WEEK 3: Motion Studies - Animation Blocking

Your storyboards and thumbnails will be on display today as we take them into the next phase of production: Blocking Animation. We'll look at some examples of blocking to make it clear how it relates to the final phase of animation.

If we can we'll shoot some live action reference but we have a lot of other things planned...

Many of you may be a little rusty in Maya ;o)  If you need a refresher, I highly recommend the course 12 Principles of Animation in Maya on Digital Tutors.

We'll start the blocking process in 3D. I'll show you how to set up cameras, follow the rules of creating strong posing, and talk about some common methods for timing animation blocking.

A typical progression sequence from Monsters Inc

We'll go over the basics of creating good playblasts or previews - here's a post that describes the how-to's:

Here's a reminder of how to preview animation:
http://tarateach.blogspot.ca/2011/01/previewing-animation-in-maya.html#more

I also want to show you how basic constraints work so you can have props in your scenes.

From blocking to rough posing to final animation you have 3 weeks to complete this next assignment.

ADIR1136 Assignment 2: Animating a simple sequence of between 5-10 seconds 
% of final grade: 25%
Assigned: Friday, Sep 21st
Due: Friday, Oct 12th before class
Description:
Animate a short sequence using storyboards and thumbnails. The sequence should be planned around actions on the list of 100 Animation Exercises. The  character may interact with simple props or a basic environment.  Animation should show all 12 principles of animation, especially strong posing, weight, and overlapping action.

Please submit all work to our shared DropBox folder using the following naming conventions and settings:

Filenames:
tdonovan_anim_001.ma
tdonovan_anim_001.mov

File Format: QT
Encoding: H.264
Quality: 100
Image Size: Custom
Width: 560
Height: 316



Rubric:

Exemplary - Highly polished piece showing  mastery of the principles of animation. Fluid motion, strong posing and timing, and lots of appeal.
Excellent - Well animated piece with strong grasp of the principles of animation. Motion is mostly smooth with very good posing and timing.
Acceptable - Good animation with most of the principles of animation. Motion may have a few areas that need improvement but the overall timing is good and the posing clear.
Not Acceptable - Animation has many problems in timing and posing showing a lack of control of tools or knowledge of the animation principles.

CASO's "Visionary Lunches" series presents Daniel Gregoire, CEO and Previsualization Director for HALON Entertainment LLC.

Toronto Animators: Previs Supervisor from Star Wars, John Carter, Cowboys & Aliens will be talking about the creative process.
Next Thursday, Sept 27th, 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Daniel Gregoire, CEO and Previsualization Director for HALON Entertainment LLC. 
$15 for GBC students - Lunch is included!
Reserve your spot: http://bit.ly/UrRmVk

http://www.casont.ca/news_items/689-visionary-lunches-v13

WEEK 3: 2D Digital Art 1 - Comic Book Art in Photoshop

Working in Photoshop, we'll ink and colour some penciled comic-book art.
We'll start with just the black & white inking process for now. 
Over the next couple of weeks we'll cover creating custom brushes to create that splattered ink effect, and adding the colour.

Click here to download the materials for this class.

ASSIGNMENT 2 BRIEF:

INK IN THE IMAGE WITH PHOTOSHOP USING THE PAINT BRUSH, LASSO TOOL AND FILLS
DELIVERABLES: 
PSD FILE 10 inches (W) x 15inches (H) dpi - 400 COLOR MODE - RGB
AI SOURCE FILE WITH AN ART BOX OF 1920px x 1080px
FILENAME EXAMPLE: (last name first initial) donovant_comic_000.psd
DUE DATE: WEEK 6, Oct 11 - BEFORE BEGINNING OF CLASS
HAND-IN TO OUR SHARED DROPBOX FOLDER, IN "ASSIGNMENT 2"
VALUE - 15%
HOW IT’S GRADED:
Followed Brief - 3
Render (Colour balance) - 3
Line work (Ink effect) - 3
Layers - 3
Depth (Creating mold to the character) - 3

WEEK 3: Texturing & Shading 1 - Diffuse Map Painting

I'll be your model for this assignment :D

We'll pick up where we left off last week with editing the UV's for a simple low-res game model: the exciting "No Parking" sign.  If you were able to correctly UV the model and render a UV snapshot, you can get set to paint up in Photoshop any way you like.  We'll keep things simple with some photo textures from the internet... for now! But don't get stuck there. We're moving into Photoshop to doctor up our texture map and apply it to our models. If your first crack at UV'ing did not go too well (I can advise you in class) you will be given another option to use a pre-UV'd sign.

This class will be all about diffuse map painting.  We'll also talk about using photos in our textures and where to source good textures. 

Here are the videos we're using for this class. Sound will be added later :oD

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1617070/sign_diffuse_painting1.3gp

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1617070/sign_diffuse_painting2.3gp

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1617070/sign_diffuse_painting3.3gp

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1617070/sign_diffuse_painting4.3gp

Next week we'll add two more features to our sign: a bump map and alpha maps to add grass around the base of the sign. For this week, just focus on the diffuse (colour) map.

Some examples of signs from last term

Assignment 3: 10% Sign Textured
Click here for the rubric for this assignment
Assigned: Wednesday, Sept 19th, 2012
Due: October 3rd uploaded to the shared DropBox Assignment 3 folder before class
SAVE your work uncompressed (PSDs recommended)
SEND me only PNG's.
Maximum resolution: 2048x2048

Please do NOT put your files inside a folder.
Please do NOT zip your files.
Please follow the naming conventions exactly as given:

tdonovan_sign.max
tdonovan_sign_diff.png

tdonovan_sign_bump.png

tdonovan_sign_grass_001.png (or tiff) (*you may have more than one grass file)
tdonovan_sign_alpha_001.png (or tiff) (*you will need an alpha for each grass file)

WEEK 3: Character Acting 1: Quiz + Applying Mocap Data

(no, not really)

Quiz time!
Assignment 1: 10%
Quiz on basic anatomy and the XSens motion capture system
You'll have an hour to write it.
The link will appear here:  http://bit.ly/OvA8Ux

Next up:
Applying Motion Capture Data to a Rig
Dan Maendel is going to show us the basics of MVN's proprietary tools for cleaning up raw data. Next we'll export the files to Motion Builder for further editing. Finally, we'll export FBX's to Maya to finesse the animation.
I strongly recommend the 55 min Digital Tutors course "Introduction to Motion Capture in MotionBuilder".

Assignment 2: 20% 

Animate 2 contrasted actions using Motion Capture

Due Sunday, October 21st before midnight <--new extended deadline

Now it's time for you to record and clean up some of your own data. Using the pipeline established in class (MVN->Motion Builder->Maya) create a polished piece of animation. Animation should consist of 2 contrasted actions (ex, push/pull, reach up/down, catch/throw)

Motion capture data should be used as the basis for the performance. 

You may create the mocap data yourself or have someone else record it for you. You may also download mocap data from the internet. Please credit all sources. 

Recording short sequences using mocap and, ideally, live action video

Export and edit data in Motion Builder
Utilize live action reference to augment mocap data
Combine actions seamlessly

Apply all animation principles to create fluid, well-timed movement with lots of weight, clean arcs, and strong overlapping action.

Please book a time with Dan to record your actions.

Please submit all work to our shared DropBox folder using the following naming conventions and settings:

Filenames: 
tdonovan_mocap_001.ma
tdonovan_mocap_001.mov

File Format: QT
Encoding: H.264
Quality: 100
Image Size: Custom
Width: 560
Height: 316 


Rubric:

Exemplary - Highly polished piece showing  mastery of the principles of animation. Fluid motion, strong posing and timing, and lots of appeal.
Excellent - Well animated piece with strong grasp of the principles of animation. Motion is mostly smooth with very good posing and timing.
Acceptable - Good animation with most of the principles of animation. Motion may have a few areas that need improvement but the overall timing is good and the posing clear.
Not Acceptable - Animation has many problems in timing and posing showing a lack of control of tools or knowledge of the animation principles.

--------------------------------------

Assignment 3: 10% Drop-In Acting Class

Find out what this idea means at Improv!

Due: October 31st 

By popular demand, here is a better description of the "Drop-In Acting Class" assignment:

Attend at least 1 drop-in class in Improv Acting or equivalent such as a Stage Combat class at Rapier Wit. 

Venues like the Black Swan, Bad Dog, Impatient Theatre, Second City, and many more venues have drop-in classes as well as courses. 

Write or present a brief summary of your experience including the following details:

The location, teacher's name, date, time, and duration. 

Did you go by yourself or bring friends? 

How many people were there, what kind of a mix was it (all guys, young, old?), how much did it cost? 

What was the structure of the class? Describe a couple of the activities such as games, exercises.

How did you like it? Would you go back? Do you think it could help your animation?

If you are so inclined, it would be awesome to share some of the skills you've learned with the class.

*We COULD get a bunch of people together some night and maybe have a drink after, jus' sayin' ??