Arrrr! Land Ahoy!

Well this is the last post I will probably ever make on this particular blog. The assignment would have gone much more smoother if I didn't have distractions, like other assignments and the internet. Still, I've learnt a lot from this unit.

As you will recall I picked roughly a ten second bit from the Battle of Wits, beginning from "Alright, where is the poison?" and finishing at "And find out who is right, and who is dead". Lets have a watch now.



As always I wish I had more time, less characters to animate and something other than walking aimlessly for Buttercup to do. I didn't have enough time to do a lip sync, but might do it over the summer so I can enter it as a portfolio thing.

Progress

So far I have done the first blocking cycle of the animation. I tried to render it out and create an .avi file but VirtualDub is not really helping me out, as a fellow student recommended. I will ask him to help me with that and hopefully I will be able to post it here.

My blocking technique is the hybrid one. So every 3-5 frames I key frame a pose. Then I change the graph so everything is flat. I don't want Maya to ruin the inbetweens until I have done a few needed ones myself.

Hopefully, when I go through a second time Maya will be nice to my animations and do what I want. If not, I'll have to go through it and manually correct mistakes.

The Story So Far

So that is what I have been doing these last couple of weeks. I know it could definitely use more work, but I only did some of the things in thirty minutes to an hour. If I had more time during the week for refinement the animations and poses would look much better.

The Mannequin animation challenged me a bit, because there is really no face to express. So turning the head to look at something was kind of pointless because it still looks the same. It was a good idea though to have a featureless model, as it forced the user to get better at expressing the characters thoughts and feelings.

The Andy Rig was alright to use. It had a lot more controllers but the facial expression were a bit hard to use. To see the eyebrows you had to render it so you knew what it was expressing. My other main grip was the elbow and rotation controls for the wrists. It was sometimes very difficult to get the pose that you wanted. The elbows and wrists flipped at times, so that was frustrating.

The future is bleak

Here is the animated storyboard.



It's not much, I wanted to put the audio file on it and queue everything up, but After Effects was being annoying about .mp3 and .wav files. Also the quality of the scanner was questionable, but you get the idea.

Ooh, Shiny

This is the Mannequin picking up a coin.



With this animation, the character is at a distance and sees the coin. It then walks up and crouches down to pick it up. I don't like the walk cycle I used it is a bit iffy. I think I should have used a few extra key frames.

Ta Daa

Here is the Mannequin Rig pushing a ball off a table.



Now I had to add an extra block so the watcher can't see the models legs. I should have made the table a bit thinner and closer to the ground. When the ball falls off I neglected to animate the character further, instead focusing on the bouncing ball.

We Now Return You to Your Interrupted Program

Well it has been quiet some time since I last posted, mainly due to the amount of work other units seem to be taking up, however I do have everything done.
So
The next posts have the following:
Pushing a ball with the Mannequin rig
Picking up a coin (as above)
and
Storyboard in animation format

I will also include a post critiquing how I am going at the moment with the assignment, as well as my overall work.

Enjoy

Weak Poses

Here are the long overdue weak poses. I kind of went for the cliche push with hands and push with back for this weeks poses.

Enjoy!

"This here box sure is heavy"
"Geez, what kind of stuff do they put in you?"

Official Character Design Documents

Man In Black (Dread Pirate Roberts)Character Description
MIB is motivated by much more than financial gain by going after the kidnapped Princess. He is very strong in mind and body, and is very learned in combat as well a philosophy. His knowledge of swordsmanship makes him very flamboyant, but because he wears a mak it hides his true identity and his true personality. This anonymity means he can be anyone and do anything, which means he has no limits.

Animation Test: MIB punching thin air

"I'm so fast you can't even see me"

Vizzini
Character Description

Vizzini is vain and self-centered and thinks that he is smarter than everyone else. He doesn't think much of Buttercup or the Man in Black, however he does concede that the Man in Black is stronger than him physically, which he doesn't like very much. Though conceited and weak, his intellect is higher than most people's, which makes him over think situations sometimes. In the Battle of Wits his arrogance and knowledge leads to his undoing, but not knowing any kind of information is something he detests.

Animation Test: Vizzini sarcastically claps

"Good for you"

Buttercup
Character Description

Buttercup is usually a very active person, being unable to see and do things makes her very frustrated. When she she tries to move about, her actions are very clumsy and slightly unbalanced, because of the mask on her face. When she moves about her arms are outstretched, searching for obstacles and threats. She is very defiant and tries her best to overcome this handicap, but she still stumbles on rocks and uneven ground. When the clothe is finally removed from her eyes, she wants more than anything in the world to kick whoever did it.

Animation Test: Buttercup tries to walk blind

"That's the last time I'm going to that bar"

Bouncing Ball

This is an .avi video of a ball bouncing. I decided to use the squash and stretch theory.

It is a side view from Maya

Angry Poses (Grrrrr)

As before I like to draw before I position characters in Maya.

Here is the before shot.Again you might not be able to see the poses as well as you would like.

And here are the afters.

I picked these shots because they look the most effective for conveying the poses' anger.

Stay tuned for another exciting adventures of Character Designs.

Strong (as in Strength) Poses

I have included before and after shots, because whenever I make a pose or try to work something out I like to put it down one paper. Then I nut it out in Maya, so it is always good to see how poses change.

This is just shows the before shot.You might now be able to see the poses clearly enough

And this is the after shots.



For all of these poses I have several perspective views.

Next post will be the Angry Poses.

Comprehensive Descriptions

My last post was more of a rough draft than an actual description of the characters. Therefore this post is an extended view.

Man in Black (MIB)
He is motivated by much more than financial gain by going after the Princess. He is very fit but he is also well learned. This makes him very flamboyant, but because he wears a mask it hides his true identity and his true personality. This anonymity means he can be anyone and do anything, so he can have no limits.

Vizzini
He is vain and self-centered and thinks that he is smarter than everyone else. He doesn't think much of Buttercup or the Man in Black, however he does think that the Man in Black is stronger than him physically, which he doesn't like. Though conceited and weak, his intellect is higher than most people's, though this makes him over think situations sometimes. In the Battle of Wits his arrogance and knowledge leads to his undoing, but not knowing information is something he detests.

Buttercup
She is usually a very active person, not being able to see and do things makes her very fustrated. Because she can't see, when she tries to move about, her actions are very clumsy and slightly unbalanced. When she moves about her arms are outstretched, searching for obstacles and threats. She is very defiant and tries her best to overcome this handicap, but she still stumbles on rocks and uneven ground. When the clothe is finally removed from her eyes, she wants more than anything in the world to kick whoever did it.

Stances or Posers

Today I started on my character descriptions and some of the stances/poses they might take.

Since I discovered that I need three characters in the scene, silly me for not realising, I had to do a bit more work.

Here is what I've come up with so far.
MIB (Man in Black)
He is flamboyant and outgoing. This is reflected in his actions towards others and the way he does things.

Here is a picture of a possible pose.

Vizzini
An arrogant and condescending man. He thinks he knows everything and barely fains interest in what other people are saying, except when it's about himself.

Here is a picture of a possible pose.

Buttercup
Her face/eyes are covered so, the gestures will be the focus.

Possibly I'll have here in the background trying to walk past with her arms outstretched gripping at nothing.

Week One - It Begins

Okay this is the first of many (I hope) entries for KIB225.
This week I'm writing about a favourite director, their style and which part of The Princess Bride - Battle of the Wits scene.

Edgy and always interesting films are by director Tim Burton.
Now I have chosen him because some of my favourite films are his, in particular his stop motion creations The Nightmare Before Christmas (though sadly not directed) and Corpse Bride. The most particular reason for enjoying his movies are the juxtaposition of various concepts and ideas as well the look and feel of the scenes (lighting, costumes, sets etc).

Now after reading the screenplay of The Princess Bride, I decided to start at the line MAN IN BLACK: All right, where is the poison? until VIZZINI: ... so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
I have had several ideas for the scene, most prominently with the Man in Black looking more confused, worried or amused as Vizzini progresses with his suppositions. Eyebrows up and perhaps slanted with his mouth slowly opening/dropping (in the event I go with amused at the end of Vizzini's speech, the Man in Black looks at the camera and shrugs). Meanwhile Vizzini is gestulating with his hands a bit wildly with a serious expression.