Category: Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1

Spline caused the right hand to move unpredictably this was fixed using the graph editor. Left hand is moving too linear and when left hand is holding the bottom of the gun it slightly moves independent the gun and the right hand. I will constrain the left hand to a locator or parent it to the wrist controller of the right hand. The left arm is easing into the gun which feels unnatural, George suggested the character should slam the gun flat on the left hand palm.

More keys were added to increase interpolation accuracy, mouth shape for damage was changed. The gun is parented to the wrist controller of the characters right hand but when the character is holding the gun with both hands the left hand is keyed into position on ones and twos. This might cause problems during when the animation is splined due to interpolation if that’s an issue then either constraints or a locator will be used to keep the left hand still.

The eyes are looking at different directions, some of the mouth shapes could be better. For blocking plus timing will slightly be readjusted for when the character is pointing the gun and for the anticipation action preceding it. When the character says “you resist them” she looks toward the gun, this is too telegraphed and feels unnecessary, when you are pointing a gun towards someone you would not look away from the target.

The dialogue chosen for the acting shot is “The more you resist them, the greater the damage will be”.

The chosen rig for this assignment is Janine rig.

The two images above are still images extracted from the reference footage, these two shots are the 2 extreme keys of the shot. Initially there were more poses but after discussing the shot with George it was decided to keep it simple.

The thumbnail sketches to the left has 3 key positions in it, this was done before the feedback session with George, and initially I wanted the character to do two weight shifts, once to the left and once to the right. This was unnecessary considering that the shot is only 4 seconds.

The timing chart on the left is also wrong as it’s calculated based on30 frames, this is because I made it using the reference footage which was 30 frames per second.

I abandoned this timing chart and decided to figure out the timing in the blocking phase instead by scrubbing the timeline.

I slightly extended the timing and readjusted spacing of the pushing up the edge part and added anticipation, it feels more natural now, the character is pushing up his weight and needs momentum to launch himself up otherwise it looks like he is pulling himself up only with his arms.Although this is now done for submission I want to work on it further and polish it even more, the timeline will be extended by 12-14 frames to let some parts breathe more. Many of the difficulties experienced during this assignment were due to inadequate planning and not enough reference videos, I used a reference video only for the initial jump and push but not for the pull, turn around and second jump and fall towards the end. That was animated blindly with no reference, this caused issues with timing and some of the poses. I would say the main thing I would like to improve on is the timing and spacing of the second half, from when the character is pushing himself up the edge to the end.

Using the graph editor and motion trail I’ve worked on the arcs and the timing. arms were readjusted again to make the timing and the position look more natural. The push from the edge is still too fast, and the second part of the turn once on top of the edge is also too fast. At this point too many key frames had been set and adjusting the timing of one part of the animation requires the adjustment of the whole animation, for future reference timing should be adequately planned and figured out during planning and blocking stage.

Blocking plus was done in 2’s 3’s and 4’s, arms position during the run has been changed to look more natural, spine is more bent during run. Timing if standing up and turning has been adjusted but it is too fast now, slightly slower and more curves would make the movement better. When the character is pushing himself up the wall it is too fast, the timing needs to be readjusted to make the movement more believable.

Spine is too static and straight during the first run. Timing needs to be readjusted and some of the poses need to be further adjusted to emphasize weight and balance. The push towards the edge of the building is decent and in spline I will play around with timing with the limbs to add display overlap and follow through. Some of the poses when the character is hanging from the edge of the cliff and once he has climbed up are too symmetrical, must break symmetry to make the silhouette more readable. Timing in when standing up and turning need to be adjusted too as it is too slow.

For the body mechanic shot I decided to animate a wall climb parkour, the above thumbnail sketches were drawn after carefully examining the reference footage. Some of the poses are pushed to extreme for clearer silhouettes, some other poses need to be further refined as the silhouettes in those are not clear. George’s feedback (drawings in red) further emphasized which poses should be pushed even more and which ones should be removed.

Rough animatic made using the thumbnail sketches and further analyzing the reference footage.

The memory stick that contained mechanical arm maya file and part of project one previs files was lost. This post contains progress up to and including week 6.

Since the last post I’ve modeled the rest of the arm, pistons and joints. The arm and joints are in the correct hierarchy. I had rigged the arm and was ready to animate it to a reference footage.