Reflection of week 11-12

There were no lectures in the final two weeks, so our team just got on with what we needs to do, by the end of week 11 we all met our target and planned out how the animation will go with all the camera angles drawn out. 

I added cameras in, some are static and some have animated camera movements which I think really improves the cinematic. We all decide to keep the lighting as it is because of time limitations and we would have to have lighting in the same place, we also decided on a certain background colour and finally we chose to fake any interactions made between characters for example my character running towards another, with them dodging out of the way and me killing the enemy with a sword. I think we managed to do this well, and got some nice camera angles. The cinematic could be much improved with sound and such however our team is reasonably happen with the outcome in such a short amount of time in the final week. 

Reflection of week 9-10

During these two weeks I looked into rendering and lighting techniques that could help enhance the teams cinematic. One of our problems were two character looks very much the same except one has a shield and a thicker sword so there is a noticeable different but the character appearance could confuse people. However we all agreed it would be okay to keep things how they are.

Animations were still being worked on, with me I had some good feedback from my lecturer and have notes down with improvements to make on my animations, which I worked on.

• Move hands a bit more on the idle so it looks less static and more natural
• Make my run animation faster, from 28 frames to 22, smooth it out a bit so it's less robotic
• Improve the landing on the jump over obstacle animation so the character lands realistically, and also increasing the anticipation of the jump from 1-5 frames to 1-8 frames.
• Improve the movement of the legs and arms when stabbing the enemy, the sword should pull out smoother and and leg should step toward the enemy more naturally. 

These improvements are currently being worked on and hopefully will be finished by week 11. Our team is starting to get behind schedule due to one member losing animation but by the end of week 11 we will have everything ready for the cinematic. 

Reflection of week 7-8

During the lectures I learnt a lot about staging and using cameras well to give more life to the scene, using unusual camera angles creatively instead of just static camera angles. I learnt how to animation cameras in Maya and will be using this for the cinematic.

Our team is on track to complete all 4 animations and when we return we can work on the cinematic, we each gave each other feedback on animations and all helped each other get the best out of everyone. I am happy with the work everyone has put in and confident we can produce something good at the end.

For weeks 7 and 8 our team are wrapping up our 4 separate animations, it was important for us to at least block out the animations before we took a 3 week break over Easter so see we are all on the same page. I have now completed the run with some possible tweaks on the timing that I may need to go back to over Easter. I have now blocked out the jumping over the obstacle animation and found a very cool rock material to add to the obstacle. And I have blocked out the killing animation with my character will stab the wounded enemy in the back. Now my team members have been what direction I am going in, over Easter I will polish these ready for the cinematic.

Reflection of week 5-6

This week during one of the lectures a guest came in and introduced the class to Motion Builder, it was quite difficult to get my head around it all at first, and it seems like a good tool to import a character in and get some really cool realistic motions out of it.

During week 6 our team presented our animation blogs to the class showing our current progress, things went well and feedback was great, I have been told to work on my timings and to smooth out my animation a little more. While evidencing all my research.

During the team meeting we discussed what we would do about the situation with one of our team members (Tom) who hadn't turned up to lessons often, we believe he has left the course and now are focusing on just the three of us left and designing the cinematic around him. The good thing about this is his part of the cinematic is added on really at the end to make it work a bit better adding a bit more story to it, but the current cinematic stands and works how it is.

At this point I have completed my breath idle animation and blocked out my run animation using online reference to help me define the key poses within the animation.

Reflection of week 3-4

During the team meeting this week, we looked at any problems we will be facing and any changes we may need to do, apart from moving the cinematic around a bit, nothing has changed. I have added a prop sword to my character using the parent feature, now the sword will move wherever my left hand moves and is something to be careful of when I am running and jumping over an obstacle. We also decided that the rig we are using (because we are using different ones) will be facing front (south) and make sure it's in the centre of origin. As well as the first and final key frame of each motion should be the same since we won't want any errors or weird jumping when they repeat a motion. 

I looked at several rigs I could possibly use however I went with the goon rig because it looks easy to use and after the first week I became familiar with it. This week I also looked into the Trax editor briefly, from what I can understand this is where you mix and blend the animation files which will help with the storyboard sequence. It seems pretty easy to use and I like how you can blend animations together and also extend them, adding a soundtrack in which is helpful. 

During the theory classes I learnt how you can add more life into your character for example when pushing a box you experiment with the character silhouette to get strong poses, and this is vital in the idle animation. I learnt how the line of action can really help with the characters personality and using anticipation will really help bring out the best in the animations. I also looked into the graph editor a bit more, and from what I can tell it really helps with the smoothness of the animations and I am starting to use this more now.  

Goon Rig - http://seanburgoon.com/goonrig/

Reflection of week 1-2

During week one we got into groups and discussed our ideas on the final cinematic, all our animations should link together somehow, eventually we decided to choose a medieval battle scene involving sword fighting. We looked for inspiration from games, TV and movies, such as Elder Scrolls, 300, Dragon Age, Gladiator, Gears of war, Clash of the titans and Guild Wars.

One of our members decided he wanted to use a shield in a fight, however because it would be quite difficult for two members to have their animation connect as close as in a fight we decided it would be good if he used that extra character he is fighting as a prop. 

The first movement that came to mind for me was hiding behind a rock and jumping over it, that's where gameplay feature from gears of war came to mind, instead I liked the idea of running towards a large rock and jumping over it using my hands, then killing a wounded enemy who's behind it. I had my animation covered fairly quickly. 

One of our other members decided we could give that wounded enemy a whole animation sequence, so we went with the idea of him wounded and crawling, calling for help but failing to receive it in time, which brings me on to the final character, who happens to be on a ledge, in distance to hear the character calling for help, he jumps off and focuses on the enemy in front of him. This animation was decided in week two by a new member that joined our group of three, Tom. So now we have one person working on each animation. 

During the animation theory classes I learnt about how animations work in the industry a bit more, such as working with programmers, and how there are many many motions involved in games an animation list with several idle animations, several walking animation so it doesn't look so repetitive, a list can have over 200 motions on!

Cinematic Preview

The cinematic will play as the first character dodges an attack, will use his shield to block off an attack from the enemy and use the shield pushing back the warrior, the Spartan will then run and attack the weakened enemy. 

The camera then pans around one character runs towards a large rock, jumping over it and stabbing a wounded enemy soldier. 

This wounded soldier will be animated by a different person, who will begin at the idle pose which is deep breathing, then crawling, putting his hand up calling for help before getting stabbed and having his final breath. 

The final character begins on a high ledge, then he sprints off the ledge, landing on the battlefield, and finally getting into a battle stance focusing on the enemy that just killed his soldier.The camera will zoom into to this final scene and the cinematic ends. 

With the cinematic roughly plotted out, each animator has an idle and three other movements to complete. Props that will be involved are swords, shield, a large rock obstacle, possibly a small battlefield with rubble rocks around for the cinematic.

Ashley 

1. Idle
2. Run
3. Jump over obstacle 
4. Attack wounded enemy

Mateusz

1. Idle
2. Crawl on floor
3. Call for help using hand
4. Last breath after getting stabbed

Rauno 

1. Idle
2. Dodge attack
3. Use shield to attack enemy
4. Kill enemy with sword 

Tom

1. Idle
2. Run
3. Jump off a ledge
4. Land in a combat stance pose 

Overview

My task this module is to team up with classmates and create a Cinematic sequence featuring a total of 12 specific motions that can be used in game such as Idle, Kick, Jump... Each team member is requires to make at least four of these motions during the 12 weeks. During this time I am required to gather primary and secondary research, meaning my own research and also internet research and overall improve my animation knowledge.

I have a total of 4 pages within this blog, this one is dedicated to my reflection of each week while the others which are at the top are dedicated to Tasks, Research and Animations.

The schedule for the next 12 weeks

Week 1 - Intro to the module
Week 2 - Idle animation work/Planning
Week 3 - Further animation work/Planning
Week 4 - Idle Animation complete
Week 5 - Motion Builder work
Week 6 - Animation 2 complete (Alpha stage)
Week 7 - Animation 3 complete
Week 8 - Animation 4 complete
Week 9 - Team Cinematic work
Week 10 - Team Cinematic work
Week 11 - Make alterations 
Week 12 - Make alterations