Week 8 animation exercises

This week we learnt some of the animation techniques we can use in our final project.

We learnt techniques such as connecting model to a curve and moving the curve, manipulating the animation to get the desired movement in the animation graph editor, attaching an object to a curve and making it follow it with the animate motion paths tool and again using the graph to aid us in this animation also.

The techniques I found hard were modifying of the graph  to get the desired movement, as you can see in the graph of the XWing, I needed to get the line extremely steep in order to get the speed I wanted from the other lines that showed a steady increase to emulate taking off.

My XWing following curve at wanted speed

Sphere following a curve

Animating objects using key frames seemed easier however I did use this with simpler objects just using it side to side. I will be using both these techniques in my final piece especially the curve movement when moving the camera.  

Cone and sphere moving due to curve hierarchy 

Manipulating graph to get desired movement.

The last exercise was to create a bouncing ball with the effect of scaling and translating and rotating all at the same time under the one animation. This was hard to get realistic and the graph editor had to be used but I was happy with the end result as it was my first time animating using the squash spring technique.

Shows the spring technique

shows the squash technique

 

Week 7 Camera and animation techniques

The first scene we watched was WALLE, in this scene I focused mainly on the animation techniques in this scene. The main Techniques I saw included Anticipation, Exaggeration, Staging, spacing and timing and the squash technique.

The Squash technique was used when the light jumped in the air and landed and to show the impact of landing the light squashed on impact.

The anticipation technique was used when the light was jumping. It bent down in order to get a spring off of the the I in Pixar. It was also used when WALLE knocked on the light, the robot had to move his hand back in order to give the tap to the light. It was again used when WALLE's body moved in the direction to go right before his head. This meant we anticipated him to then turn his head that was and go in that direction.

Exaggeration was used when WALLE tripped on the R in Pixar, his reaction is exaggerated because as he is a robot there is no facial expression to show how he is feeling. However when he trips on the R he reacts by flailing his limbs and then going into his body like a Turtle. Again this shows the fact he is scared by acting out the metaphor 'going into his shell'. Exaggeration is also used when the light's bulb goes out, the reaction of the head of the lamp is one of confusion as it is moving franticly.

Staging occurs when both WALLE and the lamp are in the centre of the screen meaning our attention is drew to them.

Spacing and timing is used when the lamp slows down to stop and look at the I. there would have been lots of small clips in order to show the rapid de-acceleration of the lamp.


The second scene we watched was the One Man Band. This scene was used to show the camera angles used and the effect of them. Many camera angles were used and this is a few of the ones I saw, accompanied with screen shots.

Close up high angle shows innocence and size

Longshot shows opposition of two guys

Longshot shows lack of people and location

Over the shoulder objective angle shows size area of focus

Point of view shows the One man band looking at empty cup

These were just a few of the many defining camera angles in this short clip. However each are important to add to the audiences perspective of the actors in the animation. The first picture is a high shot close up on the young girl. The angle gives you as the audience the perspective that the girl is small and innocent.

The second picture shows the polar opposites of the two one man bands, that they are so far away from each other and on opposite sides of the circle. It gives the audience the perspective that they are enemies in conflict.

The third picture is again a longshot that gives the audience a perspective of the location that the guy is in and also that the One man band is on his own without an audience to perform for.

The fourth picture is an over the shoulder shot to show the One man band's attempts to get the girls attention.

The last picture is a point of view shot, showing that the One man band is looking at his empty cup, wondering why he is performing when there is no reward.  

Having learnt about these new techniques and after reviewing my storyboard I think I can improve the animation by using these techniques. I think I can include longshots at the beginning of my animation to set the scene and allow the audience to know where the scene is setting place. I also think I can use point of view shots to get the perspective of the captains flying the ship to get the audience more involved. Another technique I think I could use would be that angles of the camera's to give the ships status. By coming at a low angle on the XWing I think that would give the audience a perspective that the ship is bigger and more intimidating then the Tie Intecepter when following it. Viewing the inteceptor from a high angle would also make it seem weak and smaller compared to the Xwing. An animation technique I could use would be spacing and timing to show acceleration and deceleration in the spaceships. Also I could use staging to give the ships the centre of the camera to give that audience the main object in the scene. Some of the techniques learnt today include human movement and facial expressions, this means it would be hard to incorporate this in my animation, however the others that have been learnt will be very useful in my animation.            
 

Final Evaluation

These are the three final models, all with materials and textures on them. The first model is the Tie Interceptor.

This model is quite basic colour wise with the main colours being shades of grey and black. However the detail and texturing of them colours on the body were the things I found most tricky. However I
found using the cloth material on the bumpy suffices such as the black parts of the wing gave it the texture I was looking for and also the extrude tool on the faces that were raised also gave to texture needed for the main sphere of the work. I found getting the colours for the model were hard so I used the colour picker button on the material side panel on the picture below to get it as close colour wise as I could. My evaluation of this model is overall I think it is good. The good points about the model I believe is the attention to detail in the model itself such as the detail in the guns and in the fans on the wings, the texturing of the wings themselves and the closeness to the picture I based it on. The negatives points I believe are the materialising of the sphere in the middle. There are faint lines on the actual picture which I Tried to mirror in my model but i wasn't happy with the end result and thought it looked better with the extruding faces from the sphere then when I applied the Texture. Also the thickness of the metal surrounding the glass is not very good or close to the original. This was difficult to achieve due to the faces being very thick and changing them by altering the sphere itself would have reverted the sphere back to normal and would have made the extension to the wings go and I didn't have enough time to go back and alter it. As I used schematics to make the model the proportions are perfect, also I believe the detail in the model is very good, even if the detail in the material isn't as good as I would have wanted. To improve on issues next time I would have mad each part individually so then I could make changes to each one separately and it would also allow me to texture each part separately, making it easier in the long run in my opinion. Problems I overcame was when i added a material to the gun it distorted all of the win i put it on so I used the one wing that had been materialised correctly and used the new technique I learnt duplicate special to change the rotation to get the wing in the correct rotation so i just had to move it into position. Overall I am happy with this model but with more time and research I believe it could be improved further.
  

Picture intercepter was based on

The next model was the Tie defender.

The Tie defender was relatively similar to the tie interceptor with the main colours being grey and black again. However the colour of the glass surroundings and guns on the wings was different. Also the colour of the fan on each wing was also different. Again the colour was an issue so again the colour picker was used on the image below. I found trying to get the circular object on the top of the main sphere textured correctly, difficult. Also getting the texture of the grey parts of the model very difficult. When looking at this model I believe I have done a very good job, I think the model is instantly recognisable and very similar to the picture I based it on. There are many details in this piece such as the guns, the movement sensors are also included with in depth detail and even the three pistons within the rocket at the back of the ship is included and materialised accordingly. The shape and proportions again are very close to perfect due to using schematics in the building process. The problems I overcame to come to the finished model were during materialising, distortion of what was being materialised and when duplicating the wing, not being able to group them together using the boolean union method, so having to individually move each gun, sensor, fan and wing separately. I think the model could be improved by making the material on the sphere and wing supports more detailed and maybe making the faces of the wings less complex but once they were made it would have been hard to go back and make them with less complexity without starting again. In order to improve on it next time I would again make each individual part separately, so then I could materialise them, texture them and then be able to duplicate them rather then making each one individually then having to materialise them separately also. Overall I believe this is probably the best, closest model to the picture of the three I have made and I am extremely happy with it. 

Picture Defender was based on

 The final model to be textured was the X-Wing.

The X-Wing was the most difficult of the models to create, texture and materialise. As the ship was quite beaten up in the picture I modelled it on (below) I wanted to be able to import scratches and damaged metal pictures to project onto the model. However when I tried this the picture wasn't projected onto the face of the model no matter what I tried. This was also the case with the basic textures such as cloth.  This meant I was limited to the basic colours that you see on the front of the ship. I had to add the detail i wanted through modelling more then texturing, which is visible in the piping work on the back of the ship and the piping and objects on the top of the ship, behind R2D2. Looking at this model I am relatively happy with it. I think the model is recognisable as the X-wing and the details of the model are very good. Also the shape and proportions are good in my opinion again using schematics helped there. The main issue i had to overcome was the lack of being able to use pictures or textures on the model and having to hand craft everything that I thought needed to be on the ship such as the guns, the fans, the pipes within the wings and behind R2D2 and the objects behind him also, which originally i wanted to be textured onto the model. If i were to make this again I would make the wings and nose separate from the body of the ship. I found it extremely difficult to try and apply the UV textures when all that information was on the screen. Also I would have wanted to materialise the model better as that were I think that is what lets the model down in terms of being as similar to the picture as possible. With better materialising I think the model itself is very good. Also as this was the first model i started making in week 2, I would have used different techniques when making the model as when looking at the back of the main model you can see the distortion of the original cylinder, where i tried to make the cylinder more of a hexagonal shape. However from what I've learnt since then that could be rectified by changing the polygon itself to having  edges tether then 20. However I only realised this technique after most of the model was done and redoing it wasn't an option with 2 other models to create.