Mime: Linear Test 2 with sound

And Camera Cuts!



Still got many things to sort out. Couple of odd pops here and there that need ironing out (some may have to be left until Splines because it's easier to see what the curves are up to). The timing of some parts still need more refining. Overall the whole thing feels a bit floaty, not happy with that.

Sending away to be critically eyed by my classmates.

Modelling Berets

I don't want to learn to model in Maya just yet as learning to animate is going to be a challenge enough. But I wanted a beret for my mime character so I returned to Softimage to model one.

I also used this opportunity to make an obj. file and make sure Maya can import it. Which it can. So I can plop this hat on Malcolm's head when I return to him.
Update on the chrome looking texture on Malcolm's shirt; we have no idea why it's doing that! But I'm going to have a look at it and try a few things suggested. Otherwise, I might have to rename Malcolm to Chrono the Mime-o. Or just re-do the whole scene and see if that works... Thumbs up.

Team Meet 3: Malcolm in Maya

Spent most of today putting together the scene I'll be using to animate in. Basically just getting it ready for when I need to start blocking.
Running into all sorts of Maya obstacles, mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing! Raf's been helping me out loads though and I've learned a helluva lot today.

Here's what the W.I.P scene looks like with one of the problems I've encountered:

I have no idea why Malcolm's top is all chrome and shiny. I've tried selecting all the polygons and changing it to a matte white texture but that does nothing. This only shows up in the render view. So I'll be asking about that via our facebook group right now! Watch this space for answers!

**EDIT** Never found out why it was doing that but as I restarted the scene anyway it didn't matter. It hasn't happened since. My guess is that I pressed something silly but being new to it I didn't know what. Just so you know..

Messing with the Maya

Been messing around with rigs in Maya.

Firstly I tried out the Morpheus rig which was fun to play around with but for some reason the skin wouldn't render... Two of my classmates (who are more experienced with Maya) tried to fix the problem but couldn't figure out what it was.

So I decided to stick to a rig I know and downloaded the Malcolm rig for Maya. With the help of this video I managed to install it correctly and everything seems to be working so far.



So far so good.
Now I just need to see if I can re colour him to be more mime-y.
And then learn to animate in Maya.
No, not difficult at all...

Finally!

There were some problems in the rendering stage.. For some reason certain facial controls were not rendering leaving the character expressionless sometimes. I checked softimage and I couldn't see any problems there, the controls were still there and there were no mysterious disappearances of anything. In fact, it played fine in Softimage. So I have to render a couple of times to get this right. Still have no idea why it was rendering that way... weird.

Anyway, final render of another one bites the dust :)

Another One Bites The Dust: Quick capture

quick capture after I made changes to the ending, I'll be working on the walk after this then rendering (less than 3 hours to go!)

Final lip sync task 1

Final render of the first lip syncing task. Made a change after the last feedback session. The first action was too big and it was suggested to put his hand on the back of his head, which is what I've done here:

Final render of Presenter animation

At least, hopefully the final render... so long as feedback says it's ok..



Here's the final piece. A combination of Windows Movie Maker and YouTube has fuzzed the quality a bit unfortunately but I should be able to get a cleaner one to my tutor next time I see her. Pretty happy with it though I think there could be some improvements... mostly on those holding poses.

Fry lip sync test

Quick capture after I've finished lip syncing the Fry character. Looking okay sp far. Going to render it properly with the camera cuts next and send away for last minute feedback.

Presenter Lip sync test: Laurie

Just rendered a quick capture to make sure the lip sync is timed right with the clip. I'm wondering if the character's moving too fast? He is meant to be drunk so he's supposed to be a bit wibbly.



Will see what the lovely classmates think.

Experimenting with Laurie

I decided to see if a change in Laurie's actions at the word 'despise' would improve the acting a bit or make it more interesting. FAIL! It didn't really work as it looks forced. So I'm sticking to the original acting.

Well, if you don't try, you don't know.

Presenter: New camera cuts test.

My tutor thought that it would be better if I tried some camera cuts in this particular animation, as she didn't feel that the audience would know where to look. So I played around with that idea.

Excuse the GOD AWFUL video quality. This is why Windows Movie Maker sucks and I really need to get a new video editing software... preferably free and I am a poor poor Masters student. This is only for demonstration, there is no new animation blocking to see.

Presenter: Blocking 3

It was suggested that I change Fry's Malcolm to look away from Laurie's Malcolm when talking about being nine, as if to be remembering the memory and then look down because it's embarrassing. I re-rendered the changes for show and tell tomorrow.

Another One Bites The Dust: Test 3

Added the hip wiggle and rendered it properly. Excuse the black patches everywhere, some parts obviously failed to render. Will be re-rendering for the final version anyways.



I didn't realise how little emotion I'd put on his face... could have sworn I put some more smiles on him at least. I'll be working on that next!

**EDIT - Just noticed the walks are a bit stiff.. or rather the top half of his body is. Will try to smooth that out a bit if I have time. Need to work on the presenter animation for the time being.

Another One Bites The Dust: Test 2

Feedback from my classmates pretty much said that the first step Malcolm takes is abnormally fast. I was concerned about the microphone being in front of his face too much but they seem to think it's ok. I might change it slightly anyway, just to satisfy myself, if I have time. Here is a quick capture of the fixed animation.



Next I'm going to give him a hip wiggle (to the beat) when he stands in the 'Freddy Mercury' pose... which is this by the way!

Statue in Montreux. Image from Wikipedia.

Another One Bites The Dust: Test

Worked on 'Another One Bites The Dust' a fair bit. I've changed the camera angle since the feedback. I've also added more breakdowns, the lip syncing, couple of bits and pieces for the background and lighting and I've now put the animation on splines.



Ever since watching Keith Lango's video on cleaning up your animation I've been taking more care and changing the way I clean up my animation. When someone told me my animation needed cleaning up or needed more polishing, I'll admit I didn't really understand what it meant. Or at least I realised I didn't understand when I watched that video. It was like being hit in the face with a brick epiphany. I didn't need to add more key frames, I needed to take them out! So I've started the cleaning up process much sooner than after I've completed all the breakdowns. I've started noticing keys that don't need to be while adding breakdowns and delete them.

It's great :D

As for my animation, with the change in camera angle I'm now a bit worried that the microphone is in front of his face too much so that the lip sync can't be seen much. I'm sending it for feedback so I'll wait and see what my classmates think. Other than that and the obvious and inevitable polishing it needs, I think it's coming along nicely :)

Presenter: Blocking 2

Blocked the Fry character now. He's a bit wobbly but hopefully that will ease out as I add in the breakdowns, if not I'll sort it out then. Sending away for feedback as usual.

Presenter: Blocking 1

I finished blocking the Laurie character last night and left it to render. The clip is a bit too long but I can't shorten it until I have the Fry character moving. Sending this WIP to the lovely Masters masses to share any thoughts on.



Feedback on the latest lip syncing task was that the movements are still a bit too big. It was suggested I take the first arm movement and change that to him scratching his head instead, which I thought was a good idea. I am determined to get it right!! Haha. However, I'm shelving it for the time being because I need to focus on the other two tasks. If I get time at the end I will make the changes. Other than that, my class and tutor seemed happy with it.

The Bites the Dust blocking went down pretty well too, I just need to consider where the camera is going to be. I'm playing with the idea of having the character get all up in the camera's face when he sing 'hey! gonna get you too!' but we'll see how that works.

Presenter: Returning to that task!

So I'm returning to the presenter task now that I've got most things sorted on the other two tasks. I've studied the reference I'd got from uni and have changed it around a bit. Only a bit. Like now the Laurie character is holding the glass. And is drunk :)

Here's a WIP Pic!

Updates soon!

Lip Sync: Redo 3

Feedback mainly said that the eyes could do with being more 'snappy' and that perhaps a blink before and after the 'bog-eyed' look would help the transition. So that is what I've worked on plus added a few more breakdowns here and there.



Sending this away again for feedback.
I applied what I learned from the blinks video I'd posted before, particularly using the eye deformers to 'squish' the eyes a bit when blinking. This makes the face look more connected as the eye deformers move the eyebrows and cheeks slightly too. I think it looks more natural and appealing, I hope it looks that way to an audience too!