Task 8 - Review

The aim of this project was to create an animation that could be used in a game, like a run cycle or an object collision, I wanted to make something based around combat and I think my animation could be used either  as separate animations for attacks and for when a character is hit by an attack. the whole animation in itself could be a CGI cutscene too, which are becoming more and more common in video games as a whole. Because of this I think my animation fits the criteria for this unit.

The Lightwave Layout software was mostly simple to work with, but there were a few moments where I had problems, particularly at the start when I had to rig part of the gladiator again to make sure certain parts of the object didn't bend when I move another skelegon. Because I added extra skelegons my animation's quality was much better than it would have been if I hadn't. The movement of both the human and the orc are smooth and realistic, although some parts look too slow in the final rendered video.

I think my idea for this animation was great, and that it was well executed, my favourite part being at the end when I moved the camera to reveal that the two characters were fighting on a giant skull, it was just for fun but it made the video overall more enjoyable to watch. I like my idea for the whole combat animation, I think the whole thing went well overall.

I found it difficult to manage my time well given the fact that I had other units to work on too, this was the biggest problem as I could've finished this unit a lot sooner if I didn't have to work on anything else. I also struggled for a while with my ideas generation but I managed to come up with an idea in time. 

Task 7 - Post Production

Task 6 - Production

Before I could rig the gladiator object I had to put the sword, shield and helmet onto the gladiator body, which was easy as all I had to do was move an object into place in Modeler. All these objects fit together perfectly, which just makes it easier for me to work with.

The harder part was rigging it, I'd only ever used skelegons once before but placing them was rather easy too.

I then went on to rig the orc character I'd decided to use for this animation. As with the gladiato; I had no problems rigging the orc with skelegons.

I then put the shades I found in the pre-made objects folder and put them on the skull. This will be the platform that the two characters will be fighting on.

I then moved everything into Layout and moved everything into place to start my animation. I already like how this looks and I think that showing the skull at the end will be fun.

When I started animating the gladiator I realized that I forgot to add skelegons to the sword and shield, without these the sword and shield would bend when I moved the arms. Because of this I had to go back to Modeler and add those skelegons, then send the gladiator object to Layout again.

Now that I didn't have to worry about any of the objects screwing up badly I started by setting the gladiator and orc into position. I'm going to start the animation with the gladiator slashing the orc with his sword, like I started in my storyboard, which I will be following as closely as possible throughout my animation's production.

I have started well, the skelegons are somewhat easier to deal with after my first try at it, hopefully it will continue to be as easy to work with as it is now. The two images below show my animation looking much like my storyboard shows.

I will do my best to constantly follow my storyboard, unless I reach a point that I need to change the direction I'm going with the animation.

I realized that I would need the gladiator to bring the sword up to swing it in the right direction for the orc to fall off the platform. This made me come to the decision to add an extra swing going upwards to lead up to the last sword swing that will cause the orc to fall.

I brought the orc's leg up to make him look like he's already off-balance when the next swing hits him, as well as it making the swing look like it had more of an impact.

I'm nearing the end of my animation, making the orc fall off the platform without going up before going down but I fixed it as much as I could and it came out looking fine. The problem is now minimal and is hardly noticeable.

I have finished the animation of the gladiator and orc, I am now going to animate the camera so that it follows the action and at the end; zooms out to show the giant skull.

The camera animation has been finished, the rendering only took around half an hour, this is likely because there wasn't many textures to render.

I think it turned out looking great after it was rendered. I only had a few problems with this software besides the skelegon problem I had at the start.

I'm happy with how this animation turned out and I think it is of a great quality. 

Task 5 - Ethical/H&S Signoff

Task 4 - Storyboard

Task 3 - Ideas Generation

I have been looking through the pre-made models and I found a few objects that I could use to make my animation. I had multiple ideas, I could just move a car or plane around a city, or I could make a walk cycle for some of legs that I found in the pre-made objects folders. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a fight scene of some sort, it wouldn't be long but it would still have a high level of quality. That in mind; I started looking for specific models that would suit my needs.

I was thinking that I could put the sword, shield and helmet onto the human body and have him be the gladiator character in my animation.

I want to have my gladiator fight a monster, I found the lizard monster and orc monster objects in the same place I found the gladiator objects. I and debating which one to use, but I'm leaning towards to orc because it looks like it'll be easier to work with when using skelegons.

I plan on figuring out a way to use these too, I just feel like having them in my animation would be fun.

Task 2 - Research

Toy Story is arguably one of the best examples of 3D animation ever made, which is suprising since this was also the first 3D animated movie. The movement of the characters is very well done and is different to suit the different anatomy of each unique character. There is extreme attention to detail on each character and anything in the background. The scene above is a good example of the character animation as you can see that both characters move differently to work with both their anatomy and their own personality (like buzz always standing straight, unable to actually bend his back, and woody is much more expressive as he has more freedom to move around).



 

The 3D animation in this video starts at 1:30 the great thing about this video is that it wasn't made by a huge company like Dreamworks or Pixar, instead it was made by one person; Monty Oum. The detail in this video despite the fact that it was made by just one person is amazing, the actions of all the characters are precise and realistic, the fast pacing of the animation works perfectly well for the kind of animation it is.




Jimmy Neutron is one of those cartoons that did not age well animation wise. The character models look good from afar but up close they can look creepy. There isn't all that much to say about it but this series has pretty well done animation for the time and the TV budget they would have gotten to make it, which is probably why it doesn't hold up as well as Toy story does.