Animation Project Junior Year

My Project

I personally have never been a fan of 2D animation because most of it consists of drawing the same character repeatedly over and over again and because of how inconsistent I am with most of what I create, it would be almost impossible for me to draw that. Since I don't like making 2D animations I chose to do something in 3D. I was already used to using Maya and Mudbox so I decided to try and create one of my characters in it. The character I tried to create was a simple skeleton with animal horns coming out of the skull. My plan for the project was to model my character and have it do a simple walk cycle while holding a prop.

Modeling

Before I started modeling, I first found videos that helped me understand and create the basic spine and ribs for the skeleton.

I had also gotten all the reference images I'd be modeling off of:

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I first started my skeleton by building the spine. I did this by duplicating the same vertebrae along a motion path that followed the natural curve of the real human spine. After that, I had also shortened and sized down the smaller vertebrae as it went up. 

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Next I started to model each vertebrae to it's corresponding one on the human skeleton. During this step I had colored each section of the spine so I could easily identify which vertebrae belonged to which group on the spine.

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After that I created the ribs by extruding small rectangles along more motion paths and mirroring them. I had also added the last of the vertebrae in the neck and modeled them to their corresponding ones on the human spine.

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After that I began to model the Pelvis by modeling one side with the sculpting tools. This had been a very difficult step for me due to the irregular shape of the pelvis. The tool I used most to create the shape was the Grab tool to pull around the major markings of the bone and then smooth or amplify them. 

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Later I added the tailbone by duplicating a vertebrae several times and modeling them to look like the sacrum. After that I combined all of those parts and the pelvis together.

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Next I added the arm bones by creating simple polygons and using the sculpting tools to create the correct shape and bone markings. Once I was done with one complete arm I then simply mirrored it across to the other side of the skeleton.

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After that I fixed the rib cage and added the collar bones and shoulder blades. The shoulder blades were also a tricky part to model because of their irregular shape.

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Later I added the legs bones and adjusted the pelvis. I had created the legs the same way I created the arms by using cylinders as the basic shape.

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Then I added the hand bones. The hands were very simple to make since most of the Metacarpals and Phalanges were very similar in shape. I had mostly just duplicated the same bone over and over again and modeled it to the correct bone in the hand.

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After fixing the legs bones I made the feet bones. The feet had been a little difficult to model since all the Tarsals were separate objects. I got through it relatively quickly though because of the Tarsals had a cube like shape.  

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Once the body was complete I started to work on modeling the skull along with the jaw. Modeling the skull had been another very long and difficult part to make since it has so many holes and small markings. The most difficult part of modeling the skull had mostly been the eye sockets.

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After everything was modeled, I then began editing and making corrections to the model.

Rigging

Once that was done, I started to finally rig the model part by part starting with the legs and going upward from there. For this part I had used a very easy and simple naming method of having the name of the bone and what side it was on by using "_R" or "_L" at the end to determine left and right.

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This was the first basic layout for the skeleton of the skeleton.  After the skeleton was finish, I added IKhandles to the arms and legs.

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Next I created all the controls for the skeleton by constraining curves to the joints.

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After I constrained everything I then started adding custom attributes to certain controls so I would be able to control finger movements, hand toe movements, and the jaw. During this step I was also adding certain constraints to joints in the spine. This was a very tedious part since I had to add limitations to how far each joint could move but I had done this so it would be simpler to control and looked more natural.

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Once I was done with the basic rig I went back and made adjustments and fixed a few problems with the skeleton and IKhandles.

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Finished rig and model

Animating

Once everything was done I simply went on to create a basic walk cycle for the character by manipulating the controls I made.

Conclusion

My original plan for the project had been to create a skeleton with horns holding a prop and walking but I had run out of time to implement those into the animation. Although I didn't do exactly what I had set out to do I was still satisfied that I was able to create and demonstrate the 3 main steps to making a 3D animation with a custom character.

Graphic Design Reflection

What I Learned

I first began my year by having a completely different outlook on Graphic Design; I thought it was more artistic and had less to do with business. Though I didn't learn anything about artistic stuff, I did learn very useful skills from this class. The most important skill I learned would probably be how to work with a client and other professional skills. We didn't do much in groups but I did learn about how important communicating and leading a group is. Another skill I learned was simply all the technical stuff we did with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. With the knowledge I have about using these programs, I'll be able to so much more professional looking work in the future. The last important thing I’ve been taught is document the process for anything I make.

Why It Was Important

All the skills I've been taught in this class won't necessarily help me with my future career but the professional skills I’ve learned from this class will greatly help me with any future career. 

Where I Am With Graphic Design

I’ve come from having a completely different idea of what Graphic Design is to knowing the very basics of what graphical designers do. I would say that this isn’t something I would pursue mainly due to all the rules there are to making something look correct or professional. I did enjoy the class though because it was a creative outlet for me to make things.I would say that my greatest shortcoming in this class would be how I was terrible at documenting my process and managing a portfolio properly. On the other hand, my greatest strength in this class would be how I know how to use lots of the programs we used.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this class isn’t something I would continue but the skills that I’ve been taught will be very useful for the career I wish to pursue in the future.

Animation Reflection

What I Learned

When I first entered this class, I knew almost nothing and I've grown exponentially since then with the many skills I've been taught. Through out the year I learned many things that dealt with managing a portfolio, working in a group, technical knowledge, and communication. The most important thing I l learned this year was over how to manage a project and how to manage a portfolio. I was taught these skills from projects such as our group final, character story, and various other things we did in Maya and After Effects. 

Why It Was Important

All that I've learned from this class will have a huge impact on my future career since I intend to go into the entertainment industry. I want to work on animating shows, movies, games, or whatever I come by and the skills I've been taught in this class have greatly helped me come closer to my goal already. 

Another way this class has been important to me is that it has helped me know where to start and organize a project since I never knew how to before. 

This class is also a way for me to create my ideas and have a way to make them look better. 

Where I Am With Animation

Where I am with animation is that I've become very familiar with the multiple programs we use and wish to start working on more and more complicated projects and even work on more things with groups. The only thing I've fallen behind on is I'm not good with due dates because I always like to add as much detail as possible into my works.

Conclusion

My conclusion for this class would be that it has greatly helped me in achieving my goals for my future career and has gotten me familiar with the many programs I'll be using in the future. I had lots of fun with this class and can't wait to do more with it next year.

Professional Project Review

Professional Project

I had chosen to do a review of the video "Alarm" By Jang Moo Yung

the scope of this animation was to show a story of a salaryman dealing with the many alarms set around his house to keep him awake in the morning.

My Review

I would say this short film was well animated because of how fluid everything seemed and how much detail was put into every little scene. The part where it shines the most would be the secondary motion on many of the objects, specifically the cloth and hair. Another great thing the animators did was have reflective textures on all the surfaces that would reflect light. 

I didn't see too much that was wrong with it besides it having a simplistic style which overall made the animation much more appealing.

Conclusion

A few things I think I'll take from this animation is how well lit the environment was and how there wasn't too much secondary motion with objects.

Final Animation Project

Our Project

For our animation project my group decided to make a Mario like game and have one of us running and jumping around in it. 

The Process

My group first started the project by thinking of multiple ideas for us to use and do. we all brainstormed and eventually decided that we would let Greyson decide what we should do for the project because we narrowed down our ideas to us recreating a Mario game. After this Greyson and Laura began drawing concepts for what the we should create in the animation. They eventually created a few drawings of the enemy Laura fights and other objects we would put in the animation. Next Laura and Greyson created the script and storyboard as well as creating a video of Laura running. After we picked our roles in our project we got to work to finish the animation.

My Role

My role in the project was to make the 3D boss that Laura had to fight and the 3D pixel coin she gets.

While I was animating this I learned that you could parent lights to objects instead of having to animate them completely separately.

Reflection

In conclusion, I would have to say this wasn't the most enjoyable group project I've done because we lacked lots of communication and I often had to lead and help the others. I'd say we should try to communicate more next time so we don't get so lost.

There was one good thing we did well which was all agreeing on ideas and being okay with editing or changing something with our own parts. the lesson I'll take from this project would probably be to communicate a huge amount with your team instead of all working individually on your own parts.  

Individual Project

My Project

My individual project was to create a graphic novel because I had wanted to do something creative and artistic as well as working on skills that dealt with design. Though I never got around to making it, I did learn a lot about how to make one and worked on many of the skills and steps it takes to make it.

Many of the skills that were needed didn't have to deal with artistic ability because they all dealt with the composition and flow of the comic. 

Graphic Novels and Comics

A graphic novel is different from comic book in the way that a comic book's story is told over a long period of time while a graphic novel's story ends in 1 or 2 books.  

typically graphic novels and comics need these very key things to work well and flow

• Text Harmony
• A Color Palette
• Easily Replicable Style
• Story
• Cast of Characters

All of these are important and must harmonize to create the ideal comic or graphic novel.

My Graphic Novel

What I initially had planned for my graphic novel to be would be a short story about what happens to people after they die and have it be titled "The Afterlife". The story took place in a world called "The Afterlife" and it is where all the souls of humans who die go to before their fate is decided. They have a second chance to do anything and that's where my story starts with a teenage boy named Liam Foble. 

The Process

The process I took to make this comic was to first create general ideas about the characters and world. I then created a basic story with a bit of background for each character.

 After that, I began making the script for the comic 

Later I started looking for comic book style fonts that would work well with the style I was attempting to create.

I then moved onto looking at how to have proper comic composition like things such as how a comic should flow from panel to panel and how the style should work with the font and many other things.

Conclusion

I never got to the point of finishing the graphic novel but I learned a lot about what it takes to make one and I would have to say it was really fun to work on this because of the new skills I got from it. I've always loved building ideas and creating worlds so I think this was the perfect project for me even though I never had enough time to work on it.