Hungry Eyes Animation

I find the best way to improve on anything is to try new things. This is why I set myself a challenge. Going through animationbuffet.com looking for free rigs to download, I came across this really simple rig; a pair of cartoon eyes (and accompanying eyebrows). I immediately starting coming up with performances this guy could do and thought about what if the eyes were the character (not just part of a character). I strongly believe in the saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul and using this as a starting point, I began thinking of what this particular pair of eyes could be thinking …

First I came up with a quick model sheet to test out poses and the accompanying emotions

I then decided to use several emotions in my animation - going from tired to surprised, and then being  sneaky and finally to greed. Next I needed a prop or some other indication to back up the emotions above. I thought about having a cake next to the pair of eyes. I decided to draw some concepts before I started modelling a simple cake model ...

Cupcake model in wireframe mode

Cupcake model with simple textures applied (Lamberts and Blinns)

Animation WIP after an hour of getting used to the rig and putting him in key poses

Screenshot in Maya of the Hungry Eyes scene set up

I think this animation is going well and am really enjoying it. I will continue this at a later date and start something new for my reel as I am happy with the animation I have done for this piece.  

Norman Sneak Animation

From looking at animation reels online, I started to feel like there was only one way to make an animation demo reel i.e. title card with the person’s name, contact details etc. After looking through demo reels online and imagining how an employer would see the reels that come in piles at a time, I started to become bored and felt none of the reels I were looking at grabbed my attention straight away. This is why I've decided to start my demo reel a little differently.

I am going straight into animation with a sneak cycle using a Norman rig. I've decided to use Norman since I'm really confident with the rig and know his restrictions and what he can and can't do. I decided to start with a sneak cycle because I want the audience to be engrossed in the reel as soon as they see Norman sneaking in on screen.

I got inspiration for this from one of The Pink Panther cartoons, "Pink Pyjamas" by Blake Edwards which was released in 1964. In this particular episode we see our favourite pink feline sneaking into a house for the night whilst hiding from the owner. One thing that drew me to these cartoons when I were younger was how the music worked really well with what was going on screen, it was almost as though the music was created specifically for that cartoon ...

The Pink Panther - "Pink Pyjamas" - DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, 1964

I started off with a quick storyboard to get an idea of how it will play out ...

Rough Storyboard

After deciding how it will play out, I then started recording reference videos of ,myself performing different sneaks, taking note of how I control my arms and hands. Next I used the Animator's Survival Kit to get a rough idea of how to animate a sneak cycle, especially the legs and hips.

Contact position

Passing position

Blocked animation

When I had finished blocking the animation, I then tweaked the camera so it didn't move so much when Norman hits the words and then I polished the animation even more

Screenshot in Maya showing the Norman Sneak scene set up

Changing the colours of Norman to look like a cat-burglar

Introduction To Motion Capture

Today we got given the chance to take a look at the motion capture suite in the Universities' Sports and Science's department. It was really exciting to actually see a motion capture suite and get a further insight into what it can do. Although we were shown the equipment and the uses that the department has it for, I saw the potential it had for 3D animation in our course. With 3D animation being my specialism, I took great interest in seeing how this fantastic tool is used. Motion capture suites can be used to capture data for the military, medical and sports as well as the entertainment industries.

Case Study: Andy Serkis ...

Serkis makes his living through acting with motion cap. Although best known for his portrayal of Gollum in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Kong in Jackson's remake of King Kong, he has done the motion capture for chimpanzee Caesar in Rupert Wyatt's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of TinTin" films.

Peter Jackson's 2003 "The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King" Gollum Performance  

Bringing Gollum to Life - Mini Documentary

How Motion Capture Works ...

An actor is suited up in clothing with tiny polystyrene balls attached to all the major points of the body. These contain reflective markers which are captured by infra-red cameras. The cameras are set up in a large circle around the actor(s) which record the movements. The more markers that are used, the more data is captured although this depends on what the data will be used for, and how much money the studio can use for the motion capture data.

An example of the motion capture suits ...

Even props can be used but these will have to be composited in with the animation later ...

An example of a motion capture studio ...

Advantages ...

- Close to real life results can be obtained from motion capture data which significantly reduces the cost and money spent on animators' although this is bad as it replaces peoples' jobs in the industry

- Once all the equipment is set up, many takes of the same performance can be done until the director is happy with the data captured

- The amount of data captured and the time saved in key framing the same animation contributes towards making production deadlines easier

and Disadvantages ...

- The specific hardware and specialist software is extremely expensive

- Setting up the equipment so there is no chance of magnetic interference and reducing the chances of the tiniest of mistakes takes a very long time 

- Most of today's motion capture equipment will only allow the data to be recorded and then watched by the crew (then decided whether to re-shoot it or not) which extends time recording data before it is pushed along the production pipeline. Only a few systems allow real time viewing alongside recording the data. It is easier to re-shoot rather than manipulate the data for animation later.

- Motion capture can only be used for realistic animation, which is perfect for live action and video games but for film and games that require more exaggerated and stylised animation, it is not so useful e.g. emphasises on anticipation, follow through, secondary action and even manipulating the shape of the character through squash and stretch must be added later

- Mesh intersections will occur if the computer model have different proportions from the motion capture actor e.g. if the model has exaggerated hands in size, when it comes to viewing the model that's been combined with the motion capture data the hands will intersect other parts of the bodies' mesh

"Once Upon A Time In Leningrad" Animation Update

Restarting my demo reel has meant I’ve had to cut down on other areas that will affect my own work. I talked to Ed about my predicament and told him I wouldn’t be able to animate all the shots that he gave me to do. Ed understood what I told him and we came to an agreement about the amount of shots I will animate for him. I am now animating 6 shots instead of the original 24. Although this doesn’t seem much, Ed really appreciates my help and input into his film.

I will post an update in about a week with how I am getting on with the work.

Here's a very quick walk cycle I did with the rig to test him out:

Once Upon A Time In Leningrad Production Plan showing my given shots (17 to 22)

Full 3D animatic

(My six shots take place between 1:03 to 1:16)

Recording Reference Videos for Animation

I've recently discovered that recording reference videos really helps with animating a character. Usually I'm not confident enough to perform in front of a camera but after performing the actions a few times, I did get into it and I found it’s actually pretty fun. 

After taking around ten different videos, I then go through each of them and decide which one conveys the performance best.

Unfortunately I didn't have my DSLR at hand to record the videos in high quality so I had to use the camera on my phone. Although not the best in quality, I did manage to capture the performance pretty well.

When it comes to animating, I will first use Adobe Premiere to scrub through each of the videos and analyse each frame before deciding which ones I can use as the starting point for key frames. After this is done, I will then start animating.

Demo Reel Animations - Ideas, Inspirations and References

I've been mulling a lot of ideas around my head these past few days. Here's a run down of what I am going to include in my demo reel:

A Norman Sneak - I think a demo reel should catch the audience's attention straight away so I want to start my reel with something that does just that. I think having a character sneaking onto the screen is eye catching because you want to know why they are doing that and where they're going. I've decided to use a Norman rig for this part of my demo reel because I'm really confident with his controls and know his constraints very well. I got the idea for a sneaking animation from one of my childhood favourites - The Pink Panther cartoons. Here's the episode I found particularly inspiring ...

The Pink Panther - "Pink Pyjamas" - DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, 1964

A Dinosaur catching a U.F.O in mid air - Animations that are a little different to what we expect certain characters and creatures to perform is something I find particularly interesting. Things that are borderline strange but intriguing is an area I wish to explore during this term. I began thinking about two characters or objects that have nothing in common and thought about bringing them together in the same scene. When I was searching for free rigs to download for my demo reel yesterday, I found a fully modelled and rigged T - Rex skeleton. Exploring ideas and concepts for objects or other characters that this terrifying and powerful creature could interact with was difficult to start off with since there is endless possibilities! I turned to video games as a source of inspiration because I find them to be a goldmine when it comes to inspiration. I didn't have to look far when I remembered a very old childhood classic - War of the Monsters. A masterpiece of gaming, it explored the idea of monsters tearing our world apart and battling each other in the process. The cheesy sci-fi movie motif that came with the game play sparked my imagination to get my T - Rex to interact with something not from his world -  but from the future ... a U.F.O! Here's a link to a game play sample ...

 War of the Monsters Gameplay Sample

I also find cheesy sci-fi horror movie posters really inspiring. Here's two examples of what sparked the idea ...

A ball bouncing around the screen - I want to include some animation pieces that are quick yet give a lot off. This is when I thought about concentrating on a select few of the principles of animation. I began finding a rig that was simple enough so I could do just that. That's when I found the fox ball rig - a simple ball with a tail that's textured to look like a cat toy based around on the colours of a common fox. The main feature of the rig that attracted me to it so much was the tail and thinking of how I would make it fluid enough to make it look almost alive, and not a toy. I then remembered one of my favourite Disney films, Bolt, and the first scene when Penny first meets Bolt in a pet shop. The realism of the animation of the dog really amazed me and ever since then ...

 Disney's 2008 "Bolt" Opening Scene

A pair of floating eyes noticing a delicious cake - Although I'm a fan of semi-realistic animation, I love snappy and over exaggerated stuff too. This is why I have chosen a challenge where I have only the eyes to animate and nothing else. The challenge is to make all the characteristics shine through just two eyes. Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Races series really inspired me to look into over-exaggerated animations, especially the snappy style it adopted ...

Wacky Races Intro

A robot performing Shakespeare - I'm interested in animating a rig perform a Shakespeare quote because I think the poses and movements that come with performing Shakespeare in plays is unique and is different to what I usually animate. I got the idea from "Blackadder Back & Forth", in particular one of the scenes set in the Elizabethan era ...

Paul Weiland's 1999 "Blackadder Back & Forth"

A robot climbing a huge staircase and reaching his prize - One of the greatest sources of inspiration for animation performances can come from films. One of my all time favourite films is the Indiana Jones' films. I got the idea for this piece of animation from the Raiders of the Lost Ark film. I like the concept of searching for something and finally reaching it, and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with it. This is what I want to achieve in this piece of animation ...

Steven Spielberg's 1981 "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" Golden Idol Scene

I was also heavily inspired by the London 2012 Olympics last year, especially the country wide support for our team and the pride that followed it ...

Animation Demo Reel - Project Proposal

Project Proposal:

My Career Goals:

After University I plan to start my employment by either freelancing and then move onto employment within a film studio or going into an intern ship. This is how I wish to start my employment but my ultimate goal, and dream, is to become a character animator for a large animation studio overseas such as Pixar or Dreamworks.

I really believe in myself to build and improve my skill set enough to be noticed and employed by a competitive studio in the future, although I'm not sure when or if it’ll happen, it is my ultimate fantasy to work for Pixar and I am determined to reach it. I find their work beyond incredible, the worlds and characters they create are gorgeous and the stories are engaging and emotional. I'm really passionate about their ethos and strongly believe I have what it takes to work for them and produce amazing  pieces of art for future generations to enjoy, much like how the work of Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. have done for me.

Skills:

To stand a chance at becoming employed in the future, I have to improve my skills in animation in both 3D computer graphics software and 2D. I also want to improve my character and layout conceptualisation throughout this project and hopefully begin to produce my own design style, especially for characters.

Demo Reel Proposal:

For my demo reel this semester, I wish to concentrate on character animation. This was the most enjoyable aspect of the production stage for our Norman films last term and felt I did well in this field. As well as producing a demo reel using work I have created for myself, I would like to help others, such as third years, in animating for them. I feel this will be very beneficial for me as I'll get experience of working in a team whilst helping others out. 

For this term I wish to produce a demo reel that's more directed towards becoming an animator for a film studio rather than a games studio. This is simply because I much prefer cartoon-esque and exaggerated animation rather than super realistic animation you see in video games a lot. I feel I can add my own personality to the animation and much prefer animating with a style rather than copying real life of sorts. Throughout this project, I am going to try a hint of directing in my reel too. I hope to create characters not through the rigs I will animate but the lighting and textures used for props.

I believe a reel should be personal and tell audiences not just what they do, but who they are. I'm going to develop performance ideas that I'm passionate about and will thoroughly enjoy developing and animating.

Equipment:

My laptop and Think Tank PC and Mac suites with the following software: Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop as well as After Effects and Premiere to composite the work into a reel. I will also need a graphics tablet and sketchbooks along with various mark making materials including pens, pencils and charcoal.

Production Pipeline:

I like to work on several things at once to keep things lively so the production pipeline for each of my demo reel pieces will be different. I will jump between these animations throughout the semester as well. I work best when I come back to something I am stuck on at a later date. 

What I Want People To Know About Me:

When people see my work, I really want them to know that (besides the fact I can animate) :-

- My focus is on character animation
- I can produce animation for both film and games (performance and weight)
- I can use a variety of rigs (knowing their constraints and working with the rig)
- I can work in a team
- I can fuse my own personality into the characters’ performances
- (and perhaps most importantly) I can apply the 12 Principles of Animation

In terms of the animation itself, I really enjoy CG animation more than 2D but I like to see myself as both a 2D and CG animator. I want my demo reel to showcase more CG than 2D, but not so much that people will see me as a sole CG animator.

From my demo reel research and understanding that they act as CV’s essentially, I know I have to include something different and unexpected in my demo reel so that I stand out from the crowd. This will be a difficult task but I am determined to find something that will make people say “yeah, he’s got it”.

I have already started some animation (that was going to be a part of my demo reel before changing my mind about it all) but I won’t be including any of it in my animation demo reel. This is simply because they aren’t good enough and I’m not happy with how they were turning out. My next task is to think about what animation I want in my demo reel.

The pieces of animation I have started were the flour sack stunt and Fawlty Towers lip sync scene.

Using Animation From Previous Projects In My Demo Reel

To get an idea of what kind of animation I produce, I first turned to my old pieces of work.

We’re allowed to include some work that we have previously done during our time at University so I have been going through my first year and last term’s work to see if there’s anything I am really proud of and feel would work in my demo reel.

I will be using some animation from both my 2D sting from first year, “Cowbots”, and my 3D film from last year, “Norman’s Adventure in Ancient Egypt”.

Year One BA (Hons) Animation Project: 2D Sting by James Ensor and Mikey Macfadyen

I have only chosen to use two shots from "Cowbots" because I don't feel a lot of it is good enough for my demo reel and also I don't want to advertise I'm an animator with a huge interest in 2D since a lot of my demo reel will be 3D animation and I much prefer working with CG. I have chosen:

Shot three because it demonstrates my ability in applying squash and stretch (the bouncing robot that travels across the screen between the two characters) as well as follow through with the scarf and secondary action with the feather on the hat.

Shot Three Screenshot

Shot six because it demonstrates my ability in compositing 3D and 2D. There is also some squash and stretch when the bullet hits the character.

Shot Six Screenshot

Year Two BA (Hons) Animation Project: The Pharaoh's Wrath - 3D Animation by James Ensor

I've decided to use more shots from my second year film "The Pharaoh's Wrath" because I feel the animation is much better and there's more to shots to select from. I've decided to use the following shots for the time being:

Norman stands on the Pharaoh's foot ...

Pharaoh points over to the rock ...

The Pharaoh sighs and explains himself ...

Norman pushes the rock and falls in after it ...

After deciding which shots I like the best, I now feel much more confident in what I can produce for my animation demo reel. My next task is to come up with performance ideas that fit with the style of the above shots and find suitable rigs to animate with. 

Animation Demo Reel Advice - Contacting Animators In The Industry

As mentioned in my other blog (see two posts down for the URL), I contacted several animators who's work I've seen online and find particularly inspiring. I emailed five people and got four responses and they all replied with really useful tips. I got replies from the following:

1) Ryan Maesen from the U.S.A: Freelance animator 
2) Rojay Rosin from the Philippines: Freelance animator and compositor
3) Prashanth Cavale from India : Animator from Dreamworks India Unit
4) Ray Chase from the U.S.A: Animator from ReelFX 

Here's screenshots to show what they had to say:

I broke down what each of them said and made a check-list of some sort, to keep referring to throughout the next couple of months:

Think ahead:

Be clear on the area I want to go for - games or film / TV animation

For games - concentrate on physicality (weight and realism)

For film / TV - concentrate on performance driven

Larger studios want acting more than realism 

The reel itself:

Show weight, a walk/run cycle and some dialogue / pantomime

Strong in fundamentals and animation principles - variation in weight, timing and animation styles

Include some action shots - show timing, mechanics and weight

Show emotion and thinking!

Try to avoid anything boring / that's been seen before

Categorise the reel - e.g. character, facial, creature

Each shot shouldn't be too long or short (about 4 to 6 seconds each)

Scenes don't need fancy textures and lighting 

Average animation reel is about 2 mins - 30 seconds of solid work is better than 1:30 min average work

Editing:

Quality over quantity! 

Start and end with my best pieces of work - beginning should draw the viewer in, end on a high note

Middle should contain strong animations to keep audience interested 

Cut any weak animations out - keep only the best

Use music that doesn't over shadow what's on screen! - don't distract the audience

Work with the music - synchronise what's on screen with the music in editing

Self-Development - Switching From Modelling to Animation

I've hit a brick wall with my work this morning. I had a sudden realisation that the work I'm producing is just that … work. This past week , I started to feel down with it and now dislike what I'm doing. Not only is the work to an O.K standard, but I've also thought about how producing a reel based around something I don't really enjoy will affect my third year plans. I know that if I stick with modelling, I will be doing it for other people's films next year instead of what I really want to do next year, which is to direct my own film.

I’ve started designing my characters and layout concepts as well as storyboarding in my spare time but because I've made this decision, to essentially start over again, so late in the term, I can't return to to it. I will, however, continue with pre-production for my third year film over the summer period after hand in.

Thinking towards the future, I started to think about a particularly important event; the animation degree show. This is a perfect opportunity to produce a piece of work that could possibly get me some freelance work / a small intern-ship as well as making contacts with people from the industry. 

I know producing a modelling demo reel would advertise something I am not. I don’t want to be a modeller. As I was doing the work, I felt constricted to the screen and felt none of my personality was going into the work. I want my work to say “James did that”, not “a modeller did that”. This thought kick started my new demo reel idea - animation. I don’t think of animation as work and it's something I really enjoy and truly love to learn more about and expand my skills with. 

I'm confident I can produce a reasonable amount of good quality work before the deadline. 

New Blog

I have created a new blog solely for the Animation Practice and PDP project. Here is a link to my other blog for the Digital Skilling and Animation project ...

http://jamesensoranimationyear2.tumblr.com/