Sunday 29 May 2011

The blink of an eye

Well after a day of two of sleeping after hand in i decided to take another look at cinema 4d and its wonders. Ha, i meant annoyance!
I have managed to do a blinking eye though while looking on line at a few tutorials. I have attempted to make a gopher as well but i only managed to get haf way because i pressed something i shouldnt have it messed up the character. I watched the rest of the tutorial but the gopher looks rubbish. I am finding quite a few good tutorials on line which will be quite good if i get into gear and do some of them. I want to learn more on the mouth as in how to build it and how to make it move. I found one where you can add teeth and tongue. It looks good so i may venture into attempting it soon.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Ur'ine

The final 15 second animation called Ur'ine. He is from Japan but grew up in Germany. This project was a bit of a nightmare at stages, such as having to redo the bones 3 times before it actually worked!! Well here it is, my 3d animation....

Blog up and runnin! - Evaluation Time my Friends

I have been trying to update this but its been off the past few days so i can finally update this thing!!!!

I cant believe thats the first year over already.

At the start of the course i was really looking forward to sgetting on with animation and am still really glad i decided to apply!!

I really enjoyed making the animations but the paperwork i wasnt a fan of. I was quite pleased when we finished our first animation (Alien - Cut out). After researching cut out i liked the idea of this technique and i also think it was the easiest of the projects. My timing is not right in this animation, it should be slower. The jump itself i think is fine but the animation in general moves too quickly. I should have done the build up to the jump a bit slower and then when he is in the air and coming back down should be quicker. Overall i can definitly tell this is my first project as the ending as well was a bit last minute and doesnt look very good. Well in my opinion.  I am happy with how my charater turned out though, i think cut out animation is one i may steer towards.

The next project was Germalot. I liked how i had hand drawn all the assests for this animation. I enjoyed drawing them and then colouring them in photoshop. First time using cinema 4d properly and this is where my hatred came out. The screen kept jumping about every time you pressed the wrong thing everything would move around. Got there in the end but it was not a fun ride. For some parts i actually had to join planes to create the character. The germ itself is actually made up of three planes. I just had to put them into the heirachy so they were attached but i could still animate the three planes seperatly, hense why his head and tail move differently. I also enjoyed doing the blinks. This got me used to the timeline. I drew three sets of eyes for each character, it was when they were open, when they were half closed and then when they were closed. I did like the end result of this as i find it great that after each module i have learned a new skill. Its alwasy fun to watch the outcome of what has taken me a few weeks to do. If i was to redo this animation i would change the transitions and work more on the sound to make it smoother. I do like the characters i came up with so i wouldnt change that.

The E4 ident was a good project for us to work on. Not only is it a great opportunity to get my work out there but it also helped get more familiar with cinema 4d. I liked playing around with the different effects such as the explode. I had tested out a few different ones but am actually happy with how my animation turned out. After completing this animation i felt a bit better about cinema 4d, not brilliant but better. It still likes to play tricks on me by setting imaginary key frames and moving assets around the screen when the slightest change was made. This ident competition ends in July so i may take some time this summer to go through it and see if there is anything else i can amend to make it better. For the sound i had used a sound clip that was already given to us but i amended it a bit by adding some sound effects. I definitly think i grew in regards to sound on this as i spent a bit more time looking into how to put the sounds clips on to Premiere. Good old You Tube and their tutorials.

Ur'ine was probably the best achievement in this course. I was really happy when i finally made him walk, i posted it on facebook right away to see what people thought. I think after each project i get a bit more confidence with my skills. I didnt enjoy the begining part of this project though because of my love for cinema 4d (ha!). It did take me a few tries to get the shapes i wanted and it also took about 3 tries of setting up the bones before they all worked. The walk cycle was quite easy to do, i used the 4 screens to make sure things were lined up and in the right position. I definitly think i like my final animation the best. Its not great i know but i think i am just pleased i managed to get it done on time. If there was a bit more time or if i had of been able to get the animation done quicker i would have liked to of added sound. I may do this over the summer, either find some sounds or create a track on audacity. (will upload this animation once it loads on to youtube).

One item i definitly am not happy about is my character boards. I feel so much more could have been done to this. It basically was the character and i didnt add much to the background, just a plain colour. It could have been a lot more interesting. I also messed up when glueing it. The first one was fine but the second one totally messed up. It went wonky so i tried to take it off and it ripped so i re did it (yes bought new board and paid for another a3 copy!) but then that went wonky too but it was too late to do anything about it because the glue set and i couldnt get it off so i had to hand in a very unpretty, wrinkly storyboard so i'm not expecting any good marks for that :/

Show Reel - In my show reel i didnt notice till after it was rendered but after the first animation it cuts off too quickly, as in the next title cuts into the ending of the animation. Its obviously too late to fix this to resubmit but i can change it and save it for my personal use. I will be happier about the look of it once i fix this. It was also good to do this reel as through the year you dont really think about how much you have learned but watching the videos back made me realise we actually have done quite a lot.

The overall judgement of the past 8 months is  my organisation and time management are rubbish!! I left almost every project to the last minute. The animations themselves i did every day making sure that would be done on time but the paperwork just haunted me. After the first project i realised i really needed to be keeping track of things and taking screen shots and reflecting on each day. So for our next projects i started off good but then after a week or so i went back to my lazy ways and let it all pile up. The worst one was when we had time off too, i just did nothing when i should have been catching up.

There was so much to do for the final project I was going to bed no earlier than three and getting up for half seven all of the final week.  I just couldnt motivate myself to do ANY of the paperwork. I did felt quite disorganised but i wasnt really that stressed which i was surprised about especially with it being the final project. It all was handed in one time so its all gravy i guess.

I am really hoping that in the second year i step up the ball with my animation skills and most definily step up my time management!! That is going to make such a big difference with the quality of my work if i do time plans and stick to them.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE!!!!!!! xx

Sunday 8 May 2011

Pictoplasma in Berlin

I wasnt one of the lucky ones who got to actually go to this festival (didnt have the monies). I have however looked on line to see what was going on and what it was all about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pictoplasmar/sets/72157626388159234/ - this has all the photos from the 'character walk'.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pictoplasmar/sets/72157626475119336/ - this is the link for the conference set. There is an image that i liked on this page but it wont let me copy it. Its of a cat head under a mushroom. I'm not really too sure why it stood out but it did.

After looking through the speakers it looks like i have missed a great week. But i guess it means i will just have to make sure i'm on the next trip!

The artists that stood out for me (from reading about them and looking at their work) were:
Guillermo Garcia Carsi - I liked the images on the pictoplasma website. The lighting was really good on them and i also like his characters he has come up with. Different with a bit of humour.
Ree Treweek - I like how he has used real life (animals) and just made them into a nice illustration. Like a fantasy image. The colouring isnt bright but it brings a certain feel to the image making it more likeable.

Even though i have only named two artists here i do think they are all unique and very creative in the work they produce.

Festivals/Competitions

While looking up festivals/competitions in the UK i came across the below link.
http://www.4mations.tv/uk-animation-festivals/

The ones on the home page were for 2009 and 2010 but if you click on the links it takes you to other sites which have more information on when deadlines are and what the catagories are. I will look more into this over the summer when i have a bit more time.

The current one i am looking into is the E4 ident - We did this one in class and the deadline is 1 July so i will be updating mine before this date to enter it.

Another site i found was - http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/animation/ - there isnt any for animation at the moment but will keep an eye out.

This is another website where you can register with them and then you can enter the animation contests through them. You can win money and also build your portfolio - http://en.eyeka.com/animation-signup?origin=en-ggl&origin_param=anim-an&gclid=CJz8r7bg2KgCFcJP4QodeW54_Q

This one isnt one that i would go for right now but thought it was interesting. Its a compeition where you have to create music for an animation - http://www.annecy.org/home. There is festivals too, one of them is in June. Will look more into details after next week when all my other work is out the way!!

Actually found one where you can create your own contest!! http://www.motioncontest.com/launch_contest.php..interesting

While watching channel three the other night it came up saying they were looking for new ideas for their ident but when i have looked online i havent found anything so i think i may have dreamt this. TV Channels are good one to look at for compeitions for idents. MTV, BBC etc.

Some images of cartoons i used to watch...

Real Monsters - I liked this cartoon as it was original i thought in regards to the characters. Had a Beetlejuice feel to it! This was shown on Nickelodeon.

Wild Thornberrys - One of the many cartoons i watched when getting in from school with my younger brother. The youngest child (in the leopard pants) was always really hyper and the monkey was more like a human, kind of like Brian from Family Guy.

Rugrats - I like the colours used and the story of rugrats, its like real life but from the view of a baby.

Rocky and Bullwinkel :D

While i was looking for images i found loads of cartoons i used to watch that i had forgotten about!!The ones i also like are Daria, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hey arnold, Angry Beavers, Tom and Jerry, Cow and Chicken, Bobbys World, SpongeBob, Kim Possible, Ren and Stimpy, Family Guy, Simpsons, Betty Boop, Recess, Looney Tunes, Anamaniacs, Fairly odd parents, dexters labratory, Johnny Bravo, Charlie Brown, Popeye, robot chicken, The oblongs, King of the Hill, Undergrads, courage the cowardly dog, Rocko's modern life- i love cartoons i guess is the point here haha. Not all of them can fit on here.

I didnt really like the marvel cartoons like batman, spiderman, superman...weird because i like the movies. The cartoons were too realistic if that makes sense. I didnt like the style of them.

SWOT!!!!

Well this unfortunatly is taking me back to when i did my marketing course...didnt enjoy that course but atleast i took something from it - how to do a SWOT analysis. We didnt do SMART but we did one called PESTEL which was more looking into Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal factors (these are factors that effect the managers decisons on the organisation...not that you really care haha)

Back to the SWOT:
The project i am going to use for my SWOT is the E4 Ident.

Strenghts - I felt i did good with my skills on using cinema 4d for this project. I felt a bit better about the program by the end of the project as i had tried out a few different techniques.

Weaknesses - The lighting could have been better! I basically experiemented quite a bit with this project and should have focused on one main idea and kept to it. If i had of done this i think i would have produced something better, well something i felt more confident about. Even though i had put using cinema 4d as a strenght i also feel it is a weakness as there is still lots more to learn. I also have a weakness of looking at other peoples work and thinking WOW they are really good and then looking at my work and thinking WOW thats crap. I need to have more confidence in my work and have to keep telling myself its the first year, i'm not gonna be great.

Opportunities - As this is a competition it has great potential to get my work known. It gets my name out there as well. The video is uploaded to the E4 website which means even if it doesnt win it will hopefully still get views. I have also posted the video on you tube and facebook. This is also a great way to get my name and my work known. It could lead to future work and entering into future competitions.

Threats - There are many other people entering into this competition so the threat is other people and their skills. My weakness and threat are the same when it comes to confidence, with out that in some form in my work then am not gonna get anywhere in regards to having a successful career.

Timing!!

Timing is a very big part in animation, it makes or breaks the whole animation!

In my past projects i dont think my timing was very good. Especially in my alien one. In photoshop it looked fine but once it was put onto a quicktime it went really fast. I definily think this is a good video to look at for when thinking about timing. He jumps too quickly. If i was to remake this animation i would place the key frames farther apart to slow the jump down. Or to slow down certains parts of the jump as when people jump in the air it goes quick. I would make the bend down and the landing a little slower than when the alien is actually mid jump.

I actually have a book from the main reading list on Timing but i havent read it yet. I'm not very good at motivating myself to read books, maybe that can be my goal for the summer...READ THE BOOKS I HAVE!!!!

Placing key frames is important as if they are placed too closely together it makes the character move quicker and if they are placed farther apart it slows them down.

My E4 Ident is a good example as we had a soundtrack to put the animation to. I had to play the music in the background as i played the animation at the same time to try and figure out what the movements should be at certain beats. I think putting an animation to sound is a bit easier than adding sound to an animation.

Key frames are great when you have already placed one in, it is capturing that particular stance or movement. This means that when you go to make a new movement and mess up, its fine because that first stance is saved and you dont have to start from the beginning. Or if you have made the movement and added a second keyframe but dont like it, you can delete it and again the first stance is still in place.

For the current project we are working on, 3D character, i will have to update you on the key frames when i finish it. I have played around with the arms though and actually sat moving my arm as if i would if i was walking to get how it works. The arms move at the same time as the legs so i just have to keep that in mind. I will also be people watching, i do this anyways as i find it funny picking up on little things that most people dont see or pay attention to. I tend to over exaggerate it as well if its people i know. Its funnier noticing their reactions to things like if they tripped up on the road or something. Anyways, going off in a tangent - Will go into more detail on the timing of this animation when its done.

Last week of the first year.....

Well the character bones are done. It took 8 hours on friday but i managed to do it...I had planned on going into class but i wasnt paying attention to time and before i knew it it was 6pm.

I created a quicktime video of me trying out the arms moving but after i did this i somehow managed to move the left leg up and now it wont move back so i am going to spend some time later today trying to fix this. (Will upload the video once it lets me!).

I am also planning on getting through AD101 today or at least through most of it seeing as how if i had of been keeping up to date with it it would pretty much be done now!!

Weekly Plan:
Sunday - Update Blogs. Do some more work on Cinema 4d.
Monday to Thursday - I believe we are having a computer lessons to recap on weight painting and things so this week is just completeing teh walk cycle with the character. Out of class i will be working on all the written work that needs to be done.
Thursday - We are making our first year reel. This should be interesting because i think all my work is quite crap but hey ho just means next year i've got to produce something VERY good!!!

This year is all about learning and finding out which niche i am more interested in. I definitly enjoyed the first project we did (cut out) and i also enjoy the drawing of the characters.

Cinema 4d may become my friend once i get used to everything on it. It is a very annoying program, i know people say its never the program its the programmer but you really need to try out my computer. You will understand how annoying it is!

There is still lots to learn about this program so over the summer i plan on introducing my self to everything it has to offer. I feel i have learnt quite a bit on it so far but in a course you have deadlines and basically the time is used to get the projects done using the skills you have just been taught. I now have three months to get more knowledge and will be on my own time with out having deadlines on projects etc.

Character design is quite fun as well. The drawing of it i mean. Once you realise you actually have to make him into something real its a bit like oh...i think now when it comes to designing charcters i will have in mind all the work that goes into making it into somethign moving so i will try to keep it mple as this helps big time in actually getting things done.

With it being the last week i am thinking that i am still really glad i took this course. Best move i've made i think, seeing as how i have been wanting to do it since i was 5!! I may not be the best but thats what this profession is all about, trying to better yourself with each task given. I dont feel like i have progressed actually at all through out the year,but like mentioned the first year is about learning what the possibilities are. I have kind of just felt like i've been focusing too much on expirementing rather than coming up with my own style. Thats what the summer is for, coming up with ideas for future animations

Reet kids, time to get working on this work as there is only a week left!!!!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Last two weeks of module....booo

Weekly Agenda!!!! (argh)
This week is going to be full full FULL of work. All work and no play for Linsey.

Monday was recovering from being back at college and trying to get my head around all the lovely work i still have to do.
Tuesday is filling in my blog and having a tutorial and then picking up where i left off with my work.
Wednesday to next friday - locking myself in a room with my laptop and modules and getting my work complete.

To start:
I need to finish the development of my character. It is completely different to what i started off with and am not really happy about it but its too late to be messing about with it now. After i have my tutorial i will be able to move on and progress with the rest of the module.