This animation showcases my journey with 3D animation and the software Autodesk Maya. All work showcased here was for an assignment in late 2023.
Silhouette Poses
Concerned Silhouette Pose
The concerned silhouette pose shows our model with her left hand up by her head and her right hand kept close to her chest. The model is positioned in the direct center of the frame with the camera facing down on her. This use of staging allows for us to see that the model is frightened and makes her feel small.
"Your goal should be that you can tell what your character is doing just by the silhouette" - Ferdinand Engländer
As seen in figure 1.2 a strong line of action is maintained throughout the whole pose. With the assistance of squash and stretch this concerned pose becomes easily readable and allows views to understand the emotion and intent behind the pose.
Devastated Silhouette Pose
The most important part in posing a devastated model is that viewers must instantly be able to read the model and be able to easily understand that something terrible has happened and what their seeing is the aftermath of it. Figure 1.3 captures the model on her hands and knees ready to curl up into a ball and forget the just witnessed travesty.
The posing of this model is up close but captured on an even level. This perspective was chosen to make the model feel like the world is closing in on her. When a model is staged with intent it enhances the appeal of the pose. When the camera is positioned side-on to the model it shows vulnrablility in the model. This model also features a strong line of action as seen in figure 1.4.
Excited Silhouette Pose
Incorporating apeal, staging and balance into an excited silhoutte pose was easy because there are many reasons for an excited pose. In figure 1.5 we see that the model is jumping with his hands up in the air as if we can hear him about to shout "We bought a Jeep!". Another important aspect of this pose is it's staging and the camera position. We can see that the model is facing directly towards the camera. This shows confidence in the model unlike a side-on view which can be seen as a vulnrable pose.
As seen in figure 1.6 this excited pose is very apprealing becuase of it's strong line of action alongside incorporating squash and stretch.
Character Head Turn and Blink
Character Blink
The blink exercise made use of slow in and slow out to create a sense of life within the animation. The process of creating the blink animation started with blocking a few keyframes and then really getting the timing of the eyelids to be perfect. The blink itself takes 4 frames although, in those 4 frames the model exhibits slow in, slow out, squash, and stretch.
Character Head Turn
The head turn excises consisted of changing the timing of keyframes to create a believable head turn motion. Once I had the timing of the head turn down, I then worked on the eyes which move first before the head and the body. The next step I took was to use all of the face mechanics meaning that the eyebrows were positioned so that the characters thoughts are more visual, eyelids followed the stretch and squish of the eyebrows and that the body turned alongside the head.
The pose-to-pose method was used during the blocking phase of the head turn exercise. The reason I chose pose-to-pose animating over straightforward animation is because I had a vision for what I wanted the animation to look like so by starting by blocking with keyframes it allowed me to get a rough idea of if my animation was something worth working on.
Pendulum Swing
The pendulum swing displays drag and follow through, overlapping action, slow in and slow out. Through these methods the pendulum can swing naturally, and the animation becomes more believable. Overlapping action is displayed through the motion of the pendulum swinging because it follows the movement of the top circle instead of instantly moving with it. When the top circle stop moving the pendulum exhibits drag and follow through by overshooting to the opposite side of the moving top circle. Finally, slow in and slow out was incorporated into the end of the animation when the top circle has fully stopped but the pendulum still swings back and forth for a couple of frames before coming to a complete stop.Ultimate Pendulum Swing
Advanced Pendulum Swing
Animating the ultimate pendulum swing with a chain was something I found to be fairly easy despite my lack of familiarity with 3D animation. This exercise further demonstrates timing and spacing and how it can be used to give weight to objects. This can be seen when the pendulum stops and starts moving in the opposite direction the chain follows through because it still has all of it’s momentum. The spacing of these frames show how the chain will quickly swing from one side to the other in a few frames but will take more frames to swing back and forth when the pendulum stops.
Movement Cycles
The walk and run cycle exercise demonstrates a lot of the 12 principles of animation. Personally, I feel as if Appeal is the most important principle for both a run and walk. This is because an appealing character will show personality through their walk and run. To better detail the walk and run cycle I incorporated overlapping action into the limbs to give the character a more natural feel. During the run cycle the arms will heavily swing back and forth because the character is constantly shifting it’s weight.
Walk Cycle
Run Cycle
Jump the Gap
The jump the gap exercise was really a combination of all techniques learned throughout the semester. The most important technique for this animation is timing and spacing. These two techniques are vital to a believable animation because the character is actively being moved by many forces at once. If one force is not accounted for the animation will look floaty and unrealistic.
By using a video reference I was able to better understand the timing of a jump.
Unit Reflection and Video Essay
Learning how to animate characters throughout the semester has been a really fun and new experience. At first, I needed time to learn the software but as soon as I got the hang of it I felt confident in posing my characters to give them personality.
When I started animating, I then learned about keyframes, timing and much more. Slowly, throughout the semester, I became comfortable with my animating skills especially with humanoid characters. I found that the hardest part of animation is finding the time to refine and further develop the animations.
In the future I am hoping that I can use my skills learnt from this class to improve any 3D games. I’m hoping that I will be able to make short animations, such as a sword swing, and then be able to import that into my own games as original animations. This would allow me to fine tune the intricate design details of my future game projects.