Joseph's Trip To The Seaside

What have i been up to?

2007-06-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Well, i've managed to complete all of the animation for Joseph! YAY!

Over 3 mins of animation which has worked out very well considering my time constraints.

Ritchie and i will still work on our film adding wonderful music etc. But up until now this is what i have learned and achieved by working on this dream of a film with my buddy Ritchie:

Artist:

Concept drawing of the characters
Model Sheets
Character Sheets
Coloured Character Sheets
Filmic Language (Thank you Mike Hirsh!)
2D Animatic

Technical:

Rigging - Adjusting joints and bones on Ritchies rig making the movement of the character more manageable and realistic, also adding more controls/handles so customising the rig to my preferences.
I learnt how to create set driven keys allowing me to create easy to use finger controls, i also adapted my set driven keys by using the different blend shapes for Josephs face and creating whole expressions by moving all of his features: eyebrows, eye shape and size, mouth brow and cheeks then creating a set driven key allowing for easy expression animation.
I learned a great deal about clusters. I created a model of the boy that was able to move well using cluster as apposed to painting the weights which we didnt actually use as weight painting seemed a far more successful way of manipulating Josephs mesh.
So, i weight painted Joseph from head to toe learning a huge amount an the way.
I also learnt how to do a jiggle effect that i ended up hating. We almost had jiggle on Josephs big hair.... it was horrible!
I have also been doing a lot of compositing, using after effects and premiere to create and edit my animatic (1&2) and the blockout. I learned how to add effects to the frames and also animate mildly on there (condensation on window in Train Scene).
I have also learned how to use the graph editor and many other technical functions on Maya that allow me to animate well and also quickly.

Animator MY MAJOR!... WOO!

I have animated around 3 minutes for the film, all of Joseph. I have improved very much since the beginning and have taught myself many things including a good animating work flow, technical things like the graph editors curves and tangents etc and for me, most importantly, i have improved greatly at giving the illusion of weight, fluid movement and adding character to a piece of animation!
I have done a lot of character animation for Joseph and also all of the short animated parts in the Blockout. I have also animated props like doors, binoculars, suitcases etc in the film.

This almost finished beauty of a film was a great team effort by Ritchie (Director and working machine) and myself (... assistant :-) ) and i never want it to end. Hope you enjoy the finished film at the degree show and i hope you like what you see in my 3 folders - Animator being my Major. I suggest Watching the development i went through from storyboard through to animatic 1 then 2, and then the blockout - this way you will familiarise yourself with the story and you'll be able to see and understand what is happening in my playblasted animations for the final film.

night for now

Harddrive not so hard!

2007-06-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

My external harddrive took a minor fall and decided to not work anymore.

It makes a relaxing scraping noise now...

i lost a day and a nights worth of work... oh well. Going to re do what i lost on thursday.

I managed to get 4 shots done today, about 18 seconds worth, so not feeling too bad about losing my work.

My animation work flow has changed several times since the beginning of this production. I have now found a way (no doubt it'll change again soon) to animate that suits my style.

I have forgot about the stepped keys and all that business, now i do a very basic smooth blocked out pass and then with each pass after that i improve one area in chunks until it's all done.

This suits me, i can keep good timing but also have a smooth flow and create spontanious magic (rarely). My animation seemed slightly mechanical early on blocking out using stepped keys, but now it feels more fluid and organic thanks to my new way of working... yawn, how uninteresting, sorry.

Done about 2 mins worth now, it's coming along. I'll have all the parts for Joseph finished by monday, then i have until wed to add other bits the it's render city for us!

another early start tomorrow, night

Counting the seconds

2007-06-02T13:40:00.002-07:00

so far i've managed to animate about a minutes worth!

WOO!... i need to speed up though, i've been working day and night (literally all night!) to do these scenes and need to do much more!

AHH!

As i said i wont be posting much animation because id ont want to ruin the final film!

More animation tests

2007-06-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this test because in the actual film you wont see it much.

The first part will be blurred as the robots in the foreground will be the main attention, then when he stops doing his silly robot walk you'll see joseph except with the robots also doing things in the foreground so the focus will not be on him.

Joseph finishes his silly robot walk thinking the robots that were laughing at him (not in scene yet) are still laughing but really they've noticed some thing out of the window. Joseph doesnt notice at first but then see's what they see... The pylon!

See the blockout (part two) for what happens.

Here is another example of Joseph pretending to be something else, here he does a zombie walk

Working on an EARLY showreel

2007-05-31T16:53:00.001-07:00

Another test animation shot

2007-05-31T16:09:00.001-07:00

This is Joseph walking to the train window on the seat to look out. He notices something and wants a closer look.

The next shot is him jumping off chair, then walking up to the main window and looking closer.

Remember, these are rough tests!

ENJOY

Clip of Joseph

2007-05-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is joseph asking what the robots are doing, kind of saying "what are you doing? we dont have time for this, we have to go!"

hmmm, well maybe.

Here si Joseph looking where he can put his robots down. I was happy with knitwits floppy arms.... like woody!

What have i been doing?

2007-05-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well, i've been animating my eyes out!

I've managed to do a healthy 50 seconds now.

I'll post a few VERY short and rough and NOT the best clips on here so you can see some progress but otherwise, so i dont ruin the final film, i'll keep you waiting.

As for my three folders for the film grading thingy, i'll be organising that soon also.

I have plenty of pre production stuff, drawing, storyboards etc
Some technical bits, weight painting and blockout
Animation, which will be my main folder
then after i will compostite the film in after effects adding fun filters and blurs and camera shakes.

Lots to do and not much time to be on this blog.

Will post some animation clips soon.

Bad skipping boy

2007-05-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

Here is my first UNFINISHED attempt at a skip.

YES, i am aware of all of its faults but i'm leaving it up here as development work.

Unfinished Test walk (New settings for boy)

2007-05-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

I changed the parenting settings on the boy. i unparented the feet from the main controller (arrows on floor moving whole boy around). This allows me to move him anywhere in my scene without his feet moving from their positions. Before, all of Joseph would move leaving me to re place is feet in the same position everytime!

Here is an unfinished simple walk (hands in a carrying position so they're not straight out by his sides) to test my above aforementioned changes:

I think I may be ready to animate for the final film now.

Blockout (in three parts)

2007-05-09T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the blockout for 'Joseph's Trip To The Seaside'

It is split into three parts

2007-05-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

2007-05-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Eyebrows

2007-05-09T01:50:00.000-07:00

I created some set driven keys for the eyebrows so i can also control them independently from the face.

Above shows two extremes for the eyebrows

Facial expressions

2007-05-09T01:44:00.002-07:00

I made whole facial expressions using set driven keys.

I used the blend shapes of the face, i moved the eyebrows and i also changed the eyes to create whole emotions with just one slide of the bar

Here are a few snapshots of some of the whole facial expressions

Happy:

Sad:

Scared:

Confused:

Content.... ha!

Driven mad by set driven keys

2007-05-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

hahahaha, i'm so funny... and intelligent.

i decided to make whole poses using set driven keys to make my life animating as easy as possible... i made many different poses, tried to animate using them and failed.

It turns out, you cannot key controller handle things if they have set driven keys attached to them!! AHHHH, so worked for hours for nothing, still, it's all learning!

ready, set... driven keys!

2007-05-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

hahaha, anyway.

yes, i have been creating set driven keys for joseph. I began with the hands. i made a controller (drawn by hand), then made the set driven keys for each finger and thumb and one to spread them all.

Here is the hand in a cool pointing pose!

Blockout update

2007-05-05T04:44:00.000-07:00

my block out is too big to post, so i'll take it into college and split it up into 3 parts so i can post them all

Test run cycle

2007-05-05T04:39:00.000-07:00

here is a quick test run cycle. I did this with help from the graph editor.

yes believe it or not, this is the first time in 3 years of animating i have used it. I have been teaching myself how to use it.

I have been looking at tutorials on the internet and also using my maya 7 book.

test walk with my complete finished Joseph model

2007-05-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

here is Joseph completely ready to animate.

i quick walk test

Camp pose

2007-05-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

Camp pose to test newly weighted model

Testing new model weights

2007-05-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

I have been testing my updated weighted model of Joseph.

i have done another short walk and also a camp pose. The weights, now, seem to be just fine and he is looking really good.

I will try and post these videos, plus the blockout.

Today, i may add a (can't remember what it is called) shape holding thingy. I will try to put a sphere on the boys tummy so when he bends over it maintains his chubby physique. then i may add a very very mild jiggle to it and maybe his hair also. we shall see. I will try to post any videos as soon as someone shows me how to put large files on here, all compressed etc?

Blockout

2007-05-02T03:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished the blockout for the film.

worked solidly on it until today. Now i must find a way to put it on here!

Mike Hirsh helped a lot with cutting down shots, so thank you Mike. Also dan was always at hand to wake me at the keyboard and give me help.

I am currently waiting for a new Joseph to be rigged and weighted in a different way so i can finally begin test animating with a character we'll actually use!

I'll have the blockout on here as soon as someone shows me how (it's a large file)

Photos for blend shape reference

2007-04-17T02:02:00.003-07:00

Here are some photos i have taken of my face.

ENJOY!

I have looked through the animatic and have taken photos of all the faces the boy pulls throughout the film.

I will choose the best ten or so and draw Joseph pulling those faces, then send them to Matt Beale to model.

Blend shape face pulling

2007-04-17T02:02:00.001-07:00

Me pulling faces

2007-04-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

What am i doing?

2007-04-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

I have looked at the animatic and have taken photos of myself showing the different expressions the boy has.

i am currently drawing out facial expressions for the boy to give to Matt Beale so he can model the different heads for blend shapes.

Basic untimed animatic

2007-04-17T01:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the animatic we will use as reference to the camera shots and scenes. Once completing the blockout, scenes will be edited down and timing will be added.

Simple (Crap) unfinished walkcycle

2007-04-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a very quick walkcycle only testing the controls of the model and also how the weigting reacts to animating:

BLACKNESS>>>> AHHHHHH!

Arm Weighted

2007-04-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

Here shows the extremes of the boys arms

again, excuse the black areas!?

Weighting complete

2007-04-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

After a long journey, i have finished weighting the boy. I had to stop where i felt i couldn't improve anymore. I think the weighting could be better but this is the best i could do with the time i have.

This is showing the extremes of his legs:

Please excuse the strange black areas??! - it wont go!

In a fluster, using clusters.... ha... idiot

2007-03-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with clusters and lattices on the sleeves. When the arm bends, the arm goes into the sleeve. I have (with the help of good old Alex) added a cluster controller to the rolled up sleeve that moves it up slightly to make it appear that the arm is deforming it itself.

Sleeve down - Sleeve up -

I will also add the same controls to the shorts after i finish weighting him completely.

Weighting, waiting and more weighting

2007-03-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Soooooo, weighting the boy is really hard work.

After weighting him many times, once more i have finally come to a small breakthrough!

He's not completely done but almost. I cant mirror the weights as each time they have ruined everything, each joint has been done manually.

I still need to do the right arm and all of the fingers

Too much time

2007-03-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

After weighting Joesph using Lattices etc (Very basically) I decided that it takes too much time and i have a better chance with paint weighting (I knew more about it).

I scrapped the Lattice/Flexors approach and started on the weight painting again, now with more confidence.

Alternate weighting techniques

2007-03-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

After struggling with the weighting of Joseph i decided to look into lattice weighting. I have complete control over each vertices, adding and removing weight numerically.

each joint only affects the one next to it.

It's much like painting the weights on except it takes longer and it can look more like stop motion, not all bendy. Each lattice controls the deformation of the area it surrounds.

Being in control

2007-03-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

I also added more controls to the spine of Joseph. This way i can be more precise in some of his movements while animating.

We can switch between IK and FK

Losing weight

2007-03-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

After weighting Joseph many times I realised that it would work better and would be easier if joseph lost weight.... ha ha. I made him slimmer in the body and also on his thighs, so moving his legs wouldnt cut into the body too much.

Front -

Side -

Them bones, them bones, them dry bones

2007-03-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

To help with the weighting and general movement of Joseph, we had to move the joints in certain areas.

I moved the hip joints down and more forward:

Old placement of hip joints -

New placement of hip joints -
Also the joints in the arms have been altered. The elbow joint is closer to the front for a better fold in the skin after weighting. The shoulders have also been pushed down and forward slightly.

Front view of upper skeleton -

Hopefully this should make things easier when it comes to weight painting!

updated test animations

2007-02-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

I have added more to the test playblast below. I hoped to try and represent how Joseph might move and act.

I am currently weighting Joseph.... What a struggle. I am working through some lessons in the Maya 7 book to help me and am pleased to have read about the 'jiggle' weighting tool. After weighting Joseph PROPERLY i will add jiggle to his hair... fingers crossed!

Oh yea, i also have the flu, which is great. Currently sweating and shivering while trying to work. I'm pilled up though, thanks to my doctor so all is cool... Too Cool... sooo cold!

Animation test Playblast

2007-02-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

After a long while without animating the time has finally come to practice again.

I'm using a downloaded character from the internet for now, until Joseph has been rigged and weighted.

Here is what Joseph may act like. Quick movements, jumpy and excited. Ignore facial expression! - havent worked out how to change that on this model yet.

Character shots of Knitwit

2007-02-01T01:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some character sheets of Knitwit:

Joseph Character Sheets

2007-01-31T07:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some character sheets for Joseph:

Initial sketches of facial expressions

2007-01-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some sketches of facial expressions for joseph before drawing the character sheets.

Below i was trying to scan each new storyboard shot, but it wouldnt let me, unfortunately thats as far as i got, will try again soon!

Finished animatic including new shots is too large to post, will render a tiny low quality one and try that!

Watch this space for those, and also new character sheets.

For now, i must work on my dissertation!

41-42

2007-01-23T02:48:00.000-08:00

Updated storyboard 1-2 [NOTES]

2007-01-23T02:24:00.000-08:00

These are the notes taken for the updated scenes in the storyboard.

I have considered more camera angles and more cuts to make to pace of the film faster and hopefully this will hold the viewers attention without them getting bored.

Updated storyboard 3-4

2007-01-23T02:23:00.000-08:00

Updated storyboard 5-6

2007-01-23T02:22:00.000-08:00

Updated storyboard notes 7

2007-01-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

Draft/Test animatic

2007-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas break over, dissertation not over!.. back to the wonderful film!

This is the 1st draft animatic i did using After Effects.

My first time in using After Effects, so struggled initially but soon grasped some basic moves!

Currently working on adding camera angles to the draft. I am also adding more drawings, and working on the timing. The ending will make more sense also. I will post the update very soon!

Music will follow, myself and Ritchie hope do make our own musical score using nice old instruments!!

ok, so, just tried to upload my animatic but turns out it has to be no more than 100MB..... so i will try to compress it or whatever i need to do to be able to put it on here, bare with me!

Animatic

2006-11-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Currently working on my animatic.

I am drawing out the characters again except cutting out the arms, legs and head and drawing underneath. That way when doing the animatic i can move them just like a captain pugwash cartoon.

I will also draw a 3/4 view of the characters allowing me to be able to move all around, if a little crude.

I will post the images very soon!

1 - 8

2006-11-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Just finished our rough version of the Storyboard.

i think tomorrow Ritchie and I will pin up the drawings and go over how the story flows, addinig and removing parts and generally making it better!

Also i think i will ask Jim for some advice on camera angles. So far the storyboard camera angles are quite tame. This can all be changed once in Maya with a 3D camera to play with, but early planning is always good, knowing exactly how the film will turn out.

I will also draw more frames to the storyboard making our animatic flow more smoothly and have a more animated feel.

Here is my rough storyboard:

9 - 28

2006-11-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

29 - 48

2006-11-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

49 - 68

2006-11-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

Knitwit Model Sheet

2006-11-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished model sheet for Knitwit:

I am currently working on the model sheet for 'Red Oxide' aka 'Fred'. I haven't completed his legs yet as I need Ritchie to give me the go ahead on the new design.

The original colour concepts i did (further down) will stay.

How do they look together?

2006-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

This is how the characters look together:

Do they compliment each other... i think they do!

Updated Joseph profile

2006-11-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

HOORAY!

Joseph's profile no longer looks like a weird oriental alien!

I may still work on this one... i'll see how Ritchie likes it. I moved his jaw inwards and gave him more of a button nose. I also fattened him up quite a bit!

Joseph Model Sheet

2006-11-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Joseph's Model Sheet:

I have drawn Joseph's model sheet. His profile was the hardest one! I have drawn so many and they all look rather odd.... the one above is the best one, i think it's good, if a little oriental?!

I struggled keeping his cute chubby cheeks but hopefully this will act as a good guide for Matt to use when modelling him.

I have purposely drawn the rolled part of his sleeve and the bottoms of his shorts so they end on the joints. This way when rigging and weighting him, the difficult joint areas will be easier to tackle and when animated the clothing will hide the joints moving; making the bends appear perfect (if they aren't already!).

Updated 'Fred' (Red Oxide)

2006-11-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

After listening to Ritchie's insults, i changed 'Red Oxide'.

Firstly his head is square and i have removed the weird metal things that held his head in one place??!

His arms are now bigger and most importantly, can move more freely! Before his arms were restricted by his torso, but now i have included to ball and socket joints giving complete freedom of movement. I also chopped off the offending 'should pad' allowing Freds arm to move upwards.

Red Oxide's Hands are also bigger and thicker. I have added and extra ball joint on his wrist allowing complete movement on his hand. In the final model his hands will be able to grip.

His chest plate is now free from the rest of his torso allowing fred to be able to bend down midway down his body. Now Fred can have three joints up his spine.

And finally! I have removed his "Gay Meteller Boots" (Quote Ritchie) and replaced them with thicker legs and almost wind up toy like feet...

Fred may still change, i will be running this picture by Ritchie, hopefully it is closer to his original dream.....

Planning my work

2006-11-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

My internet has been down for a while! We all love NTL sooo much!

i'm back now, so, what have i been doing?

Well, had a meeting with dan, going to try and make a small 'to do list' at the beginning of each week. That way, i have a clear path in what i have to do.

Will post the updated character designs soon, and as instructed by dan, i will explain all about them, how they will move and the reason for making them the way they are etc...

Today Ritchie and I worked on the storyboard. Half way through! will post them too, once i get them off him!

Going to work on finishing all character sheets for the end of the week then finish a complete storyboard at the end of next week, will post some drawings etc tomorrow, no scanning for me tonight.

Dan is talking to me

2006-10-30T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hello Dan,

you are talking to me now.

I had a great time at the party thank you... you should have come!

anyhoops, look at my drawings

Change of design

2006-10-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

Had a meeting with the group today.... well Ritchie.

Decided to change Red Oxide. Going to give him different shoulders, better joints - double ball and socket!!

Same goes for the legs. I will also change his 'cool' metal boots to a more classice tiny toy approach. Metal pole legs, with huge flat feet that overlap one another, this'll make him walk more like a wind up toy.

Also his head will be square in shape.

I'm in the process of drawing him, again! will post the new improved 'Red Oxide' soon!

Scale of characters

2006-10-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dont know exactly how tall each character will be in comparison with each other.

Here's a guess:

Red Oxide

2006-10-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just finished my last character design.

Red oxide, he is a tin robot toy.

Currently i am working on the profiles of all
of the characters to give Matt a better idea
of what they may look like in 3D.

Colours are subject to change, but the
red stays on this one!

I think tomorrow myself, ritchie and jim may
sit and plan and draw out a draft storyboard.

We already have a script which we will
teek while drawing up the storyboard.

i will also complete these character sheets
fully and hand the, all over to Matt to get
cracking on the 3D Models in Maya!

Anyhoo, back to drawing.....

SHIT! I also have about a million essays to do too! GREAT!

Character Designs

2006-10-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

Been adapting Ritchies ideas for the characters.

I've drawn them in black and white then scanned them
and coloured the scanned image using coloured pencils.
This way i have the original Black and white one to
mess with, changing colours etc.

Joseph:

(Young 6yr old boy)

Knitwit:

(Knitted robot doll)

I still have another robot to do, also i will post
the profile views of the characters.

These will then become character sheets
for Matt to model!

Whoopee! 3rd Year!

2006-10-23T13:51:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my amazingly interesting 3rd year journal!

Currently drawing up the character sheets... need to scan and post them.

Ritchie designed them, and i drew them, giving expression and poses etc...

Joseph - young boy
Knitwit - Robot toy
Robot B (undecided name) - Robot toy

i will give these to Matt, our master modeller, so her can masterfully model them in maya.

Will keep you posted on these scans.

I'm animating on Jims film so no work on that project just yet.