Intro:
For our last assignment in Animated narratives we where split up into groups of five and where given the task to create an animated short between 15-30 seconds, based on the theme adventure. During the idea process we quickly decided on the idea of a ghost within an abandoned house. One of our early ideas was for the ghost to be getting ready for a date, and once he met his date they were sucked up by a ghost buster like machine. We then settled on the idea of the ghost going into the kitchen, where he finds a fridge and floats through it. He would then emerge from the fridge with a sandwich floating inside him, it would then fall to the ground. The short would end with a tear drop from the ghosts eye.
Research/References:
In our team I was given the task to model and texture the hallway, as well as animating the first shot of the short. As soon as I was assigned the hallway I already knew what I wanted it to look like. My favourite game is ‘The Last Of Us’, and the main menu shows a window within an abandoned house with overgrown vegetation. This is where I took my inspiration from for my hallway model. I then done a quick concept art of the hallway to get an idea of how it would look and the colours I could use.
Production:
So I began by creating a basic hallway with a window and a doorway leading into the kitchen. I then went back into it and added more like the skirting board, shelf & supports, window sill and wooden planks. I then added curtains by using a plane and a ncloth simulation. I pivoted the plane to a support so it wouldn’t fall, I then made the support smaller so that it would push the plane together to create to wrinkle effect. Lastly I paused the simulation and duplicated to make an object. To add more detail I removed parts of the curtains to make them look ripped. Early in the year we had already created a vase and table for the development of our modelling skills. So I decided I could use these assets within the hallway. Next i wanted to add the vine coming through the window of the hallway. To help me do this i used the following video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKvOPklNCOY. Firstly I created a path for the vine to be created upon. I then created an ivy mesh and used the attribute editor to tweak it to my liking. I then applied the mesh to the path. I did have a problem where the mesh wasn’t showing up in the render but this is because I had forgotten to convert it to polygons. Once I had finished modelling the hallway I then moved onto UV mapping. Now UV mapping is something I struggle with but I think I’ve improved a lot since my last assignment. Using YouTube tutorials I was able to create clean and straight UVs. I still think I can do better, but I have definitely improved. After I had finished UV mapping, I then moved onto the textures. I exported the scene as an FXB file and imported it into substance painter. To achieve to look I wanted, I downloaded and imported custom materials From ‘Substance Share’, such as; ‘Peeled paint wood’, Broken old brick wall’, ‘Mossy pine’ and ‘old painted wood’. There are separate textures for the table as I already had textures done for the table when I previously modelled and rendered it. Once The hallway was modelled and textured, it was time to start my part of the animation. Another member of my group was modelling and rigging the ghost, so I got the model off her and imported it into my scene. This is where I found a problem. For my shot there was no change in expression of the ghost but, the model has its mouth open by default and there was no control for this. This was easy to fix though. I done this by unfreezing the transformations on the model, then using the face select tool to close the mouth of the ghost. I then added keyframes to the ghost and camera so they would move smoothly together. I tried to replicate a typical cartoony ghost, that would float up and down while moving. I spent some time trying to get the timing right. To me its smooth enough but could be better. Once the animation was finished, another member of my group gave us the backdrop and lighting setup so that it would be consistent throughout. When I imported the lights, They were slightly off because of the scale of my model. So I made some slight tweaks to match mine. The scene was then complete and all I had left to do was render the animation.
Outcome:
Below is my final render of my section for ‘Midnight Snack Adventure’.
And This is the final ‘Midnight Snack Adventure’ render.
Conclusion & Reflection Throughout the year:
I really enjoyed this assignment as it combines different aspects of 3D work, such as modelling, and animating. I feel like this is the big assignment that we’ve been building up to, so it was fun working in a group and to finally create our own 3D short. I particularly enjoyed modelling and texturing the hallway. This has made me want to develop my skills, focusing more on environments. Overall I have really enjoyed my first year in animation, and because of that this year has flew by. Previously I was studying cyber security but decided to change course as I wasn’t enjoying it. I am very glad I made that decision. This year has taught me the basics of 2D and 3D animation. This was my first experience with any form of animation, so it was a bit daunting trying to learn all of the new software and techniques. But I think my work is pretty on track for a beginner. My favourite section of the year was definitely 3D animation, and this is where my interest lies and I cant wait to develop my skills further. I also enjoyed the problem solving aspect of each assignment, through the use of forums, videos and exploring the software. This gave me a sense of accomplishment, and I think this will be a good skill to have in the future. In general I think my work is to a decent standard, but I could try a lot harder to improve the quality. I had a few personal matters along with COVID which really impacted my motivation. But I can wait to see what’s in store next year.