BA2: Animation Fundamentals

Research and Preparation for Animating Moom

Having had most of our Monday lectures now covering animation, how to use maya and being introduced to Moom I figured it was time to start doing some research into animation styles.

I found a lot of videos from other people who had also animated Moom but some weren’t great. I had to filter through alot to find some decent ones which I could study and use as reference and influence for animating my walk, jump and run cycles.

To update you on our projects, we are being asked to produce a walk, run and jump animation cycle using a pre made character. This will be my first time ever using this software on my own to produce work and I am a little nervous.

Here is a really good walk cycle I found by YouTube user gajjarchintan08...

  

The next video is by YouTube user brunovillart who has created a decent running cycle for Moom....

    

Finally, here is YouTube user utkarshvaidya who demonstrates a jump cycle with Moom...

    

Having watched these videos I tried to re create cycles of my own briefly to see if I could get anything to work...I couldn’t. It wasn't just Moom being awkward, it was me realising that I wasn’t becoming very good friends with maya and it’s animations.

I realised I needed more research into the cycles and I needed to look further into what we were being asked to do so I could fully understand and create cycles that were of a half decent nature. 

The Walk... 

I know that alot of people have also found this blog called “IdleWorm” http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml  but it really is very helpful when trying to grasp the walking animation. It goes through key frames, how the body looks at different points of the walk and shows you the possible outcomes which was really helpful, as well as step by step guides. 

This lead me on to finally being able to create a half decent walk cycle...

    

I think the legs of the walk are a tad static but I just can’t alter them without Moom’s hips becoming really deformed and me having the change his stance altogether which makes the walk look very different. I am happy with his arms and I am pretty proud of the way his hands flow through the walk cycle.

 

The Run...

Having finally completed my walking cycle (after many, MANY failed attempts and rubbish outcomes) I felt confident enough to dive right in and produce the running animation. Using the video I posted earlier and also this website, http://www.the-flying-animator.com/run-cycle.html, as guides I was able to create this...

     

The main thing that upsets me about the running cycle I have created are Mooms eyes, they are a little bit all over the place. 1, I have no idea why and 2, even though I key framed them in place they still seem to move quite violently as he runs. I was thinking of saying that I had done it on purpose for effect but I don't think it will work...

The Jump...

I will admit that animation really isn't my “thing”. We were told some people get the hang of it straight away and others don't. Well, I am “others”. I just cant get good enough outcomes and I am finding it very frustrating. Having said this, here is my final animation, the jump cycle. This is slightly over exaggerated and has a more comical look but I'm not too fussed.

   

 I liked to pause the jump cycle half way through and pretend I was watching the Matrix, sadly I wasn't watching the Matrix and crashed back to earth with this increasingly comical jump cycle that I have created. I am fairly happy with it considering the pain I went through to lift Moom off the floor. I would like to make the arms work better but sadly, time does not allow me. 

Project Conclusion

Whilst I can appreciate everything an animator has to go through I can’t see myself having a career based upon it. I was beyond frustration throughout this project and I feel that my other work might have even suffered because of it. The time taken to produce my animation was definitely underestimated but having said that, I am not sure if I would have been able to put more hours into the cycles knowing how frustrating it could become. 

On a slightly more positive note I am generally pleased with the outcome of my animations. If I could do anything differently I would have used the graph editor to alter the animations themselves as opposed to relying on key frames but again, time and frustration tore away at me. Generally I think for a first attempt with the software and animation, a fairly good effort!

 

BA2: Animation Fundamentals

Extra Maya Notes

I have been pretty slack with my blog this term so I am going to write up everything I can now so that I can rest knowing it has been done. I am still in the process of doing my main bits of animation work, I have a successful ball animation which I feel shows clear squash & stretch to help the animation appear realistic. As far as a 1st animation goes, I am proud of it but I am sure ill do more work to it at a later date. I will post pictures and hopefully a rendered video of the bouncing ball soon also. 

As for Moom, well I have been having some technical issues which I believe are a mix of working on an out of date laptop and  not feeling 100% confident on the software quite yet but I will get there. I will post up work as it gets done (hopefully) along with videos and screen shots of how I am achieving what I am doing. 

For now, I will post up all the remaining notes I have on Maya and animation that I had been taking during the lectures and practical sessions over the last few weeks. 

How to set a project in Maya 

File > Project Window > name your project (in this case, we are naming our main project folder “charAnimation_walk/run/jump_jls) OR ballAnimation_jls)

Then, while Maya is open, go File > new scene “extra options” (small square icon) > real time 30fps >  charAnimation_walk_jls_000.mb

You must remember to reference your work by going File > create reference> select your rig from the main project folder (in this case, Moom & the ball should be listed under the “scenes” sub folder) > reference. 

Whenever you desire to change to animating a new object or work on a different animation simply choose “set project” under file and select the project you want to work with. Maya will now automatically direct you to this project, its main folder and all the sub folders you need regarding Maya. 

First Project in Maya

Following on from our maya inductions and researching into the different types of animations we were given a ball with a rig ready to be animated. Our task was to successfully animate the ball so that it bounced convincingly with the clear use of squash and stretch. Here is my attempt...

 

   I am pretty happy with the outcome of the bouncing ball animation. I think the squash and stretch works well and is not over used, I think the bounce itself is convincing enough to bring the ball to life with a believable bounce.

BA2: Animation Fundamentals

Oh, Hello Maya! 

Last Tuesday we had our first Maya tutorial and my word, it was SO MUCH FUN! I have a friend who is doing a similar course at a different uni and he is very skilled in Maya. Over the summer I asked him to give me some advice and a casual introduction to the software as I had never used it before. This was so helpful because it meant I wasn’t blind sighted when we had the session, I felt slightly familiar with the software despite being a complete novice. 

I took some notes whilst experimenting on Maya and being given step by step guides on how to do different things on the programme. I made a car (well, a 2 wheeled car with twin exhausts, so it wasn’t really a car, more a box with exhausts. This is why I haven’t gotten any examples of the work, only the notes I took. However, I was so excited to get stuck in with the software that I really want to start experimenting with it. I’m in the process of building a beast of a computer which will run the programme as smoothly as possible so that I can being to comfortably experiment. 

So, that’s about it for now, here are my notes!  

·     When using 2 screens and wanting to transfer to a laptop or just 1 screen, Maya will forget what’s on that second screen (i.e. hyper shades etc) and will not open the file correctly. Always remember to put your work and all of Maya back onto one screen before transferring it so that when you then open it up on the single screen/laptop so that all your work is there. 

·     Top left tab set to “polygon” which is used to make things/ a starting point. (Animation, surfaces, dynamics[explosions, particles, anything physics related], rendering, N dynamics/customize)

·     Set “the shelf” (the bit with all the default shapes) to Polygons. 

·    The shapes along “the shelf” are what you will use to create your model (sphere, cube etc). 

·    You can change the sizes of the grid to customizable sizes. The default setting seems fine.

·     You can use the sizing tool on the left hand size in case your model is too large (6^th icon down) blue sphere with red arrows. 

·     Snap to grid hold X and drag to the surface then pull up the shape to make it 3d.

·     Using the tabs along the top you can select Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop (it splits up the model into chosen sections, smaller quads) > click the square to open special menu and manually set the edge loops. 

·     Tools on the left (where the re size tool is) are modelling, moving and selecting tools for your model. Use the 4^th one down to move certain components after your edge loop. So you can move certain areas of your model around. 

·     Below the default shapes is a selection tab: View > Shading > Lighting > Show > Renderer > Panels. 

·      Panels: Perspective is the normal 3D view, it’s the default. Orthographic is the 2D graphic. 

·      F8 is last selection, turns the model green and then you can move the model as a whole as opposed to individual selections. 

·    F9 is vertices which can move corners where the edges of the model meet. 

·    F10 is Edges which connect 2 vertices. You can move the straight lines on your model.

-    F11 is Faces (you can use this to select faces) which will enable you to select faces of your model and move them as a whole.

·     When using edge loops you can manually position it yourself by Relative Distance, you can position the edge loop yourself on your model.

·     Anything symmetrical, it is easier to build simple shape (remember the torso) and then delete half of it. 

·    Edit  Mesh > Extrude is to pull out certain parts of your models i.e. the arm of the torso. DO NOT FORGET ABOUT EXTRUDE, MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS PULL OUT THE PART OF YOUR MODEL THAT YOU NEED TO BE PULLED OUT.  (Hold Z to undo if you accidently click on extrude) – Shift click to select multiple faces for extrusion. 

·     You can use the selections on the left to move, make bigger/smaller.

·     Make sure that you check your model from all possible angles to ensure that it isn’t flat block. PANELS > PERSPECTIVE (3D) & ORTHAGRAPHIC > FRONT/SIDE/TOP ETC. 

·     Underneath the movement buttons you can select “perspective” which will show you 4 mini screens showing your model from different angles so you can check it looks correct.  

·     You can use “smoothing” to times your polygons by 4 every time you use it.

·     While in 3D hit the “4” key so that you can see wire frame of your model. Hit “5” un textured. Hit “6” and it becomes textured but not lit.

·         FACE: Face of the model/shape.

·         EDGE: Edge of the shape/model. (Think of the cuboids) 

·        VERTEX/VERTCES: The corners of a shape.

·        Hit the space bar for the different views.

·        Games usually work with polygons.

·        “alt” makes you “tumble” around your creation. 

·        Right mouse click & vertex means you can move the corners of your object. 

·        World & ALT – double click “move object”. 

·        If you want to select 1 side face to move, just right click. 

·        “control D” duplicates the selected item.