Animation Frames and Numercy

I'd forgotten to add this in, and I know its in the brief, so here goes nothing!

In regards to the e4 Ident we completed earlier this year, there was a number of mathmatical nightmares I had to overcome. As you may now know, the live action of the flipbook and the Flash animation had to be composited onto Photoshop. This threw up all sorts of problems. Firstly, I had to work out how many times I would need to repeat the flipping so that the animation would fit on. The animation was roughly 6 seconds, and the actual flipping of the book was about three. To get around this, I took a certain section from the live action, about 15 frames and repeated these so the animation would fit. However, if I had just laid the animation on the top, the viewer wouldn't be able to see what was happening. So, every frame from the animation was laid onto the live action four times, twice when the paper was flat, once when the page was starting to turn, and a third when it was almost flipped over. When the other page was in view, I laid the next frame onto page, so that it gave the illusion of a real flipbook. This was a very time consuming progress, and the file was becoming so big, about 450MB, that I had to split the file into three sections, which would later be composited back together in Final Cut.

This was how I managed to get around that problem. Of course when it came to the animation I did on Flash, I had to think carefully about the frame rate and the timing. I had to cut some of the animation down as it was too long when taking into account the opening and closing of the book.

This was the way I managed to get around this

Cake Card

As I mentioned in my last post, I used the skills I learnt from Photoshop Creative Magazine and applied them into my own work. Some of you have probably seen the below image before, but this time I've made a few changes to create a greetings card. I think the result is pretty good if I don't say so myself. In fact, I've sent this away to a greetings card company. The most likely case is that I won't get a reply and it will go straight into the spam file, but you know, turning up is half the battle and all that.

Heres the image anyhow, what do you guys think?

Photoshop text tutorial

I bought this months version of Photoshop Creative as a kind of spur of the moment thing. To be honest there's alot of stuff to do with digital photography, which doesn't really apply to me. On the other hand, I learnt some amazing tricks and short cuts, particularly on the blending options on the layers. Whats even better was that I was able to put them into practice on my own work.

Below is the original tutorial I did. Its basically creating a text and making it look like jam. I used tools that I've never really played about with such as the Direct Selection Tool and the delete anchor point to modify the text.

Below is a little breakdown of screenshots of how it works


I started by using the stock image on the disc and writing the word 'let's' in the Hobo Font.


Using the Direct selection tool and delete anchor points, I made the text look more messy and like a liquid.






After some messing around with the super blending options, I was able to come up with this. I felt really happy with how this came out, and in my next post you can see how I used it in my own personal work.

Tutorials

Okay, so I feel like I've kind of cheated on C4D and missed out some of the fundamentals. In order to rectify this. I've started to work through the Anne Powers book. Heres a little breakdown of what I've done so far.

First up is the exciting cone tutorial, pretty basic, but I did learn a few tricks about textures and what not.



And heres a rendered version



Next was the Planet tutorial. This was an interesting one as I learnt the 'Danel' feature which gives the texture a really nice feel.



After this I did an exercise in animation with dropping balls, I already knew about keyframes and what not, but its still good to go over and learn a few new tricks and shortcuts.



As I mentione, these exercises are all pretty basic, but I'm exicted to be moving through the book and learn some new skills which I may have missed.

Maxwell A. Oginni

Just a quickie before we do out walk cycles. I just stumbled across Maxwell A Oginni's work. I think sometimes combining live action and animation can look a little bit awkward, but not in this case, he hits the nail on the head. I'll post some more stuff of his soon, but for now, have a ganders at this.

Try Life In Another Language Commercial from Max on Vimeo.

Weekly Plan and London Town

Well, its finally upon us, the final week. I've kind of got a plan: work my knackers off. The problem is that last October I bought tickets to see a band in London, and lo and behold it happens to be on this week. So on Wednesday if all goes to plan I'll be on the train to London Town, but I'll have to see what happens all over the next couple of days.

So lets pretend that I'm not going to London, this would be my weekly plan

Monday: Today, we're learning how to animate our characters on C4D, better late than never I suppose. If I can get the basics done for Geralds walk, I'll feel a lot happier

Tuesday: Gerald still needs some minor tweaking before I can call him completely finished, for example I still need to do some work on the morph tags for the hands, as they look a tad odd at the moment. I would also like to apply some textures, but I don't want to over do them, as I think Gerald is best kept relativley simple.

Wednesday: Hopefully by now I'll have Gerald walking onto the scene, and I can start animating the rest of the scene, this will most likely run into the rest of the week until Friday.

Friday: The hand in. I want to make sure all my work is done and in order etc etc. Hopefully everything will be wrapped up by then.

Joints in Cinema 4D

This may not have worked for all the joints, but I definetley want to try this out sometime, seems pretty easy.

Some more Gerald and some drawing

Tonight, probably against my best interests, I decided to do a quick sketch to have a little break from 3D. I'm concerned about my drawing skills getting abit rusty and it was nice to have a shot on the ol' tablet. I decided to draw a viking, nothing special and I think I'll have another pass at it soon.


Here's a little update on Gerald, I've been doing some more Morph tags today, mainly on his hands and want to have him completley wrapped up tomorrow, or today as it is Friday. Really excited to see him in motion!

Skateboard Minature

This is fantastic, very charming little animation by Tilles slinger. The photos of the skateboarders were cut and put over enviroments such as desks etc.

Skateboardanimation from Tilles Singer on Vimeo.

Gary

I can't remember how I came across this little gem, but I do know its a final year film from students in an animation school in France. I think I remember reading it was made in Maya. The characters are particularly appealing, especially the girl and Gary. I also think the fusion between 2d and 3d works superbly. Anyway, just watch it and see what you all think.

Gary from Gary on Vimeo.

Gerald coloured

So, Ive started to block in the colours for Gerald. Its harder than the tutorials as Gerald is just one cube, so I can't pick the parts I want to colour, such as arms, torso etc. As a result, the colours seem to have a mirro image when colouring. Pretty annoying but hopefully I can sort out that problem soon. Anyhow, I'm pleased with the colour scheme, and once I get the colours nice and neat I'll start to apply the textures, which I really think will bring him to life. Also, at the moment I think he looks abit shiny, so I'll have to change that too.

BodyPaint round 2

Below is a picture of me on a Monday morning before I have my splap on, only joking of course. This is my second attempt at C4D's Body Paint. I'm really getting into this now after seeing the possiblities on offer. Anyhow, I'm going onto the real thing now, my beloved Gerald who I'm getting very attached too. I think the more you develop a character you more you get to know the backstory of the character. Originally, I wanted Gerald to be a smarmy toff with a gift for golf. Now however, I can see him as down and out golfer and an ever optimist despite his contstant downfalls. I hope to get this across in the animation. I'm looking forward to this process, Richard Williams Animators Survival Kit will once again come in very handy.

Anyhow, enough of that, feast your eyes on this good looker

3D Body Paint

So I'm gong to bw painting gerald in Cinema 4D's Body Paint. Before you all say what a rubbish program it is, remember that this has been used on films such as Spiderman 3 and the Hulk, so there.

Before I jump in feet first, I've been doing some tutorials from the super duper Anne Powers book. Heres my first creating a rusty sign, I'm pretty amazed at what can be achieved, and excited about what I can do with Gerald. Next up is a Body Paint of a face, but for now, heres the rusty sign

Sketches and things

Just wanted to show some of the sketches that havent quite made the cut as of yet. I'm always kncoking things out without finishing it, which is something I plan to change in the future. Here a few pages that will hopefully get finished in the future!





Also, its probably about time I posted up my animations from this year. I'll start with the best, my E4 ident. I'm still fairly pleased with this, I think I'll tidy it up a bit before I submit it too E4. The only thing that still annoys me is the fact you cant really see whats going on, which is a shame because I put alot of effort into the actual animation. For that reason, I've posted up the actual animation.

Inspring artists

Alright, so I feel abit guilty about not updating this enough, but now that I'm doing it, I feel like I could talk and post forever, nevermind. Here are some artists who are really catching my eye at the moment.

Lee Davies

This guy is fantastic, exactly where I want to be in terms of design 3d modeeling. The images below are 3D stills, but they have an illustration quality to them. I love the caricature which he used to create his characters. Here is a link to more of his work.








Also, this is nice little film by Ian Worrel, I love the character designs and muted blue tones in the film, I don't really get it though.

http://vimeo.com/10019015

Personal work

So keeping in turn with updating this blog on daily basis...I'm going to go through some of the personal work I've bee doing. Lately, with the Cinema 4d project going on, I feel like I haven't had much of a chance to draw for myself, or to draw at all really.

The first piece is a supposed to be funny joke, but it was originally done for the Character design challenge on Deviant Art. It was done in Photoshop, I created the texture for the wallpaper myself. I always feel then when I do a really rendered piece in PS, I learn so much. Quicker ways of doing things, and learning to not work harder, but quicker. Theres things that I've missed here which I will go back to one day, as I think its a fairly good portfolio piece, but overall I'm fairly pleased with it.

Click for a better picture




If you cast your mind back to when we were given a brief to design characters for Ambic, the company that makes school furniture, I jumped at the chance becase mainly, I love designing characters, so it was right up my street, also, the chance to win £300 pound is always nice. I didn't have long to do it but did manage to come up with something which I think fitted the criteria. It was due on the Monday and as I only finished it on the Sunday, I decided to drive from Hexham to Chester le Sreet to personally post the disc. Unfortunatley, once I arrived, I discovered a giant fence which Alcatraz would be proud of was blocking my way in. The drive back was disheartening, but there was a glimmer of hope as my Step Dad works in Chester le Street, so I managed to convince him to drop it in for me before he started work. A week after the hand in I made a courtesy call to Jonathan, who was my contact there. We had a good ol' chat about animation, and he was pretty clued up and a really nice guy. He said they hadn't really had a chance to look through, but he did remember my entry, and it was a very high quality in comparison to some others. Its always nice to hear people appreciate your work, so I put down the phone feeling fairly confident.

A month or so passed and I was getting slightly anxious about what was happening, I decided to send Jonathan an email, as I dind't want to be too desperate and call him again. A few days passed until I got a reply from Jonathan, he was currently in Dubai on business, must be nice! He told me the company was extremely busy at the moment and they'd put the characters on the backburner. Now, I could look at this is two ways. Firstly, I was slightly frustrated that I jumped about trying to get these done, as had a number of people probably, and now they were just saying there not doing it at the moment. Another way of course is that they still haven't picked anyone yet, so I still have a chance, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I suppose this kind of thing happens alot in the industry, part and parcel, and something I'll have to learn if I want to make any kind of career. While I'm on this rant, I do think that people take what we do for granted. If someone wants a character designed for there business (especially if its someone you know) they think that it should be for free, or for a couple of pints. The fact that we draw cartoons is almost looked down on. Perhaps this is because its seen as child like. But more to the point no one should really have to work for free, you'd expect to pay for a plumber, joiner, hair cut so whats the difference? I'm not going to work for free again, as it is basically saying your work is worthless, and I think I could do a better job than alot of work I see around. Its all about putting yourself out there, something which I'm going to talk about in a later post.

Anyway, here is the characters I did, I hope I'm not breaching some confidentiality of Ambic and blown my chances of winning! These were sketched out in PS, and inked in Illustrator. If I'd had more time I would of changed a few things, and looking back at your work you always spot the flaws, but it is what it is and I think its of a fairly high standard and represents my style quite well. Click for a better image








In trying to keep up with a proactive not reactive way of going about things. I've redesigned a character from the football magazine Match. A bi weekly football magazine aimed at the younger audience. Football and drawing are my two passions in life, so it seemed like a no brainer to do this. Once there finished I'm going to send them away to the publishers, and see if they want to use them or me in the future. I know its a long shot, but I want to get my name out there. Noone knows you exist if you're just sitting in your bedroom and not showing your work to anyone. This is what I have so far, again these were done in PS. Once again, click for a better view.

Weekly Plan

So this week is going to be fun filled I think, and also, very busy. Ideally I want to have everything wrapped up for next Tuesday, I'm supposed to be going to London on the Wednesday to see a band. I'll be coming back on the Thursday so I can still hand in on the Friday, but those two days which I'll miss could be important. If I still need to do work then I'll just not go, but it would be nice to be all done for when/if I go.

Anyway, here's my breakdown for this week.

Tuesday: Present my model to the class for the Crit. I'll pick up on any comments made and try to tweak any problems. Hopefully Gerald will be ready to start animating the next day. I still need put the textures and colours on but I've been reading through the 3d body paint section in Anne Powers book and I think for what I want, it will work well and hopefully I'll be able to get some good results.

Wednesday: If all is well I want to start animating today, getting the basics of the walk cycle down as thats probably the most important thing in the animation.

Thursday: I'll carry on animating and try to make Gerald move in the best way I can. I should mention that during this time I'll be keeping my paper work up to date.

Friday: Carry on with the animating, hopefully by this time I'll be fairly profficent and can get the majority done over the weekend ready for rendering on the Monday.

He's Alive!

Well, after pottering on with the weight tool, I've got Gerald to move around like a real boy. There's still some flaws to iron out, and he still needs to be coloured, but I'm fairly pleased with him so far. In fact I'm pleasently suprised with how he is moving considering the odd shape he is, especially the trousers. The next plan of action is too put some Morph Tags on his hands, a couple more expressions, and just all round house keeping. I still need to create his gold club and ball too.

Click the below image for a better picture