WEEK 10: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 3 Due in 2 weeks! (November 21st)

Hey, everybody.
How are those models going?

I just found another helpful course for you on Digital Tutors specific to your assignment. I started a new modeling playlist as it's a bit too in-depth to be included under Modeling Basics.

Modeling in 3DS Max and Zbrush - 
http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/my_playlists.php?pid=218611


There's also a detailed tutorial specifically for modeling a Beretta at 3DM3:
http://www.3dm3.com/tutorials/beretta/

WEEK 10: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Milestone 3 due today!

Milestone 3 is due today!

Milestone 4:  ex 5-10 second piece of animation.
Value: Total 20%. See breakdown below.
* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.

For the final 2 assignments I'm allotting marks for work in progress. 
The following are due in class:
5% WEEK 11: planning (may include storyboards, thumbnails, video reference, blocking)
5% WEEK 12: rough posing (all key poses including facial expressions and hands)
10% WEEK 13: final animation (polished, fluid, full animation)

FILE NAMING:

3010_ m4_lastnamefirstinitial_001
ex:
3010_m4_donovant_001.mov
3010_m4_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.

Please note that no marks will be given for conforming to requirements. Only projects that conform to hand-in parameters will be graded.

First up: Planning!  Due next week! Do not skip this part it es muy importante!
Here is master animator, Carlos Baena bringing it all to a quick sequence from The Incredibles:
http://www.carlosbaena.com/resource/resource_tips_planning.html

WEEK 10: Motion Studies DESN1136 Idle, continued! Transitioning into Walk Cycles

Today we'll continue with the idle adding refinements to the overall action such as overlapping action and tweaking the curves in the graph editor to make sure everything is smooth.  If you're happy with your idle, try another one from scratch in a contrasted pose. Perhaps you could make an 'extended idle' that transitions from one idle to another.

The Digital Tutors tutorial "Animating Game Characters in Maya" takes you through the creation of a character-specific game idle. Starting from a strong character pose, the animator sets up a simple keep-alive idle with overlapping action and uses the graph editor to alter and refine the action. 

I'll go over how to set up your playblasts so you can hand them in next week. 

There seemed to be some confusion with the difference between IK and FK last week so we can do an exercise to clarify that concept a bit more. Here's a link I sent out to a 1-pg explanation of IK and FK Demystified for Animators

If we have time I'll lead into walk cycles by working on the transition from idle to the first step forward - this takes quite a bit of finessing and if you can figure it out you'll be that much further ahead when we officially start walks next week. 

WEEK 9: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 3 Due in 3 weeks! (November 21st)

Happy Hallowe'en!

Well, your next assignment isn't due for another few weeks but don't let that kill your momentum! Better to press on with as much energy as you can and get it done early than leave it to the last minute. You're still pretty new to modeling, most of you, anyway, so I made a beginner modeling playlist for you with about 19 hours of instruction. This takes you through everything from basic theory to creating simple props to professional workflows to ways to improve your existing models. You should have everything you need to get you started and maximize your skills no matter what your level. If you're struggling, there should be a peer tutor available for you every day in the lab. If not, do remind Jean-Paul that you need some extra help and one should be available soon.  Failing that, share your resources - no one's good at everything and if you get someone to help you, you can always help them with something in return or at least get them a sandwich.
What goes around truly does come around!

WEEK 9: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Milestone 3 due next week!

Happy Hallowe'en! Would it scare you if I reminded you that next class is your deadline for Milestone 3? Moohahahahaaaa!!!!!

Tonight Pixar is releasing a new short 'Toy Story of Terror!' that looks like lots of fun.

Here's some behind-the scenes progression information about the many stages of production they went through on this short:

http://www.tv.com/news/toy-story-of-terror-sneak-peek-see-the-evolution-of-a-single-frame-of-footage-from-abcs-new-special-from-story-to-final-product-photos-138138516864/

WEEK 9: Motion Studies DESN1136 Assignment 5: Idle

Ready for your term of Maya animation cycles? You are going to create a set of cycles that will seamlessly blend together - idle, walk, run, and jump.

We are going to be using exclusively the new free rig from Animation Mentor, Stewart.

Get your own copy here rather than just getting it from a friend. Sign up for their newsletter, trust me, it's worth it. 
http://www.animationmentor.com/free-maya-rig/
He has more functionality than Buckid and less troublesome detail than Eleven.

First up: Idle no more! (hehe)..

Greeks gave the world souvlaki
 and contrapposto

The humble idle is the Rubic's cube of cycles. How your character behaves when he's just waiting around conveys a lot of attitude. You'll need a lot of subtle control to keep a character alive. Too little movement and they'll just look dead, too much and they'll appear to be having a seizure. :o)


I must warn you that as simple as it may seem to make a character 'do nothing', it is most diabolical! With great subtlety you must add some movement to every part of the character. Nothing should bump or pop, everything should have a nice smooth arc and you should not really be able to pick out where the cycle starts and stops

The key to idles is mastering 'Overlapping Action'. Show how movement flows from the main muscle groups of the body out to the extremities using the 'wave principle'.

Start with a nice pose. Work in a little contrapposto if you can.

woah, that's a little too
 much contrapposto

Get the attitude working before you move on to animation. Create a slightly different pose in the middle and then some breakdowns in between. This looks not too bad, but the movement will all be happening on the same keyframes. Get into the details by offsetting the joints. All changes of direction must use lots of slow ins & outs. Use your infinity/cycle views and check for smoothly flowing curves in that Graph Editor.

DESN1136 Assignment 5: Idle Cycle

% of final grade: 10% 
Assigned: Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013

Due: WEEK 11, Nov 12th at the end of class
Playblast and Maya file
*Late assignments are worth 0

Animate your character in a typical (not generic) pose, idling. It should be a loop about 1-2 seconds long. The QT should be set up to cycle on a loop so be sure your 1st and last frame are not repeated.

Quicktimes only, 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: http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

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

Filenames:

1136_a5_donovant_idle_001.ma
1136_a5_donovant_idle_001.mov

WEEK 8: Mid term break! Bye! Have a nice break! See you the week of Oct 27th!

License-Free Maya Rig Testing **Update 2013**

Rigs, rigs, rigs....
They're all similar but oh, so different.
A great way to get ready for rigging your own characters is to try a LOT of rigs.  Learn what you like and don't like. Peek into the Outliner and see how organized it is (or not!). Check out how usable it is for animation.  Then you'll be ready to borrow ideas for your own rigs.

Please note if you use any of these rigs they are not for commercial use and must be properly credited!

3 sites with lots of rigs for you to try:
Animation Buffet

Creative Crash Maya Rigs

22+ of the most fun rigs for maya

FLOUR SACK:

Beautifully made flour sack rig (at last!) Created for Maya 2013 by Joe Daniels - check out his cool video clip as well!

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/jd-floursack

ELEVEN:
Created as a group collaboration project by members of the 11SC community!
I love the look of this super cute girl/guy rig!
It looks like a lovely rig so far. Very teensy compared to some other rigs. Fast, easy to use. Nice rig. We use this rig a lot at school.
http://elevenrig.blogspot.com/



NORMAN:
by Leif Jeffers, Morgan Loomis, Peter Starostin, and Neal Thibodeaux

This rig isn't much to look at but it's packed with features -- maybe too many? He's even got 'bend bows' for arcing limbs, sweet! The GUI is totally customizable and you really ought to be able to do anything with this rig.
Only a couple of problems -- the head CTRL -- you know, the one you might need to grab like 1000 times a day, is on the BACK of his head ??? So, unless you love working in XRAY mode or wireframe, you have to do a little tumbling every time you want to grab it.

People have customized Norman into all SORTS of amazing models. Check them out!
https://sites.google.com/site/normanrig/

MORPHEUS:

by Josh Burton 

Wow. Just wow. This is a very distinctive.. and unique GUI.  Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. I find it distracting.  Good news -- it's just to customize the rig into all sorts of different 'looks'. Then you can hide that sucker.

The rig is very slick and there are more ctrls than you can shake a stick at.
http://www.joshburton.com/projects/morpheus.asp

MOOM:
by Ramtin Ahmadi

This ugly-on-purpose rig has a very slick GUI and it's easy to find your way around right out of the box. *NOTE* - one of the arms was IK and the other FK (perhaps purposefully?) but the switch turned out to be not that hard to find (on the ground).  My favorite so far for ease of use.
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/moom-v4-0-3-by-ramtin

MAX: (Maya or Max)
by Peter Starostin and James Hunt

Last but not least, this well-used rig has a lot to recommend it.

I liked how easy it was to find everything ... except one very important thing... the MAIN CTRL!
I'm used to seeing, 1, 2, or 3 big, obvious ctrls somewhere in the area of the character's feet.  I see a ROOT but it's in his middle and with IK legs, it only moves the middle. My apologies if it's staring me in the face and I just can't see it!
http://www.bockstyre.com/james/maxformaya/

HEAVY: from Team Fortress - might be some copyright infringement going on here but it's fun to play with.
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/heavy-character-rig

SQUIRRELY by Josh Burton:
This is a great opportunity to test out Anzovin's popular autorig, the "Setup Machine".  Very quick and easy to use, also the setup machine rig can be purchased and used with any of your own characters. 

http://www.joshburton.com/projects/Squirrely.asp

Lovely rigs but not recommended for school:

STEWART: *NOT FOR SCHOOL USE :(
Meet Stewart, Animation Mentor's new rig from their "Tribe" family. It's a very versatile athletic rig with lots of bells and whistles like bend bows, stretchy everything, double gimbals, IK/FK switching and more.
Be sure to include their attribution for non-commercial use. Download it here: http://www.animationmentor.com/free-maya-rig/

MALCOLM: * NOT FOR SCHOOL USE :(
AnimSchool has a very cool rig up for grabs as well: Malcolm. Its only 2 negatives are that it is a fully-decked-out feature rig complete with 1000 ctrls and it might be a bit over the heads of students just learning Maya. The other negative is that it's the ONLY free feature-quality rig out there, imho, which makes it extremely popular. The 11-second club winners use it almost exclusively.
I am using it myself, but the female mod which looks a bit like this:
http://www.animschool.com/DownloadOffer.aspx

BUCKID: Buckid is a super simple Maya rig for people just starting out.  1 major flaw: lack of independent hips. The one hip CTRL drives all the ones above. That means if you use hip rotation in your walks, you will need to counter animate the upper spine and head. But aside from that it is a fun, snappy, simple rig with stretchy limbs and spine that is really fun to work with.
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/buckid

Conclusion:

Well, the jury's still out. People have certainly created some fantastic animation with all of these rigs.  

I'm looking for a simple interface like Moom that has a neater look like Eleven.

I'd have to vote for either ELEVEN or MOOM.
Morpheus is also worth another look if you don't mind that interface.

Try-em out for yourself and let me know what you think!

WEEK 7: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Milestone 2 Due Today!

Today is an in-class critique of Milestone 2 and hopefully we'll have time to talk about your ideas for Milestone 3. 

Please post your work to Trello so we can share ideas and accountability. :D

Milestone 3:  ex 5-10 second piece of animation
Value: 20%
DUE DATE: WEEK 10 Nov 7th @ BEGINNING OF CLASS

* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.
In-class you would want to show:
WEEK 7: thumbnails
WEEK 9: rough posing in 3D
WEEK 10: final animation - Playbasts are fine. No rendering required.

FILE NAMING:

3010_ m3_lastnamefirstinitial_001.mov (mp4, m4v, etc)
ex: 3010_m3_donovant_001.mov


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

Enjoy your break! See you on Hallowe'en!

WEEK 7: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 2 Due Today! Assigment 3 begins..

examples of finished models

Assignment 3 -
NEW BERETTA 3D Model: 35 Marks

DUE DATE: WEEK 12 November 21st

@ BEGINNING OF CLASS

* Late submissions will receive ZERO marks.

Assignment 3 is to produce a high poly model (3D Studio Max) based on the final weapon concept you designed in Assignments 1 & 2.

Polygon limit: 5000

File Type: FBX, JPG (Screengrab OK)

FILENAME:
ASSIGN3_NEWBERETTA_MODEL_YOURNAME.FBX
ASSIGN3_NEWBERETTA_MODEL_YOURNAME.JPG

ex -
ASSIGN3_NEWBERETTA_MODEL_TARADONOVAN.FBX
ASSIGN3_NEWBERETTA_MODEL_TARADONOVAN.JPG

NEXT WEEK IS INTERCESSION WEEK - See you on Hallowe'en!