Class
This week in class we were tasked with complete a 3D ball bouncing animation. This involved making a ball bounce into the scene, hitting it off a wall and bouncing it till it stops. I struggled with using the rig but once I got the hang of it, it was not so bad. I started the animation by blocking out the bounce and figuring out the timing.
After I was satisfied with the movement, I adjusted the fall by using the graph editor and turning all the bottom tangents to linear, this made the ball fall faster.
The next step was to add the squash and stretch to the ball, I also adjusted the timing of some movements.
I then made the ball rotate and roll with the way it was moving, this helped make the animation look smoother and showed some of the flaws in the timing, I corrected the mistakes.
My final pass of this animation was to adjust the timing of the first ball bounce and tweak the rolling look at the end.
Overall, I think the animation looks good. I do think there is still some flaws with the movement and there is room for improvement, but I am happy with my progress.
In the afternoon we were put into our groups and discussed our story and gather references for the character and the room the animation will take place in. Here is the outline of our story:
Homework
For homework we were tasked with watching two more videos, the first explained two different types of rigging, forward kinematic and inverse kinematic. Forward kinematic rigging follows the chain of hierarchy meaning if the top point Is moved the rest of the shape will follow. Forward kinematic rigging is most used in the arms of characters as it gives more control over the joints and the position of the arm, it also created an arc of motion that looks natural. Inverse kinematic rigging is controlled at the end, moving a point affects the whole rig. Inverse kinematic rigging is commonly used in the legs of characters as it allows the knee to bend when the foot is raised. In most rigs the animator can switch between forward kinematic and inverse kinematic rigging depending on what is required at the time.
The second video explained the process of animating in 3D and how to use a simple rig. The rig was attached to a worm like creature that we had to make jump of the ground and land. I first blocked out the movement, making the worm squish before jumping and curling in the air. After this I adjusted the timing of the motions since all the movements were straight after each other. I then added some inbetweens to smooth the movement. Next, I added some follow through by making the head bob after the worm hit the ground. Lastly I tweaked the movements till I was happy.
Overall, I think I could have held the anticipation pose for a few extra frames as it feels a little fast. I like the animation it looks smooth and the follow through looks good.
Assessment 3
In class we gathered research for our group animation
Here are our character references:
We are thinking of making the ghost very simple and round, very similar to a Pac-Man ghost.
Here are our room references:
Since our story takes place in a kitchen, we looked at kitchens from different time periods.
On Sunday I had a meeting with my group, everyone showed up except for Curtis. We discussed who was doing character design and who was designing the background. Amber, Tori and Curtis were given character design. Nicole and I were given the background. Amber offered to draw the storyboards, Nicole designed the PowerPoint and I offered to edit the video presentation.
Both Nicole and I designed a kitchen, we got feedback from the Amber and Tori and made a third design incorporating the elements they liked. I drew the line art for the third design and sent it to Nicole to create a colour scheme for it, I also designed a colour scheme. The group preferred the warmer colours in Nicole’s design.
First Design:
Improved Design:
Nicole’s Colour Scheme:
My Colour Scheme:
