Major - Submission Post: Final Animation, Reflective Statement and Links

Final Reflective Statement

When starting the Major Project, there was still quite a lot of work left over from Minor for the planned final animation. When reviewing the workload and looking back over the animatic, a decision was made to leave the rigging for the “Pipe-Dwellers” until a good portion of the animation was done. As animating is my main area of interest as a career pathway, I wanted to try and create some good solid animation rather than rush everything and run out of time. The animation itself was quite a challenge and took more time than I had originally allocated, but seeing it develop made me want to keep pushing forward to try and get the best results I could. Although I did use some referencing for the extreme movements, I did struggle to stick to them due to the “Stealer’s” rig limitations, meaning most of it was freestyled. Looking back on this aspect, I would have liked to have improved the rig first before animating so I could really incorporate the references into the animation like a professional would have. As a result, I feel that I had managed to achieve the animation I set out to create to a high standard and am quite happy with the final outcome. 

 Another area that I felt went well was the post-compositing stage. Taking on my tutors and peers’, feedback of using rendering layers worked out to my advantage in the long run. Utilizing the render layer system meant a reduction in rendering times and gave me the time I needed to start rigging the “Pipe-Dwellers”. Rendering layers also meant I had more control over areas such as colour correction/ saturation and re-rendering any individual components. If the rendering was done as a whole scenes, some would have taken a day or two to complete, whereas using this method took only a few hours. This is a lesson I intend to take forward with me when working on my own projects in the future.

Although the “Pipe-Dwellers” did not make it into the final animation, looking through a few different tutorials enabled me to learn a new way of rigging a character. Relatively similar to rigging a biped, IK’s seemed to have a much greater involvement when coming to quadrupeds due to grounding 4 legs. This was very helpful as it taught me how to successfully use colour blend nodes to incorporate an IK/FK switch (this was placed in the tail rather than the legs due to time). Also, as the “Pipe-Dwellers” have hand like paws, creating a separate control allowed for more movement in the fingers/ toes. Using a spline IK in the spine along with some scripting produced stretchy joints and permitted for some more exaggerated movements when posing the character. Even though this ability wasn’t really used, it was still an invaluable lesson to learn. I’m quite proud of this outcome of this character, but sadly I was unable to place corrective bendshapes due to rigging the skeleton before skinning. This problem makes the character not suitable for animation but works well to capture its cheeky personality when placing into animated poses. 

Referring to areas that could have been improved, I found lighting to be very challenging even with some lighting style references and tutorials. Each scene had to be lit individually and then transferred to the next scene to be modified. At first this was working out ok, but I found my patience quickly running out towards the end. This way of working caused a lot of fiddling around and some scenes ended up being too dark or too light, leading to a couple of re-renders. However, I did learn a lot when it came to using the light editor and light/object linking, making sure that the “Sock-Stealers” lighting affect only it’s geometry and not the room. If I was to approach this project again in the future, I want to try and make sure the lighting is correct before attempting any animation, making little tweaks only when needed. 

Overall, I feel that this project has had led a successful outcome and like the previous ones, I have learnt many valuable lessons to take forwards with me into the future. One of the biggest being to make my models a complete mesh and use texturing to create stylised aspects, such as stitched seems. Using separate meshes should only be used when necessary or in areas that will hide seems well, such as scarfs and baggy tops. Although being an animator is the path I would like to pursue as a career, I want to keep expanding my knowledge in multiple areas of the pipeline so not become tunnel visioned, continuing to create my own stories/characters/worlds.

Reflecting over the last three years, a part of me is happy to be completing my degree and a part of me quite sad. Happy to start adventuring out into the exciting path ahead but sad because going to university has been, although difficult at times, an enjoyable time in my life. There has been a range of life changing experiences, from a world pandemic and personal challenges to fun times chatting, laughing, and learning with my peers. I have met many creative and inspiring individuals in my time at university that I hope to meet again in the future, hopefully to work alongside with. These experiences have made me feel a little more confident in who I am as a person and even though I know I will continue to get anxious at times, I know it will all work out fine in the end.   

Links

Jacket Rigging

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/major-jacket-testing-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/major-adding-rivets-to-jacket-and.html

SFX and Room Rigging

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/01/major-twinkle-maps-and-curtain-movements.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-moon-render-experiment.html

Animating:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-opening-scene-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-opening-scene-plus-musc-02.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-animation-progression-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-animation-progression-02.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-animation-progression-pt-03.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-animation-progression-pt-04.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-animation-progression-part-05.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-animation-progression-part-06.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-animation-progression-part-07-and.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-animation-progression-part-08-and.html

Rendering:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-render-progression-01.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-rendering-progression-part-08-and.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-rendering-progression-part-09-and.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-final-film-construction-and.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-final-animation-plus-sound.html

"Pipe-Dweller" Rigging:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/05/major-pipe-dwellers-rigging-progress.html

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/05/major-pipe-dwellers-rendered-poses-and.html

Final Animation:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/05/major-final-animation-where-do-all.html

Art of Documents:

https://kimberleydavis32.blogspot.com/2022/05/major-submission-art-of-documents.html

Major Submission - Art of Documents

 

Major - Final Animation "Where Do All the Socks Go?"

Major - "Pipe-Dwellers" Rendered Poses and Turnaround

To round off the "Pipe-Dwellers" section of the Major Project, I decided to create a few animated poses (one within the pipes) and a quick turnaround to show the textured, clay and wireframe variations of the model.

Pipe-Dweller Theme by Tom Will Morris: https://linktr.ee/TomWillMorris

Major - "Pipe-Dwellers" Rigging Progress

 Working though two main sets of tutorials for the quadruped rig, the "Pipe-Dweller" now has a fully functioning rig and skinned geometry. The feet have been rigged with IK's and the tail has a IK/Switch to allow better positioning. 

Although fully rigged, there isn't really any blendshapes on the body due to rigging the character before skinning, which means I won't be able to do much animating but will be fine for capturing some poses. This was good fun to make and I've learned a lot more about rigging, finding this process much faster than doing the "Sock-Stealer".

I'm going to place this character in the environment and then take some in shot poses. 

Joints and IK's

Joints and Geometry

Controls

Controls

Rendered Pose Front

Rendered Pose Front

Rendered Pose Back

Major - Final Animation Process Plus Sound

Coming to the final stages of the rendering and animation process, sound/ music has now also been placed by Tom Will Morris, some sound final placements directed by myself. There are a few areas on the rendering that may need changing and a light noise has been placed to soften the CGI look. I had also placed a vignette on the animation, but it seemed to make it far too dark, so this was removed. 

Alongside this, rigging and skinning is underway on the "Pipe-Dwellers".

Music/Sound Folly - Tom Will Morris: https://linktr.ee/TomWillMorris 

Major - Final Film Construction and Colour Correction

With all the scene rendered and at a good stage, I decided to place them altogether to get a better idea of timing with the logo and credits. When reviewing this, there are some areas that are a little overblown due to the lighting so I aim to go back an correct these but I am happy with the outcome so far. 

Alongside this, I have also done a little colour correcting. Using ambient occlusion renders worked to add depth but have a bad habit of washing out the colours. After watching a few videos on colour grading via Adobe Premiere, I decided to increase the saturation and add a little warmth to the scene by increasing the orange and pink tints. Firstly I was going to add a overall gradient change to the whole video, but as the lighting varies due to the activity in the scene, I decided to colour grade each shot individually. 

Having just blue lighting was making it far too cold and as this is meant to be a childs bedroom, adding a little warmth brought a bit of life back into the scene. 

Render Layers: Background, Shadow, AO and Main Animation

Colour Grading Via Premiere

Pre Colour Grading

Post Colour Grading

Major - Rendering Progression Part 09 and Logos Animation

 All the scenes for this animation has now been rendered, the next step is to make any final tweaks to the renders, add some blurring in some scenes via Adobe After Effects and colour balancing. Using render layers has been a huge help though out this process as it has made rendering far quicker. Working a little on the studio logo, some animation was created via After Effects and some sound added. 

Once these are all done and the majority of the "Art of" completed, I am going to start rigging the "Pipe-Dwellers" in the hope to create some simple animations or stills. 

Major - Rendering Progression Part 08 and Logos/Credits

 At present, I have decided to stop the animation with the "Sock-Stealer" hugging the socks. Originally, I had planned to show him with a new jacket made from the socks it has in it's arms. However, this would mean either re-rendering the jacket in already done in multiple scenes with different textures or completely re-designing the aesthetic of the jacket of the skinned model. Sadly, this does mean some wasted time on unneeded animation.

With this in mind, the next step is to start rigging the "Pipe-Dwellers" in hope to have them making a appearance at the end of the animation, allowing the story to continue like the animatic. If not possible, at least to make some rendered poses and turnarounds.

I have also put together some ideas for the end credits, the studio logo and have started placing together the final "Art of" document. 

For the Logo, I was debating between: Lost Marbles Studios, Thingamabob Studios and something in relations to creatures as that is what my animation is about. After a little designing and talking to my partner/family, I created the two designs below. 

Out of the two, the "Cheeky Monster Studios" is by far my favourite and will I use this one as it is more in relation to my animation. If I get time, I may see about placing a little animation on the logo.

First Studio Logo Design

Second Studio Logo Design

Major - Animation Progression Part 08 and Rendering Progression

 Working back on the animation, I had to think about how I was going to get the "Stealer" to keep the socks in its arms when coming back up from the drawer. After some experimenting, I found the best way was to parent groups holding the socks to a rivet on the forearms whilst placing a bend deformer within the group so to create some movement to the socks. The socks was molded to arms by using nCloth and then duplicating when getting the desired effects.

Currently the socks are not textured, as I am making a small change to the end of my animation due to time, they will be textured to match the fabric of his coat. I am going to have a small scene at the end with the "stealer" wearing its coats.

 I have noted a few areas in the renders that can do with a little tweaking. Luckily, all my renders have been conducted via layers and shadow mattes so it won't take long to fix these errors. 

Major - Animation Progression Part 07 and Rendering Progression

Having caught Covid again this week, progression in terms of animation had slowed down but has allowed me to concentrate a little more on rendering (meaning I can rest a little more and let the computer do the work).

For the renders, I used a render layers to separate any moving components from the background, making rending much faster and giving me more control via compositing, using AO layers  helped to cement it all together. 

Lighting has been quite a challenge due to it being moon lighting, but using layers will allow me to make any needed tweaks later and with reduced rendering times. For some of the more crowded scenes, I am debating placing a bit of blurring in the background so to help direct the viewer's eye.

The tutotal led to some amazing advice that I aim to try and introduce once more animation and rendering is placed.