Daniel James
Individual Contribution To The Group
Animation Bible - 13/01/2015
Shannon and I were responsible for the animation bible. Since she was busy with sound editing and post prduction, I started the animation bible off, putting in all of the images and information that I was able to obtain. This is my first animation bible attempt, so I am aware that I will not be able to get it correctthe first time, but because of the time constraints, and unfortunate circunstances, I am very concerned that we will not be able to get it finished.
(Work in progress. Francesca model by Giacomo)
Altering Shot 2 - 9/1/2015
Due to arrangements, I have had to spend half a day working, mening that my schedule would be shortened. To keep my being useful to the group, Monika asked me to alter shot 2 to improve the walking cycle and the time in which Evan falls over and the rope moving. This was eaily done so that I could leave earlier. I feel like that by being in constant practice throughout this project for the film, I have been able to get a hang of the software. The software has been really fun to learn how to use, but it has also been frustrating to get a grip of. We still have three more days before the deadline hand in, so hopefully with the whole group back in action, we will finally be able to get the Animation Bible started.
(Background by Shannon. NOT FINAL! Work production)
Shot Refining - 8/1/2015
We had another day where we had to keep going until everyone returned from their Christmas break, so on Wednesday, I was responsible for refining numerous shots so that the animation motions loked much cleaner and less crude. I did mention that I found the model difficult to model before, but now I seem to find the model difficult to animate with. It wasn't broken, but due to the awkward anatomy I found that much of the animation will end up being slightly off. Although this is my first model, I am able to forgive some of my mistakes, but in future projects, I think it will be important to consider, when character designing, the reality of moving the model without problems.
The following day, Giacomo finaly returned so I was able to get a vague start on the Animation bible. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make much progress on it as I was called back to keep changing scenes, but when Shannon gets back, I will be able to work on it with her. In the mean time, I was asked to make a digital version of the film title. I was able to do that, but I left the original file intact so that it was open for any editing that was needed.
The following day, Giacomo finaly returned so I was able to get a vague start on the Animation bible. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make much progress on it as I was called back to keep changing scenes, but when Shannon gets back, I will be able to work on it with her. In the mean time, I was asked to make a digital version of the film title. I was able to do that, but I left the original file intact so that it was open for any editing that was needed.
(Notes by Monika. Original typography done traditionally by Giacomo)
Setting The Camera - 6/1/2015
There was a limited availability within the group with only me and Monika being back ready to work. Until we get the whole group back, Monika and I will have to keep going until Giacomo and Shannon return.
Since the person who was originaly meant to be there to do the camera wasn't available, I was asked to take on the camera job. I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to do it at first, but after reading what Monika told me to do, I was able to succesfully place a camera in the scene. I am glad I was able to lear this new skill because it is so simple, and if I learn to animate it, I may be able to come up with amazing scenery in future projects.
Since the person who was originaly meant to be there to do the camera wasn't available, I was asked to take on the camera job. I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to do it at first, but after reading what Monika told me to do, I was able to succesfully place a camera in the scene. I am glad I was able to lear this new skill because it is so simple, and if I learn to animate it, I may be able to come up with amazing scenery in future projects.
(Backgrounds by Shannon. Francesca by Giacomo. ALL ANIMATION PRODUCTION! NOT FINAL)
Process of Animation - 10/12/2014
This week, we were finally able to begin the proper animation process of our models. I feel slightly dissapointed that it took so long in order for us to get to this stage, but I was mostly happy to be able to get started animating because this is something that we have been leading up to for a long time. We were finally able to see our project come to life.
We were given some time sheets which would be used to give us our chosen scenes and a deadline to have them finished by. This was a very helpful pointer for us because it gave us direction in order to get our scenes done, something that was needed for the production of this project. I found this very helpful to work with because it clearly pointed out what it was that I needed to do and which scene I should have shown favour to. I find checklists very easy to work with because by using a checklist I can organise my time and priprities wisely.
One cool thing I learned to do was edit something called "graphs". Graphs are what show the flow of a model's movement. SInce I have been copying and pasting frames, I was left with models moving where they were supposed to be still, and I knew that constantly pastingeach individual frame to make it still would be a waste of time, so when I asked Ian for help, I was shown this Graph editor and a couple ways to make it stop happening. I found this piece of information really helpful to know for the future so that if I ran into the same problems, I would know what to do to fix it.
We were given some time sheets which would be used to give us our chosen scenes and a deadline to have them finished by. This was a very helpful pointer for us because it gave us direction in order to get our scenes done, something that was needed for the production of this project. I found this very helpful to work with because it clearly pointed out what it was that I needed to do and which scene I should have shown favour to. I find checklists very easy to work with because by using a checklist I can organise my time and priprities wisely.
One cool thing I learned to do was edit something called "graphs". Graphs are what show the flow of a model's movement. SInce I have been copying and pasting frames, I was left with models moving where they were supposed to be still, and I knew that constantly pastingeach individual frame to make it still would be a waste of time, so when I asked Ian for help, I was shown this Graph editor and a couple ways to make it stop happening. I found this piece of information really helpful to know for the future so that if I ran into the same problems, I would know what to do to fix it.
Animation Sweeping Tests - 4/12/2014
What I really wanted to do from yesterday was rest the sweeping motion that Evan would be doing. To do this, I started with a test animation, then after discussing what was wrong with the model, we got some test footage of our model and from that footage we presented a better animation of our main character sweeping.
Before Reference
(TEST ANIMATION ONLY! Not final animation)
With Reference
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(Animated in Maya - TEST ONLY! NOT FINAL! - Thanks to Monika for providing acting for reference. Thanks to Mary Murphy for letting us borrow broom)
Animation Tests - 2/12/2014
This week, animation had finally begun. Unfortunatly, it was a week late compared to our intended schedule, but unfortunately, due to the problems we faced throughout modelling and rigging, we had to push our project back in order to fix our models to a point where we were finally ready to animate.
This week, I started testing my Evan model in a couple animations to see how he would move. Below are the tests I have done.
This week, I started testing my Evan model in a couple animations to see how he would move. Below are the tests I have done.
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(Animated in Maya - animation tests. NOT FINAL ANIMATION)
It is clear that practice is needed to perfect Evan's motion, but the sole purpose of this was to see how his body would move from the animatic we were working with. So far, I am relatively pleased with how it came out because it seems like his model would be very well animated.
Broom Modelling - 26/11/2014
Our malde role, Evan, would need a type of tool to visually show he is a janitor. We went with a broom. I volunteered to make the broom as I wanted to be able to improve my skills in modelling in not just characters but in props as well. The broom would be easy to make as I would be using simple shapes stretched out or softened on the edges in order to make our prop. This is a small exercise that I found to be very fun and a nice departure from a complicated model of Evan. This may be because there will be no specific rigging required for the broom, and will only aerve as a prop for Evan's performance.
(Thanks to Mary Murphy for letting me borrow the broom - all modeling and texturing done in one day)
Modelling Evan: The Process - 26/11/2014
Over the past two weeks and three days, I have been steadily working on the model for Evan, and his prop (a broom). I volunteered to make the model as I felt it would be a great opportunity to learn how to work on a character model. Below is a slideshow of the process from start to finish.
When I began, it was very awkward because of the almost out of sync images used as my reference, but eventually I was able to quickly adapt to the character. Maya was very fun to work with from the beginning because it was a new software that I was excited to further my practice on.
Modelling
It was, for the most part fun to create a project until I presented a rough model to the group to gain feedback on. Unfortunately, when I presented the model for feedback, I was met with what I judged to be a harsh critique, mostly about the shape of the arms (in which I went against the references out of fear of the model not working properly) and the size of the beak, which was too big for the reference.
At first, although I was aware of what they were telling me, I felt very disheartened. This drove me to try and make up for the mistakes I had made by downloading a student copy of Maya and reviving the model back to a state where it was true to the references and that the group was happy with. When I presented the renewed model to the group, they were happier with the progress I had made on the model, which made me feel much happier with my work and humbled to know that I was able to coreect my mistakes.
This was a very good experience for me to realise that constructive criticism is a very helpful tool to help me figure out my flaws and to improve upon them. I felt that this experience has made me more aware of the opinions of others, and considering that in the future I may be working with clients who will want their project to be made a certain way, I will have to learn to adapt to the client's vision, as well as be open to getting criticism to help me improve.
Texturing
Texturing was a skill that I didn't know how to do effectively. This year, I was keen to learn how to do an effective texture. Unfortunately, we were not given a proper tutorial on how to do a UV texture in Maya, so I had to learn through sources on the internet, and although they were not effective and would not be suitable for working in the Animation industry I was able to create a UV for Evan that looked decent. Since we were working with simplistic colours it was easier to do the UP map the way how we did without shading or fancy texture techniques, but I realise that if I want to do model texturing in the indistry, I will need to learn how to do a proper UV texture map, and this is something I hope we will be given proper lectures on in the future.
Modelling Issues
When I had finished the model I have created, I was informed by Shannon that there were loads of modelling errors in my model of Evan, which lead to rigging errors. I felt very disheartened as I had spent a long time working on the model, and I felt very helpless as when the problems were discovered, I was not in Bristol in order to help Shannon fix them, so she had to fix the problems with the model, and then upon my return, I would have to remodel the arms to a point where they could be rgged without errors.
From this whole experience, I predict that Shannon would be a very effective model tester in the future because she was able to fix the model and tell me where the model had went wrong, but the whole experience made me realise that I should have been there to help her solve the problems.
When working, I tend to plan ahead so that I can get the work done, and prepare myself for whatever it is I had planned next, meaning that I leave no room for a contingency plan if the project went wrong somehow. I know now that this is not a professional way to work because nothing will work out perfectly, and there should be enough time for me to begin working on the contingency plan even if it means staying extended hours to get the work done. I need to learn that in the industry, the schedule will not always go to plan and that I need to be prepared for if anything goes wrong so that if I do come to an error, I will be able to resolve the issue.
When I began, it was very awkward because of the almost out of sync images used as my reference, but eventually I was able to quickly adapt to the character. Maya was very fun to work with from the beginning because it was a new software that I was excited to further my practice on.
Modelling
It was, for the most part fun to create a project until I presented a rough model to the group to gain feedback on. Unfortunately, when I presented the model for feedback, I was met with what I judged to be a harsh critique, mostly about the shape of the arms (in which I went against the references out of fear of the model not working properly) and the size of the beak, which was too big for the reference.
At first, although I was aware of what they were telling me, I felt very disheartened. This drove me to try and make up for the mistakes I had made by downloading a student copy of Maya and reviving the model back to a state where it was true to the references and that the group was happy with. When I presented the renewed model to the group, they were happier with the progress I had made on the model, which made me feel much happier with my work and humbled to know that I was able to coreect my mistakes.
This was a very good experience for me to realise that constructive criticism is a very helpful tool to help me figure out my flaws and to improve upon them. I felt that this experience has made me more aware of the opinions of others, and considering that in the future I may be working with clients who will want their project to be made a certain way, I will have to learn to adapt to the client's vision, as well as be open to getting criticism to help me improve.
Texturing
Texturing was a skill that I didn't know how to do effectively. This year, I was keen to learn how to do an effective texture. Unfortunately, we were not given a proper tutorial on how to do a UV texture in Maya, so I had to learn through sources on the internet, and although they were not effective and would not be suitable for working in the Animation industry I was able to create a UV for Evan that looked decent. Since we were working with simplistic colours it was easier to do the UP map the way how we did without shading or fancy texture techniques, but I realise that if I want to do model texturing in the indistry, I will need to learn how to do a proper UV texture map, and this is something I hope we will be given proper lectures on in the future.
Modelling Issues
When I had finished the model I have created, I was informed by Shannon that there were loads of modelling errors in my model of Evan, which lead to rigging errors. I felt very disheartened as I had spent a long time working on the model, and I felt very helpless as when the problems were discovered, I was not in Bristol in order to help Shannon fix them, so she had to fix the problems with the model, and then upon my return, I would have to remodel the arms to a point where they could be rgged without errors.
From this whole experience, I predict that Shannon would be a very effective model tester in the future because she was able to fix the model and tell me where the model had went wrong, but the whole experience made me realise that I should have been there to help her solve the problems.
When working, I tend to plan ahead so that I can get the work done, and prepare myself for whatever it is I had planned next, meaning that I leave no room for a contingency plan if the project went wrong somehow. I know now that this is not a professional way to work because nothing will work out perfectly, and there should be enough time for me to begin working on the contingency plan even if it means staying extended hours to get the work done. I need to learn that in the industry, the schedule will not always go to plan and that I need to be prepared for if anything goes wrong so that if I do come to an error, I will be able to resolve the issue.
(Refderence images drawn by Monika - Modelled over two weeks and three days. Final model finished with Shannon's help)
Animation Style Research Part 2 - 7/11/2014
To continue my research, I felt it would be useful t analyse a different kind of Animation to Jellyjam and it's simplistic style. Below are the notes I took from the Danish animated film, Terkel in Trouble.
WARNING: Videos below include language and violent themes not suitable for children.
WARNING: Videos below include language and violent themes not suitable for children.
(Videos from YouTube - original film produced by Trine Heidedgaard and Thomas Heinesen)
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Terkel in Trouble follows the story of a teenage boy named Terkle, who is being bullied after an incident involving his uncle at a wedding reception. Below are the notes I took:
(Notes from watching film)
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Modelling Practice in Blender - 6/11/2014
Although not related to the software we will be working with, Maya, I felt it would be useful to go into Blender and practice making a model so that I had some knowledge of how the modelling process might go. I took Monika's design of Francesca and started making a basic model in Blender to gear myself up for any future modelling ahead. In the final project, we will be using Maya but for my personal work, I felt it would be useful for future reference.
(Original images of Francesca by Monika, modelled in Blender)
Further Character Design Ideas for Francesca - 4/11/2014
(Mixture of styles, photographs, traditional on paper with pencils and digital drawings)
I wanted to try and develop my knowledge on character design so that I could further my understanding of how effective character design is achieved. Taking the advice we received in the first two weeks of our second year course, I decided to try and make some designs using photographs of everyday objects to see if I could come up with something that would suit our audience. I also draw designs with triangle shapes in mind to try and come up with a design that would fir the style we are looking for.
I still feel like I am not quite understanding how effective character design is achieved, because I consider my designs to be too basic, joyless and lacking in any depth or significance.
I still feel like I am not quite understanding how effective character design is achieved, because I consider my designs to be too basic, joyless and lacking in any depth or significance.
Animation Style Research - 2/11/2014
As part of our discussion with Julia, we discussed animation style. As we were working in CGI, we would have to think about what kind of style we want to go with. We have just started working in CGI, but we still have a lot to learn before we can decide on style. Thankfully, we will be getting help with that, but a couple animations came up that I thought would be helpful to research to try and understand styles and help us come up with our own way to make the animation come to life.
(Video from YouTube - original show published by "Vodka" and "737SHAKER CAPITAL")
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Jellyjam is an example of a children based CGI animation that was discussed in the meeting. I thought it would be helpful to watch the first episode and take notes on what I discovered from the way it is animated.
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Conker's Bad Fur Day - Operatic Singing Poo - Example of Glass Breaking - 20/10/2014
Yesterday, we had a production meeting to try and work on our project. In the meeting, we discussed the comment cards, and one of them said that we should show the stage breaking as the performance is going on, so it feels like it is slowly building to that point. So, in order to aid us, I offered to look up a video from a Nintendo 64 video game called "Conker's Bad Fur Day", where the protagonist comes face to face with an operatic singing poo. In it, there is an example of the glass breaking, as you can see below. (WARNING: includes language and imagery not suitable for children)
(Video from YouTube - video game owned by Nintendo and Rareware)
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Shrek - Fiona and Bird - Notes - 28/10/14
Today, we had a presentation to give of our idea so far which was received harshly, mostly on character design, but one thing I noted was fun. The group was split on our project presentation, but fun I picked up on, because it needs to be engaging for kids.
I felt it would be a fun task to look at Shrek's Fiona singing scene, where she sings a duet with a blue bird, which reminded me of our character, Evan. We have spoken about this clip before, but we hadn't considered it and analysed it in depth, so I have done so to try and understand how it could work in our project.
I felt it would be a fun task to look at Shrek's Fiona singing scene, where she sings a duet with a blue bird, which reminded me of our character, Evan. We have spoken about this clip before, but we hadn't considered it and analysed it in depth, so I have done so to try and understand how it could work in our project.
(Video from YouTube - original film owned by Dreamworks)
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This may not relate totally to our project, due to the relationship between Fiona and the blue bird, compared to Evan and Francesca, but this scene acts as a very noble reference solely for the fact that there is a light competition factor to this, plus the pay off at the end is unexpected with the bird exploding, like how our pay off, although done before, should be surprising to our target audience of children. |
Character Colouring - 26/10/2014
Giacomo has redone the character design. He took it on because Monika and he felt that my attempt didn't quite calculate into 3D. Although I was concerned that my efforts may have gone towards nothing, they assured me that the colours were good, which eased a bit of the critique. After thinking about it a bit, and seeing Giacomo's design, I agreed with them that his designs were clearer, symmetrical and could calculate perfectly in 3D. Below is the colours and shading from the use of Giacomo's design.
(Original drawing by Giacomo, coloured by me)
Character Design Development - 21/10/2014
The character design we agreed to go with was Giacomo's character designs, the diva in blue dress for our female character, Francesca and his bluer parrot for our male character, Evan. My job is to develop the design of Evan with turns, facial expressions and do them digitally, so that they are ready for the modelling stage.
Designing is an important job for character animation because it is important to see how well a character would move, what his hieght would be compared to other characters, and we would be able to move and express his emotions. I enjoy doing design work because you get to see your character's personality in avisual way before you begin the project.
Below is the designs done traditionally, using a pencil on paper.
Designing is an important job for character animation because it is important to see how well a character would move, what his hieght would be compared to other characters, and we would be able to move and express his emotions. I enjoy doing design work because you get to see your character's personality in avisual way before you begin the project.
Below is the designs done traditionally, using a pencil on paper.
(My drawings of Evan - adapted from Giacomo's design)
Below are my digitally completed designs from one day's worth of work. These include facial expressions, a couple poses and a 360 degree turnaround of Evan. I find digital easier to work with because of the variety of colours available and the ease of access and distribution.
(Digitally coloured and cleaned)
My Character Designs - 20/10/2014
What you see above is my character designs. Monika asked us to practice colouring conventions and different shapes so I did so. This did not include too much research into character conventions, but from what we have spoken about before, in terms of personality of characters, I tried to work from that.
To aid me in the research, I looked at a clip of Cat's 'Don't Dance'. I believe that in every project I do I need to do some effective research so that I can find effective references that I want to base my work off of; I can also see if the references I chose work with what I want to create. The main focus of my research was 'Darla Dimple'. From watching the video clips on YouTube, I could see she was very short tempered, pompous and likes to perfoem and be the star of the show. This is something I tried to bring into the character design.
To aid me in the research, I looked at a clip of Cat's 'Don't Dance'. I believe that in every project I do I need to do some effective research so that I can find effective references that I want to base my work off of; I can also see if the references I chose work with what I want to create. The main focus of my research was 'Darla Dimple'. From watching the video clips on YouTube, I could see she was very short tempered, pompous and likes to perfoem and be the star of the show. This is something I tried to bring into the character design.
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(Video clips taken from YouTube - Original film property odf Warner Bros)
What Did I Learn From Darla Dimple?
- Darla is very short tempered. When she is upstaged or something doesn't go her way, she is quick to thrrow a temper tantrum, much like a typical poilt brat, but in the context of this animated project, it is exagerated.
- When Darla is not angry, she can be very seductive, and this is the sort of behaviour I expect would help someone to get their own way, as under that sweet exterior exists a chauvanistic diva.
From watching Darla Dimple, I drew up a basic tiger design that I thought would help me come up with a design idea. Below is my first one, drawing from my own Animation style. I have never drawn a tiget before, and looking back, I think I should have practiced drawing tigers so I can get a good idea of their anatomy and body shapes.
(Pencil drawing of Francesca, in my own style)
I knew that in order to combine both the personality and the look of the character design, I would have to draw another design, so that is what I did. Below is what I came up with. Although they are two different designs, I felt like I wasn't really taking full advantage of the character design process, because at the time I was very unsure as to what would make an effective character design. I was also very afraid to say that I wasn't happy with mine at the risk of sounding foolish compared to the varied designs of everyone else's designs for our female tiger character, Francesca.
As for the bird, my suggestion was for him to become a janitor, and everyone seems to have taken that on board. I took to Google to research some janitor designs, and below is a gallery of pictures I found to help me. This is continuing on my research on design references, and in this case, I could see them working.
(Images from Google Image Search)
With this design, I felt much happer when drawing design for EvanI was able to think of some interesting colour combinations for my characters. The simpler designs were the ones I focused on the most because for a children's show, I felt there was no need to overcomplicate the design, especially as we are working with simple shapes.
Although I was able to come up with a number of alternative designs, as well as a few more designs for Francesca, I did not research different types of bird and why I chose them. I realise now that this was very silly because I did not live up to what I have said about effective research for references in order to see which worked the best.
I think the problem was that in previous project, I was never put into a position where research was put as a high priority. This is the first project that really made me reslise how important it was to research references and other projects. Next time, if I was doing a project like this again, I will definitely consider research as the first thing to do before any design work is done.
Although I was able to come up with a number of alternative designs, as well as a few more designs for Francesca, I did not research different types of bird and why I chose them. I realise now that this was very silly because I did not live up to what I have said about effective research for references in order to see which worked the best.
I think the problem was that in previous project, I was never put into a position where research was put as a high priority. This is the first project that really made me reslise how important it was to research references and other projects. Next time, if I was doing a project like this again, I will definitely consider research as the first thing to do before any design work is done.
(Mixture of paper drawn and digitally cleaned character designs)
_Below are my two designs I went with, as well as my descriptions why.
(Flamingo, digital drawn over photograph, tiger, pencils, marker and paper)
I chose the pink bird because he reminded me of a Flamingo, and pink is a very child friendly colour. With a uniform, I recon he would be a very definable character.
I chose my simple shaped tiger because I felt the most thought came out of her design, as well as her personality being shown by her design. Round shapes are also very child friendly compared to pointy shapes.
I chose my simple shaped tiger because I felt the most thought came out of her design, as well as her personality being shown by her design. Round shapes are also very child friendly compared to pointy shapes.