At the very least, i've keyframed the mouth and the head. Adding the eyes comes later, as I don't feel confident in doing it all at once. I'd like to at least know the lip sync works before I waste more time on the superfluous details. Playing the frames at 8 fps gave me an impression of how the final lip sync would look, and it seems to work, and i'm still remaining cautiously optimistic regarding how well it'll tween.
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Lip Sync (In Progress)
As of the moment, i'm still working on my hand drawn lip sync, and finding it quite a bit more difficult than I expected. Utilizing the dope sheet was a little awkward at first, thanks, in part, to its jumbled mess of neatly organised columns, but I swiftly got at least some of the idea. In truth, the most entertaining part of this task was thinking up an array of stylised, but vaguely realistic (as opposed to a more cartoon-friendly style) mouths; though, I shot myself in the foot by choosing to make my character a baby, consequently lacking a sufficient set of gnashers with which to easily express several letters. I made do with two teeth on the upper and lower jaw and hoped for the best.
Sunday 2 October 2011
UCA Farnham - BA Animation - The Beginning Of It All
Animation Principles
I hadn't expected it to be easy; certainly, after three months of drifting out of touch with my artistic side, it was never going to be easy. I'm grateful, then, for the relatively smooth introduction to the course which, without wishing to tempt fate, I shall be partaking in for the next three years. As always, we began with the very basics; pencils, paper and bouncing balls. I'm infinitely thankful for the previous foundation year and the experience it provided me, as I found the basic principles simple enough to grasp, or rather, re-grasp. It was this that afforded me a little extra time to play around with the bouncing ball animation, and as such I had my ball bounce onto a trampoline, and consequently blasted into space. Whilst I was initially apprehensive about animating the balls reaction with the trampoline surface, it came together satisfyingly, aside from the trampoline after-wobble, which ends too abruptly.
The second week of animation principles brought yet more familiarity, though, that isn't to say that it also brought simplicity, in the form of walk cycles. I'm glad to no end, that we were provided with a guide sheet that enlightened me with dozens of tips and guidelines that hadn't occurred to me in the previous year. Things that, in hindsight, were perfectly logical, like reusing frames by switching the forward arm/leg, and animating the body and leg movements first, returning afterwards to add in arm movements and whatever else. What I did recall about previous walk cycles, however, was the time they took (though, that fact is relevant to all animation in general), and this, quite unfortunately, remained unchanged. As instructed, I followed the guidelines as closely as I could, wary that any attempt to experiment in the same manner as I'd done with the bouncing ball could undermine the flow and natural feeling that the basic walk cycle requires. Again, ultimately I was satisfied with the outcome, though the character doesn't display enough up-down motion as he walks.
The finished walk cycle, in all of its glory. Also, curse Youtube for its lack of a loop function; it has drawn my ire one too many times...
I hadn't expected it to be easy; certainly, after three months of drifting out of touch with my artistic side, it was never going to be easy. I'm grateful, then, for the relatively smooth introduction to the course which, without wishing to tempt fate, I shall be partaking in for the next three years. As always, we began with the very basics; pencils, paper and bouncing balls. I'm infinitely thankful for the previous foundation year and the experience it provided me, as I found the basic principles simple enough to grasp, or rather, re-grasp. It was this that afforded me a little extra time to play around with the bouncing ball animation, and as such I had my ball bounce onto a trampoline, and consequently blasted into space. Whilst I was initially apprehensive about animating the balls reaction with the trampoline surface, it came together satisfyingly, aside from the trampoline after-wobble, which ends too abruptly.
The second week of animation principles brought yet more familiarity, though, that isn't to say that it also brought simplicity, in the form of walk cycles. I'm glad to no end, that we were provided with a guide sheet that enlightened me with dozens of tips and guidelines that hadn't occurred to me in the previous year. Things that, in hindsight, were perfectly logical, like reusing frames by switching the forward arm/leg, and animating the body and leg movements first, returning afterwards to add in arm movements and whatever else. What I did recall about previous walk cycles, however, was the time they took (though, that fact is relevant to all animation in general), and this, quite unfortunately, remained unchanged. As instructed, I followed the guidelines as closely as I could, wary that any attempt to experiment in the same manner as I'd done with the bouncing ball could undermine the flow and natural feeling that the basic walk cycle requires. Again, ultimately I was satisfied with the outcome, though the character doesn't display enough up-down motion as he walks.
The finished walk cycle, in all of its glory. Also, curse Youtube for its lack of a loop function; it has drawn my ire one too many times...
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