Tang's 3Danimation Blog
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Month: June 2023

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Comprehensive Art project 2

Week 10 Summary

Project Name: Shelter

Group Members: Jiazhuo Tang, Jiaruo Zhang, Yuhan Lin

Animation Link:

Process Video (My PART):

Brief Introduction of the Story:

The story revolves around a boy who is dissatisfied with the high-tech shelter where he lives. He yearns for an idyllic world outside but discovers that the reality outside is far bleaker than he imagined.

Category: 3D Animation

Inspiration: The inspiration for this project stems from the fascination with futuristic worlds depicted in futurism. It often portrays a vision of a technologically advanced society, emphasizing and romanticizing the quality of life under the influence of high technology. However, it tends to overlook the mutual dependence between technology and nature. The conflict between the high-tech lifestyle and people’s spiritual well-being is the central theme that this project aims to express. The concept of “shelter,” whether it pertains to physical or spiritual refuge, explores the harmony between technology and nature.

Summary: During the previous ten weeks, a total of five members were initially involved in planning this project. However, due to time constraints and a lack of project experience, we remained in the initial stages for a long time. Later, after personnel adjustments, only three members continued to work on the project. The reasons for the personnel adjustments included communication difficulties and insufficient efficiency. After careful consideration, we decided to split the team. It is worth mentioning that team friction is common, but it is important to actively communicate with members to identify and resolve issues. If a solution cannot be found, peacefully handling the team split becomes necessary.

I am grateful that the remaining three members put in a great effort to complete the project within the ten-week timeframe. We had to cover a wide range of tasks because initially, the project was designed for five people. Therefore, we all had a substantial workload. Our strategy involved intertwining the completion of tasks at each stage. For example, everyone participated in story discussions, animation reference filming, modeling, texturing, special effects, animation rendering, and more. Our coordination was so efficient that there were very few instances where someone fell behind or was unaware of the current progress or desired improvements. However, time remained the biggest challenge. Despite allocating two weeks for animation, rendering, and editing, it was evident that the project was rushed, and there were many areas where we felt unsatisfied. Nevertheless, we gave it our best effort.

If given another chance, I would still approach it in the same way, allocating time for each team member or each stage of the project. It’s important to allow for errors and provide time to fix and adjust them. We did have some shortcomings, such as frequent file errors during the post-production phase due to software version issues, resulting in the loss of various scene files that needed to be repaired. If there’s one area that needs improvement the most, it would be in the careful transfer and delivery of files, ensuring that all files are adjusted and finalized on a unified computer before distribution and rendering.

I am grateful to instructor Michael for providing us with valuable advice and assistance throughout the project. One thing that left a deep impression on me was his suggestion to shoot reference footage of ourselves for animation. Prior to that, we hadn’t realized the importance of this step and had simply relied on our imagination to create the animation. When we went to the studio for the reference shoot, he was there to guide us on how to portray the relationship between the two characters—whether the robot should act as a parental supervisor, a companion, or an emotionless monitor, and so on. These considerations added depth to the story and performances, and Michael’s advice proved to be invaluable.

I would also like to express my gratitude to George for his help. Based on his suggestions, we made a comprehensive revision of the storyboard, eliminating unnecessary lengthy parts and refining the pacing, as well as addressing details of actions and shot language that could appear in the storyboard. He also provided excellent advice for the ending of the story, proposing an open-ended conclusion that allows different viewers to interpret the animation differently. As a result, we changed the ending from the boy’s sad expression upon seeing the outside world to him looking up and seeing his ideal green planet, flying towards it. Whether the story represents an endless pursuit of a shelter or the boy finding his ideal place is left for the audience to decide and take away from the story.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with this project. Despite its imperfections in the final cut, it was a brief conclusion, and we still have plans to make further improvements in the music aspect during the later stages, striving for the best possible outcome.

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Intro to Acting project 2

Week 19 Summary – Final Version

Over the course of these five weeks, we embarked on a new small project, creating a 5-8 second upper-body performance animation with lip-syncing. By the end of the fifth week, the animation temporarily came to a close with the conclusion of the course.

In this project, my primary focus was on using my own reference videos as the main source for animation. The reason behind this approach was that my thumbnails were not very detailed, so they served as more of an initial plan rather than the main reference for the animation. However, this presented a challenge as relying too heavily on the reference videos had some drawbacks. For instance, some movements in the reference videos were not in arc form, which could affect the overall effectiveness and aesthetic of the animation (as most 3D animation movements follow arc paths). Unfortunately, I realized this issue quite late in the process, nearing the completion of the animation. Therefore, relying excessively on the reference videos became a criticism I identified.

Another valuable insight came from George’s feedback during our final class session. He reiterated the impact of time and space on animation and explained that easing in and easing out are common principles in various animations, except for robotic movements where the speed remains relatively constant in time and space. I personally have sometimes lacked self-reflection on how to improve my animations because I couldn’t quite pinpoint the areas that needed work. In the class feedback, I learned to pay attention to the motion curves of body parts such as the nose and hands to see if they follow arc paths. By connecting the positions of the nose in each frame, I could observe the shape of the line formed by these markings.

Therefore, the consideration of easing in and easing out in motion speed, as well as observing whether animation trajectories follow arc paths, has become an important criterion for evaluating the quality of my animations and determining whether they appear amateur or professional. I’m grateful for the helpful feedback provided in the final class session. Although I discovered the issues a bit late, it’s still beneficial to identify problems and receive guidance for the next stage. After all, understanding animation is an incremental process that requires continuous practice and application.

Moving forward, I will continue working on the areas that need improvement during my spare time.

Class Feedback: (Due to being busy with other projects last week, I discussed the animation progress with the teacher this week.)

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Comprehensive Art project 2

Week 9: Animating 2

My task this week still revolves around animation production. Since we dedicated these two weeks to focusing on animating, we did not have specific group discussions. Instead, we uploaded our progress and received suggestions and feedback from other team members. In my section, I primarily focused on refining the animation details during the struggle between the robot and the main character over the control lever.

Additionally, after completing the animations, we adjusted the rendering parameters uniformly. We then packaged the files and used the render farm provided by the UAL system to render the animations. I must say this was a somewhat challenging process. Firstly, rendering took a considerable amount of time, and secondly, there were instances where some textures were lost when uploading to the render farm. To address this, we resolved the issue by reassigning the texture paths in the file path editor, which largely solved the problem.

In addition to rendering, each team member was responsible for rendering their own animation sections. After completion, we combined the segments and handed them over to me for sound editing, background music, opening and closing credits, and other post-production tasks. I accomplished this part using Adobe After Effects. I must admit that this phase was quite time-sensitive, as I had only one day to complete this work. As a result, there were areas that I couldn’t modify due to time constraints, and the final outcome had some aspects that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with. However, overall, completing this project within the given time frame is something worth celebrating.

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Intro to Acting project 2

Week 18 – Blocking Plus

During the blocking plus stage, lip sync is added to the animation. It’s important to analyze the pronunciation of each word and not simply mimic the individual sounds. Instead, consider how each word connects in a sentence and what phonemes are produced. When unsure of when the jaw should open, one technique is to place a fist against the chin and speak to understand how the jaw moves accurately at specific times.

In addition, attention should be given to what produces the sound, including the lips, tongue, jaw, teeth, and vocal cords, as outlined in the course material. Two key points of focus for me are that the lip shapes appear slightly ahead of the sound and the movement of the tongue is generally not exaggerated during speech.

Furthermore, referring to the phonemes provided in the course material, I match the various lip shapes with the corresponding sounds. By following this guideline and considering connected lip shapes rather than pronouncing each word separately, the lip movements appear more natural and less stiff.

Based on the modifications from last week, I made some changes to the animation. One significant change was modifying a portion of the limb movement, transitioning from bringing the hands together to spreading them apart. This was done to avoid the occasional interference of hand contact caused by movements of the waist or hips (to simplify things) and to add variation to the overall motion. To make the hand movements appear smoother, I incorporated the principle of overlap in the animation.

Additionally, I made adjustments to the waist. To avoid making the movement look too snakelike, I reduced the motion of the waist nodes and relied more on the hip nodes to control the movement. This approach gives the motion a more human-like quality and avoids making it appear too fluid like that of an invertebrate.

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Intro to Acting project 2

Week 17 – Blocking

This week, I added more keyframes to the existing animation and made modifications to the placement of the hands, aiming to create a more polished version that appears as if it’s being presented under a camera lens.

Progress Made:

  • Added more keyframes to enhance the animation.
  • Adjusted the placement of the hands for improved positioning.

Course Feedback:

During the feedback session, it was mentioned to pay attention to the overall body motion by marking the trajectory on the tip of the nose. It’s important to ensure that the marks on the nose form an arc between frames. If they don’t, adjustments may be needed in local areas such as the position of the head or hips to ensure that the nose follows a curved path.

Additionally, feedback was given regarding the inclusion of eye blinking as a detail. Blinking during speech adds a natural touch to the character animation. The blinking animation doesn’t need to be too fast; it should allow the audience some reaction time when they see the character blink.

Categories
Advanced and Experimental 3D computer Animation Techniques 1 Comprehensive Art project 2

Week 8 Animating

Individual Progress: The next two weeks are dedicated to animation production. Based on the tasks assigned last week, the three members of our group will independently work on their respective sections divided according to the storyboard. We opted for this approach because our time is limited, and working separately will help us accelerate progress and complete the project within the deadline.

I am responsible for the middle section of the storyboard, where the boy enters the spaceship and engages in a series of arguments with the robot while the spaceship travels into outer space. We are all using Maya for animation production and utilizing the Camera Sequencer feature to edit each shot. With Camera Sequencer, we input the appropriate frame numbers and assign specific camera identifiers, allowing us to easily preview the different shots arranged together.

During the animation production, we consider factors such as timing, how specific actions are presented in front of the camera, and attention to details like fingertips and blinking, which make the characters more lively. Additionally, I experimented with some creative techniques, such as modifying the color parameters of the model materials to achieve certain effects. For example, I changed the robot’s color from blue to red when it gets angry, and I adjusted the transparency and brightness to simulate the control panel’s activation. I also added a simple scaling animation, resulting in a satisfactory sequence depicting the control panel’s startup. I am quite pleased with this part.

Group Progress: (Lin and Jiaruo) The remaining two members are working independently on their assigned sections, but since there is no visual documentation provided here, I won’t present them one by one. Some common topics we discuss include maintaining consistent lighting brightness and color across shots, ensuring smooth transitions between shots, and addressing any stiffness in character movements. If needed, we can improve the smoothness of character movements through techniques like moving holds and paying attention to small details in the characters’ body language.

Next Steps: We have one more week to make revisions and render the final animations based on our initial animation production.