For the past few weeks, all I have been (nearly) faithfully doing is animating a lot of shots for my piece. Up to date, I am on track and at my halfway point…all that is left to do are the harder shots (where a lot of elements are moving or a lot of movement is required).
Consultation on 28 December: I put all my completed shots inside my animatic (replacing my storyboard stills) and showed it to Mr. Ronald and Mr. Alan. They pointed out three flaws:
1) In the shots where is walking (6,7, 8, 9, 21), the walking cycle looks more like sliding, and it is jerky as well. Mr. Ronald and Mr. Alan were extremely kind enough to point out the correct key-frames in a walking cycle (front foot, passing, back foot). They told me the importance of determining bending points and weight balance in walking, so that it will not look like sliding. Mr. Alan even showed me a more faster and efficient way of doing a walk cycle in After Effects. I also need to put a guiding line or marker in my Photoshop file.
2) In the shots where there was blinking, the blink is too slow and the speed of blinking was impossible to achieve. I should make the blinking much faster.
3) I forgot to de-saturate the flashback shot (I have done only one so far). Note to self: de-saturation is at -60.
Mini-interim on 30 December: I managed to de-saturate my flashback shot and quicken up my blinking in the necessary shots. I showed my improved animatic to my lecturer, and this is what he said:
* Improve walking in shots 6 & 7 and 8 & 9
* In Shot 18, add a blink.
* In Shot 21, make the foot move in more angles.
* In Shot 34, the rain must fall faster.
* In Shot 35, the zoom-in becomes pixilated halfway, so I have to add a fade-to-white or dissolve.
Luckily for me, I scheduled a break for today and tomorrow, so I can give myself time to do all the necessary editing before continuing production.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
11 December 2009- Consultation and mini-interim of Week 8
Consultation: I managed to edit my shots with regards to the mini-interim last week, and show them to Mr. Ronald.
Glad to say, he seemed pleased with the outcomes, although he pointed out an edit that needs to be made for realism’s sake: In the “rainy night” shots, I should be adding rain drops that pelt the characters and other necessary elements (bag, arms, umbrella, etc) to show that the rain is really in contact with the animation.
So, back in my Photoshop files, I added three layers of raindrops, before performing the edits.
Mini-interim: I showed my improved animatics (with done-shots added) to the class. Most of the criticism I got focused on Shot 47 (a ‘rainy-night’ shot, where the bunny boy and cat girl see each other and started staring at each other).
The problems with Shot 47:
* The cat and bunny need to be really looking at each other; may require edits on eyes and head-pivot position.
* Raindrops also need to pelt the cat’s arm.
* Cat’s body needs to turn a bit, like three-quarters.
* Cat sitting down needs to be at bunny’s chest level.
I guess that is all the edits I need to do for the weekend for Shot 47…will probably do it over the weekend. For now, I need to finish animating three more shots for this week before I declare my official two-week vacation (unless I decide to be as hardworking as my peers).
By the way, in case anyone is wondering how I animate:
1) First I draw out the frames in Photoshop. If a shot has more than one moving element, I put these moving elements in separate layers. I then export either layer by layer or all at once in .png files.
2) I then import the .png files in After Effects. After compositing the different layers/ elements on top of each other, I arrange the frames around to ensure smooth animation. Sometimes, in a single project/shot, more than one composition is created. This is especially when there is plenty of moving elements involved.
Glad to say, he seemed pleased with the outcomes, although he pointed out an edit that needs to be made for realism’s sake: In the “rainy night” shots, I should be adding rain drops that pelt the characters and other necessary elements (bag, arms, umbrella, etc) to show that the rain is really in contact with the animation.
So, back in my Photoshop files, I added three layers of raindrops, before performing the edits.
Mini-interim: I showed my improved animatics (with done-shots added) to the class. Most of the criticism I got focused on Shot 47 (a ‘rainy-night’ shot, where the bunny boy and cat girl see each other and started staring at each other).
The problems with Shot 47:
* The cat and bunny need to be really looking at each other; may require edits on eyes and head-pivot position.
* Raindrops also need to pelt the cat’s arm.
* Cat’s body needs to turn a bit, like three-quarters.
* Cat sitting down needs to be at bunny’s chest level.
I guess that is all the edits I need to do for the weekend for Shot 47…will probably do it over the weekend. For now, I need to finish animating three more shots for this week before I declare my official two-week vacation (unless I decide to be as hardworking as my peers).
By the way, in case anyone is wondering how I animate:
1) First I draw out the frames in Photoshop. If a shot has more than one moving element, I put these moving elements in separate layers. I then export either layer by layer or all at once in .png files.
2) I then import the .png files in After Effects. After compositing the different layers/ elements on top of each other, I arrange the frames around to ensure smooth animation. Sometimes, in a single project/shot, more than one composition is created. This is especially when there is plenty of moving elements involved.
Friday, December 4, 2009
4 December 2009- Mini-Interim 1
Today, I showed the class the five shots I managed to animate (Shots 1, 4, 12, 23 and 29). Here is the criticism and comments I received:
For Shot 1 (Sun rising): The trees should be darker when the sun rises, not lighter. And that shot was way too bright so may need to add a thin outline to really separate them from the sun. They also said the sun should move faster.
Shot 4 (shadow coming off sign): The shadow should go down the sign, and instead of what it should say, so I better add one or two more letters to bring it across more clearly.
Shot 12 (cat looking down at hill): Perspective is very off, and the trees need more variety of green in order to be differentiated properly.
Shots 23 and 29 (profile shots of cat): They noticed that the outlines were inconsistent when the animation was playing, and they advised me to put animated elements in different layers when animating in Photoshop. Also, the forest in those shots looked more like a cave setting, so they told me to make the trees lighter to darker behind, and make more difference like adding branches and whatnot.
That was very much the critique I got. Now I have to be adding rain effects to my upcoming animated shots, as well as work on that final shot for this week.
For Shot 1 (Sun rising): The trees should be darker when the sun rises, not lighter. And that shot was way too bright so may need to add a thin outline to really separate them from the sun. They also said the sun should move faster.
Shot 4 (shadow coming off sign): The shadow should go down the sign, and instead of what it should say, so I better add one or two more letters to bring it across more clearly.
Shot 12 (cat looking down at hill): Perspective is very off, and the trees need more variety of green in order to be differentiated properly.
Shots 23 and 29 (profile shots of cat): They noticed that the outlines were inconsistent when the animation was playing, and they advised me to put animated elements in different layers when animating in Photoshop. Also, the forest in those shots looked more like a cave setting, so they told me to make the trees lighter to darker behind, and make more difference like adding branches and whatnot.
That was very much the critique I got. Now I have to be adding rain effects to my upcoming animated shots, as well as work on that final shot for this week.
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