Monday, April 2, 2012

WEEK 13: Animation Direction 2: Final Stretch!!


This class is a group critique of everyone's raw, unedited footage. This will be the last chance to confer with me and your peers about any last-minute shooting complications.  The rest will be a work period for any reshoots or editing.
Farzad shows those deadlines who's the boss

Final Assignment: Completed Film including titles and sound
Assigned: 05/04/12
Due: 19/04/12 In class
% of final grade: 20%

Edit your final footage together and post-effects like comp'd bgs, lighting, colour adjustments, image stabilization, eye/mouth tracking, titles and sound.

Leave storyboard panels in place of any missing shots to preserve continuity.

Have a look over your assignment sheet from the beginning of the course to remind yourself of all the parameters we've discussed.

Rubric:
Exemplary:  All shots edited together into a cohesive whole piece. A high level of polish in lighting, camera work and comp effects.
Excellent: Almost all shots edited together into a good first attempt at stop-motion. A good degree of consistency in lighting, camera, and comp effects.
Acceptable: Most shots edited together with only minor technical problems.
Not Acceptable: Fewer than half the shots completed or many shot complete but having major technical problems.

Best of luck to everyone!!

you are here


Sunday, April 1, 2012

WEEK 13: Character Acting 2: Acting scene, continued: Adding the extremes


We'll take a look at your blocking from last week and tweak it before moving on to the next stage.

I'll also show you an example of great blocking from Sony Imageworks' lead animator, Kevin Webb.
Sony Imageworks' Kevin Webb's blocking & final animation 


Step Two:  Adding the extremes 
Due in class 04/11/12:
Also called adding breakdowns or tie downs. Working between the main poses, refine the timing and motion by adding more keys. If you've been using stepped keys, it's time to switch to spline and flat tangents, may I recommend you do that a section at a time. Now's the time to start adding moving holds, fingers & some facial details, but not yet time for full lip sync and eye details like blinks and darts.

Tweak your camera to flatter your action but consider it as locked as possible from now on.



WEEK 13: Modeling and Animation II - Character design and pitch group critique

We'll have a look at everybody's designs and hear their ideas for their final assignment. Last year there was a huge variety of styles -- some extremely creative and funny -- from zombie weightlifters to Ninja strawberries to eels hiding in underwater caves. 

Over the next couple of classes I'll show you a couple of essential Flash tools for integrating your characters with your photo or video environments.  
some of the widely varied designs from last year's class
Next .. Walk Cycles: The walk cycle is a tricky but basic part of every animation curriculum.  You're going to learn the nuts-and-bolts of bipedal locomotion, and try to apply them to your character.  If your character doesn't have 2 legs, that's ok, just practice with a generic guy or stick figure for now. This is a topic that needs revisiting to really sink in. 

We'll have a look at some beautiful 2D reference from some of the masters of animation who really pushed the medium to the limit.
Pencil Test Depot

Living Lines Library

Walk Cycle Depot


The classic 4-key walk cycle. There are other types of walks, but this is the most common