Raff animates!

[RRR!] Sneak a peek

2012-03-03T23:48:00.002Z

Just a sneak a peek. Really early version of coming animation.
Day 3 it is.

To-Do:
- Add two more steps at the beginning
- Refine walk cycle
- Get rid of elbow popping
- Add some clumsy box moves aka not a perfect mime when stressed
- Refine shakes
- Add face expressions
- Refine crawling
- Refine dragging

[SFS] Insert Coin

2012-03-03T18:01:00.000Z

Simple kids race with vehicles becoming better and better on each level. But the fun has to end at some point..

Short created by final year students (Alisson Thiébaut, Beucler Louis, Garcia Tunon Nicolas and Mathieu Tiger) of the Albert Jacquard School of Namur, Belgium.

They used Max with v-ray for modelling, animation and rendering, ZBrush for details and Photoshop for textures. For rigging students used famous BonyFace plugin, which almost automatically does the hard job. It puts weighting and attaches controls. Simple and clever, huh?
Production time: 15 months.

Firstly, when I saw the thumbnail on Vimeo.com I thought 'hey! I know this rig! It looks like elevenrig which I use in my animations. I have to see it!'. But then, wow, it's not elevenrig but it looks awesome.
And yes, with colourful environments, this cute animation took my heart. Looks really charming with a little sense of competition. I knew it has to be imagination, but I expected that it will be in kids room or sandbox. Great idea with nice production.

Source:http://www.insertcoinlefilm.com/

Oanim

2012-03-03T17:33:00.000Z

So randomly googilng for some animaion inspirations I've found great site called Oanim.com.
Loads of newest animations with production details included.

Go now and check out http://www.oanim.com/

[Acting principles presentation] Clips

2012-03-02T19:20:00.002Z

So my presentation is ready.
Today I've finally chosen the clips I'm going to use.
It was really hard decision and took me couples of days.

Live action:
Leon the professional

Animation:
The Iron Giant

All I have to do is prepare to presentation on Tuesday.

[RRR!] Meeting and reference

2012-03-01T14:19:00.004Z

So, first of all, we had/still having meeting. We set up our scenes, refined scales (three different rigs) and helped Rachel K with texturing.
I guess the teamwork is going smoothly and we're having a lot of fun!

Also, I've made final reference of my animation. 34 seconds and there is nothing I can do to shorten it to be less than 30. I prefer having good quality (and clear) animation.

So today I start animating! Yay!

Green screen recording with James Harris

2012-02-29T19:05:00.001Z

Video courtesy of Rachel Kehoe.

Great day today! James Harris came to our reference shooting session to help us out with voicing and also he gave us some great ideas!
We performed our concept at the beginning and then he started improving our script.
So it was his idea to drag me at the end (great one!) and also he thought we might do our parts right after another.
He also gave great idea of suffocation in the box. Leaning rather than falling.

It was really nice to meet him, especially when he helped us a lot!

[RRR!] Poster

2012-02-28T13:37:00.001Z

So.. I was a bit bored so I made a poster.

[Sketch] Life drawing 27/02/2012

2012-02-28T00:16:00.000Z

[Drawings from last week coming soon]

ONE MINUTE SKETCHES

15 MINUTES SKETCHES

[RRR!] Scene environment v.2

2012-02-26T19:00:00.000Z

Simple scene with ambient occlusion pass.
Based on reference:

[SFS] The Chase

2012-02-25T20:13:00.001Z

Usual Short Film Saturday is about good shorts where everything is just perfect. But, this week is different after I saw 'The Chase' by Tomás Vergara.

Simple hitman job goes wrong. Yes. That's the story.
Authors note:
"My name is Tomás Vergara, a self taught 3d artist and a film nut. As for now, I’m 25. I was born in Chile and I live here. In 2011, I left my full time job in advertising to produce The Chase, my first personal project, completed in an isolated cabin in the woods. It took me 6 months to produce, but 8 in total to complete because of slow render times. My budget was US $700."

So, let's proceed with the good things, because it will be easier to start with.
The environment is lovely. Author took care of many details which really does its job.
The same thing is with the lighting. Great job.

And yes, this is all.
Now, the critique.
First of all, the character does not have any weight. Run cycle is HORRIBLE. Examples: 03:18, 04:43, 06:10. These shots just ruin the whole movie! It also applies to the walk cycle.
The moves are not natural and looks stiff. Example? Fight sequence. Animation principles? Screw animation principles!
Instead of being isolated in cabin in the woods - OBSERVE people. See how they move. And please.. read some books about animation.
Second thing which drives me crazy - SSS. Yes, we all know that SSS is really great and we should use it but here.. it was exaggerated. Twice. I do believe author can render skin, but real skin does not looks like that. Awful.
Third, we all know great shatter plugins with realistic physics. But here it is too much. We got like four or five shots where something gets destroyed. Looks like a plugin promo. Also, reminds me of Steven Seagal movies, when explosion was at the whole screen to show how much money they spent on that.
Another thing -going back to animation- in some parts characters are not moving at all, not even micro movements were applied. Okay, it can happen in one scene but entire movie? Come on! Examples? 01:30 and so on.
Last but not least, the story could be told in 3 minutes not 13! To me it's simple show-off to get a job as a generalist. Nothing more.
I do believe, a lot of effort was put in making this movie, but when you spend 8 months in creating a short, it better be good in every matter! In this case, it was better not leaving a job in advertising.

If you have 13 minutes and you're extremely bored, watch 'The Chase'.

Also, visit the official website to see the making of and other authors notes:
http://thechaseshortfilm.com

[RRR!] Scene environment

2012-02-25T16:16:00.001Z

Finally I had some time to create scene blockout.

We will use it for reference where character should stand and stop if he goes backstage.

Details/textures/lighting will be added after animation stage.

[RRR!] Rough Reference

2012-02-25T16:10:00.003Z

So.. we got the first version of monter-in-a-box reference.
The final one will be recorded on Wednesday's green screen session.

But for now, I like how it looks and more important - how long it is: 30 secs! Wohoo!
However, I still have to add some anticipation when character runs backstage. There will be some screams and fight sounds, then he crawls back.
Yeah, it's slowly getting shape.

[RRR!] Mime

2012-02-24T18:14:00.003Z

So I've modified (or better word is.. created) elevenrig textures for my mime animation and even posed to show his attitude - cautious/ a bit terrified.
Working on this was really easy till.. I've noticed how UV's are placed. Cut line is exactly in the middle of the body. That caused troubles with stripes on his back so I hat to cover it with black.. umm.. something. You can still see it on the left shoulder:

However, I'm not going to waste time on fixing those UVs so it will stay like that.

The hat has it own controller and it can be taken off for animation.

Also, I found some cool references:

[Final] [Insomnia] Mutant

2012-02-23T19:45:00.001Z

Cleaned up.
Exaggerated attacks.
Run beginning and ending

[RRR!] Concept change!

2012-02-22T16:25:00.001Z

So, at today's feedback session we discussed our ideas. Everything was fine.. except my performance with mime being late. Well, yes, I agree. Two shows where mime is getting injured or.. killed and then, my just being late. Boo-riiing!
So, we got another idea.
Mime comes up, just defines a box, opens it and.. a wild invisible raccoon appears and start scratching mime's face. He runs around and tries to get it off. Goes backstage and all we hear is fight sounds (and maybe some props thrown on the scene). Then, after a while, he comes back and says yeah, he's okay and ta-daaa.
We will polish it on tomorrows meeting but it seems great!

[RRR!] Character analysis sheet

2012-02-21T13:41:00.000Z

As I read the 'Acting for Animators' by Ed Hooks, I also took notes about character analysis.
Based on these notes I made a simple list of essential information about my character.

Character analysis sheet

01	Name	Anthony Mimekins
02	Male or female	Male
03	Age	25
04	Physical health	All fine. Rarely back pain caused by injury while he was a kid.
05	Appearance? Hygiene	Average. Cares about good appearance. Washes mime gloves everyday.
06	Intelligence	Intelligent, but sometimes does stupid things, like that time when he thought, that Dumbo is real.
07	Diet	Fast food, already prepared meals at home
08	Culture	Does not care
09	History	Travelled around the world to find a ticket to the ‘Willy Wonkas chocolate factory’. As soon as he realized that it is a lie, he studied Engineering in Paris. Then, while being there he thought he wants to be a mime so he dropped studies to achieve his life goals.
10	Religion	Flying Spaghetti Monster a.k.a Pastafarianism
11	Income	Actually none. Sometimes he acts on kids parties to cover monthly bills.
12	Occupation	Jobless mime
13	Education	Studied Engineering, but dropped in half way, because he always truly wanted to be a mime.
14	Sexual orientation	Straight
15	Sense of humour	Laughs at black humour
16	Family	His parents are living with Batman, because they are paid for it. Sometimes his mum sends him some cash.
17	Friends	No friends at all. But got loads of friends on Internet social website called Mimebook.
18	Inner rhythm	Positive! Even when things are bad he always smiles and sees the light.
19	Psychology (introvert, extrovert, etc.)?	Extrovert, very extrovert

[RRR!] Animatic

2012-02-21T00:02:00.000Z

Animatic for coming animation (my part) from studio 'RRR!'

Story:
Audition for next mime movie 'The Box'.
Number 24 is obviously late. He runs inside and tries to explain himself.
He was going to auditions theatre, it was a lovely day.
When suddenly! Out of nowhere!
A dragon appeared! And umm.. he was really scared!
But.. he drew his sword and bravely attacked that dragon.
When he defeated the monster he checked the watch. He realized he was really late and just started to run as fast as possible. TA-DAA!

Later, agreed he just played a video game so abashedly went home.

[RRR!] Second meeting

2012-02-20T15:04:00.002Z

So, today we had another meeting.
We finally came to conclusion what we want to do.
This will be audition for film called 'The Box'!. Clever, huh?
Three mains tricks:
- Suffocation aka trapped in a box - Rachel R
- Disarming a bomb in a box - Rachel K
- Late mime - Raff (apparently me)

Till Wednesday we will produce some animatics and character sheets.

Here are some of my sketches prepared for today's meeting:
(We got a scanner in Phoenix building! Woop woop!)

Late mime:

[Insomnia] [WIP] Mutant

2012-02-19T20:22:00.000Z

Okay, so after two days of work I got first version of Mutant animations.
My reference this time.. Left 4 Dead 2! I was working in labs and watching how zombies are being slayed.
Awesome!

More info:
http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/02/insomnia-mutant.html
http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/02/insomnia-mutant-rig.html

[SFS] Slug Invasion

2012-02-18T16:31:00.000Z

'Slug Invasion' is a story of an army of snails, which forced by hunger, cross the old lady's garden to get to the juicy flowers. However, the granny is planning to stop this invasion.

To create all the objects and environments, for eight months, students of Danish school of 'The Animation Workshop' have used programs such as Maya (models, lighting, rendering in MentalRay, animation), Photoshop and Mudbox (2D design, storyboard, texture) and Fusion for composition.

A great concept, pretty simple design and animation - nothing but admire.

Making of:

And for interested - snail rig.

[RRR!] First meeting

2012-02-17T14:42:00.001Z

Okay! So yesterday we had first meeting of our team project to discuss and come up with some ideas.
So far, we got three concepts:

1. Mime musical
One mime playing on a guitar, then puts it down and starts playing on a invisible one - which is a lot better
Second mime dancing or doing some tricks, then suddenly falls and swears loudly.
Third mime is late and explains why.

2. Circus audition
Three mimes has to present trick with a box. They can do whatever they want but still box has to be included. So probably it will be trapped in a box and gets out, trapped in a box and can't get out and a bomb in a box that causes real damage.

3. 'Normal' audition
Two first mimes doing classical mime tricks. Third one is rather modern one, doing conversation with audience with a help of sound files.

Also, we discussed many important things like:
- What's the difference between cookie and a biscuit?
- Cartoon physics
- ACME products and considering of putting 'ACME production line' in our resumes
- Did Daffy Duck use ACME weapon in 'Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century'? Answer: Yes, yes he did:

So now, over the weekend we have to produce some sketches and on Monday we have another meeting. Same purpose.

We also have our private group on Facebook where we discuss our ideas and help each other.

[Insomnia] Mutant Rig

2012-02-17T00:22:00.001Z

Just finished rigging. I've applied rig from MrDead and fun began.. had to weight the skin all over again. This is different geometry so it was quite hard to do but.. yes, it's done.
Also, I've added tongue controls (top-right, dark red circles) to make even more scarier animation!

To be honest, I can easily import previous animation (from MrDead) and just simply apply to a new model but.. for learning purposes I want to do run cycle and other animations again. I have to be in shape for next module, right?

Okay! That's enough about rigging. Tomorrow the real fun starts! Animation!

[Insomnia] Mutant

2012-02-14T19:30:00.000Z

Next character to rig and animate!
Ladies and gentleman, I introduce.. The Mutant!

He's adorable, isn't he?

Model by Lolonoa

Acting for Animators

2012-02-14T13:08:00.000Z

I'm really looking forward for tasks from newest module - Acting for Animators. Sounds like a lot of fun.

1. Acting Principles Presentation
There's always has to be a presentation. My topic to cover is 'A scene in negotiation'.
So, it's like two characters in a room with a one chair. The negotiation starts who should sit on that chair.
I've already borrowed 'Acting for animators' book by Ed Hooks. That will be great start for my presentation.

2. Mime task.
In a group of three, we create mime auditions. Everybody has to animate one character and then we will put it in one short film about auditions. The team is: 'RRR!' - Rachel, Rachel and Raff.
Also, as umm.. hmm.. 'maya expert' I'm going to teach or give advices for Rachel K how to easily and painless switch from Softimage to Maya. Fun fun fun!

3. Two-person dialogue
Basically, we get a sound clip from 11secondclub.com and animate both characters. That should be easy and fast to do, so I'll do my best with planning and all preparatory stage to get as many points as possible.

Animex!

2012-02-12T03:21:00.000Z

So, the Animex grande finale was yesterday. That was extremely amazing 5 days and I do not regret any money or time spent there.

What's animex?
Animex is the largest festival dedicated to animation and computer games in the UK. Speakers and representatives from the global animation and games community gather for a week every year to educate, inspire and entertain an audience made up of professionals, students and enthusiasts.

And short few words about each lecture from RED PASS perspective.

DAY 1

Welcome speech, really interesting as for 'boring' part of the day. Good to know the history, tradition and rules.

Next.. Alex Trowers with his 'Making Games? Great!' lecture.

Absolutely amazing presentation.. or.. not.. not even presentation. Alex made small game in Unity engine and from third person perspective we watched 'digital him' telling about making games and getting into industry. Really funny and informative lecture.

Great start for whole week.

Next was Ken Wong with 'Art Direction in Wonderland'. Breathtaking graphics and concept for amazing game called 'Alice: Madness returns' (continuation of game created like 10 years ago).

Inspiring graphics and also it was really interesting to know how did they make their game.

Then, lunch! Finally!

After really needed break we saw Alastair McIlwain talking about 'More beginnings than endings'.

That was purely games about lecture so I was paying more attention to my weariness. However, some animations from 'Hector' game were nice and really funny.

And... then that what was I waiting for whole day. Valve!

First, Jeep Barnett talking about 'Co-opting Portal 2’s cooperative testing initiative'. I haven't played cooperative game in Portal 2 so I was rather interested how it looks like than how they did it.

But still, watching something about that famous game was amazing!

Next, still staying in 'Portal 2' - 'The animated adventures of Portal 2' by Karen Prell. That was absolutely awesome! From concept, modelling, rigging, animating to in-game use of Wheatley character - my favourite one. Everything was done in Maya so it was feast to my eyes. Also, it was interesting to see unused animations which you can't see on Internet (yeah, that's a pitty, I'd love to see them again!).

Finally, the lectures has ended and I could go home.. not for so long! Fast dinner and run to 'Players lounge' to be part of chilling and endless talking about industry. In that way I listened to Karen Prell talking about getting into Valve and also about their international team. Still chance for me! I've exchanged cards (yes! I actually have Karen Prell's card!) and asked for some feedback about my portfolio.

Then, auction came. Lots of fun and.. money! Great job everyone!

Couple of minutes after eleven I went home and almost instantly fallen asleep.

DAY 2

Games again! Teagan Morrison talking about 'Overview of Environment creation for games in Uncharted 3.' As I know UDK (Unreal Development Kit - game engine) I was amazed how they solved problems with stability and rendering, which I always had. Also, when I saw they 'automatic snow' shader in Maya (automatically applies snow on the top of the mesh) my mind has blown. Very nice and interesting speech.

Then, famous Ed Hooks with 'Make them care – a primer on empathy in games'. That was the best lecture over those few days. Ed didn't need presentation to give us his precious knowledge.
Basically, the whole lecture was about acting. Acting as a thought.

Here are some interesting notes I took:
When we read facial expressions and make eye contact?
Speaker: 40%
Listener: 80%
So, when we speak, our facial expressions are really important. It helps reading the thought.

When we blink? (in a matter of acting)
- At the end of the thought
- As a confirmation of thought

I've got some more, but if you weren't there it won't make any sense for you.

Anyway, it was really funny and interesting lecture! I want more!

And actually I had more. Right after lunch break we went to Greg building to show off with our work in front of Ed Hooks and Siobhan.

Ed gave us really great tips and tricks, which we, young animators have. We think technically how we should approach the project. But then, we should actually think more about personality and empathy.

That was really precious lesson.

Before you animate, ask yourself:
Who the character is talking to? Get into character.
Turn sound off and check if you are missing the thought.
What's character holding? Is it important for understanding the scene? Put dialogue when it's really necessary. Where's the scene set?
Start the animation at the thought - it will make it stronger.
EXPRESS the thought, then the words/lip sync.

When you make your reference - concentrate eyes on the object (like I did - I used chair for my lip sync ref) - pretend there is something. Like actors in the theatre do.

That was show n tell session.

I shown my 'Lip sync' task. As for everybody he talked for about 15 minutes about each project, he.. well.. he couldn't say much about mine.

I played once my animation, and then.. silence. I look at him and he looks at me and says:

'Well, I'm really sorry but I can't help you.'

I almost died.

Then he continued:

'Your animation is really great and I don't see anything bad in it'

I was standing there, in front of everybody (at least 15 people; almost fainted) and.. couldn't believe what I just heard.

I don't remember what I said but he continued talking about he feels empathy, that the character is possibly talking to someone not visible in shot, and even without sound he could fully understand what this clip is about.

I still couldn't believe that I did that but.. yes, that was amazing. After hundreds of thanks I went to my seat and took deep breath.

Thankfully, my day has ended really early (in the middle of other lectures), so I could rest at home.

DAY 3

Workshops day. Unfortunately for me, I didn't buy any ticket (I was counting for Eric Goldber this year; however after Tuesdays speech I regret I didn't go for Ed Hooks lecture), so I simply stayed at home and had some more sleep than couple of hours. Then, came back to uni and worked on 'Insomnia' animation.

DAY 4

Max Howard started this day talking about 'The road to the Oscars'. Interesting lecture about requirements and rules. Also, he talked about a minute which kind of shorts/films are more expected to win than the others.
Rules:
- Film has to contain character or abstract.
- Three days of screening in LA county
- It has to be on a film tape 35mm/70mm
- NO student films

OR

- Other awards qualify (you have to prove it)
- Students MAY qualify by winning gold medal in Annies awards

Next was lecture '3D or not 3D' presented by Hans Rijpkema. Basically 3D =/= stereoscopy. Hans talked about breakdowns of 'Yogi Bear' movie and also the theory of stereoscopy.

Good to know, even if I'm not a big fan of this.. blasphemy!

Lunch!

'The animation ladder' by Curtis Jobling. Feast for concept artists and designers, however I enjoyed his talk.

Then, Ben White presented 'Elementary my dear Watson'. Breakdowns of great scenes from even greater movie 'Sherlock Holmes 2'. THAT WAS AMAZING! I watched this movie twice and I would never tell that some characters are CG as well as background or objects.

Inspiring talk!

Then, well, the sad truth about animation industry in UK presented by Oliver Hyatt. Well, I known there is recession, but I would never expect that this is in huge scale. Advantage of this talk was showing the existing problems and good thing is that there are people fighting with government for us, animators. Keep it going and good luck!

After short break at home I went to 'Animator's lounge'. Same as previous one, but this time with bunch of people from animation industry. This time I went almost to everybody to listen and ask some questions. Also, I've given like 10 cards and asked for feedback. That was great opportunity to do that, so I couldn't miss it.

DAY 5

Last day? Oh no!

That was Harry Potter day!

First, Rick Leary with 'Harry Potter, The Final Chapter'. Same as Ben White's lecture: Breakdowns which blown our minds. Even more characters in CG that when I'm still looking at shots now, I can't tell the difference between real actors.

Then, Shelley Page with 'Shelley's eye candy'. She presented 10 shorts from various festivals around the globe. 'Paths of hate' by Platige Image was also included! Beautiful Polish accent!

Lunch lunch lunch and then 'Meet the Recruiters' with Celine Beunier (Recruiter, Framestore), Sophie Jenkins (Double Negative), Rachelle Lewis (Owner/President Rachelle Lewis Talent), Ben Owen (Recruiter, MPC) and Shelley Page.

Bunch of useful information of getting into industry. Also, great tips about portfolio and reels.

CV, Reel - has to be short and simple. Show your skills and which software you use.
Make two reels (one for animation, one for generalist)
Put it on Vimeo (better quality than YouTube), make it downloadable
Before you go on a interview, lookup your interviewers on LinkedIn

For animators, the reel should include:
- Acting
- Reference
- Maybe few life drawings
Make it simple with CLEAR action

Next was 'From Teesside to Hogwarts' by Dan Zelcs. Story about graduating from Teesside and ending up in MPC. Also, really nice breakdowns and from Harry Potter.

Last but NOT least, 'Setting the scene' by famous Fraser MacLean. And that was really nice of seeing somebody with passion of classical animation. I could listen to him talking about Disney's and animation golden age times for ages! Great finale of Animex.

SUMMARY

It is really hard to sum up such a great event. Amazing speakers, interesting lectures, awesome lounge events and.. that atmosphere! Whoa! Definitely coming next year!

Worth any money!

Source:
Animex.net
Beautiful photos by Christine Wilson
Ugly photos by me

[SFS] Bugs' Race

2012-02-11T23:40:00.001Z

The film tells a funny story of worms race in the grass. The prize in the race is to rule over the meadow, so every player wants to win at all costs. The main characters - a spider, snail, ants, beetles and mysterious caterpillar will do everything in their power to eliminate competitors.

A short film made in computer animation technique by two students - Ania Jurkiewicz and Andrzej Ellert - of the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Warsaw. The main inspiration for the film was Pixar's 'A Bug's Life'. Work on the film took two years and ended in 2008. The entire animation was created in Autodesk Maya. Music and sound were created in a studio Cafe Ole. Snail character voiced by a famous Polish actor Arkadiusz Jakubik.
I rembember how I was fascinated in this movie couple of years ago. For the polish industry that was a sign, that a new generation may be interested doing things possible only in other countries.

But, now I see couple of things that might be done better, such as sticking more to animation principles or even silly thing as industry standard 16:9 pixel aspect ratio.

However, this is a nice piece of animation and great job was done by only two students.

Source: http://www.bugsracemovie.com

[Insomnia] MrDead final

2012-02-11T22:57:00.002Z

So, it seems it is final version.
Cleaned up every animation and exaggerated some animation principles.

Added run beginning and ending.
Speeded up attack.
Added secondary attack.

[Insomnia] MrDead

2012-02-08T22:21:00.001Z

Two days of work and I got first version (still WIP) of animations.
Sent back for feedback.
More info about the project: http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/01/insomnia-is-coming.html

[SFS] The Great Escape!

2012-02-05T12:38:00.000Z

The sun is an average guy who makes performing in the weather forecast every day. He is responsible for a place on the map, which is to be sunny. Nothing big, in other words, he does the set design. And so every day for several years. He has had enough of the monotonous and boring work, wants something more from life. Once he decides to escape from the boring reality, coincidence makes the sun hits the screen inside the 'black box'. There is a surreal world, full of iron, cables and electronic components. It turns out that the sun is not alone..

The film was made in three months based on the technique of 3D and classical animation. The primary objective was to deprive the story of all philosophical thoughts. The audience should have fun, not tracing the hidden message.

Damian Nenow got the idea of such a film while he was mindlessly watching TV. Then he thought that the sun should get out of this box.

The film has a few years, however it is still looking good. A simple sunshine rig and little complex environment made working on this film pure pleasure (I think so). Well done.

Watch video on Google Video.

Source: Press release

[Insomnia] Finally!

2012-02-03T21:39:00.003Z

Oh yes, finally I've got some time on casual animating.
I've got MrDead in Maya and just started my work. This will keep me in shape during ANIMEX.

[Animation Practice 2] Comparison

2012-02-02T22:36:00.001Z

Did I learn something during module?
YES! Yes I did.
See the video and enjoy moment of victory with me.

Comparison of first and last version of each task.

Animation web resources

2012-02-02T20:49:00.000Z

Long time ago I borrowed many books about animation. I didn't have Internet at home so all days I was reading these books and noted down their resources, because some day I may need one.
As you may be interested, I will share my links:

ActionScript.org
For flash only, but principles/rules apply to 3D.

AfilmLA.blogspot.com
Films production, advices and great knowledge source.

Animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com
Original backgrounds from various types of animations. Great page if you don't feel good in modelling.
Not updated any more, but still there are loads of images to browse.

Animationguildblog.blogspot.com
DAILY updates about animations, also many thoughts of PROs.

Animationideas.com
Loads of great advices for animators.

Animationpodcast.com
Many professional animators creates their podcasts for FREE. Worth seeing!

Animationshow.com
Showcase of world's greatest independent animated short films.

Cartoonbrew.com
Animation news and trends - DAILY.

Cartoonresearch.com
Info about classic cartoons.

Cgchar-animation.com
Great society of animators. However, due to technical problems they had to close their webpage. You can still joing LinkedIn group to receive updates.

Coldhardflash.com
Flash resources.

Dekku.blogspot.com
Shorts and ads!

Drawn.ca
Inspiration for animations and drawings.

Jasonryananimation.com
Great tutorials for beginners.

Keithlango.com
Everything that animator needs! Great animator share his knowledge.

Meathaus.com
Sketches and comics. Great inspiration.

Splinedoctors.com
Podcasts and tutorials by professional animators. It's free!

Thehobbitguy.com
Tutorials and other links resources.

Sketch storm!

2012-02-02T19:49:00.000Z

So finally I made my way to library scanner. Afraid of quality (like last time..) I switched from PDF to JPG and set scan quality to high.
And.. yes! Looking good. However, I had to redraw some action lines but it still better than drawing those 16 pages again.
This is how I filled my first sketchpad. Got to go for another one.

Sketches

Dance task storyboard:

1/5

2/5

3/5

4/5

5/5

Lip sync task storyboard:

1/2

2/2

Right text in right time

2012-02-02T16:39:00.001Z

I've been Animationideas.com subscriber for a long time and always when I've got deadline coming really soon I go back to this text:
http://animationideas.com/deadlines-versus-perfectionism/

Which is better? Ask for extension (or two) and tweak animation till death or.. leave it like it is and start doing next one.

With my small (but always) experience I say: Leave it!
Then I think: Okay, this animation is not the best I ever made but hey, I got time, next one will be better, and then another will come and it will be even better!

Optimism? Yes! Insanity? A bit.
But when I look at my previous work at the moment, I see that I was right. My knowledge along with experience goes up and up.

The Animation Workshop 2012

2012-02-02T16:00:00.000Z

Bachelor films are out!
Watch them over here: http://www.animwork.dk/en/bachelor_films_2012.asp

My favourite:

Beautiful design, great concept and adorable animation. Great work!

[Final] Dance REV

2012-02-02T01:33:00.000Z

So.. finally, I think I came to final version.

But first. What caused so many modification? Just one thing - environment.
I don't know WHY I chosen museum as a background.. Its shape (not-shot friendly) caused my problems with staging. I could make it bigger. But well.. I've decided to solve it like it is and thanks to feedback sessions I think I solved my staging problem.
In this version I've changed:
- Rotation - Instead 180 - 360! Full turn solved problem with shock 'what was really happening?!'. Now, it just a 360 turn to start the dance
- Changed shots - no centred cameras
- Turned character by 180 degrees. Now it is facing proper direction.
- Get rid of AO completely. Instead I've tweaked render settings - no shadow/light flickering.

As I had to render everything again, I've created new files version. But.. my previous versions (keep it as backup) took around 300 MB at renderspace and.. I couldn't see which file I just created. So, I've created new folder '01022012' and put proper file names like 'RENDERCAM_1' as cameras names.

Then, I've created list of frames/cams to render:

Everything was clear for me so I've added files to render:

Then, it was easy. I had saved previous composition in Premiere. Just replaced frames and ready!

Huh.. I really hope it is over. I'm really tired of this project (well, not only this one). And also, yes, I'm tired overall :P

ANIMEX ANIMEX ANIMEX

[Final] Lip sync REV3

2012-02-01T22:20:00.002Z

I think this time it is really final version.
Well, as usually feedback gave positive results. Shown above.

Also: My 100th post! Yay! :-)

Feedback 01/02/2012

2012-02-01T12:00:00.001Z

And today's soup du jour is:

1. Lip sync

Offset some poses to match the lip sync

2. Presenter

Nothing! Yaay! I mean, there maybe are some glitches in lip sync, but.. yeah.. it's okay and everybody is happy.

3. Dance

Delete the first turn
Turn around the background
Change camera1 shot - not in center

Bon appétit!

[Final] Dance

2012-01-31T23:50:00.001Z

What's new?
- New camera shots (180 rule!)
- Including close-up
- Wides/open - lowered down
- Get rid of ambient occlusion - used only at 6% so.. yeah, don't need that actually
- Refined elbow movement (while rotating)

New camera shots:

[Final] Presenter task REV

2012-01-31T23:29:00.000Z

Revamped version.
Worked on:
- Lip sync (working with corners, fixing)
- Oh-shit guy :F
- Changed lighting - brighten up

Sorry, I just left my brain somewhere else so.. yeah, that's it for now :-)

[Final] Lip sync REV2

2012-01-31T22:06:00.004Z

Umm, yeah.. this time tweaked lip sync (something new, isn't it?) and changed first blinks.. just a bit.
Also, changed lighting, not as dark as earlier.

Feedback 31/01/2012

2012-01-31T11:27:00.004Z

Feedback! So we meet again.
To-do:

1. Talk about

Lips corners
Blinks

2. Awards

Lips corners
‘O-shit’ - faster?

3. Dance

Staging
Add different shot - close-ups maybe
Drop one elbow during first rotation
Wides/opens - down!

Cards!

2012-01-30T23:12:00.002Z

So ANIMEX is coming here. I asked my sister, also graphic artist - now - architect, to design cards for me.
As I like minimalistic style and here it is - she done well!

Second side is 'entertaining'. You have to rotate to read it clearly. Then, 'A' looks like it should and also.. you just done a motion with your wrist! Well done, you're almost an animator!

Me - Before and After

2012-01-29T19:26:00.001Z

Me during Christmas break

Me two weeks after Christmas break

Me at labs - 2 am.

Me during ANIMEX week

[AP2] Presentation

2012-01-28T22:11:00.000Z

Please find presentation about 'How to train your dragon' here:

Click click click!

[AP2] Animation principles

2012-01-28T22:01:00.001Z

Well, at the beginning of this module, we were said that this is THAT stage when our animation level goes BOOOM! Up!
And.. well.. I can't fully agree more.
This is why I'm here. I knew I can create animation, but before this course I had no idea what animation principles are. That was my aim - to learn the basics - which I skipped before.

Now, when I animate I automatically think which animation principles I should use in current move and how it should be done.
Feedback gave me more experience. I've learned why and when I should change my action lines and why reference should be exaggerated, or at minimum, animation of it shouldn't be exactly the same.
This module favorite word is: exaggeration.

Just before my MA course I was told:

"Why do you want to waste your money? Go to work! You got portfolio, you can easily grab something".

This is the answer. That's why. I don't know how many things I don't know, but the less is better and this is my aim here.

For now, my little victory is knowing of animation principles.

Great module, gave me a lot of experience.

Can't wait for more!

[WIP] Dance RC1

2012-01-28T21:10:00.001Z

So at this stage it was mainly post-production.
It started from Rachel's suggestion, that it is not so obvious, that music is played from headphones.
So I've started thinking how I can show it. Rachel told, that character can put on headphones and start dancing but.. well, that causes some problems like from where she takes headphones or should music be playing instantly after headphones are on the head..

Meanwhile, Scott dropped an idea to lower the volume on long shots, and vice-versa.
Great idea, right? So in Adobe Audition I've started playing with sound and made it to sound like from headphones. Then, last thing to do was in Premiere..

This is how it looks my composition now. After long time of processing (frames are still on render space, so it takes a while till Premiere will get them on local cache) I got the results!
Great! Now.. wait a minute.. still something is missing.. Ah yes! Motion blur!
So fast switch on Adobe After Effects and.. voila!
Release candidate 1

However, I wanted to add some special effects like sun rays and floating dust. I watched couple tutorials how to do it but it was not working in my scene. Shame.. Volumetric lights is a thing which I haven't touched in Maya. I can do dust particles - it's not a problem - but without sun rays it looked silly.
Rendering interiors is a pain for me. I had many, many problems with eyes speculars.They are still visible in some frames, but with my current knowledge there is nothing I can do about it.

Can't believe it is over. It took me so many hours to complete this task.
And remember what I was saying in first post? (http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/01/dance-reference-also-animation-student.html)

I think this is the hardest animation I had to do in my entire life (always too ambitious), but also, I can't wait for effects!My only hope is not to end like on undergrad..

And guess what? I AM REALLY PROUD OF MYSELF.
Whole production time I was thinking 'No.. I can't make it. This clip/dance is cursed and I will never be good enough to make it look good'.
And yes, it was the hardest animation in my entire life. It's really difficult to make every move flow, without twists and popping.

Trying to count how long animating this took me.. well.. 9 hours daily multiplied by 11 days.. OH-MY..
I'm really happy with the results and can't wait for Animex week to have a rest and read some books. However, still got couple of days and I have to spend them on drawing, because I concentrated only on animation leaving some time before the deadlines.

Software used:
Autodesk Maya, Adobe: Photoshop; Audition; Premiere; After Effects.

[SFS] Undo

2012-01-28T20:44:00.000Z

'Undo' is a history of a man who found himself in a rather unusual library, where every book is a description of someone's life. Discovering his own history, he tries to change his fate, but whether that interference will change his life for better?

Short animated film by Marcin Wasko based on his own screenplay. The film won the grand prize at the festival Animago in 2003.

Work on the film began in June 2002. Initially, black and white version was designed mainly for the festival purposes. Work took around four months.
After finishing the first version of "Undo" it was decided to transfer the photosensitive film to tape and for next three months of work to prepare the film to transfer it to 35mm film tape. To the new color version of "Undo" a new binding sound was prepared and implemented, which was created from scratch in Kuba Pietrzak studio - Post Meridian.

The film is done in very beautiful colors, using modern techniques of animation. The style is done in a subtle way specifically telling it's story. Music is illustraded in an interesting way, giving reminescent atmosphere like we could see in 'Cathedral' by Tomek Baginski - the flagship production of Platige Image studio.

[Final] Presenter task

2012-01-26T03:12:00.001Z

Okay! So after minor changes in lip sync (yes, I can agree again - there was some miss match) I present you the final version!
I really like this project, I must say. I can tell that by laughing every time I see it. Strange, isn't it?

~~Huh, okay. I think I will put some summary soon, but now it is 3:12 am so it's high time going to bed.~~

Whole animation took me around a week. I've used Maya, After Effects, Premiere and Photoshop.

So I've started whole work by painting textures in Photoshop:

Of course I could model everything but.. it would be time wasting.
Then, customized characters and finally started animating.
In one day I've done lip sync (which wasn't really hard) and started doing the face expressions.

Next, fast environment modelling (really simple plane and that.. oh.. I have no idea what it is called (even in Polish) high.. table?) and simple light tests.

Finally, I've animated second character and put playblasts in After Effects:

Then, rendered the results and imported in Premiere to add the intro.

After several feedbacks (repeating the whole process again and again) you can see the results above.
Great project, lots of fun!

[Final] Lip sync REV

2012-01-25T19:55:00.000Z

Just revised version.
Now, lip sync should match the video.

Also, I've added some space after movie for fade out.

[Final] Lip sync

2012-01-25T01:35:00.000Z

Rendered out with ambient occlusion pass.
Also, I've changed T,S phonemes, because of last changes it kind of disappeared.

Lot of work on this project, but overall I'm very happy of the final results.
Very big thanks to Remi, who gave me really great feedback on facebook.
Learned a lot during this task.
I now what are micromovements and how important they are in animation.
Also, Remi shared few links:

http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/acting_it_out
http://www.carlosbaena.com/2011/01/micromovements/

The second one helped me to make correct eyes movement. I fully recommend reading those sources.

There is nothing special to say about post-production stage. Just added Ambient Occlusion pass and finished the lighting.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Newer version of animation is available here:
http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/01/final-lip-sync-rev.html

[WIP] Presenter task RC1

2012-01-25T01:32:00.002Z

So here is version 4.0 rendered out with ambient occlusion pass.
Looking good :-)
And I think there is nothing more to say for now. Tomorrow is show-n-tell so we will see if this version is okay.

[WIP] Dance v.2.0

2012-01-25T01:28:00.000Z

Here it is. Revised and cleaned version - and as mentioned couple posts before - I like it.
Also, I've added first camera shots, which I may change in later versions.
However, I like like it is now. Still, last ten seconds needs more work.
Beside, I have to do animation before the dance. Maybe.. tomorrow.

Render farm

2012-01-24T18:36:00.002Z

OMG! I think I'm going to cry because... RENDER FARM IS WORKING!
Yes, just submitted my lip sync task and what do you know.. I got the frames!

Ah! I'm soooo happy!

[WIP] Dance - v.2 - test version

2012-01-24T13:18:00.000Z

Right, test version here of exaggerated dance. So I've kinda used my reference (mine reference shown on youtube) and added some clumsy moves.
Not as 'perfect' as previous one but.. maybe it's better?
Don't mind the ending, which completely sucks..
Oh and the guard guy will appear in different shot so.. yeah, don't mind him either.

And just some thoughts.. When at first feedback I heard from Penny, that my animation looks exactly like my reference.. well.. I was really sad, because clearly that was my aim. I was afraid I have to start everything from the scratch, which would be simply too hard for me, especially when deadline is coming.But then, I've talked to Scott about this and he gave me great advice.Now, that I've got first layer of animation I have to give some life into this. Exaggerate moves, make it more teen-a-like.So I did.As you see.. it's better, a lot better.For me this is the best example why I'm studying animation on MA degree. I could be working now but.. I'm glad I'm still learning. Each feedback gives me more knowledge, and with more knowledge my animations will be better and better.And you know what? I love that feeling, when you start seeing your experience boost.Comparing to my previous animations, I still think 'how the hell I liked that few months ago?'.

[WIP] Dance - Museum

2012-01-23T00:27:00.000Z

So here is museum of animation and shapes!
Yes, made it really easy and anti-time wasting.

However, I have to optimize render time. Now it takes one minute to render single frame. Too much when render farm is not working. Why it's not working? Ask technicians.

Okay, now I will concentrate on animation before: "Bored, looking around, then shock, and dance"
And later, some security guard interrupts dance.

Doh, I'm tired.

@UPDATE 23/01/2012 01:16
Render time: 0:24
And better quality! I'm awesome!

I would love to render Ambient Occlusion here to create lovely shadows.. but.. I can't simply lower the quality.. so the render time of AO frame is.. almost two minutes. Not happening!
So this time no shadows.. Sorry for that. Unless.. render farm starts working.

[WIP] Dance v.1.0

2012-01-22T20:45:00.000Z

Huh, had hard couple of days animating this.
So, as I mentioned before, whole animation is done with FKs. God bless for FKs!

I had many problems with knees popping and bone twists so took me really long time to repair everything.
See the previous version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DTBC_GWmvw

And now, see the first version I'm really happy about:

As Rachel and Scott suggested, I've changed the gender to female. It was a lot easier to preserve female moves than make it male-a-like.
Huh, okay. Now it goes for feedback and meanwhile I concentrate on animation that is before and after the dance. Also: I will make sunny museum hall.

[SFS] The Kinematograph

2012-01-21T19:29:00.000Z

Francis, a modest city clerk and self-taught inventor had -seemingly - everything he wanted. A great house in a small town, a lof of spare time and a loving wife.
Unfortunately, he also had obsession about inventions.
The latest invention of Francis had to be a revolution. He had to change the world, start a new era.
Francis was a perfectionist so he polished every element, each detail with precision encountered only at geniuses and madmen.
He called his invention 'Kinematograph'. Francis believed, that when he finishes his job, he will be happy. He only forgot that happiness does not last forever.

Realization
The making of a short film turned out to be a real challenge for the Platige Image team as they had never had to face anything like that before. About fifty graphic artists took part in this enterprise. For almost a year, they were working on bringing Francis the Inventor's story to life on the screen. 270 processors at a total power of 675 GHz, i.e. one third computing power of the whole Studio. The film includes 17,250 frames, 40,000 frames in strips. 5,000 trees with 10,000 leaves and 100,000 polygons each were created in the computers' memory. There are eighteen characters and seventy-four props in "The Kinematograph”. The whole film weighs over 1.5 terabytes.

My commentary
Gorgeous render, with a lot of backgrounds and hand-painted textures in short film based on Polish comic by Mateusz Skutnik.
Another great production by Polish animation studio - Platige Image - shows us the curse of perfectionism and what really matters in our lives.
I don't think if I have a right to criticise the animators but I think the lip sync could be more exaggerated. Or maybe it is made on purpose..
Baginski told that their aim was to create as much realistic light as possible and I think they did great!

Great inspiration for character design.

Source:
Pressbook

Animators in their natural habitat

2012-01-20T22:53:00.001Z

Now, sit down and relax!
See how animators act in their natural habitat!

Long story short: I've recorded my reference (which I didn't upload) and Mark asked if anybody wants to give a try.
As the dance moves are quite hard (it took me three days to learn), Mark suggested I should stand in front and the rest should just do the same.
And as you see, it worked out!
Perfect memories!

We are students! We are animators!

[WIP] Dance - Sneak a peek 3

2012-01-20T22:48:00.002Z

Ok, so I've finished whole video.
Now it is time for bug fixes!

Stay tuned!

[WIP] Lip sync RC1

2012-01-20T01:55:00.000Z

So, here it is. Release Candidate 1.
As said before - changed lip sync.
Also: I've rendered it out and added Ambient Occlusion.

However, I have to revise 'S' phoneme which apparently got lost somewhere..

[WIP] Dance - Sneak a peek 2

2012-01-20T01:51:00.001Z

Still, LOTS of mistakes and popping.
(Didn't change the animation from yesterday, just going forward).

Just showing the progress, because it takes ages!
However, I'm doing whole animation on FKs, I guess.
Most comfortable way to do dance.
Day two it is.

Oh Maya, I love you

2012-01-19T22:11:00.002Z

Just before saving my today's work Maya have decided to crash.
So, I've lost 4 hours progress. It is so nice, that our technicians (IF they exist) haven't set auto backup file as default setting.
So, apparently I did it. Updated my Maya CopyPasta settings.
No more lost work!

But still, it is disappointing..

@EDIT (1h18m later) Well, I've done it better, faster and well.. I must be lucky :-) Got better way to animate now.

[WIP] Dance - Sneak a peek

2012-01-19T01:23:00.001Z

Not even an alfa version.
Got my first animation. Added inbetweens and there you have it. I even didn't move all controllers.
As you can see there is A LOT of bugs or bones popping, so just enjoy this moment with me.
This is day one.

I'm exhausted. It is really hard to animate dance.
Thankfully, this rig has switchable IK/FKs so my work is going quite flow.

[WIP] Presenter task v.4.0

2012-01-18T21:45:00.001Z

Oh hi! Didn't expect you here..
Since you're here, just read what I have changed in this version:

- Changed layout - I don't like it but.. we will see how far it goes
- Eye contact with audience
- Phonemes lowered down

--
Also, I think I will change the speed of minimizing presenter window. It's way too fast, and I didn't see it in AE.

[Short] A Good Wife

2012-01-18T20:23:00.004Z

I've just seen one of the most confising movies ever.
Georgious animation, beautiful render and perfect music creates astonishing mood.
Then, when I watched it second time I understood the message.
Great short!

Also: I might use that color pallet and render type in my final animation. That is what I was thinking about.

Dance - Reference (also: Animation student)

2012-01-18T14:23:00.000Z

Do you recognize this video?

I'm sure you do!
This advert was made by T-Mobile couple of years ago and with huge impact it could be seen around the world.
Needless to say, this brilliant video was so good, I've decided to make animated version of it in.. 2009. Yes, I was young and stupid animator who could barely use Maya, but with wild idea of making it.
The level of my animation was perfect for my mark - I got: D-.
So, I've deleted the animation from over the Internet and totally forgotten about it.

But, couple of days ago another wild idea appeared in my kinky mind - Why won't I try to do it again?
At first, I thought, I'm insane and I should not step the same river twice but then, with the lack of other ideas for DANCE TASK, I thought it might be a good idea.

So, brief scenario is:
1. Empty museum/library/quiet place. A guy with headphones walks around and looks at things.
2. Suddenly, track changes to 'Do you love me' by The Contours
3. Positively shocked, closes his eyes and start to do the T-Mobile dance:

4. As soon as choreography ends (around 40 seconds), he opens his eyes and see the guard staring at him like o_O
5. Shot on our dancer with stupid smile and CUT!

Now, fun part. From two days I'm trying to LEARN THE MOVES. Yes! You read correct.
I think I'm able to do this on Friday, when we will shoot our reference but.. I will see if I can make it.

Probably, I will just do it for fun (and to tell someday my grandchildren how grandpa's twisted mind is) so I already started animating body with reference shown above.
Yesterday, for TWO hours I was doing 6 seconds of animation - hips, knees and feet ONLY.

I think this is the hardest animation I had to do in my entire life (always too ambitious), but also, I can't wait for effects!
My only hope is not to end like on undergrad..

Today's TO-DO list

2012-01-18T13:55:00.000Z

So today is Wednesday, which is SHOW n' TELL day.
I got good feedback from everybody and I'm not hesitating to use it.

LIP SYNC TASK
- Lower down UPs and DOWNs
- Lower down WIDEs

PRESENTER TASK
- Change the layout - Presenter centred - Nominated actors around him
I will be honest here. I don't like this idea. I've imagined my layout completely different - as in real Oscars ceremony. But.. I will do it and see how it looks like.
- Make eye contact with the audience
- Same as in lip sync task - lower down phonemes

One word about my exaggerated phonemes - I like to make my lip sync more dynamical, that's why I got so big 'wides' and 'downs'. But, as I'm not professional animator and I might be wrong, I will submissively change it.

Then, if I still got time, I will continue my DANCE task, which I'm going to briefly describe in my next post.

Insomnia is Coming!

2012-01-18T13:34:00.000Z

Couple of weeks ago, I have received an interesting e-mail, titled: 'Animator needed for FPS game'.
At first, I was sure it's a scam or another fake e-mail to subscribe something but.. further reading showed, that it is a real game developed by over 300 people from all over the world, including many artists from contests like Dominance War.
Then, I was sweetened by phrase 'which must be animated with such master like You.'
Yes! I know it's a template sent to hundreds, but still.. it's nice :-)
An interesting thing is, the team is driven by one man - Krzysztof 'Mr Game' Galus. Yes, he is Polish, which also amazes me (not many games are produced in Poland).

So, technically, this horror game is based on free game engine called FPSCreator.
At first, I was really concerned about that. Why won't they use something more professional like UDK or write their own engine but.. the point of the game is to prove, that no engine matters but script and graphics.
Here is technical demo created long time ago (so it's probably not actual at all):

The team has 50 members (+300 people, who donated game by their models) from countries like Italy, India, Iran, Korea, China, Australia, Russia or USA. Everybody works online, like SO/HO.

My duties are Rigging (most of the characters are not rigged and as far as I know the team has only few of riggers) and Animating.
The first character I have to animate (fortunately not rig) is sweet named 'Mr Dead':

model by Kruku

I have to animate 24 frames cycles like:

- Getting of the meat (yes, meat) walls

- Reaction, when sees the player

- Run

- Attack

- Damage from player

- Death

I have got the model but.. it's in MAX format. Well, as I'm MAYA animator, I have to wait till somebody exports rig to fbx file.. which is okay with me, because now I have much things to do on uni.

Here is an example of previous work from our team:

This post is an perfect example of how you should take care of your portfolio and make it looking good for potential employers.

Maya CopyPasta!

2012-01-15T21:03:00.000Z

Maya CopyPasta! v.1.0
Grab your stick and double click!

So, I was really tired of setting everything (settings, projects) up everyday. As our technicians are REALLY lazy and can't do their job.. I came up with a solution.

Couple of years ago, I used to be a programmer (rather my mathematician hobby). So.. I've written short batch file which will copy all my settings with one click!
Yes!

As I'm Good Guy Greg, I want to share it with you!

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.rafalschubert.com/Files/MayaCopyPasta.zip

Working on uni machines (Windows 7 x64).

PREPARATION
Copy everything from Maya settings folder:
C:\Users\USER_NAME\maya\2012-x64
Don't copy a folder, but folders inside (prefs, presets, scripts).

Then, paste it to your stick/external hard drive/student drive.
For example, student drive:
U:\settings
So in 'settings' folder we will find those three folders mentioned above.

Next, right click '!Maya CopyPasta! and open with notepad.
Set your student number and from patch (if it's different) and save the file.

DA JOB
Double click.
Check if patch and your student number is correct.
If it is, just press 'ANY' key.

YAY! Done :-)
Then just store this file on your drive (or student drive) and run when needed.

If intrested, I can make CopyPasta! for other software you use.

Animations in 2012

2012-01-14T17:29:00.000Z

The Pirates!
Release date: 28 March

Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.

Ice Age: Continental Drift
Release date: 06 July

Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
Release date: 27 July

A 12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

Brave
Release date: 17 August

Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

ParaNorman
Release date: 14 September

A misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

Frankenweenie
Release date: 05 October

Young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.

Hotel Transylvania
Release date: 12 October

Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Release date: 19 October

Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo join a traveling circus in an effort to get back home to New York.

Rise of the Guardians
Release date: 30 November

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and the Sandman band together to form a united front against the Bogeyman.

Source:
IMDB.com
Press releases

[SFS] The Ark

2012-01-14T01:38:00.000Z

Unknown virus decimates population. Those who survived, guided by one man, are travelling to the unpolluted lands.

Work on the film was completed in April 2007. The relevant stage of production took about fifteen months, but from the first concepts passed two years.
Ironically, it turned out that the work on eight minutes length film engulfed such a long period of time.
Image was created using an unconventional technique of animated films.

Everything is based on hand-made miniatures, which were photographed using a Nikon D70s. For moving shots used Motion Control system that allows you to repeat the same motion at the perfect preservation of its trajectory. Use of this system enabled the performance of individual shots in several different variants of lighting. With such a solution, natural stage lighting could be simulated on a computer.

Thus, to the obtained 'photographed' material were added characters and items using 3D software for digital mock-ups. Creating a detailed computer scenery would be very complicated, laborious and in some cases perhaps even impossible.

More than this, lighting and rendering such detailed scenes would require enormous computing power. Using this technique allowed to avoid this problem. On the other hand, manual work for the implementation of such mock-ups was the break (and relaxation) from several hours daily spent at the computer - says Marcin Kobylecki, producer.

'The Ark' was created mainly using Softimage XSI. Also were used programs such as 3DS Max, LightWave or Modo, while the composition was made using After Effects and Digital Fusion.

My commentary

I saw that short three years ago, when it appeared with a big boom on Polish sites about 3D graphics, but recently (this is probably a reason for shame), I got to know the details of the production. At a last year's meeting with Grzegorz Jonkajtys in Warsaw, I had the pleasure to see it once again. It amazed me. Although, Platige Image studio 'a little' helped in the production, their style (previously seen for example in 'The Catherdal' or 'Fallen Art') was clearly adapted by Grzegorz Jonkajtys after leaving their team.

Read more:
http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/the_ark_-_short_film

Source: Press release

[WIP] Presenter task v.3.0

2012-01-13T23:28:00.003Z

And here I am again after feedback from Penny.
Now, with a lot nicer phonemes.
Lowered down all mouth moves and now, it is more smoother and believable.

That's why I love feedback! <3

[WIP] Presenter task v.2.0

2012-01-13T23:07:00.005Z

After feedback from Em, I have completely redone body moves. Now, he moves from leg to leg and is less static.
A lot better, I must say.

[WIP] Presenter task v.1.0

2012-01-13T03:04:00.002Z

Here it is! Results of DAY 2.

First, checklist:

David Falbert animation

Change 'Best actor'

Ceremony logo - Got intro from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSKd5ySx2F4)

Presenter body moves

720p resolution - Changed whole composition

Added piece of paper rig

Audience backgound (still without people)

Uhm, it's 3 am now but as my memory is fresh I will try to describe today's work.
Had a lot of problems with After Effects -> Adobe Premiere. I was trying to solve different resolution problem for like 40 minutes, when suddenly I realized, that instead of playblasting 1280x720, I did 1080x.. So.. I had to change composition in After Effects (automatically created by first file - old playblast).
Then, sound! I couldn't export mp4 with sound from AE. Don't know why. But after another tries it magically worked.
Also, new version of ElevenRig came out! (David character in my scene). There is slight difference in animating, but I will get use to it.
Umm, yeah, and I think that's it.
Enjoy and ZzZzzZzZZz...

[WIP] Presenter task - David

2012-01-12T19:22:00.001Z

And here it is! Second character for presenter task.
Now, fun begins! Animation!

[WIP] Presenter task - Inspiration

2012-01-12T17:34:00.000Z

Just a quick post:
This is my inspiration for whole ceremony layout. I like the background, however I do not have much time to make similar (that's why I just animated still image).

Also, I would love to have that classy music - I will try to find it somewhere.

Embedding is disabled so.. CLICK CLICK CLICK -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AAZCNd3Cj4

[WIP] Presenter task - Day 1

2012-01-12T13:19:00.000Z

Well, had really good day yesterday. I did:
- Lip sync (and revamped it again couple hours later)
- Facial expressions
- Head movements
- Blinks
- Scene and first test renders

8 hours of work.
And.. I could do better but... how could I forget about our machines, that are automatically switched off at 2.00 am. Just when I had the best productivity boost.. BAM! Turned off.
I know computers have to reboot from time to time and install those silly updates but.. uni technicians (yeah, those legendary Teesside technicians - nobody knows if they exist or if they come only to the good students) decided to set the reboot time on 2 - when people are STILL working and love to work more.
Okay, I agreed with my fate and went home. There, I thought I might write a huge note complaining our technicians but.. my Internet suddenly stopped working (bloody virgin media!). With all signs on the sky, I just peacefully went to bed.

Well, I will use the day (it's 1 pm now) and go and see the offline world.
Ah! And here is fast screen from yesterday, which I managed to take just before rebooting.

Everything is animated (even the background!) and perfectly timed.
What I'm missing (talking about layer only) now is:
- David Falbert animation - I have to create character and lip sync 'OH-SHIT'
- Better quality of John Daniels photo - This one was taken from original clip (that's quite difficult, I have no idea who John Daniels is and Google doesn't give best answers)
- Change 'Best actor' - now I don't like it
- Ceremony logo - INTRO!
- Rotating ceremony statue - I will place it in some corner

What I have to do in Maya:
- Presenter body moves
- David animation (lip sync, facial expressions, body moves)
- Audience background (just behind David - I will put some more rigs and animate them basically, then.. BLUR!)
- Ceremony statue
- Possibly, ceremony logo

Bah, okay. I think I got everything.

[WIP] Presenter task - Reference

2012-01-11T22:28:00.003Z

Productive day today!
We had a lot of fun while shooting reference for everybody.

So, according to my storyboard I present... THE REFERENCE! *evil music* DAH-DAH-DAH-DAAAH
Enjoy!

[SFS] Skhizein - 91 centimeters apart

2012-01-07T18:17:00.001Z

Every week I'm going to post a note about interesting short film I watched. This will be called 'Short Film Saturday'.

source: http://imaginesciencefilms.com/

Struck by 150-ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely the ninety-one centimeters apart.
A short animation, that lasts less than 13 minutes, in a comical way tells a story about a sad man 'affected by a meteorite'. When Henry was hit, he discovers, that his body is constantly being shifted by 91 centimeters from where he should be. To open the door, sit on a chair or pick up the phone, he must perform actions exactly offset by such a distance.

My word:
With a warm, well-rendered scenes, great detail and completely abstract moments, this modest piece of animation wows and requires independent interpretation of film by every viewer.
And Jérémy Clapin, director, writer and animator fully deserved (and won) many awards including Kodak Short Film Award at Cannes Films Festival, and Students Jury Award at the Krakow Film Festival.
Totally worth seeing short film - also, great piece of inspiration.

Enjoy!

[WIP] Presenter task - Storyboard

2011-12-22T00:43:00.006Z

The idea is clear and simple.
1. Animated ceremony logo - I will make it or download from past ceremonies (depends on sources)

2. Zoom in like on real ceremonies with title and all that stuff. Let's make fun!

3. Split screen of all nominated actors and horizontal screen of host. Titles, names and category name. Fancy background

4. Same, but without host.

I've animated simple mouth moves (yes! for all 1150 frames!). Got something to work on. But.. maybe after Christmas.

And now for something completely different

2011-12-16T15:55:00.001Z

I got my clip for second task - Presenter.
It is from Rowan Atkinson live - The good loser.
0:00 - 0:48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R7elhS5sng

Should be easy and fun to do!

Presentation

2011-12-15T16:42:00.001Z

Well, got confused for a moment.
I'm half way through my presentation about.. 'How to train your dragon' and I've just noticed that couple of people did presentation about the same movie. Luckly, different clips.
This means, my presentation has to kick ass!
That is why, for better effect I'm doing everything in Flash. This will look awesome!
Welp, going back to work.

Whoa!

2011-12-12T20:53:00.000Z

Wow, actually I can't believe I haven't wrote anything for 6 days now.I finished first animation, reference shooting will be done at home, same as presentation and.. I was bored. So I've refreshed my portfolio page.For around a week I was working on this day by day (you see, I used to be a web programmer) and well, actually night by night (I took advantage of less crowded labs from 20-02am) and yay, it is finished!
Enjoy!

http://www.rafalschubert.com

[WIP] Lip sync v.3.1

2011-12-06T20:14:00.001Z

Okay, so here:
- Made eyedarts more subtle, revised lids
- Revised B, V, F phonemes (lip roll)
- Left hand (shoulder, hand, palm) delayed by 1 frame
- Exaggerated E, A phonemes

[WIP] Lip sync v.3

2011-12-06T12:03:00.001Z

Okay, a lot happening last days. I got really got feedback from Remi. Also, Scott during the classess noticed, I'm missing one phoneme - u - in 'once' phrase. I've watched this video over 1000 times and I haven't notice that one.
Feedback is really helpful. I love it - I feel I improve with every change in my animations.
Enough of talkie-talkie. Watchie-watchie now.

[WIP] Lip sync v.2.2

2011-12-05T23:50:00.001Z

As Remi suggested on Facebook group, I've added eyes micromovements. Still not sur about that. I will see what other people think about it.

[WIP] Lip sync v.2

2011-12-04T21:29:00.001Z

Here it is! So after feedback, I changed and added some phonemes. Yes, it looks better now. Also, I added detailed couch and basic environment.

[WIP] Lip sync v.1.1

2011-12-04T19:01:00.001Z

Totally forgotten to upload that couple of days ago. So.. here it is:

Based on my reference I added exact body moves. Oh.. exact.. I exaggerated it a bit.
Well, I posted that on Facebook couple of days ago, got my feedback.
I'm just going to change some things now.

Hey kids! Lip sync is fun!

[WIP] Lip Sync v.1.0

2011-12-02T20:42:00.001Z

Basing on my reference:

I have created first lip sync + facial expressions version:

While you watch this, I'm working on body (torso and hands) animation.

-------------UPDATE-------------
First production fun-fact:
My mom thought, that's my voice. I got really confused.

Lip sync - Preparation

2011-12-01T20:34:00.001Z

So, I started working on lip sync task.
For now I've created phonemes (Yes, phonemes. I like old ways) poses in PoseMan plugin, which always helped me a lot in lip syncs.

So, based on my phonemes sheet (which I created some time ago) I got following basic poses:

I think I will go for 'Talk About' from 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' movie, because I always wanted to do lip sync full of emotions, I mean sad emotions. Just to show good acting skills. And that's going to be a challenge for me.

Transcript:

Voice One:  "He is better at this...  than I have ever been at anything.  My son has a gift.  He has a gift!  And once you acknowledge that, then, maybe...  we'll have something to talk about."

You can download it here: http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/july08/download/

AP1 - Summary

2011-11-28T19:06:00.001Z

Okay, I just uploaded last sketches for Animation Practise 1 module. The last few days were crazy. Sketch sketch sketch sketch!

Well, a few words about the module.
To be honest, at the beginning I was very sceptical. Not about me (if I can handle), but about tasks. When I came to Middlesbrough I expected at the first classes something like:
'Okay! Gimme your scenarios and start animating your short for whole year!'

But as I googled Animation Mentor classes I realized, that silly tasks like animating a ball is everywhere and has to be done - even by guy who worked in the 3D industry for a year.

By a matter of time, I understand what for these tasks were for and I can proudly say - I enjoyed everything so far and learned new things. That's why we're here for.

I can't wait for lip-sync part! I always liked it a lot, because when I animate lip-sync I always involuntarily move my mouth and act strange. Strange for non-animators co-workers.
It's fun!

Okay, I can relax now.

[Sketch] Artsy Poses 2

2011-11-28T19:03:00.001Z

[Sketch] Artsy Poses

2011-11-27T22:03:00.001Z

Today I launched http://www.artsyposes.com and started 30s sketching. Results below.

[Sketch] Tired

2011-11-27T00:04:00.000Z

As I am now

[Final] Combined Animation

2011-11-26T20:36:00.001Z

Yes, it's finally here!
Well.. I finished it like couple of days ago but I gave it a time to settle. Now, I'm sure it's final.

Change log:
+ Added anticipation before he puts bag down
+ Added ambient sound
+ Redone sound effects - different timing in newest version
+ Rendered in 720p

Problems during whole production:
My main problem was in.. render farm. I followed all steps on tutorial on SCM but it seems to be disconnected. I wrote to the technicians on Wednesday. Today is Saturday - no response. Even I stated it's very important and has to be rendered as soon as possible. Well.. Big disappointment.
Luckily, I managed to render everything on 5 machines in labs. It took me 6 hours. Wasted six hours.

Thoughts:
I can say, the hardest part was when character was putting bag down - which took most of time animating whole scene. Comparing it to the walk cycle, second one was piece of cake.

I spent some time studying references - I have no idea how I could animate without them in the past (well.. hard beginnings). I would like to thank fellow mates from MACHARACTER group for brilliant feedback.

Also, I am really happy that we have weekly feedback sessions. Without that I wouldn't add anticipation, and without anticipation scene was totally understood only by me. I love that feeling when I go back to my previous work and say to myself: 'What I was thinking when doing this this way and not that way.' Ah! Self-development!

To sum up, I spent 40 hours animating, and whole week before for planning - I can fully agree with Ollie Johnston:
'Spend half your time planning your scene and the other half animating.'

Okay, so Animation Practice 1 module is done. Can't wait for lip-sync now!

[Sketch] Balance

2011-11-26T20:21:00.001Z

[Sketch] Action, moods 2

2011-11-25T16:19:00.001Z

Finally, when my animation is done I have time to sketch!

[Sketch] Action, moods

2011-11-24T22:20:00.001Z

Just had some time today so started sketching.

[WIP] Combined Animation RC1

2011-11-22T20:32:00.001Z

Changed/repaired maaany thing. I'm too tired to write them down.
Enjoy! ZzZzzZzzzz