Wednesday, November 27, 2013

WEEK 13: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 4 due in 2 weeks

Last week a few of you mentioned you may not really know much about lighting. Fortunately, a little on info real-world lighting techniques can take you quite far. There are great tutorials out there but one of the best ones I've seen is from Marmoset Toolbag. Marmoset is a set of tools to create amazing lighting effects very quickly and easily. I don't suggest you skip learning lighting in 3dsMax but I do recommend you check out Marmoset's stunning results and their very thorough tutorials.

Their Character Lighting Tutorial contains a lot of the basic terminology and concepts you will need to light your gun or anything, really. Key, Fill, and Rim lights are standard terms you should know as well as some ideas about how to place them properly. There is also a list of links to inspiring photography portfolios that show what a difference great lighting makes. http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/character-lighting



I would seriously recommend you steer clear of Photometric lights in 3dsMax and stick with the Standard lights. 

There's another awesome site you should know about: James Gurney's blog "Gurney Jouney" and his book, "Color and Light" will teach you everything you need to know about colour, light and shadow.
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2010/02/light-and-form-part-1_15.html

If you need help setting up your lighting or your animation just let me know!

WEEK 13: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Milestone 4 final animation due today!

Milestone 4 is due today!

Please also let me know what your plans are for your final assignment. You only have 2 weeks for this one so I want to make sure everyone's on the right track.

Milestone 5:  ex 5-10 second piece of animation.
Value: Total 20%. See breakdown below.
* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.
The following are due in class:
5% WEEK 14: planning & rough posing
15% WEEK 15 final animation


FILE NAMING:
3010_ m5_lastnamefirstinitial_001
ex:
3010_m5_donovant_001.mov
3010_m5_donovant_001.jpg

Images: JPGS only, 72 dpi, 1200px along longest edge,
Videos: Quicktimes only, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB

Playbasts only, please. Do not render these assignments. You do not have time.

Your final animation should have a different number than the rough posing but otherwise please follow the identical naming convention.

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Re: Planning animation - 
A few of you still seem a bit unclear about what is meant by rough animation. Here's a podcast you can listen to from one of the all-time greats - another animator to get to know: James Baxter. Does his name sound familiar? Then you must be a fan of Adventure Time where he helped create a horse character who neighs his own name! Hilarious as it is, don't get too sidetracked by this recent silly turn because James Baxter is a well-known animation heavyweight with some of the biggest blockbuster feature credits you can imagine - Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King to name just 2. 

Here he is speaking about animation planning. If you're super keen check out the episodes before and after it: http://animationpodcast.com/archives/2008/03/02/james-baxter-part-two/
James Baxter's masterful drawings of Rafiki's hands from the Lion King

Monday, November 25, 2013

WEEK 13: Motion Studies DESN1136 Assignment 8: Jump Cycles: Due next week!

Next cycle -- Jumps!
EVH can do it, so can you
We'll take a look at some different styles of jumping, leaping, hopping, bounding characters and study live action for inspiration. Jumping characters exhibit lost of secondary and overlapping action, and anticipation.

Showing the effort characters take to move their own weight is paramount to creating believable animation of any style.

It's one thing to make the up and down motion read as 'heavy' and affected by gravity. It's quite another to master the mechanics of looping overlapping/secondary action with the character's arms, legs and other details such as tails or capes.

If ever the devil were in any details.. it's animating secondary on a looping action!

Your jump cycles should be usable for avoiding ground pitfalls or traveling forward.
The mechanics of the body in the jump should work well before tackling the secondary action

Remember you will be blending this cycle from and back to the run so you might want to export the start pose from a run position to help it transition smoothly.

Assignment 8: Jump Cycle
Playblast and Maya file
% of final grade: 10% 
Assigned: Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013
Due: WEEK 14, Dec 3rd at the end of class
*Late assignments are worth 0


Quicktimes only, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB.
Animate your character jumping on the spot in a treadmill cycle. It should be a loop about 1-2 seconds long. Animation should show all 12 principles of animation, especially strong posing, weight, and overlapping action. The character should have believable weight, a clear personality, and move with fluidity and clarity.

Please REFERENCE your rig into your shot (do not open the rig and start animating or import him.)

Filenames:
1136_a8_donovant_jump_001.ma
1136_a8_donovant_jump_001.mov

The jump should clearly show the personality and attitude of the character. The timing (both frames per step and timing of secondary actions such as arm swings and head drag) should support the attitude and personality. The character should have a believable weight. Steps should be symmetrical (apparently if not mathematically) and the motion should be fluid and smooth without obvious pops or bumps. Body parts should be offset from one another a bit so every part of the action doesn't occur on the same frame.