Maya, Models and Musings

Started work with low poly character modelling today in Maya using one of Sean's model sheets (seeing as we'd be spending the next 8 hours together I named him Claude).

It was nice to finally get started especially as I now have nearly all the components needed for the 2D side of my project. I felt quite prepared as i've been (slowly) working on the Robot model design on Digital Tutors.

I'm definitely by no means an expert but i'm definitely making progress. I think my key goals and learnings at the moment are to make sure i'm sticking to my daily Maya practice and focusing my attentions on character modelling so I can start to feel comfortable and confident with constructing my character.

I want to test out building the head separately as this was one of the difficulties I had during Sean's class. Will hopefully start and have this finished in the next couple of weeks!

Finished up my final model sheet for my character Monáe

Week 7: Turn Left, Turn Front, Turn Back

An update on my 2D project!

Pretty much finalised my character now (keeping her simple) and have been working on my model sheet (front, back, side and 3/4 turn) - which i'm pretty happy with.

Also finished up a few facial expressions and angles for my head model sheet (done on an iPad using Procreate)

This week I also want to throw together my animatic - looking into tutorials for the best way to do this.

Week 6: Storyboards, Space & Sounds

This week is Reading Week, so really wanted to dedicate this time to finishing my character and storyboard for my project!

This may be subject to change, but storyboarding it has at least help me flesh out my ideas and find where my weakness' or difficulties may arise. For instance, although the story is pretty simple, creating the dance sequence will be the most difficult bit, and this all solely dependant on the music, which i'm also working to get sorted out!

But really happy with it over all!

Faces, Textures and Mudbox - Oh My!

I quick update on the rest of this weeks events.

3D Faces
Midweek we were introduced to the 3D Facial Scanner to get our own little heads scanned! We'll be getting our 3D rendered head in a few weeks, will make sure to post it after i've edited a few edges and vertices...I'll probably even have a go at attempting to animate it.

The rig set up to capture facial expressions

Example of a previously rendered head scan

Olly's Facial Expressions

More Maya
I've been playing around with Texturing in Maya and rendering selections to get a quick glimpse of how my model is shaping up. This was really useful ahead of our texturing session with Sean.

Maya and me in my spare time

Assigning a photo texture/design to my plane

Rendering part of my select

Obviously I still have HEAPS to learn - especially when it come to actually animating my scenes, but it feels like i'm picking it up quite quickly and finding my way around the software!

Creating textures and images to Photoshop

Assigning my awesome design to my object

Texturing and Bump Mapping in Maya!

I'm definitely a MASSIVE fan of Mudbox and I think i'll probably be doing most of my texturing / colouring in that especially as it works quite similarly to Photoshop (and I live in Photoshop)

Playing around with texturing!

I actually made something that looks like something!

Maya Update

Been having a little play around with animating sequences, NURBS, groupings and hierarchy's. Here's the finished product - a mini solar system haha.

Exported the video using Playblast instead of Rendering :)

   

Week 5: Spine, Scales, Shaded Modes

Just a quick update!

We were introduced to Spine. It's a pretty neat programme, and it would be great to use if I decide to focus on 2D animation. I had a little go at turning the built in character into Billie Elliott (lol) to get a feel for it and general understanding, and it's DEFINITELY safe to say that it's a hell of a lot easier than Maya (so far) - although I am a fan of Maya's complexities.

It would be great to use it at some point for a mini project and see how I get on with the interface. It would also be good to see if it would be a better programme to use for certain aspects of my animations, than Maya (or other programmes)

SPEAKING OF MAYA, as well as the classes with Sean, i've been playing around with it this week and following some of the tasks from Introducing Maya Auto Desk 2014 (Dariush Derakhshani) such assss, animating a solar system. HA!

Drafts, Developments, Dances: Character Design Update

Just a quick update of my character design for my 2D project.

Heavily inspired by the space theme, an a couple of animations i've seen like Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I've pretty much got the design sorted now so will be looking to work on it in Photoshop this week and start fleshing out my story boards if I go ahead with this for my overall project.

Will also have a play around with modelling her in Maya either this week or during reading week!

Week 4: Stories, Space & Songs

I've been trying to working out my ideas for my area of study and develop the themes and idea's I want to play with... and i've finally come up with a short story that i'll pitch to the class.

Story

An astronaut lands on a planet, she discovers a music box in a cave that starts to play and she dances to it in zero gravity (this will be the main bulk of the animation). It ends with has placing her flag in the planets surface and a 'creature' lurking inside the cave.

Concept panels!

Even if it isn't selected i'd really like to return to it at some point as I think there's A LOT I could learn from this - in terms of movement, rigging and compositing and it could work as either a 2D or 3D animation.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration from specific scenes/shots in tv, films and games as well as music (as per usual).

Moodboard

Follow Bimpe's board Animation Project Moodboard / References on Pinterest.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

One of my favourite animations - this scene in particular focuses on Ariel's movement, and this is something I think can be adapted to a zero-gravity space.

Final Fantasy X (2001)

Absolutely LOVE this scene from this game, and this is definitely the style i'd be looking at for my character's dance sequence - the slow motion sequences in particular

Serenity (2005)

This is more a reference for the transition scenes between the ships in conjunction to each other and then panning out to the wider composition (this would mainly be for my first scenes - when the characters craft lands)

Moon Walking 

General reference for walking on the moon!

For the dance sequence i'm still deciding whether it will be upbeat or a bit more sombre. But here's some of the music/style I had in mind.

Doodles, Drawings & Designs

This weekend i've focused on coming up with ideas and designs for my 2D character. I've been designing my character with a potential background and personality in mind as I find that really helps me to establish what it wouldn't look like / wear, and then try to pluck the things I'd like to keep.

Since my initial idea - which was a space type woman, it's definitely evolved in terms of style, overall design and theme and i've settled on a humanoid robot type character.

I wanted to also get started on creating my character digitally (using Procreate on my iPad) to test colours and brushes so I can start making more final tweaks before I produce my final design in Photoshop.

Comics, Concepts & Character design

The last 2 days have been VERY beneficial and creative for me.

We had Monty Nero come in to talk to us about conceptual art / design and a little bit about his comic and the art of story telling - these are the 2 things that i've been trying to work on (to no avail) so it was great to some information first hand.

These are the key tips i'll be sticking to this year:

• Be accurate and think through (think/work in 3D)
• Think about your characters as functioning people - their background, goals, attitude etc
• Find solutions to the ideas you don't like
• Once you have your final design have fun and redesign it for potential new ideas
• If you're struggling with what your character is like, come up with what they AREN'T like

I've already started to apply these to my personal comic project, and it's helped me to start brainstorming and designing for my 2D and 3D character design project. I'm wanting my design to link into my final project in semester 3 so i'm starting to think of ways for the 2 projects to progress together a potential story. 

So far my strongest ideas are:

• The role of animation in depicting what happens to the body upon hearing music
• The role of animation in depicting movement in space (as in outer space)

I'm going to develop this over the next couple of weeks and the character for this, so hopefully would have decided by the time I submit my contextual review and project proposal.

As music will play a really important in my project i've also started to update my playlist - so far the track i've added really fit the mood and emotion i'm hoping to achieve (as random as they may seem!)