Final task.

Our final task was to actually animate in Maya. At fist I got scared, animating in Maya?! Iv only just learned how to model! But its actually surprisingly simple... for maya.

I instantly got the hang of it and started to animate my zombie standing up. I did keep on forgetting to move frames and select everything for a key frame... so i did have to do a few frames over again. Getting continuity throughout the sequence was rather difficult, i had to keep the hands in the same place when he puts them on the chair, And i had to make sure i was rotating the head the right amount and way.

Once i had done i tried timing it, all way going well untill... the frames just wouldnt move anymore. I need to speed up the part when he is in the process of standing up. i tried again and again but i not get it to work! Ah well... maybe he has a bad back. He is a zombie.

Push that box!

We were told to create a large box and have the zombie push it. I had to demonstrate the strain and the weight being transferred. I tried some different kind of pushing, one is where he is very up close to it. I got up and starting pushing the wall myself for these, taking in where my limbs were and at what angle they were at. Paying very carefull attention to the core body. So here they are!

Zombie posing!

This was an awesome task, really enjoyed posing this character in some silly poses. Then setting the camera up to show the shot. I tried to frame a few too, i really like the closeup one why he is looking at the camera.
This was harder than expected though, posing each little bit by bit, and its very fiddly to sometimes grab the little parts, like the fingers! The fingers are a nightmare.

Posing and showing weight is also tricky, i tried to show a lot of expression through the shoulders, hips and the way the middle is held.

I kept on breaking the rig too, i didnt know you have to move certain parts together. The shoulder controller kept on zooming off the model and then it wouldnt work! But anyway here they are...

More principles and practice task.

Neil talked to us a lot about timing and spacing today. Also about how golden frames and key poses are very important, in showing how something will move. He also showed us how one frame can change the movement completely. I hope to find the examples he was showing us so i can put the link into this post because it was indeed very helpful.

Our task was to animate a ball rolling down and then up a slope, using the advice he had given us on spacing and timing. So i did this in flash... to me it looks ok but i have yet to have a second opinion on this!

Key frames and practice of the transition.

Timing done right. ^

Timing done wrong. ^

Husky basicshape

I was doing a little bit of digital practice and decided to make a drawing based on a basic shape. I used an oval like american football shape for the head. I think it worked out pretty well! With the basic shape i was able to create a lot of counter shapes and details.

Character turn around of Neil's.

We were set a task to create a full turn around for one of Neil's character designs. So i chose the giraffe, as i'm way better at animals and I like the design of this one. Here is The original design i was given...

And here is the turn around I created for it.


I had a lot of trouble and working out for the head, its so thin and of course I had no side view either so I had to guess. I had a lot of fun with the funky anatomy i had to figure out too. But overall I think I did a good job. I will update this post later with feedback.

Monster designs.

For this week we were asked to design two monsters from simple shapes. Which sounds easy enough but I do have trouble with this, i personally love detail and have trouble simplifying character designs. I had a look at some of the examples given and then did a few bits of research myself. Monsters inc gave me some ideas, some the their designs are heavily based on simple shapes, others were more complicated.... which is really what i like most! These few designs stuck out to me in the simple shapes.

So i set about creating some thumbnails....

I tried my best to create some basic shapes, though ran out of ideas on different shapes. I tried my best to combine some contrasting shapes too.

While deciding on the shapes, i had to decide on the nature of the character, Triangles could mean the character is evil, slick or creepy. Squares indicate a strong nature. Circles can mean somethings a lot softer in nature. Of course these are stereo types for shapes and characters can break that stereotype with how you design and portray them further. But I needed to keep it simple.

I Decided to go with the second one in and the big armed beast which is 'M' shaped. The very last one interests me though, i may do a full render of just that pose. I can imagine the shape being simple, but adding great detail into the design of it.



Here i was trying to figure out how the face and hands would work. I didn't want him to be too animalistic, so i chose some monkey like hands. He would have huge hands to walk on his knuckles like an ape. This also gives him the option of being gentle with the hands and being able to do more complex thing. I wanted him to be rather intelligent.
The second drawing down has a very animalistic and simple design. The round eyes make him look less intelligent and a little crazy. I didnt want this, I wanted some expression in the eyes. I figured his eyes would convey most of his emotion.

Here are some workings out if his face. I decided to add really big fluffy ears for a bit of comical effect. To make him seem a little less scary. A big contrast against the rest of his appearance, they will be the only round things on him.

Here is the turn around for him, I had great difficulty in getting just 3 words for him. So i'm going to explain my idea here too. I can imagine him being paired with a little girl to protect. The little girl would be mischievous and hyper. Yet be would be gentle and tolerant with her and only her. Hence the reason i felt the word guardian is important. Yet if he is faced with an enemy he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Im rather happy with his design, i like the M shape i came up with and i reckon i have come up with a pretty good concept of this character and how he would be.


The second character.... I named him twink.

I love his head design, simple and cute, The square glasses are the contrast shape in his design. The only things im not too sure about are the legs and body. I could quite firgure out how to make them look right.

I wanted twink to be a nerdy little highschool kid. Not popular but not unpopular either... because non of that would be his concern. Other pupils would see him as a funny little character. He would not get caught up in making friends, but he would get on with a lot of people. I think the word is indifferent towards the social scene. And because of this he would be a bit socially awkward, which would appear cute to a lot of people, especially the girls! Twink would be focused on his work or buried in a book. If he were to be in an animated show, he would be a side character who would appear every now and again for comedic purposes or just for a big of variety.

Again i can imagine how he would act, react and talk. Which to me says this was a successful design.

I had some fun doing this... but I really don't think i'm cut out to be a character designer.