WEEK 10: Game Dev 2 DESN2017 Assignment 4 due in 2 weeks!

Please let me know if you have any WIP to show me. It's good to get some feedback before you get too deep into your work. You have a couple of weeks left so you should be into your blocking this week. Next week you should aim to have all your animation finished in rough so you can polish it in the last week.

I'm really not finding much in the way of run-stagger-recover reference (here's a good excuse to do some video reference shooting if you'd like to borrow equipment like cameras and tripods just ask me).

A large part of making this assignment work has to do with how you handle the shifting of weight. This is true of any full-body animated scene. Here's a great student piece by "Kolin" from Animation Mentor (Kolin, if you're reading this, please tell me your full name so I can properly identify you!)

WEEK 10: Asset Dev DESN1086: Assignment 3 DUE, Assignment 4 starts today!

Assignment 3 due today!

Assignment 4 hand-out today -

CHARACTER ACTION ANIMATION



DUE DATE: WEEK 13 (in-class) April 3rd
20 Marks
*ZERO marks for late submissions

Develop an action animation (side-scrolling) for the character you designed in Assignment 1. The animation should be consistent with your character’s design and personality as shown in previous assignments.

Use thumbnails and rough sketches to explore your ideas. Establish your key poses first (minimum 6 frames). Any additional in-between frames are more to support the main action found in your key poses.

Action can be some form of attack (kick, punch, sword slash etc) or other suitable action (evade/dodge, ground roll etc).

In the examples from Limbo the character runs, jumps, climbs, and hangs from objects. What do the characters do in your favorite side scrollers that your character might do?

SUBMIT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
A) Thumbnail sketches – minimum 6 key poses
B) Line-test animation – preliminary animation
C) Final animation – polished B&W or Colour

Filename:
1086_A4_YOUR-NAME_actionthumbs.jpg
1086_A4_YOUR-NAME_actionlinetest.mov or .gif
1086_A4_YOUR-NAME_actionfinal.mov or .gif
Ex - 1086_A4_BEIBER-JUSTIN_actionthumbs.jpg (last name first, please!)
Thumbnails should be no more than 1200 px wide
Animation should be no more than 640 px along longest edge.
Mov files should be compressed using H.264 or other standard codec using Adobe Media Encoder, Handbrake or QT pro.

WEEK 10: Game Dev 4 DESN3012 Milestone 4 due in 2 Weeks

Please let me know if you have any WIP to show me. It's good to get some feedback before you get too deep into your work. You have a couple of weeks left so you should be into your blocking this week. Next week you should aim to have all your animation finished in rough so you can polish it in the last week.

Here's a great example of the blocking process from Disney's Zach Parrish. There's a full interview if you want more info. 

Animators Resource Interview - Zach Parrish on Blocking Animation Workflow from Animators Resource on Vimeo.

WEEK 9: Game Dev 4 DESN3012 Milestone 3 due today!

Milestone 4: ex 5-10 second piece of animation. Value: 20%
DUE DATE: WEEK 12 March 27th @ BEGINNING OF CLASS on BLACKBOARD
* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.

It is recommended that you show work in progress each week. Aim to have everything animated by Week 11 so you can spend the following week on revisions and polish. Playbasts are fine. No rendering required.

FILE NAMING:
3012_ m4_lastnamefirstinitial_001.mov
ex: 3012_m4_donovant.mov

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:
http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Here's some Olaf dance animation from the Frozen game by Chase Shields at Binary Digital. Happy animating!

WEEK 9: Game Dev 2 DESN2017 Assignment 3: Slide Under Object Due Today!

Hello and welcome back from your break.

You have the rest of class to complete your slides and then head into your 2nd-last assignment.

This next piece is about what happens to your character after he jumps over, and then slides under obstacles on his way back to the run cycle. You will have another assignment in between this one and the regular run cycle for your character to regain his footing.  This is all about the 'stagger' where he's off balance and trying to get his COG over his base of support. Maybe the floor is slippery or it takes him a few steps to get balanced. You have a lot of leeway with this assignment.

Here's a very brief example from Ratatouille as Remy runs away from Chef Skinner, Skinner slides to turn the corner and change his direction 90 degrees. He takes a couple of staggering steps, even placing his hand briefly on the ground to recover his balance and continue forward. 

Assignment 4: Stagger

DUE DATE: WEEK 12 (in-class) – 20 Marks
*ZERO marks for late submissions
Using an existing rig create a stagger animation for a bi-ped. The character should stagger or stumble forward. The feel should be consistent with the personality and emotion of the previous animation. Secondary animations a broad range of movements and timing are encouraged to add life to the character.

SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:
A) Thumbnails of key poses – minimum 6 key poses
B) Video file of 3D slide animation
REQUIREMENTS:
Filename:
DESN2017_A4_YOURNAME_thumbnails.jpg
DESN2017_A4_YOURNAME_stagger.mov
EX -
DESN2017_A4_BIEBERJUSTIN_thumbnails.jpg (last name first, please!)

DUE DATE
SUBMIT TO BLACKBOARD WEEK 12 IN CLASS

Please compress all images and videos to keep them small using the following guidelines:

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:
http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Images:
JPGs between 500-1200 pixels along longest edge, 72-300 dpi/ppi, max 5MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Photoshop, Gimp, and online programs to compress files.

WEEK 9: Asset Dev 2 DESN1086 Milestone 3: Jump Due Next Week!

Jumping... continued!

By now your thumbnail studies should be done and your rough animation should be ready to start.
The final artwork is due next week in class!

Your jump must fit into the style of your piece just as do these brilliant pixel art frames from local studio Spooky Squid Games' "They Bleed Pixels": 

The art style really fits the action of this game - here's a sample:

Think about the physics of jumping - the power comes from a weight shift in the centre of gravity and the extension of the legs. Anyone who wants to challenge the idea that legs must straighten before they contract in a landing is welcome to demonstrate that for us all :D

The 12 Principles of animation are probably familiar by now but we'll quickly review one for the jump. As Disney giant Bill Tytla said,

"There are only three things in animation

ANTICIPATION, ACTION, and REACTION

and these imply the rest.

Learn to do these things well

and you can animate well."

There's a ton of great information on jumps in Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit from 212-216 and on anticipation from 273-284. Buy this book! It takes several readings to get it to sink in.

Week 8: Have a Great Break!

Hope you can rest up over the break!

Here are the keys that make up Erick Oh's fantastic little fox run from The Dam Keeper I showed in class. Click to view larger. 

WEEK 7: Game Dev 2 DESN2017 Assignment 3: Slide Due in 2 Weeks!

Hope your work is going well on the slide animation. If you have any questions, I'm here to help!
Your work is due the first class after the break.

Here's a great example of a fight-sequence slide used in the show RollBots by animator Phil Bonner.

WEEK 7: Asset Dev 2 DESN1086 Milestone 2: Walk/Run Due Today!

You have today's class to finish up your walk/run cycles.

Here's a cute example of the same sort of run cycle you've been working on - a little fox from the short "The Dam Keeper" currently doing the festival rounds. 
Assignment 3: Jump

DUE DATE: WEEK 10, March 13th (in-class) – 20 Marks
*ZERO marks for late submissions

Develop a jump (side-scrolling) for the character you designed in Assignment 1. The animation should be consistent with your character in terms of the overall design, game type, platform etc., similar considerations that were approached in the initial character design assignment.

Use thumbnails and rough sketches to explore your ideas. Establish your key poses first (minimum 6 frames). Any additional in-between frames are more to support the main action found in your key poses.

SUBMIT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
A) Thumbnail sketches – minimum 6 key poses
B) Line-test animation – preliminary animation
C) Final animation – polished B&W or Colour

FILE NAMING:
1086_A3_YOUR-NAME_jumpthumbs.jpg
1086_A3_YOUR-NAME_jumplinetest.mov or .gif
1086_A3_YOUR-NAME_jumpfinal.mov or .gif

Ex - 1086_A3_BEIBER-JUSTIN_jumpthumbs.jpg (last name first, please!)

Format:
Traditional (ie pencil, ink, markers, paints etc)
Digital 2D art (Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, Flash, Illustrator etc.)
Filetypes: movie clip ( mov) or animated GIF
Please compress all images and videos to keep them small using the following guidelines:

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:
http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Images:
JPGs between 500-1200 pixels along longest edge, 72-300 dpi/ppi, max 5MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Photoshop, Gimp, and online programs to compress files.

Enjoy your break! See you in 2 weeks.

WEEK 7: Game Dev 4 DESN3012 Milestone 3 due in 2 weeks!

How is your 3rd milestone going? I'm happy to look at thumbnails and blocking today to help you make the most of your assignment. The week it's due is the one right after the break so this is your last class to get my feedback before handing it in.

Good luck!

Here's something to think about over the break...

Enjoy your break! See you on March 6th!