Animation Ident

Here is the finished Ident including sound effects.

I found this to be one of the most enjoyable projects I've done so far, possibly because I had more freedom in terms of the content of the animation. The theme relates to the Cornwall area as well, being a fishing town and I could say the colour scheme fits too as I'm yet to see a perfect summer's day!
If I have time to re-work some improvements into the piece, I would say it needs splashes from the fish and the rod hitting the water. However the animation feels very theatrical as the water moves in layers and as entire pieces instead of singular waves so the inclusion of waves could possibly make it less like a theatre production. But I have seen productions where ripped up pieces of paper or cloth have been used to replicate splashes so if I have time I might follow the same technique and use singular shapes to portray this effect.
In terms of the animation, some sections are purposely meant to not have any overlap, such as when he's chasing his rod because I wanted more emphasis to be on the pauses to give a better suggestion of emotion. I wanted to depict that feeling we get when the faster certain events unfold the slower we process what's happening, hence his long pause after he's lost his rod as he's still thinking through what just happened.

sound effects courtesy of freesfx.co.uk

3D Model and Adaptation Project

3D Model with texture and colour- The aim of the project was to go out and gather reference photos of textures, such as a broken wall or rusty lamp post, and replicate the textures in 3D.

I used both Maya and Mudbox to build the model and add detail and colour to create the image.

Reference photos







And the 3D replica

 

 

I didn't particularly enjoy doing this project because I found it quite difficult to replicate chipped paint in Mudbox using the brushes and textures available to me. In the end the lamp post had more rust than paint but at least I know for future reference that texturing in Maya is not what I'm interested in.

 

 

3D Animation Adaptation

 

 

This was a follow on from the 2D version of the project where I had to take an image of an environment and rebuild it in Toon Boom/Photoshop and add a camera move. This one was more enjoyable than the modelling although I had to problem solve how to add water to my scene. Throughout this project, I think I was spending most of my time just playing around with water in order to understand what effects worked the best. I went through pond shaders, ocean shaders and bump maps to find the best water interpretation and although the water is supposed to act more like a pond than an ocean I found the ocean shader gave the best effect.

Originally the scene is supposed to have waterfalls cascading from some of the rocks however I felt in Maya it made the composition too busy, as I already had a pool of water which, for me, was enough. If there had been character animation included in the scene with waterfalls then there would be too much information and the character's could easily become the least important aspects of the scene.

 

 

3 Backgrounds

Here are my final finished backgrounds.

Complementary colour scheme of blue and orange- Perhaps more definition was required for the buildings in the background because at the moment it just looks like a big fire blazing. Although at that distance it would be difficult to make out shapes if everything was alight.  I think the boat could be darker too, to blend in more with the darkness of the water and sky.

 

I had to take into account where the animation would be and although there is space for motion I think there could be lot less of the decking showing. The scene doesn't have many props which is what's making the composition boring to look at.

 

 

Personally I think this was one of my best pieces- the lighting and shadows is as accurate as I could get them. Perhaps another light was needed in the top right as extra illumination for the globe but I did want to have a definite contrast between light and shadow and I feel the black around the outside acts like a frame to draw the eye towards the table.

Horses with watercolour

Horses final

Final sequence of horses for the sea project. I still have to superimpose actual watercolour spray over the top of the animation to keep in style with the rest of the film but other than that the sequence is complete. I'll do the spray by painting on white paper than using the magic wand tool in photoshop I can remove the white sections of paper.

40 frames down, 42 to go.

40 frames down, 42 to go. This is roughly half of the animation for the sea project.

I've taken what I learnt about cel shading and the animation I created from that of the horses and moved it into the production stage of the project. But it's gone a step further and instead of leaving it at a rendered Maya stage, the frames have been taken across to Photoshop for more detailed artwork to be placed on top. It gives the horses a more textured quality and ties in better with our group's watercolour style with the strokes giving the horses a 'watery' effect.

I did originally want to paint over every frame but I know from past experiences that doing so would make the horses and the waves seem like they were flickering. It wouldn't look attractive and it wouldn't be easy to watch so I've reduced the number of frames by animating on 2's. The movement is still fluid but the flickering won't be as erratic.

 

Horses before Photoshop details added.

 

 

 

 

After Photoshop.

 

 

 

First half of the animation.

 

Ident Animatic

Below are the thumbnail sketches of the animatic. Most of the left page was actually taken out of the final animatic because it didn't fit into the 10 second block. However after putting everything together the ident wouldn't have needed the shots I had planned anyway. What I wanted to preserve more than anything was the timing, the most important pauses being when he's trying to hold on to the rod as he pulls back and the moment after he's lost his rod before he notices the dark shadow rising out of the water.

Pencil thumbnails- Frames 2-6 were taken out for the final animatic.

Final animatic (Or first draft of the animatic)