Animation

Last week we were given our new practical module, you guessed it, animals and creatures. Initially this feels as if it has both advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, the advantages compared to previous topics are that there will be less technical hiccups as less rigging and less lip-sync will be employed.…

So, after a good 5-6 days of being able to thrash out the animation, it's starting to come together at last, as such I thought I'd share a bunch of things that have been a part of how it was brought together, or more specifically how it has evolved. PreProduction…

Despite thinking a few weeks ago that I had worked out the facial rigging system, the finer points of it, and my sanity temporarily, all said goodbye. To cut a very long story short, the rock-solid process that worked on the first model, didn't on the second. After many a…

Good news, after a considerably stressful couple of weeks, and in particular the last two days, I've managed to get hold of the second main character model for my project. On top of that, the facial rigging setup which I have not yet had to tackle loomed large. I had…

So, first things first, time for a time plan....... I feel this plan hangs together. It does mean that over the next 4 days I need to get all the blocking done. I'm sure that'll be fine, and other reassuring notes to self. And here's the storyboard. Although the general…

Being a Piratical shipwreck theme, the piece we are to develop is not easy to furnish with easily accessible rigs. Indeed, finding good quality character rigs is tricky, there a number of half-decent sites around that offer a limited range of rigs but nothing I could find quite hit the…

At the beginning of this month we received the audio track that will be the foundation of our current module - Character Animation. Working to the monthly deadline familiar to the 11 Second Club, we are to create our animations all planned, created and rendered to the deadline of March…

Lately I've been spending quite alot of time on a new essay. Based within our current module of character animation, the essay has been an exploration of Hogarth from The Iron Giant - one of my favourite animation films. Specifically the essay has been an exploration into the tools and…

It ain't easy! For anyone who wishes to be a good animator it's clear that poor lip-sync is really easy to see and not so easy to fix. Needless to say I managed to post a bit of a stinker online recently, only to be rudely clarified in the cold,…

Just when I thought it was becoming manageable, the level of difficulty just got raised; the project we are working towards in this unit is a lip-synced piece, put together with the 11 second club, a fine website offering the public a chance to submit work and to gain valuable…