Week13, Lab1: IK Animation

Ex2:

So we start out with a given model of a mechanical arm & a crate.


By opening up a two panel view, it is easier for us to see the hierarchy of the mechanical arm.

So it makes it easier for us to rig it as well.


Here, i learned to create the rig for the mechanical arm.

A sort of mechanical frame which will enable it to move.










The order of the hierarchy is VERY important.

The first time i parented parts of the mechanical arm, i did it wrong.

& my mechanical arm went all haywire - the swivel base rotate left while the rest of mechanical arm just dislocated & flew in a different direction.






















Here, after correcting errors. My mechanical arm finally moved properly.














Now here's a playblast.


Reflection for Ex2:

The rigging is definitely tedious and every step is crucial.

One wrong step & we'll end up with an object that can dislocate and fly all around the scene instead of moving as a whole. The keyframing is important, else the crate will end up falling halfway. (As if the mechanical arm lost its hold on the crate)

Ex3:

Continuing from the rig from the previous exercise, i had to re-animate the mechanical arm & the crate to make it seem like there is a conveyor belt moving the crate along.

So i had to reset all the different keyframes.

& the playblast.

Reflection for Ex3:

Because i reused the rig from Ex2, it is simpler yet just as tedious.
I had to time the animation just right & reset all the keyframes - where the box should be parented to the mechanical arm & when it should be unparented (released).

Still, this is very useful since i will be doing something similar for our next project.

Ex4:

1) Apart from their different sizes, it is obvious from Luxo Jr. that the big lamp is “older” and that the small lamp is “younger”. How is this communicated by the animation? Give at least THREE examples. Do NOT say because the small lamp is playing with a ball, or that its name is Luxo Jr. – you should be looking at the animation, how the lamps move and emote (emote means to express emotions).

Firstly, it is obvious from the way the lamps are animated - which is the "older" lamp.
The smaller lamp is animated in such a way that it has the personaility/characteristics of a young child. It is active/energetic & playful. Hopping around & chasing after the ball like a kid would.
Whereas the bigger lamp, moves in a slower & gentler pace. Other than swivelling around & bending down, it doesn't seem to move in any other direction. (Like an old man)

Secondly, what these lamps are doing.
The bigger lamp, like i said, doesn't move around much besides turning around every so often, observing the area. While Luxo Jr. is playing around. Like an adult watching over its child. This, too, shows which is "younger" or "older".

Thirdly, how both lamps react to each other.
The big lamp knocks the ball towards Luxo Jr., like how an adult/a parent would play with a child.When Luxo Jr. accidentally deflates its toy, it looks up and around, as if to say "What just happened?". Big lamp then nods as if to tell Luxo Jr. that "Yes, it's broken. You can't play with that anymore." Big lamp then shakes its head like it knows another accident is bound to happen or to show disapproval. And Luxo Jr. hangs it's head, feeling dejected for a while before slowly hopping away.

2) Give an example from Luxo Jr of how timing is used for comic effect. Explain how the timing decisions contribute to the humour.


After a long pause where the big lamp looks at the deflated ball, then after Luxo Jr., a much larger ball then rolls along. And the bigger lamp jumps aside to avoid the incoming ball. Following the new toy, comes an enthusiastic Luxo Jr., once again chasing & playing with the ball.

The timing of the pauses and moments before something is about to happen, is such that it gives a audience something worth the wait. Especially the part where we thought the video was about to end when Luxo Jr. hops away after the ball deflated. But we didn't anticipate an even bigger ball to suddenly roll past.
The ball also seems to deflate pretty slow, creating an awkward atmosphere for both lamps. Awkward moments are often funny to others (audience).


3) When you create a joint chain, these form a hierarchy, with the first joint at the top and the last joint at the bottom. Explain why this that is necessary for the joints to work properly.

It is so that the movement of each component is more natural.
The animation will flow smoothly & doesn't have sudden/unecessary movements.
The joints/hiearchy, as taught, is like a skeleton assigned to a body structure. It moves just like the human skeleton.
For example, a human arm.
When reaching out for an object - one would extend their arm towards the object. The elbow will bend before the hand moves & grips the object.
If the order of connections are wrong, imagine - one moving his fingers, then extending the forearm before bending his elbow...weird & unnatural.
Therefore, The order of how each joint is connected is essential for IK animation to work properly.

Week12, Lab1&2: Maya Bouncing Ball

Firstly, i started off by creating a sphere.


Then giving both the ground & ball some colour.





Applying the squash & stretch to make it look like an actual beach ball.

It kind of became horribly distorted at first, stretching in the wrong angle & direction as it bounced.


Added lighting, as well as checking the graph to see if any part of the graph was out of place.


& here's a playblast of the beachball.

Reflection for Ex1:
This exercise was relatively easy, since i have learnt about the basics of animating a ball with added squash & stretch.
Other than that, i learned how to use the dope sheet to decrease the timing by using the graph editor.
As well as how to add ambient lightning to allow the object to cast a shadow when rendered out, making it look more realistic.
Also, by setting up the camera to get a good shot of the scene at an angle, i won't always creating a playblast in perspective view & adjusting it till everything is out of place.
However, though this is easy, watching all those 13 videos is a different story. It's 2hours long & majority of what was mentioned was apparently not much needed.
And because i was struggling to concentrate on those videos, i apparently either forgot to take or save A WHOLE LOT of my screenshots & ended up only few to show.

Exercise2:
1) Do you need to be able to draw well to create good 2D animation? Explain your view.

I think that to be able to create good 2D animation, one would require a certain level of artistic sense.
For me, i like watching anime. But before i watch an anime, i would first look at the storyline/genre(s) then the art work. If i find the art not to my liking, i might reconsider whether i should watch the anime or not. However, if i happen to reaaally like the storyline, i would watch the anime & try to tahan the art. Though usually, the artist improves over time.

An example.

Only when i rewatched the anime, did i start to realise how different the art was from start to end.
From the fifth episode - I could have just fainted.
Then, the art improved a whole lot.

Subsequently, i think that some animated characters that are made up of basic shapes can be as appealing to an audience if the storyline behind the animation is unique & interesting.

2) Do you need to be able to draw well to create good 3D animation? Explain your view.

One doesn't have to draw well to create 3D, this is much more different compared to 2D animation. For 3D animation, i think one must be able to understand & be able to sort of visualize how objects move in reality then incorporate these elements into 3D objects. But of course, being able to draw & plan out the animation would certainly be helpful as it may be easier one to visualise the scene.

3) What do you think would separate a piece of poor animation from a piece of good animation? In other words, how would you go about deciding if a piece of animation is good or bad?

Firstly, i look at the the way the characters & objects are animated.
Is the animation flowing smoothly, does any object give sudden unecessary movements/pauses & how does it look? Is it unrealistic & out of shape or something like that.
Colours also matter, if the colours a are horribly mismatched or too colourful it would ruin the whole scene. For example, my incredibly colourful bouncing ball from Week11's Lab 2 exercise. Both the ball & the ground are so colourful, it is distracting & one isn't sure what is the main focus.
With both the background & the main object that colourful/with the same colour, how is it possible for the main object itself to stand out.

However, everyone has their own preferences so it isn't easy to tell how good an animation is. Therefore, one has to rely on one's intuition.

4) In 2D animation, you need to be very aware of timing at a frame by frame level, using timing charts and other techniques - but for 3D animation, this is handled using the graph editor, which is more concerned with manipulating rates of change over time.
Does this affect how you approach your animation work? Explain.

In 3D animation, I think using the graph editor is much easier to create a smooth flowing animation. It deals with mainly the curves & length of a graph to create the direction of movements for the animation.
Whereas for 2D animation, it requires good drawing skills, good sense of timing & intuition. I remember, previously, for my Motion & Sound project, i created a short clip using stop motion. It took me a lot of time time to draw all 200+ frames using Microsoft Paint & time the animation accurately to match the audio. It was incredibly tedious work!

5) Give a brief critique of Maya as an animation tool. Don't just say Maya makes animation difficult, or easy, or that you need to learn a lot of stuff to use Maya - explain what Maya does well and not so well in terms of creating animation.

This is the first time i have used Maya to create 3D animations, & i think that it does pretty well in most aspects.
There are a whole bunch of tools that will add extra effects to your 3D models. For instance, the lighting can be added to allow your object to cast a shadow, making it more realistic & 3D. Or the rendering that allows you to apply a wide range of materials and texture maps to the object. This, i like, because i like to annoy people by applying psychedelic colours to all objects, & people find it too loud to look at.
Also, i can set up & move the camera around to show the scene at different angles. This is also pretty simple.

But after talking about the good points, there is the problem with the keyframing. Usually just by pressing "S", the keyframe would register itself on the timeline. But sometimes, i don't know why, but even though i pressed the key twice & the indicator for a keyframe shows up, there is nothing happening when i render the scene. And i would have to redo it. Annoying. But apparently, the problem can be solved by turning on the autokey function thing somewhere in the corner (where i hardly notice its existence).

Still, i feel that 3D animation is pretty interesting, though tedious.
And did i mention how incredibly lazy i am?
(even when it's very obvious i am)

Week11, Lab2: Squash & Stretch

Following instructions, i created a sphere & grouped it twice.

Then renaming the groups with a proper name.




Moving on, i created the floor for the ball to bounce on.

& apparently applied colour to it.




& then setting the keyframes for the ball to actually bounce.


Had to adjust the graph as parts of it just wasn't right.





The ball looked as if it was floating towards the end.







Here...i don't know what happened & i don't know why. (im sick & delusional)

I gave up halfway & randomly applied colours to the ground & ball.




So here's a playblast of the ball, after setting the keyframes for the rotation & squash/stretch.

Apparently, i think i created too large a sphere, so it's like, the ball has this extreme gravitational field acting on it.

Here's the second playblast of the animation of a bouncing ball with squash & stretch added as well. I resized the sphere so it's not like some massive blob bouncing unnaturally & incredibly weird. Again, i was sick & randomly applied colours to annoy whoever views this for my own entertainment.



Reflection:
Keyframing is tedious as the timing of the squash & stretch has to be perfectly timed to match the moments when the ball hits a surface. It isn't as visible from the video but at some point, the ball didn't actually hit the ground. And apparently, i was too lazy to change the XYZ values even though it's just off my a few digits. Like i said, i was sick. :D