answer: Firstly, the Big Dog's right front leg crossed over to it's left front leg. And then, the Big Dog's left front leg separate away from it's right front leg, and the back right  leg cross over to its back left leg. Moving on, the Big Dog's right front leg cross over to its left front leg again, and the back left leg separates away from its back right leg. Lastly,  it returns to a similar pose as the first action when it was first kicked. This allows the Big Dog to return to a balanced pose.

ii) Explain how this sequence of movements manages to balance BigDog’s body weight.

The centre of gravity depends on height of the object and the surface area.