Focusing on my project and gaining new feedback this part of the week, I needed more anticipation put into my intro to lead more into the context of the scene and have a another shot put into the sequence as a type of close up of the Character A’s mental breakdown. So taking my time I started with the intro first with Character A walking in angry and frustrated at Character B for context of the scene by building up anticipation before Character A lifted and threw the plate to the ground smashing it. 

After editing the audio and extending the intro by adding an interior design, I moved onto the second shot scene where Character A is centred on the angle over the shoulder shot from Character B once the plate smashes and Character A giggles and laughs and brings us to the first shot afterwards back. I mainly focused on the timing and spacing of frames matching with the wavelength of the audio and experimenting with the new shot in one file and keeping the old version together following a strict timeline. 

Here is version 1 and version 2 of the animation videos to see the difference.

It was interesting enough once I had spare time to work on more frames to make it more rough but felt it drew back my time with adding the intro and the new shot in but nevertheless and I favour both versions of the animations all together and awaiting feedback before the week of making our presentations before we’re off for the Christmas break.

Moving onto the lip-Syncing and sound with our block outs, I got my most recent feedback from my lecturer on what area of my animation I should work more on before next week’s class. First taking my character B as they only stand and make so little movements taken from the animatic as I took that time to work on them before Lip Syncing. I knew I needed more anticipation to character B so I researched other ways on how a person or their body on reflex would react to something smashed and broken, filled with fear and being startled. I found a couple of clips on how the person would react to the other as they shield themselves with their hands up, covering themselves for protection and take a few steps back with routeing their upper torso to protect their vision and face.

Once I took care of character B’s movements through the block out and follow throughs with the arms and legs, I went back to Characters A’s mouth with the lip syncing with the audio I had collected. Using the resources from Blockboard I wrote out the script of the scene and drew out the mouth actions matching with the words of the script, for I had blueprint before drawing the lips movements. It was very helpful to aid the characters acting with only Character A speaking and having more frames/movements in comparison to Character B to make them more fluid. 

Just then I added the vowels to character A and movements to B to have more action and acting in this scene thanks to my references I collected to play the scene out which I found enjoyable, especially with the Lip syncing from previous years as it was easy enough to follow through with the timing of frames and the body movements to match with the head and rotation as I think it looked way better than before.  

After refreshing our minds with storyboards and showing our pitch videos and audios, we moved onto making a rough of our pitches this week in hopes of experimenting with references we collected. Once I showed both of my pitches to my lecturer Sarah, she though my second pitch which featured audio from steven universe and involved a characters mental breakdown as I wanted to work on an animation that conveyed emotion more than the physical actions in one shot. So once the choice was made I videoed myself for reference of movement between two characters this week to aid me in the animation sequence. First I worked on the prop of Character A throwing and smashing down in anger to the floor, using an arc to help with the direction of the throw. I then focused on Character A’s rough sequence with head turns and adding a nose and mouth (but no lip sync yet). 

The rough animation was fun and interesting, taking time to focus one task then the next with arcs, line of action and timing for sequences. Even though I can’t see myself doing colouring, clothes and detail for the characters in the next few weeks but I’ll try to once I get the roughness out of the way.

Once we finished our first assignment, eventually we were taken right into the second assignment. Individually we had to create an animated sequence of our choice with two characters interacting with each other. It was a difficult decision to choose audio for especially the theme I would go for, instead of the physical actions, I wanted to go for something more emotional between both characters and practise more on lip syncing so I may improve myself this semester. I thought of scenes which were emotionally and came across Steven Universe where one scene was sentimental and other was a major mental breakdown for one character. I wanted to understand body language and posture when it comes to sadness and depression for the following sequence between these videos down below. 

After reviewing both scenes I pitched my ideas and brainstormed on doing both to see what direction I would be taking and which scene fitted more. So I did both animatics this week and looked online about backgrounds and environments for the atmosphere about the setting. For one scene involved on a bench out in the open and the other indoors in a closed space room. I didn’t want to add any character details or work to much on appearance as I was only experimenting the movements first and foremost. 

Bouncing Ball 

Pose to Pose

Walk Cycle 

Run Cycle 

Flour Sack 

Pushing Block 

Basketball Jump

Reflection

After going back to basics from what I learnt in first year and doing each animation every week for the last 6 weeks this masters. I have seen a significant difference between previous years and up till now in my skills and animation exercises, which I believe have gotten better as I was able to handle the principles much easier, as I’m overjoyed with the outcomes I’ve made. I could’ve improved the most difficult problems I was facing with the FK-IK switch when rigging or the animation when it came to anticipation while refining previous animation exercises. 

I even hoped for more time to experiment more with the other animations but I’m relieved in what I have done with all my best effort put into it, thanks to the lecturers and the feedback they gave me. I learnt a lot more this semester and especially with the Blender software as previous years Maya was always my main app for the 3D exercises so I’m glad I came around it with many resources to instruct me on how to use. If I were to change anything this assignment, I could’ve mad the animations more fluid and spend more time on each one watching my timetable every week to expand more and improve my errors. 

In my mid-semester, we were given the information for our next assignment and were given the time to look back on our previous exercises which were due soon at the end of October. I used this time to finish my exercises and let my lecturers view my work and to give me significant feedback on what I needed to do to make the animations better and how to expand more with the animation instead of being basic and plain. 

Using my time this week, I reflected on my work and looked out for more reference and videos on the critical animations I needed to work on to make them more refined and offsetting a few of the animations I had to redo and go beyond pushing the limit. 

We went back to basics of body mechanics like last week with the moving block and jumping flour sack but this time experimenting with a basket ball throw on Blender using the origami boy to throw a basket ball into the hoop. We went onto references for any type of basketball a person would do regularly and explain how they do it and I went back to the basics of body mechanics with weight and flexibility with Richard Williams survival kit as the aim was to focus on the balance, weight and line of action.

It was very difficult personally for me as I had help from both lecturers to help with the process of the body mechanics and the arc and stretch and squash for the basketball which that part was easy enough. I even made sure to have anticipation in when the model takes a step and jumps. 

Using blender and Action editor I was able to get the keyframes inserted to the original model and went ahead for in-betweens for both models and action. I would often forget about the FK-IK switch and how to join or release an item from child constraint as rigging isn’t my biggest strength. I tired to anticipate the actions, watch the timing and add mechanical movements till the end while I would wait for feedback on improvements I needed.

For this class we were introduced to another new lecturer called Rachel Dixon who presented the topic Body Mechanics which involved the basics of mechanics with the body with weight, line of action and blocking. We were given 3 exercises to complete which involved a robot arm, a flour sac and a origami man pushing a very heavy stone. 

This first exercise involved the flour sac, which we had to animate poses with blocking to think what the sac would do while animating with a start and finish sequence with the help of Rachel to guide us each step of the way. I gathered references through images and videos especially blackboard on how the sac would look through multiple expressions and the squash and stretch for choosing poses and blocking sequences to help with mass and balance of the flour sack. 

The second exercise included a robot arm which we had to animate to bring the claw arm to grab the cube object and bring in to the other side and place it down. This is where we got introduced and refreshed on the topic of rigging which included the bones and constraint. After blocking the arm, we were guided on how to connect both the arm and the cube together and how to turn off the connection. I learnt how to key frames with the claw grip and constraint the cube to the bone options which I found very easy enough to animate then turn it off with the inverse options. 

This next file brought us to the very end where we had to bring the origami boy to push the stone with is strength and show his struggles which I found the hardest this exercise as rigging isn’t my biggest strength to animating. I took it as a challenge and went ahead with Rachel’s aid as I struggled at points with the IK/FK switch and connecting it the stone itself. I later went back to blackboard looking at the finished version and went online looking at 2D examples poses and line of action along with videos to help give ideas when pushing the block. Overall rigging isn’t my biggest strength in skills and I don’t see myself in the future with this kind of role but nevertheless I enjoyed this lesson and exercises to help with my assignment with mechanics. 

Here is the final version.

At the beginning at my 3rd week, we refreshed our minds with the run and walk cycles on creating and animating a figure to run or walk in a simple cycle flowing smoothly. We had to do both cycles and I decided for myself to animate 2D for the walk cycle and 3D for the run cycle as both are my biggest strengths. Before animating I went on blackboard to see Mike’s 3D tutorials and Aodhans 2D videos on how to animate to help me rewind my mind. I also went back to my animation book by Richard Williams on the topics of the walk and run in different poses and the number of frames I will use for both.

I first did the walk cycle in 2D using Krita by following Aodhan and Richard Williams advice by using a simple approach of doing it in 2’s than 3’s since I didn’t want it to look choppy but fluid with the flow. I did a normal walk cycle mechanical to get the jest of the walk and think about timing, frames and arcs since the body was in one place the whole time.  I found it easy once I understood the purpose of the walk. 

Later on I had to make one walk with more personality since it could’ve been anything from a kid, a women or a man walking differently to their persona and to be more emotional. Looking through various videos for references, I went for the choice to do an elderly man for the walk by looking at the 100 ways to walk take on an elderly person walking. At first glance it looked a little complicated for it didn’t have enough personality for it so I researched more and found the 16 walk cycles each one transmitting a lot emotion into each character which I thought then that I should do a combination between the old man walk and the angry panda walk for the character. Animating it in 2’s and watched my arcs and timing between each frame and filling in the in-betweens. 

Afterwards I focused on the run cycle in 3D with blender with the origami boy rig from blackboard and Mike’s tutorial advice and tutorial videos. So again I went back to Richard Williams note’s on the runs and remembering runs always work best in 1’s than 2’s or 3’s. I quickly looked at other cycles on YouTube and live action references with any runner or athlete with a good perspective with their runs and analysing their contact and poses each step. I started by getting my mind on doing the normal mechanical walk with the rig and started there with Blender coming out with a normal vanilla run.  

Soon after that exercise and experimenting with the runs with other references and resources, I figured the run needed more roughness and determination with the rig with it’s run giving it more perspective and lifelike poses with it’s run. I gave the arms more inwards actions and kept the head straight on with the legs following the moments when one foot leaves the floor. I watched the timing as the run was only in 1’s but complex. I found it enjoyable to go back to this but I think I should give the walk more perspective than staring at the either side instead from front to back or a 90 degree angle. 

Beginning Week 2 we went straight ahead to the next major principle “Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead”. Where it involves key frames are drawn from the start to the end with picked poses at significant points whereas the in-betweens are drawn between poses to give a full breakdown of the animation and control over the 2D and 3D animation. It is another way to have a strict timeline of production planned out in a way to show storytelling of the character’s storytelling. 

In our module we were given the task of animating a character with 3 – 4 poses that lasts 2.5 secs, strict timeframes between the 2D and 3D and consider anticipation, fellow through and overlap and blocking breakdowns. Using the resources from blackboard I downloaded the Rain. Rig from blender studios and saw Mike’s videos on the Origami boy rig and how he demonstrated the blocking and anticipation within the whole animation and poses. Afterwards I went back to the principles to look more closely and have understanding of the anticipation/exaggeration, pose to pose and overlapping. 

After downloading the rig for Blender, I quickly looked and sketched poses for the model and went ahead by adding the poses into the model. I first had some problems with the IK FK Switch as I did them without adjusting the rigs as I ran into glitches and tried to solve the problem, luckily Mike gave me the insight I needed with the bone collection of the main controls which logically and physically made it possible for the armature to move like a person instead of moving it too freely. Whereas I continued with poses and researched ways on how to make it more anticipation with secondary action and follow through with the blocking for one part of the frame to move from A to B. 

I collected random poses here above to give the rig more gesture and emotion (without facial expression) and looked at more videos on better posing and blocking with the assistance of the line of action and body shape once the main body, arms and legs to fit the rest of the poses with more emotion for the rigged character. 

Later on I moved onto the overlapping action and in-betweens with other parts of the rig which involved the feet, hair, eyes, hands, fingers and clothing. I focused on the feet to make sure I knew how to get to point A to B with keeping the initial location of the rig and made movement a step or hop for exaggeration. I did the hair next which I gave it an arc for having the flow and weight side to side to make it life like than it was the hands and eyes to make sure they followed through with the moments. Whereas I went on Graph editor to clean it up with the curves and frames especially the hair movement following an arc.

I finally finished it and I reflected how how it was for rigging isn’t my biggest strength in 3D but after reviewing this week I’m glad we refreshed our memories of it here on Blender to make our animations smooth and fix problems were facing with IK/FK switch and the graph editor as I always forget near the end of the animation stage. Here is my final video of the exercise.