Category: 3D Computer Animation

Animation Pass 1

Animation Pass 2

Final Animation

Apart from finishing our previous animations we worked on character poses. We studied these poses from sketches and photographs

Pose 1

Pose 2

Flour Sack Animation

In this week we studied how to animate a flour sack using different controls. We have also explored how to edit the rig and change the hierarchies and constraints to make the rig suitable to the kind of animation we want to do.

We made some changes in the flour sack rig to make it more flexible. For example we have made the top controller the child of the bottom controller so that it moves with the bottom controller. It made the rig more effective.

The foot controls of the sack had FK controls and usually the walk animation is done in IK. This made us delete the already made controls and thus we made new IK controls on the feet.

Animation and Rendering

After adjusting the rig, I then made the animation, setup the skydome light and rendered the animation.

Ball with Tail (Work in Progress)

Final Animation

Understanding Production Rigs: Hand Throwing a Ball

This week we explored how to make basic rigs using basic shapes and hierarchies. In addition to that we also worked with the locators and parent constraints.

Modelling and Hierarchy

First of all we made a hand and fingers by using cubic shapes. We then adjusted the pivot points of each cube so that the finger joints can rotate along a certain axis.

We then made the arm so that we can make the arm rotation animation. We have also made sure of using a proper naming convention.

Locators and Parent Constraints

After making the arm, I made a small setup by using ball and a ball basket. I am planning to throw the ball through the basket. We then added one locator on the hand and the other one on the ball. We have made the hand locator the child of hand geometry and ball locator the child of ball’s geometry. We then added parent constraint on hand locator, ball locator and the ball.

Render

After animating the sequence I have put some lighting and rendered the sequence.

We received the feedback on the bouncing ball animation and we were assigned a new task to plan and animate a pendulum.

Challenges faced in the Process

The animation was a little challenging as we had to animate the linked parts. According to animation principles, we are supposed to use overlapping actions to make it real and believable. The timing and movement is the one thing that challenged me the most while doing this animation.

Final Animation

Deformation, animation setup and uses

Content Browser

We explored Maya’s Content Browser this week. The Content Browser is the one-stop centre for finding example scenes, human and creature models and other content used to build your scenes. You can navigate for files in your project, local and network directories.

Motion Path and Deformers

We learnt how to attach an object to a motion path. Any object that is assigned to a path can only move along that path and we have done the same with the shark. After that we put a sine deformer on the shark to animate the body and tail of the shark.

We put keyframes on the offset control to animate the shark.

Shark Animation

Our task was to create a shark animation and for this purpose initially we used a pre-existing shark rig but then we were given the liberty to add and modify the geometry, paint new textures and make it look personalized. For this purpose I painted new texture for the shark. and made new geometry to give it a more cinematic and polished look.

Attaching the final render of the shark animation with improved geometry and new textures below.

Wednesday

Introduction to the Interface

The agenda of today’s class was introduction to a 3d software, Maya. We discussed the user interface and basic navigation i.e. panning, scrolling, tumbling and tracking. We discussed some essential controls like move, rotate, scale and explored how to use channel box, tool bar and attribute editor for basic modelling.

Basics of Modelling

In addition to the interface we also explored basics of modelling and how it is done. A 3D Model is a mathematical representation of any three dimensional object (real or imagined) in a 3D software environment. Unlike a 2d image, 3D models can be viewed in specialized software from any angle, where they can be scaled, rotated, or freely modified. 3D models are comprised of faces, edges, and vertices. Any model you make is made from the basic polygon primitives like Sphere, Cube or Cylinder etc. Later on we use some modifiers like extrude, bevel or sculpting to transform it into a complex model.

Like I said any complex shape is made from a basic shape. I am making a minion from a basic spherical mesh and then will build up on it using extrude.

By using soft selection tool I modified the geometry to give it less rounded look. Later on I added some basic textures to the geometry to give it the final look.

Basics of Lighting and Rendering

After making the model, I used the sky dome light from the arnold tool shelf to take a pleasing render. I have used the environment texture from Polyhaven.com. Skydome lights act as a circular light, surrounding the scene. It also has another added feature. Skydome lights can use Image Based Lighting to give your scene/model a background and specialized lighting.

We used the Arnold renderer to take some final renders.

I have done some editing on the renders to give them old photographic look.

Slug Race

Apart from understanding basic modelling, lighting and rendering we also touched some portions of animations and introduction to graph editor.

I have adjusted curves of the speed in the editor so that all the slugs move in different speed.

Conclusion

Today’s lesson was helpful to give an understanding of the basics of Maya. It has also given me a basic understanding of modelling and how the modifiers of extrude, and bevel works. Moreover, it gave us an idea of how lighting is done and how we can use the Arnold renderer. In the end we also explored the graph editor which is a significant tool for animation.

Today we started the class by doing brief introductions of everyone. After it, we discussed how to plan and structure our animation scene and how to setup a project. We also discussed Twelve Principles of Animations.

Twelve Principles of Animation

Disney’s 12 principles of animation were written by the animator’s Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in the books The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. We can use the basic principles of animation as the starting point for our animation work. They are not just useful for movie animation but for cartoons and other fields as well.

Bouncing Ball Planning

The most important thing in an animation is to plan it first. Bouncing ball animation is considered the most important animation exercise to build a strong foundation. The most important thing to make this animation looks believable is timing and spacing. By simply animating a ball bounce we learn how objects move in the real world, and how to make them look as if they are moving with the same laws of physics that we are constrained to.

Ball Animation (Work in Progress)

This is the first pass on the bouncing animation. The timing and space was fine in this. But upon the critique I got to know that the squash and stretch need to be fixed to give the animation cartoonish look.

Final Animation

Upon doing the changes in the squash and stretch and in the motion arc. Here is the final animation.