Dan's Blog: May 2012

Over the year on this course i have learnt some new skills and also improved on old ones. each project that i did helped greatly in the process of learning them, one of the first projects that i did was creating a walk cycle and i did this in a couple of different ways, the first time i did it is was quite difficult but has i went on and as practiced doing it, it got easier and the end result looked a lot better by the end compared to when i first started. i liked this as it was simple and quite easy to do but the downside is that drawing each frame by hand takes a lot of time and getting smooth accurate lines each time can be difficult. next the that i did was create a morph, which i essentially drawing a object into another which i had to morph a animal into something that could be related to it. after a few designs and testing flash i i chose to morph a octopus into a sea mine, i was unsure how i would make the morph but after testing some ideas on flash i found one that i thought was quite good. 2d animation is i think the weakest form of animation i can do simply because i can not do it to a great standard but the time consuming of just drawing hundreds of frames takes a lot of patients.

Something that i did enjoy very much was the progression into working with a 3d environment originally it started out just doing some simple Cad lessons showing some of the basics how to use key frames, animate a texture on a plane and also some modelling, such as a hand, ufo and even a wine glass. another modelling thing that was done was tooth paste and not also did you have to model it you had to animate the paste coming out the tube which was the first real animating done entirely in 3d. there were other lessons were we used 2d image that were animated and made backgrounds which were also 2d but we placed them into a 3d environment making 2.5d which is what my next project was creating an animation using 2.5d. first i had to create a basic idea of what would happen in the animation, once i got the idea i had to write a script and create a storyboard which i found very useful as when i previously tried to make small little animations on flash i would just go in blind not knowing what to draw, were to start and so the story board helped when it come to what angle the camera we be at or what sound would go were. After the storyboard and script was complete i had to make an animatic a rough animation to so roughly what to would happen in the scene and give a general idea of what the final product would look like. then the next thing was to create the animation which compiled of creating assets and compelling them into c4d some 3d elements were placed in such as the boulder and the alarm.

During later months we did some small mini projects and activities to diverse the range of media that we used. One thing that we done was direct film, this was a solo/ group project as i and other had to scratch on to film anything so when it was played it would become an animation so we scratched onto our own individual pieces of film then they were scanned in altogether and played back. this was interesting but not the sort of animation i would get into. other group activities that were involved were live action stop motion i did not take part in this but i wish i had because i thoroughly enjoy watching stop motion and i have tried it before and it was great fun to do. another piece of stop motion that we did was a sort silhouette animation which again was a great thing to take part in. but the best and funniest group activity i was in, was a activity that got us using a green screen and working with aftereffects. our group idea involved us sitting in front of a green screen pretending to be in a space ship when a gun is fired and we all die, in aftereffects the green screen was keyed out and replaced with a interior of a space ship that was made in c4d in 3d, and then there was a laser that needed to be fired so that was done in aftereffects also along with an explosion at the end.

the next project was the most fun and more enjoyable of them all because it felt as if i were in a business and i was working to meet a clients specifications so i was not just doing it for me but someone else and this was the e4 project whereby we had to make and e4 sting for e4 and what made it different to other projects it had more specific guidelines such as it had to be 10 seconds long and it could not contain anything that might be considered offensive. this project was probably the best out the of the all other projects in my opinion as i like integrating different medias in one single piece of work, and i did, before we could make the animation we had to come up with ideas develop it and make story board so we could know what was going to go were. in the animation everything was done in 3d but the flames on the side of the building were done in flash in 2d and the movement of the flames looked quite good and with the added sound make it better.

The last project that i did was build rig and animate a 3d character. But before i could do that i had to create character sheets and develop my ideas until i was satisfied with my chosen character then i had to create a character sheet with elevations of the character which would help me, make the character in 3d, and on this character sheet they had to be elevations of the character, different facial expressions, a title and a backs troy of the character. once all that was done the character could be made this was a tough thing to do as it was my first time creating a character from scratch and what difficult was if the elevations of your character were not right it would be wrong, it could easily be fix but i was just time consuming as it happen to me. once you had modelled you had to rig it so it could have joints to move and be able to be animated, this was not so bad but the main problem i and most people had was the foot roll for something so simple as a foot roll it gave so many people trouble. working with 3d is great but if you don't know what you are doing or even make a little mistake the whole thing can go wrong. animating the character was the easy part as we made a random character to rig and animate so we could get used to it beforehand.

as for what i would do next year i do enjoy stop motion so was thinking of doing a animation in that style as i had not experimented with it much in the past year. as i think that one of my strengths could be with stop motion as i am quite interested in it, so that my weakness would be traditional 2d animation i as do not enjoy it as much and i as not as good as i could be while doing it.

Targets

Draw at least one picture per week,
Design and develop and character,
improve illustrator and c4d skills by showing a range of different image and designs

-Summer project-

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

meeting clients specs the e4 project was a good example of this as i had to follow specific guidelines. and designing characters is great as possibilities are endless and you can have fun doing it. plus i have an interest in all elements of animation media and i like working with 3d as it is my strongest of all animation.

Weaknesses

time checking

procrastination

Opportunities

There area a few opportunities to help improve my skills and get used a working environment working with or for a client and the best things i could do as they improve the two skills that i lack in are they are 11 seconds club in which i can use c4d to create an animation and illustrator friday to use to help with line work on characters or elevations.

Threats

time management

lack of skills

SMART targets

Texturing

Lighting

improving c4d and illustrator

proper planning

Timeplan

25/5/12- work one draft ideas for short animation script.

1/6/12- illustrator friday

8/6/12- Design, rig and animate a character in c4d