WEEK 11: Texturing & Shading 1: Terrain and texture libraries

Planning textures for the city.

Mood boards

Terrain:

Creating tile-able textures in Photoshop to add to wall and ground planes

Click here for a tutorial on creating tileable textures.

Tile-able Normal maps
Displacement maps

Texture Libraries:

Downloading textures, collecting your own

Preparing photos as texture files – batch processing, resampling

Assignment 5: Texture Library
Assigned: November 16th
Due: November 27th by ftp
% of Final Grade: 10%
File sizes should be under 2 mbs, around 2048 px max.
Filenames:
tdonovan_<descriptor>_texture.jpg

Description:

Build a sample texture library
Aim for a variety of surfaces, colours, and textures.
Minimum number of images: 12
Include at least 4 examples each of walls, ground, and details.
Try to find images you can use in your project -- ie you need old, grungy textures.
You may reuse images you shot for your 'entropy' project.
Shoot in flat light, dry weather, perpendicular to your subject.
Correct the white balance if you can.
Make sure they're in focus.
Shoot a large enough surface area if it's potentially tileable, and get close enough to the subject if it's a detail.
Avoid perspective and warping by zooming in from a few steps back.
Edit in PS -- crop out extraneous details, use levels, contrast, and hue & saturation to bump up details and get rid of fake-looking colour casts.
Remind yourself of keys to good textures on this site:
http://www.cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=shootingtextures

WEEK 11: Character Acting 1 -- Acting for Cinematics 1: Monologues, close-up

We're very fortunate to have Ed Sahely with us for a few more weeks to teach us some real acting skills. Moving from close-ups to long shots and finally to multi-character shots, we'll learn some of the secrets of creating believable, compelling performances.

As I've mentioned before, animators should always be acting out their scenes, creating video reference to study for their own shots. On high-end productions it is common to have to act out ideas in front of directors and fellow crew members. How many animators are truly comfortable doing that? Well .. one person who is obviously gifted in this area is Blue Sky animator Jeff Gabor. He's put up a great video demonstrating his creative use of a voice track, and the resulting detailed animation performances.

Check out his progression reel from "Horton Hears a Who" 

You're going to create 3 of these videos over the next 5 weeks.
First up -- Close-up monologues.

Here's the link to the tracks for this week:
http://soundcloud.com/taranimator/sets/monologues-close-up/

If you'd like to print the dialogue click here for links to scripts or excepts.

Spend some time listening to the tracks.  Choose one to use for class this week.
Download and bring in the track on an mp3 player and don't forget your headphones.
If you like, bring in small, simple props (ex -- a glass, a bottle, a fake gun, a magazine).
You might also want to use a mirror for practice.
Remember that animators need to be comfortable acting out both male and female roles, of any age.

Assignment 5:  Monologues Close-up
Assigned: November 16th
Due: December 4th <-- NEW!!
% of Final Grade: 10%
Please keep file sizes under 2MB
Filenames:
tdonovan_closeup.avi

Description:
Choose one of the close-up monologues and deliver a compelling performance to the voice track. Record it on video using a camera or webcam.  Make sure the audio and video sync well, it's in focus, well-lit and well composed.

WEEK 11: Animation Direction 1 - Game Cycles -- Treadmill Walks, runs

We'll continue our treadmill walks until you're well on your way.
Also covered -
-ways of cycling in Maya including view -> infinity and timeline copy/paste.
-offsetting joints to create nice, fluid secondary action or wave action.
-adding variations to our cycles.

Next up: Runs! In some ways, these are easier than walks because there's less ground contact.

We'll also touch on some key points for transitioning between walks and runs.

WEEK 10: Texturing & Shading 1: Intro to Viewport Canvas and Photoshop 3D paint

Did you know you could have been painting right in your 3DS Max viewport this whole time? Well.. with Viewport Canvas you can. Photoshop has similar capabilities we can experiment with as well. We'll take a crack at it and very quickly learn why --for now-- painting in the 3D viewport is still pretty laborious, but occasionally very useful.

Here are the intro videos we'll be using for this class:
"Using the Viewport Canvas" - video #44 in the Intro to 3DS Max series.

http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvasIntro.mov
http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvas2.mov
http://game.georgebrown.ca/~tdonovan/movies/ts1_viewPortCanvas3.mov
Click here to download the material files for this class.

If you want more practice at this you should check out the Digital Tutors lessons:
"Texturing Using the Viewport Canvas in 3DS Max" - a course in 10 lessons.
Autodesk's "Viewport Canvas toolset" is a good brief overview as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shEl4iMebxM

It's time for our last texturing assignment -- your own choice from your city models.

This assignment is worth 40% of your grade so it should be something pretty chunky - I'd recommend you set this up for your portfolio by making it a set piece -- you could group some props with ground and wall planes, maybe a fence with some grass growing up from some cracks, for example.  

City models – planning and organizing
"Mood Boards"
Start UV'ing city models to texture next week

Assignment 6: Final Assignment
Assigned: November 8th
Due: December 13th in class
% of Final Grade: 40%
File sizes should be either 512x512 for smaller props or 1024x1024 for larger ones.

Filenames:
tdonovan_ final_000.max

tdonovan_final_descriptor_diff_001.tga

tdonovan_final_descriptor_nrm_001.tga
tdonovan_final_descriptor_spec_001.tga

etc.

WEEK 10: Animation Direction 1 - Game Cycles -- #1 Treadmill Walks!

You're going to get lots of practice setting up game cycles: walks, runs, jumps, and idles, and finally, blending them seamlessly together.

First cycle on the agenda: Walks. It's time for a whole new level of picky: treadmills.  You are about to become very involved with your Graph Editor. If that scares you, it's time to learn to love this indispensable tool.

Walk Reference:
Treadmill Walk: Dude
"Endless Reference"'s You Tube channel (also see sidebar link -->)
Monster's Inc
Iron Giant

You need to pick a rig to use for all your cycles.
Here's a post about a whole bunch of license-free rigs.

Getting good at cycles requires patience and practice. You should try a few different ones so you get faster at setting them up. It's always better work from reference. Shooting your own reference can be invaluable so you understand the mechanics.

Your final cycles are all due near the end of term but we'll have lots of in-class time to work on them.

Assignment 4: Animation Cycles
Assigned: November 7th
Due: December 15th in class
% of Final Grade: 50%
Please keep file sizes under 2MB
Filenames:
tdonovan_ anim_000.ma

Please include your rig in the same file as the animation so I can reference it in.

Animation work-in-progress will be critiqued in class. The final blended animation sequence will be graded as one project. The sequence must contain at least 3 of the following cycles, blended together into one scene.
1.Walk
2.Run
3.Jump
4.Idle
For example, your sequence could be Walk-Run-Jump, or Idle-Walk-Run. You can have more cycles if you wish. Every cycle must include all of the Principles of Animation. The character should have believable weight, a clear personality, and move with fluidity and clarity. The cycles should blend together cleanly with all necessary weight shifts, anticipations and reactions added to the final file. 

Click here to download a bookmark-sized "12 Principles Desktop Cheat Sheet"

Good luck!

WEEK 10: Character Acting 1 -- Quadruped Study - Royal Winter Fair

Field Trip!!
Okay, that doesn't sound as fun as a Road Trip, but it's still pretty cool.

We'll be sketching 4-legged animals as part of our quadruped study. Sketching at the Royal is a long-standing tradition of animators and artists around the city (see attached!). It is very hard work but awesomely fun.
If you Google "sketching" and "Royal Winter Fair" you'll see a huge selection of intimidatingly beautiful work. Here are links to a couple of really good collections, one by a current Sheridan student and one by the rather well-known illustrator Bobby Chiu.

http://sprogisonline.blogspot.com/2009/11/royal-winter-fair.html
http://imaginismstudios.blogspot.com/2007/11/farm-animals-at-royal-winter-fair.html

If you can't afford to come with us, or you want more practice drawing live animals, I heartily recommend a sketching trip to Riverdale Farm -- a free model farm in the heart of Cabbage Town, open every day from 9-5.
Visit it now before The Fords chop it forever!
http://www.friendsofriverdalefarm.com/tips.htm

soon to be you!

WEEK 9: Character Acting 1 -- Quadrupedal Anatomy and locomotion

We are lucky to have a guest lecturer who is very experienced in animating 4-legged animals :

CATHERINE FERADAY MILLER began her career at Dreamworks as a classical animator, working on the features The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado. Switching to 3D animation in 1999, Cathy has worked for various feature and game companies in San Francisco and Toronto, and has taught 3D animation at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and at Max The Mutt Animation School in Toronto. A Toronto resident since 2009, Cathy is now working with her husband Tim as Art Director and co-founder for their own independent game studio, Rocket 5 Studios.

Click  here for Cathy's 2D demo reel

We'll talk about quadrupedal anatomy and locomotion, analyze video reference and draw significant key positions of quadruped walk.

All of this study leads into our field trip next week at the Royal Winter Fair.
If we're really nice, Cathy might join us :o)

Click here for an excellent site comparing human and animal anatomy.
Click here for a collection of reference images of animals skeletons.
Click here for animal walking reference from Muybridge.

Your next two assignments are connected .

Assignment 3: Quadruped Walk Study
Assigned: November 2nd
Due: November 13th
% of Final Grade: 10%
Please keep file sizes under 2MB
Filenames:
tdonovan_quad_walk_000.jpg

Draw significant key positions of quadruped walk using video analysis.  Use any animal you like but bear in mind that we'll be drawing livestock and farm animals next week so it will be very beneficial to have studied them in advance.

Assignment 4: Quadruped Live Sketches
Assigned: November 9th
Due: November 13th
% of Final Grade: 10%
Please keep file sizes under 2MB
Filenames:
tdonovan__ quad_live_000.jpg

Sketch at least 3 different quadrupeds from life. Sketches can include full body or just details, as well as motion studies. Please do not draw from photos or video. These sketches should be done live at our field trip or you can draw on your own at another location such as Riverdale Farm or the High Park Zoo (both are free!).

WEEK 9: Animation Direction 1 - Intro to Maya & Animation Review - Bouncing Balls

Animating a Bouncing Ball is nearly always the first animation assignment given to both 2D and 3D animation students.  This deceptively simple exercise can teach you a lot about the nuts and bolts of animation tools, but more importantly how to give believable weight and appealing timing to your animation.

Strobe photos are fantastic for showing the beautifully symmetrical parabolic arcs followed by everything that leaves the Earth... except a rocket.

Basket Ball

Golf Ball

Tennis Ball

Great reference vids:

• Super Bouncers: Sony Bravia
• Bowling Balls: Nissan Qashqai-Urban-Bowling

• Also check out the video "Ball Tests" by Brendan Body (also in sidebar links -->)

Experiment with weight and through timing & spacing -- create 3 bouncing balls with contrasting sizes and weights. Keep practicing until you're very comfortable in Maya and with the timing tools we used in class.

Check out the Digital Tutors 'Intro to Maya' and also their Visual Guide to the Graph Editor

WEEK 9: Texturing & Shading 1: WIP, Hydrant, continued

Next we'll introduce two more types of maps:

Normal and Specular.

Normal Maps create the illusion of extra detail while Specular Maps define the shininess of different materials. There are a few ways to generate normal maps. Some common tools for creating them from our diffuse textures are CrazyBump and nDo.  We'll go through how to install and use both of these tools in class. You will need them to complete your homework. If you can't install them at home you will need to complete your assignment at school.

nDo's download site is currently down. Click here to download the zip file.

Click the CrazyBump & nDo logos to visit their sites.

Please always bring a stylus - they are required for painting your texture maps.

TEXT2010 Assignment 4
4th Assignment, Part 2: 10% <-- NEW!!

Assigned: Tuesday, Nov 1st
Due: Sunday, Nov 6th <-- NEW!!
Hydrant, UV'd and textured: 3DSMax file, diffuse map, normal map, specular map
SAVE your work uncompressed (2048 x 2048 PSDs recommended)
SEND me only Targas (.tga), one for each of your maps.
Maximum resolution: 512 x 512 bit, no alpha
File naming convention example:
tdonovan_hydrant.max
tdonovan_hydrant_diff.tga

tdonovan_hydrant_nrm.tga
tdonovan_hydrant_spec.tga


Save your Max file with the maps applied and the paths stripped, and all textures in the file so they apply when I open it.

Please be very careful with your naming conventions.  All assignments are to be handed in via FTP.

WEEK 8: Intercession!! Now G'wan home..

Step away from the computer.. go rake some leaves and jump in 'em. Draw in those sketchbooks.. 

It's vacation time.. *

*except my classes who all have homework.