In the first scene, Mickey Mouse is transported into a fantasy world where object has human personalities and emotions. here he is shuffled like a deck of cards. This wouldn't be possible in real life, but because he is cartoon, his actions can defy the laws of physics and how a character is expected to function.
In the second scene, Donald duck's cousin is a goose with a huge appitite.
to convey this, the animators relentlessly have have him consume all sorts of food. they exagerate normal actions, such as eating spagetti. instead of eating it with a fork, the goose knits it like a sweater.
In the third scene, the seven dwarves wash up for dinner. using the interesting element of soap, it changes the circumstances and movement of the scene, having to adapt to the new texture. the dwarves slip and become covered in heavy soap. even a fly gets trapped in a huge bubble. dopey swallows soap and starts burping bubbles.
In the third scene, the devil starts halloween and summons dancers from fire. the scene has an overall darkness that follows a strict orchestral rhythm.
The plausible impossible is important when creating a character and conflict in animation. without it, the stories wouldn't be as light hearted and entertaining.
My proudest moment as an animator was finishing something that i'd first seen in my head, now created before my eyes. With this story animation, the obstacles seemed endless and the end, to me, was never in sight. what drove was my determination to see if before me. what I did not expect was that the process of hard work and stress was almost as satisfying as the ending product. tying between technical skills i'd learned and my own artistic instinct, despite the frustration and fast approaching deadline, I was able to finish. i guess the biggest thing i learned from this project was that passion is the strongest drive, and because i wanted to finish so badly, i did. a strong vision definitely helped with drawing and creating all parts of the animation, learning mostly came from past errors. what i would've changed of this process was its urgency. some shots and layers, to me, appear messy and rushed. this project overall has gotten rid of some self doubt and given me a sense of ability, like saying, if you to do it, do it. Concluding, this is probably my best project. No, it is. no topping this.
Multi- plane
For my multi-plane project, the whole concept seemed smart. ahhh. they figured this out. an overall clever trick that made me somewhat sinister while creating it. The way we learned to make layers different lengths and set as different speeds to appear realistically moving, it was just super cool. i think the is a great thing to know as an animator. to the audiences' eyes, it seems effortless, and progressive, to an animator, time consuming but necessary. assembly in AFTER EFFECTS was simple, the creation in photoshop was scenic and meticulous. I wasn't challenging, but it conveys a certain complexity that makes me very proud. what i struggled with was the scenery and having it look the way i want, but also have it work with the scenery around it. those trees were exhausting. if i could change anything, I would try and incorporate a character with in the plane, like an animal or something, just to make moe interesting. In the end, my favorite project regarding concept and overall look.
Worm
As the first animation i did in after effects i was slightly disappointed for not including the photoshop animation style i was used to. expecting hundreds of layers, we used key frames. a new and frustrating skill. the software was new and almost nothing made sense. looking back at the file now, all the key frames are probably in a jumble. Even if it wasn't the correct way, i found some way to keep my worm in place and have it inch across the screen. what i would change is the absolute cluelessness of my entire process. this project was important, our first intro to aftereffects, and was much needed for the success of my future animations.
Walk Cycle Animation
The first character we ever created. we scanned in a physical sketch into photoshop and tweaked the image there. it's a cool way to make each individual layer. i personally like creating them in photoshop without any complications from the real world. as for animating, this is really darn important. almost everything walks. i struggle with cycles, i did then, still do now. i get how to do it. the keyframes, the circular motion. but the timing is very precise, having to move at the right speed and realistically, they're just hard. i would change my character, yeah seemed cute at the time, but i gave it too many layers that served zero purpose, and i should've kept t simple the first time.
a cool and important project, most things walk.
Pen Final
Maya has not been my favorite. yes, it is animating, just not the type i'm drawn to. the reason i liked this one is that we had to create something that already existed. meaning we couldn't connect the dot to make it our own this time. Accuracy mattered. We had made plenty of things in maya by that time, but at that point it was our decision how we got from A to B. to me it was fun to capture the pen's characteristics in what before was just a dumb cylinder. I don't want to make weird boxes and stuff in maya, but if i wanted to make something cool that i had an idea of, it's good to know i could. It was cool to be like, "wow this pen is here in real life... and it's animated, whoa!" . Maya is complicated, but that means it has the power to do a lot.
When educating yourself in a field centered around technology, the websites, downloads, and well know software hack are endless. While exploring the animation community online, you're bound to learn something new. this time, it's not an amazing complicated revalation. it's a simplictic, lighthearted addition.
In this article I learned the importance of revolutionized character animation.
with new and improving technology, it's easier to create believable and expressive characters to move along the story. The newest preview for the upcoming "creative Cloud" apps.
Using a character already made in photoshop or illustrator , you import in in the software to bring your character to life. although this program doesn't work with all factor of animation, it does tweak and apply details that make the overall project impressive and enjoyable to viewers. Hopefully this will be a great addition to any animator's story telling process, and help likable connect with any audience .
As an animation student, i'v learned to appreciate animated feature in a new way. the time consuming, technically diverse, and precisely thought out stories created from scratch. when watching disney's newest addition to the pixar portfolio, i kept these concepts in mind.
What i enjoyed about Moana was it's scenic details. the setting, Hawaii islands, isa well known spot notorious for it's beautiful landscaping. the animators captured it's sandy, jungle-y, and tropical demeanor. i was also impressed of their interpretation of water and the ocean. the way story is told, the ocean is almost it's own character. applying movement and interaction between other characters made the ocean have it's own personality.
i have limited education in animation compared to the makers of Monana, but i pick up on a ew thing recognizable to a two year animation student. they did use a muti-plane, as well as walk cycles, squash and stretch, and arcs.
In the maya software, the initial background is blank and oblivious. and even if you create a geometric master piece, there's still something missing behind it. In this tutorial you will learn a few tips and tricks to make your maya background more interesting and realistic.
Start off by creating a simple set on your plane, ideally, a floor and one or more walls. this is the background that will support the object you make.in your search margin, look up the texture you wish to decorate you scene with. once the image file has down loaded, assign new material to each object intended to be textured.
when choosing the color, click on the "file" icon. it will give the option to apply your own materials.
once your texture is applied, feel free to adjust it in scale, opacity, and diffusion.
After getting comfortable with applying materials and textures, you can find new ways to incorporate textures .
Mimicking a Window Effect
For this portion, I will demonstrate creating a visible background, as if there was window to see through the set. it will give the scene a since of reality and setting. to create the window, place a cube through the plane. select both objects , got "mesh" and then "boolean" next, "union". create a new wall and place it behind the window.
start off by finding an image of a landscape of your choice. follow the same steps to assigns a new material and chose the file. adjust the repeat UV to fit it in on the wall. play around with distance between the wall and landscape, make it bigger and smaller to find the best balance to seem believable. when rotating the view point, the background should move, similar to real life.
Once it is satisfactory, as you move around your plane, there is an outside world around you!
After weeks of exposition and introduction to the aftereffetcts software, we were finally tasked to combine all skills in previous projects into one story animation. myself, being an ambitious story teller as well as artist found this demand exhilarating and terrifying. It was stressful yet eye opening, and overall a process.
Story Board Outline
having high hopes for myself from the start, there was no easy way I was going to settle on just any plot. I wanted a strong main character with an obvious motive and problem getting in the way of it.
It needed to be easy to draw, easy to give life and personality. I made a million, unessesary, rising actions, that would cut and downsized later. the writing process was fun, but orignigal ideas were a tad unreasonable for my first story animation. regardless, i stuck with a main charcter and theme i had preped for, and after creating sketches, plot stucture mountain, and story board, i was ready to start animating. "The Paper Cycle" following the life of a notebook piece of paper looking for purpose, but can;t seem to get a break. when all hope is lost, the paper wad is thrown in a recycling bin, and the story optimistically repeats.
Production
Technical wise, the project was intimidating. while creating a substancial amount of layers, before even importing to aftereffects, the story seemed unacheivable. Lots of prioratizing took place while producing. i asked questions like, Will this really help story? or How can i make this character's action simpleler? In photoshop, i created each layer drawn with a pen tool.
in afteraffects , each scene wes placed and perfected in it's own composition. later to be combine all in to one que. I had to include a walk cycle, miltiplane, ball bounce, and basic skillz attained over the course of the class.
When living in a world obsessed with focusing on the negative actions occurring in the world, it's important to sometimes set aside the hard news and notice the more personal stories. One's without urgency or danger, but still a story of their own.
With this thought in our minds, this week we take journalism to a personal level, with feature stories. The class attentively projecting ideals of interviewing in order to connect with the human of interest.
We gather information of Who, What,When, Where, and Why? to successfully assemble a story. With the help of B-roll and voiceovers, students created a representation of the lead using audio and video while gaining skills technically. Exercising in editing, camera setup, and using microphones. In addition, progressing in areas of writing, project planning, and communicating with clients and everyday people.
From this became a feature story.
The first step I took was brainstorming,
the most important foundation my story needed was a strong lead. without that there would be no where for my story to go or chance it would connect to an audience.
The challenges I faced in this portion included practicality for not only my goals, but who ever I would be interviewing. I of course needed time to set up equipment, prepare interview questions, schedule a time to sit down with the person, while still leaving me time to edit before the deadline.
Along with the planning portion, it must be remembered that technology is still new. whether it's mics, or SD cards, or a faulty tripod. Something is bound to become a road block. luckily, with trial and error, learning comes after.
Each video we create gives us experience in every stage of production. during this video I felt more comfortable editing in Adobe Premiere pro and filming with the Panasonic. I still struggle with organization and exporting the media.
Regarding the content of my feature story, it included ONW senior, Emerson Riggs, and her involvement in the performing arts electives in the school. Though i am content with how the story summarized, the lead was not as strong as it could have been . Due to scheduling and a person's willingness to have a story centered around them, many of better choices weren't an option. The video was missing a second voice, and b-roll tying to conversation being made in the interview.
In the end, the feature story was a positive earning experience, technologically optimistic and frothing.
In the first scene, Mickey Mouse is transported into a fantasy world where object has human personalities and emotions. here he is shuffled like a deck of cards. This wouldn't be possible in real life, but because he is cartoon, his actions can defy the laws of physics and how a character is expected to function.
In the third scene, the seven dwarves wash up for dinner. using the interesting element of soap, it changes the circumstances and movement of the scene, having to adapt to the new texture. the dwarves slip and become covered in heavy soap. even a fly gets trapped in a huge bubble. dopey swallows soap and starts burping bubbles.
