week five's Journal Task

ThOUGHT POSE
VIZZINI



This is the thought pose for VIZZINI. I decide to give him a evil smile on his face. I tend to use this gesture for him because use the gesture for people to use when they are thinking some bad idea. And i make his eyes not look to the camera but looking to the air in order to describe he is thinking something so he is looking at somewhere else.

MAN IN BLACK

As we can see it is the thought pose for MAN IN BLACK. The motion and the facial express for this pose are not as strong as the pose for VIZZINI. It is maybe just a common thinking pose for every normal people. Having the arm cross in front of the chest. The the eyes are aslo looking to somewhere else.

BUTTERFRY



This is the thought pose for BUTTERFRY. What I want to do is the image for a lovely and innocent girl who is thinking something funny and braw. So I want BUTTERFRY looks very qute in this pic. I use one finger to hold her head and another hand is hehand of her body. The facial expression on her face is pretty innocent and kind of serious. And I try to create the kind of feel that only the child could have this such facial expression. And im happy with the result.


Mannequin Rig Exercise



This is the further exercise in mannequin rig. This exercise is about characters notice a coin on the ground and then pick it up. I was a little bit grown up from the first exercise. I could be able to create more complicated movement for the character. However, I still could not control the timing for the action very well. I started to do the action in the real life by myself and try to calculate the time for it. That does help me to have a basic idea about how to set up key pose in the correct time.

I also found that the body of the character may have strange movement during key poses. So I have to set another key frames between two key poses. However, sometime it wont could the fact a lot. I will go to do some research on this problem.





RESEARCH
Straightforward animation

This week I was studying straightforward animation. Although it is 2D animation, it will still help me geting the idea about the elements of animation. It helps me to understand what really matters in the animation. The originally goal of the animation is very important for every animatior to remember.

http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n8/art_and_anim.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXZNg2EFxT0

Assiagnment one-Character Design Document

ANDY(MAN IN BLACK)

Assiagnment one-Character Design Document

PETER(VIZZINI)

Assiagnment one-Character Design Document

KATRINA(BUTTERCUP

week four's Journal Task --Mannequin_Rig task

This is the short animation playblast I did for the weekly task. The characters notice an object on the table and he decide to throw it away. This is the first time for me to use Mannequin_Rig. It is different from Andy rig. It is easier but also needs a lot animation skills to control it. I have to say I could not control the time for the action when I was doing it. The movement does not look like has any strength. And the contact between the object and the hand is not good enough either. It needs lots of experience and exercise to create good animations.

RESEARCH

I have seen some MAYA animatio tutional on the youtube and learn some konwledge and concept about other people's work. This could help me a lot when I start doing it myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJrM2pfRqf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufuhp1VfuWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGAJkj0SOxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BiE7pT_lY

week four's Journal Task

Pose of the week - Angry
BUTTERFRY

This is the angry pose i design for BUTTERFRY. Generally saying, girls are diffident when they exhibit their emotion. So i decide not to design some very big motion or movement for BUTTERFRY. She just close upon her hands and shows the angry face. And i did not make the fierce expression for the facial expression. Hope it is a appropriate angry pose for a girl.


Clearly, BUTTERFRY is very angry and she is interrogate someone to ask the reason. She is widely open her eyes and outspread her hands. I design this motion is because when people gets angry they usually tends to do other things such as interrogation.

VIZZINI


This is the first angry pose for VIZZINI. He is so angry that he has to scream to release his angry. He could help himself because MAN IN BLACK finally saves the girl from his hand. He closes upon his hand in order to use all of his energy. All the muscle on his face is braced. He is very angry.


VIZZINI is angry and not happy about what he is seeing at the moment. He folds his arms in front of his chest and gives his enemy an angry facial expression. He think he can intimidate his enemy by this pose.



In the pose, VIZZINI is intimidating his enemy. He is turning his hands ahead in order to be closer to his enemy. He thinks it is a good way to give his enemy a threat. He is very angry and can not wait to start a flight.

This pose is being taken from the actual animation I am working on. In the animation, VIZZINI will be sitting on the chair and have a negotiation with MAN IN BLACK. This pose will describe the motion when VIZZINI is not happy with the procedure of the negotiation. He is swinging his hand and saying no to MAN IN BLACK. And of coz he is very angry.

MAN IN BLACK

These are the angry poses for the MAN IN BLACK in the scene. As we know MAN IN BLACK is a very righteous man. He could not see a girl being abused. So he is very angry about VIZZINI’s action on the girl. All his action is completely showing that he is very angry and he wants to strike VIZZINI on his face.

In this picture, MAN IN BLACK is very angry and he is too angry to think he should do next. When people gets too angry they usually get the possibility to lose themselves. And this is what I want to lay out in this pose. MAN IN BLACK wants to think or go back to normal but he cannot because he is too angry.

MAN IN BLACK is point at his enemy and interrogates him the reason why he did the terrible thing to an innocent girl. And of coz he is very angry about this.

It is clear to see that the bad guy is not listening to MAN IN BLACK. MAN IN BLACK got no the choice but a flight with him. So MAN IN BLACK is preparing himself and get ready for this ineluctable flight. As we can see on his face, he is very angry and he cannot forgive VIZZINI doing this to a girl. This is a common fighting preparation pose with an angry facial expression which could able to make an angry pose.

RESEARCH

I have seen some tutional on the website and get some idea about the use of camera in animation. There are some really good examples. It helps me to understand the technique and skill.

http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?hl=zh-CN&q=use+of+camera+in+animation&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=P9vVSuzQIc2CkQWU45XsDQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB8QqwQwAw#

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/strange/workshop/style.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJrM2pfRqf8

week three's Journal Task

storyboard
This is the storyboard for the animation sequence that i will be working on.
Pual told us that the scene we will be working on could be any story relate to these
three characters. So i decide a new storyline for this animation.


this is the position for the three characters in the scene. MAN IN BLACK will stand near the table and point to the girl and VIZZINI. However, VIZZINI is sitting on a chair and putting his
feet on the table. He looks very relax. The girl is being kidnapped. She kneels on the ground and
waiting MAN IN BLACK to save her life.


This is MAN IN BLACK trying to warn VIZINNI not to hurt the girl. This will be the very first scene appears in the animation. He is try to negotiate with VIZIINI first. It will be about 45 frame long. Using the first camera.


After the first 45 frame with MAN IN BLACK the next 100 frame will be focusing on the movement between VIZINNI and the girl. VIZINNI will wag the chair as well as play the girl when he is negotiating with MAN IN BLACK. It is clear to see that he is not care about the negotiation because he has the girl as the hostage.
I will try to give each of them facial feature in order to describe theiur motion clearly.


The negotiation is broken. VIZINII stand up and try to fight with MAN IN BLACK. MAN IN BLACK is clearly ready for this as well. They all square up themselves and ready to fight. In the animation i will use slow motion to create more film feeling. MAN IN BLACK will lift the table up and throw it away. This will aslo be show in a slow motion way. And the girl will be pushed to the ground by VIZINNI. VIZINII made a mistake. He think the girl is scared and useless. However the girl will push the chair that VIZINNI used to sit and make him fall over. MAN IN BLACK win the fight in the end.


In the end, MAN IN BLACK had the battle. He finally save the girl. He hugged the girl and say "dont worry, everything is going to be fine" to the girl. And the girl will kiss MAN IN BLACK as
a acknowledgement. And MAN IN BLACK will be very happy and have a smile on his face. Here comes the end of the animation.


Explanation on my approach to staging and use of camera
Using different cameras in the scene could contribute different piont of view. This could increasing the attraction of the animation and aslo building up a better feeling for the scene. Main characters' facial feature is very necessary in very film or animation. However, it will be a lot of work when people start rendering it because aniamtors have to stop the render procedure and select another camera and then contrinute. Image how different could that be if there are a lot of cameras in a scene. Ak_switchingCamera is a very good small program that could help people to solve this problem. Copy the code under the program and plaste it into the maya script editor. Execute the procedure and then create a CameraMain. Select when do you want the CameraMain to stay in which camera and select the keyframe in that time. After that, the CameraMain will automaticlly jump between the different camera in the time you want it to.
This could save a lot of time when you start rendering the animation.

Pose of the Week: Strong

BUTTERFRY



BUTTERFRY is scared about the thing she is seeing at the moment. SO she is trying to use her hands to block the view and she turns her head to another direction in order to dodge it.



Howeveer, her curiosity makes her want to have a look again. So she is slowly turning her head up and slightly opens her eyes. But she still does leave her hands in front of her head in order to project herself.




This is the motion from the actual animation. In t he pose, BUTTERFRY is being pushed to the ground by VIZZINI. She is squealing and very scared. But there is nothing she can do. The only hope will be MAN IN BLACK.

VIZZINI



VIZZINI is threatening someone by using this pose. He is putting his hands across his cervix. This is a common strong threaten pose. And this why i use this pose to lay out VIZINNI's characteric. His facial expression is pretty wicked and strong.


This is a strong bay guy looking pose. VIZZINI is smiling. His hand is try to do something bad.
His back is not straight but in a curve. And he will shake his shoulder and smile very evilily. We can image he was doing this to Buttercup before he kidnaped her.


VIZINNI is trying to kick someone. He has rised his feet up and square himself up. His facial expression is angry and wicked.


This is an chinese GONGFU pose. Many martial art films have this such contains. I will use this pose for VIZZINI in the animation. It is a pretty strong flighting pose.


MAN IN BLACK


When the negotiation broke, the only thing facing MAN IN BLACK will be a fight. However he is not afraid of that. This is strong boxing pose. MAN IN BLACK is using this to defend himself from VIZINNI.



MAN IN BLACK is showing this pose to tell his enemy that he is ready for this fight. This is a strong fighting pose in order to lay out MAN IN BLACK's motion. In the scene like i just displayed in the storyboard, both MAN IN BLACK and VIZZINI would show their poses at the same time when they are standing toward. I think this could be a pretty strong image that could
display the situation correctly.


MAN IN BLACK in flying in the sky and ready to kick VIZINNI. In the animation, my definition for the MAN IN BLACK and VIZINNI is they are both strong and equal. They both know how to fight and they fight well. So when they start fighting i want they are both strong. This is the reason why if VIZZINI is using his feet to fight MAN IN BLACK will use the feet as well.

RESEARCH

I have searched animation storyboards on the google. I have already getting some idea about animation storyboards. Mos of the storyboards are hand drawing style. But i tend create my storyboard in MAYA. I think it could be another way of lay out.

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=zh-CN&q=storyboard&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=L9nVStTDF4GXkQWSyYzpDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDAQsAQwAw

week two's Journal Task

Katrina NG (Buttercup)

This is Katrina (Buttercup) who is the poor girl that has been kidnap by VIZZINI. Fortunately, MAN IN BLACK saved her life in the end. She is been bind in the pic. From her facial expression we can clearly see that she is in pain. The reason i choose this pose to describe Katrina's motion is because i think this is a appropriate action for a kinnap girl.

Katrina is saying "no" to VIZZINI in order to try to ask him to stop what he is doing. She is beging him. She is very scared and panic. I think the facial expression is very good in this situation. She is worried and do not know what to do just want VIZZINI stop.

She is surprised that MAN IN BLACK defeat VIZZINI because she saw VIZZINI changed the wine glasses. So she think MAN IN BLACK is going to die. however, MAN IN BLACK is the final winner. So she is happy but also doubted.

Andy Zheng (MAN IN BLACK)


This is Andy Zheng (MAN IN BLACK). In the scene he will save a girl like a hero. So i define his image and motion just like a superman. In this pic, Andy is doing a action like a hero or superman. He is very confident, strong, smart and imperturbable. The reason I use this pose to define Andy is because i know this is one of the many supermen's classic actions.


This is a feature of Andy. We can clear understand that he is not afraid about his enemy--VIZZINI at all. He already knew the way to beat him. He is confident and ready for this. I choose this feature is because i think this is a quite good faical expression for Andy to show his confidence and reaction.

In this pic, Andy is telling his enemy that he is the best and he can not be defeated. The gesture means that Andy wants to tell his enemy that he is the NO.1.

In this pic, Andy is sitting and negotiating with his enemy. However, it is clear to see that Andy is seems to be very relax. From his facial expression, we can see that he is not even care about the negotiation. This is beacuse he knew that he will be the winner anyway and he has already had the plan to win this challenge. I choose to action to describe Andy's motion because I think this action could describe the situation very well and the facial expression is also very strong and suitable.

Andy is asking VIZZINI to take the challenge he just offered. He is not worried at all beacuse he has a very clear idea about what is going to happen. Andy knew that VIZZINI is very over-confident about himself and he think he is smarter than Andy. So Andy knew that VIZZINI will accept the challenge without any thinking. The faical expression of Andy in this pic is very relax and this is why I use this to describe his motion.

Peter Pan (VIZZINI)

This is Peter Pan(VIZZINI).In this scene, he is going to blindfolded a girl in order to challenge MAN IN BLACK. I consider he is a very overconfidenct,unstrung and coony man. He is think he is the smartest man in the world. He think he can not be defeated by anyone. I choose these poses to define the personality of the character. This is the pose that describe the facial expression when he is angry. He is glaring at people and want to scare them. When i was watching other animation I always saw some similar angry facial expression like this one. So i decide to use this one as the angry facial expression for Peter Pan.

In this pose Peter is laughing and this is a very strong laughing pose which could describe the his motion. His face is not even face to people when he is laughing which could describe he despises the person he is talking to very much.

He is pointing at himself and say " i m the best, i can not be defeated". this pic shows that he is very confient about himself. however, actually he is just over confient. The reason I use this pose
to define the character is because I think this is a common pose that everybody in the real life will use to show the confidence.

This one is about when he meets difficulty. He will be completely useless at that time. This pose is just about the face expression. It is clear to see that he is thinking something and hesitating at the same time. I personally like the motion of eyebrow in this pose. Because I can not move the side of the eyes, so eyebrow become a another important sign to define character's motion.



He is point at someone and try to gallow he or she to follow his order. He is a very evil man. This pose is basiclly about a intimidating pose. He is pointing at someone to force them. I think this is a pretty classic intimidating pose. I think the face expression could describe the situation and define character's thought.

Research

I have do some research for the character poses. I get the idea about an character pose or sheet has to be at least three views which is front, side and back views. however, decide now to do this because the characters are given from the teacher and everybody is using the same character. So that is no point doing this.

And i also get the idea about the defining key pose should be the very begining procedure of anamtion.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/bill-tytla-terrytoons-dover-boys.html

http://animation.about.com/od/otherusefultutorials/ss/charactersheet_4.htm

week one's Journal Task

I like John Stevenson's work very much because the storyline and the characters of his movie are very attractive. John Stevenson is a very talented director. His work includes Gong Fu Panda which is a great animation movie. He put lot of Chinese traditional culture in this movie and use the traditional Chinese animal--panda as the main character. He thinks a good storyline is extremely important for an animation movie. It is even more important than the design of the character or the level of rendering.

John Stevenson said he has not seen the real panda in real life yet but he could able to model the characters in the movie very correctly. Before he started modeling the panda he has watched a lot of Chinese traditional cartoons and book to learn the real culture. It is a very effective way to decide the appearance of the characters.
My choice of sequence from the script will be decide the storyline first and try to find helpful information for the story in order to learn and understand the culture behind the story. Start modeling the character from the learning experience at the last.