Category: Intro to Acting

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.)

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.

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.

During this week, I focused on the stepped stage, which is crucial for laying the foundation of the complete animation. In the Maya file, I organized the assets by creating separate folders for models and sound, labeled as “asset” and “sound” respectively. Then, I created a new scene and imported these files to begin the animation process. Prior to animating, I set up the camera position.

While working on the animation, I opened two windows in Maya. One window displayed the animation from the “persp” camera, allowing me to observe the motion, while the other window showed the fixed camera view (“camera1”) that I had set up. This setup made it easier for me to present and make adjustments to the animation in front of the camera.

Progress Made:

• Organized assets and sound files in separate folders.
• Set up camera positions for animation.
• Created two windows in Maya: one for observing the animation and another for the fixed camera view.

Course Feedback:

During the feedback session, it was pointed out that there were significant issues with the hand movements in the animation. I hadn’t paid enough attention to the placement of the hands, forearms, and upper arms in a way that would face the audience. A guideline to keep in mind is to maximize the visibility of the limbs in front of the camera, avoiding situations where one part of the limb obstructs another.

The following five weeks will be into the acting part, making a close-up shot above the chest. I will mainly focus on 3-7 second animations of dialogue and facial expressions.
First, into the preparations.

The process of preparation:

1.First, I find a dialogue. Then I only listen to the voice to distinguish the speaker’s emotion instead of watching the original animation plot because this will affect the emotion of the character I analyze.
I found a Lego animation dialogue from the website:
Dialogue audio:

The dialogue lines are: “Oh wow. That was a great, inspiring legend, that you made up.”

2.After listening to the dialogue, analyze what the character is thinking and what kind of emotion it is when he says this; and then use a pen to record some emotional and psychological content of the character that I guess.

3.After speculating on the character’s psychology, I began to imagine the character’s actions when he said the words. Of course, this is also related to the fourth point. This character will have some connection with his voice and his appearance; I may give him some personality so that the content of the dialogue and the model are more cohesive.
thumbnail version1:

4.Find a rigged model.
Model from: https://discover.therookies.co/rigs/
Model picture:

5.Divide the dialogue into different beats; for example, there is a turning point in the dialogue, from low to high mood, passive to aggressive statements, etc. Therefore, I can divide this dialogue into two to three parts and further analyze what action to take through emotions.

From the dialogue I selected, the character first uses an exaggerated and praiseful tone to praise something and then turns into a very indifferent tone. This makes me feel that the first half is a mockery of the character, a false, exaggerated praise so that the latter said indifferently： oh, you made up all this!

6.After completing the above work, you can perform in front of the camera. It is challenging to integrate into this role and think about it. I may speculate on what was said in this dialogue again. This makes it easier for me to imagine the emotions and states of the characters.

I guess the content of the previous sentence of this dialogue:

A: I come from a brave place! I am a princess of a country! My father and king fought an evil dragon alone! So you believe me, I also have such strength!

B: Wow that’s awesome, what does that sound like, oh that’s all made up, idiot. Who would believe this useless content?

Notes of the dialogue emotion: Hypocritical praise, insincere, disapproval, contempt. Frown, scorn, anger, frustration.

7.Under my repeated camera performance and action changes, I tried better to express the emotions and transitions in different beats until I felt pretty good (it’s best to ask classmates and friends for opinions). I’m not happy with the acting footage so far (despite my efforts many times) because it doesn’t look exaggerated enough; I can review my performance later and exaggerate the character.
Video:

8.Next, start to draw the thumbnails. Of course, this step and the lens performance are complementary. Before the performance, I conceived a plan and drew the thumbnails’ first version. Then after taking lots of performances, I chose my final version and repainted my thumbnails, so a sketch plan is essential to help us expand our thinking.
Thumbnail version2:

9.My preparations is done, I get thumbnails, a reference record (for my performance), a rigged model (for animation), and a dialogue audio. Next week, I will work on the next part of animation blocking after getting feedback on the preparation work.