Project Evaluation

In doing these animation tests I must say it has been a great value to myself, the reason being because I have been able to go into more detail of how the characters will move before I actually animate it. In short it is helping against what could've been a future headache.

I didn't quite finish all of the tests, nor have I done as many tests as I would like to have done but what I have done will be put into great practice, and the quality of the animation WILL be surpassed in the final film.

To recap I've posted the very latest versions of each of the tests below.

Run cycle


I feel this test has been accomplished and has been a good way to start getting back into animating, but I will most definitely change the way the character moves in the final animation. This is because I feel after viewing it there's not enough character present, despite changing it a bit compared to a standard run cycle.

The lightness I wanted to achieve is present, but maybe not added as much as I could've done. A thing I do like however is the way the chick propels itself into the air a bit more than a standard run cycle, this is due to the weight of the chick and also because it is somewhat attempting to fly without having the ability to use its wings.

Another way I could've (and may very well do in the final animation) is like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsRfrTJX4mY

It looks manic and I feel in some ways would work better for a run, however there's nothing stopping me from doing two varying styles since both of the chicks each have their own personality.

Walk AND Fall

Despite being pretty happy with the blocking stage for both I encountered numerous problems when splining the animation, this has caused myself to get to this stage later than I had hoped to. One of the issues was the fall which when splined caused a lot of issues with the rig, because of this I had to recreate the fall but I was splining it from the start because I feared running into anymore problems again.

It sadly wasn't until I splined it that I found out this rig has quite a few issues with the feet, which meant I had to go frame by frame for the whole animation and tweak it all. What happened was when I moved the main body the feet would ever so slightly move which caused it to look somewhat jittery.

I feel as if I could spend AT LEAST a few more days on this, but I wish to get on with a few more tests that will aid me in the project. Despite the issues with this test I'm still happy I've given it an attempt, and when I come to the final piece it will have been a huge help at knowing what problems I could potentially come to.

Duck and cover


I'm quite happy with this piece, although I still feel I could work a bit more on certain aspects of it. Considering how quickly this will be on the screen in the final short film I doubt viewers would get too annoyed about potential mistakes, but being a perfectionist I still would like to avoid them when coming to the final piece. This like all of the other tests may be changed when I actually come to animate it, but that was pretty much a given.

Leg hop (unfinished)


I sadly did not get to finish the leg hop in time, this was because I've also been working on the actual thing along with doing all of these tests. However since this piece is key to the film I will be continuing this on since I do not wish to have this scene hold back the whole film.

As theorised the hardest part was the feet, which caused me to take quite some time getting it to the stage its at even now. Despite not getting this finished in time for this unit I will finish it and post it here in the coming days since I feel this is most likely the most important test for the animation.

When I come to actually animating for the film I will have all of the knowledge that has built up over this unit and more, and I'm hoping for my best work yet. Sadly the work I've done here isn't what I'd consider anywhere near "my best" but I had to overcome things along the way. I now know of problems I didn't think I'd encounter, so that alone to me makes these tests a success.

Leg hop 02 *Unfinished*

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

I sadly couldn't finish this in time, but here is the update to the leg hop test!

As theorised the hardest part was the feet, which caused me to take quite some time getting it to the stage its at even now. Despite not getting this finished in time for this unit I will finish it and post it here in the coming days since I feel this is most likely the most important test for the animation.

Leg hop 01

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QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

This is the development of the leg hop sequence, which I'll hopefully have enough time to accomplish.

Reference footage



Creating a leghop is actually probably one of the hardest things I'll have to do for the film. There will be a lot of weight being distributed to that foot so getting that across will be hard, but if I take the time to do it I think I can achieve it.

Although my reference footage below isn't as good as the one I found on YouTube it was useful into understanding whats going on a bit more.

Duck and cover 02 "Finalised"

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

I'm quite happy with this piece, although I still feel I could work a bit more on certain aspects of it. Considering how quickly this will be on the screen in the final short film I doubt viewers would get too annoyed about potential mistakes, but being a perfectionist I still would like to avoid them when coming to the final piece. This like all of the other tests may be changed when I actually come to animate it, but that was pretty much a given.

Duck and cover 01

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QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

This is the blocking so far. What I'm currently missing is the leg of the egg swinging by, but in the next few stages after I've worked out the timing a bit more I will be adding it in.

I wish for this piece to be quite exaggerated in the movements, and something that shows the chick is scared of getting hurt. To enable this I will be using squash and stretch as he is ducking onto the floor, and hopefully the flow of his hands/arms will come down nicely.

Reference footage

Walk cycle test 02

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

Despite finishing the fall test I wanted to continue with this, not only because I like to complete things but also because since I encountered issues with the walk cycle segment of the fall I wanted to try and work out exactly what caused the issues.

The issues are sadly related to the rig itself, and I'll make sure to tell Clym the way the feet move on this pre-existing rig aren't exactly how I'd like the actual rig to be. Quickly in mentioning rigs, the most ideal rig I've found are the Norman and Moom rigs when concerning the way the feet behave. They behave in a far more logical fashion and if the feet on rigs in the project are like either it'll help out immensely.

Fall 03 "Finished"

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

Despite being pretty happy with the blocking stage I encountered numerous problems when splining the animation, this has caused myself to get to this stage later than I had hoped to. One of the issues was the fall which when splined caused a lot of issues with the rig, because of this I had to recreate the fall but I was splining it from the start because I feared running into anymore problems again.

It sadly wasn't until I splined it that I found out this rig has quite a few issues with the feet, which meant I had to go frame by frame for the whole animation and tweak it all. What happened was when I moved the main body the feet would ever so slightly move which caused it to look somewhat jittery.

I feel as if I could spend AT LEAST a few more days on this, but I wish to get on with a few more tests that will aid me in the project. Despite the issues with this test I'm still happy I've given it an attempt, and when I come to the final piece it will have been a huge help at knowing what problems I could potentially come to.

Fall 02

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Here's the very latest playblast!

I'm still pretty happy with it so far, but more tweaks will be made before going into the spline/polish stage which depending on how I've animated it all so far could be the hardest part to get looking right. Aside from that I think I'm slowly getting there.

I'll hopefully get an update on here soon enough!

Fall 01

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QUICKTIME: Playblast

Here's the blocking out for the animation so far. I must admit I'm really happy at the moment! I feel as of now everything seems to be in order, but as I get further along in the blocking stage I will be adding more and more such rotating the body of the egg to demonstrate the weight, along with a bit of squash and stretch added in the polishing stage.

Reference

Walk cycle test 01

To prepare and help myself for the "fall test" I've decided to create a walk cycle test to get me into the mood of how the character will walk. So far the blocking stage appears to be fine, and it's looking (as of now) that I won't encounter any problems.

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

For the walk cycle I wanted a very baby-like persona to the way the egg walks.

Run 03 "Finished"

Playblast

Side view

QUICKTIME: Playblast: Side view

Angled view

QUICKTIME: Playblast: Angled view

Notes

I feel this test has been accomplished and has been a good way to start getting back into animating, but I will most definitely change the way the character moves in the final animation. This is because I feel after viewing it there's not enough character present, despite changing it a bit compared to a standard run cycle.

The lightness I wanted to achieve is present, but maybe not added as much as I could've done. A thing I do like however is the way the chick propels itself into the air a bit more than a standard run cycle, this is due to the weight of the chick and also because it is somewhat attempting to fly without having the ability to use its wings.

Run 02

Playblast

QUICKTIME: Playblast

Notes

I've tweaked a few things here and there, especially the way the body/head are leaning forward. Along with this I've added more in-betweens to the animation which has given myself a taste of what will be happening in the polished version. As of now there is not enough weight as the character is coming down, nor do I feel he's in the air long enough. Both of which I'll amend.

Run 01

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QUICKTIME: Playblast

This is the first blocking out for the chicks run cycle, it is as of now incredibly basic but I'll be adding more weight and fleshing things out a bit more over the next few of days.

Another thing worth noting is how the bird will move, I wish for it to be quite light on its feet due to the size and weight of the bird but I also wish for it to retain the look of a standard run cycle. I feel the wings should be pretty much static throughout the actual animation, so that's why I will not attempt to animate the hands on the rig in these tests.

Reference

Richard Williams Run cycle



Below is a run cycle by Eadweard Muybridge.



Because I'm slightly deviating from an actual human run cycle (like above), I'll be pushing things quite a bit more. Especially when the character is in the air, I will make sure the chick will be in the air for a few more frames to appear far more light on its feet. Another thing I will accomplish is enabling stretch on the legs to feel bouncy as it lands, but this will mostly be a subtle thing.

List of tests I will be accomplishing

Hop



The first test I will be accomplishing is a hop of the unhatched egg caused by the sprouting of one of its legs.

Run




The run cycle of a chick running.

Egg fall



This test will be both a combination of the eggs walk cycle and him falling off the edge of the branch.

Duck and cover




The chick ducking down (pun not intended) to the swinging leg.

Reaction of the chicks to the size of the egg




Both of the chicks will look at each other in amazement as to how big the egg actually is.

Advanced skills

I will be focusing on animation in the advanced skills unit, this is because I wish for the animation in the actual film to be my best yet. I want to ensure a subtly is there in the movements, along with pure character that reflects the characters purpose.

Over the coming weeks I will update the blog with Quicktime playblasts of the development stages for each of the tests, from blocking to polished.