Animation work flow

This is a diagram that Jon showed us to help up break up out time efficiently when approaching a new project.

Croquet 1 & 2

We were given these two tasks as homework to use and demonstrate

Ball roll 3D

3D Ball roll - Softimage

The link above will take you to my clip of a 3D ball roll.

The task was to create a 3D ball roll in softimage, the previous weeks work - making the potato heads was set to help us get familiar with the software before we started on the 3D work. I am a visual learner, so when i am in a class and being shown what to do on a screen in front of me, i learn much quicker then if i was to learn by myself. So i found this task to be relatively easy.

Once you open the softimage programme you go to the left hand side of the programme and click the primitive menu. Once you have done this you click onto the shape sphere.

This will appear immediately onto the grid display. To make it easier to see you can change the viewing of the 3D sphere by clicking the drop down button just to the top right of the screen and changing the menu from 'grid' to 'shaded'. This makes the sphere opaque and therefore you can not see the background grid.

Once you have the sphere ready and shaded, it is pretty much like AfterEffects. You have to key frame the ball in different positions in the time line to make  the ball move. You can also manipulate the ball to fade in and out of the roll to create a smoother look.

Learnt short cuts:

vertical pan = S
Slip forward = ctrl + shift + left arrow
Slip backwards = ctrl + shift + right arrow
Zoom tool = Z
Hide grid = G
Nudge forward = ctrl + right arrow
Nudge backwards = ctrl + left arrow
Horizontal pan = X
Undo = ctrl + cmd + Z
Clear all transitions = E

Mr. and Mrs. Potato head - Attempt 1 & 2`

This is the first time i tried to create mr and mrs Potato head. I struggled a lot when creating the first image above. It took a good two and a half hours. I look at it now and laugh as i have learnt so much in the last week. The main thing that shouts out to me is that the objects are all unrefined and angled. If you use the (+) key you can smooth out the individual pieces to reveal what they are actually meant to look like. I learnt from doing the task that if you are wanting to make realistic eye balls (for example on Mrs. Potato head, it is easier to do it bit by bit. I tried to make its easier and quicker by making the eyes before putting them onto the head. However, once i had assembled the eye and started moving it to put it on the head, the individual pieces started to move away from each other. I am not sure why this happened, and i am sure there is probably a button in softimage somewhere which can anchor all the individual pieces together like in after affects, but this was now and has not been obvious to me as of yet.

After the second lesson with Jon, i decided to have another go at creating the two potato heads.  I decided to concentrate on one before i started the other. I decided to concentrate on mrs potato head. I felt much more confident making the 3D Mrs Potato head then i did the previous week, i have smoothed the individual pieces out and i have noticed a massive decrease in the time spent on creating it.

ECO CHALLENGE

FinalCut Pro Document.

Writing and evaluation to come soon - Link below

Film no audio

I just realised i exported it with no sound on AE when compressing it so i shall have to do it again. OOPS.

Final AE Film and Evaluation

Georgia O'Keefe film

Evaluation:

My aim was to make an education film about Georgia O'Keeffe that people would feel inspire by and enjoy. I was also to learn some basic skills on After Effects and Photoshop and to feel more confident with using any computer software. I have learnt a vast amount in the last three months, I can now make 3D and 2D files on After effects, I am fully capable of using Photoshop to dismantle images, make mind maps, mood boards, etc. I am extremely happy with the out come, as it is much more then I originally thought I could achieve. I taught myself how to make 3D flowers fall, a 3D book open and much more. I have also leant how to use Final Cut ProX, which is the software I put all the sound onto to go onto my film.

I am most proud of the 3D falling flowers I made in After Effects; they look romantic in the film along with the sound track.  The sound track took hours of searching but I feel it goes really well with the imagery I created, although, the sound track is maybe a little depressing in sound. I am also really happy with the concept idea I came up with, I love how the film starts on ‘O’Keeffe’s” desk and then ends on mine. I am also glad I didn’t concentrate too much on her life experiences; her husband’s betrayal, nervous breakdown etc. I also tried to do the same with the photographs of O’Keeffe; I begin the film with an image of O’Keeffe young and end with an elder photo of her.

If I had more time there are a few things I would change. Mainly cleaning up particular parts of the film. For instance some of the write on effects, I made the masks over the original font to think and therefore when you play back the mask, it doesn’t look as neat as it could. I would maybe experiment with more 3- Dimensional effects to make the film that little bit more eye catching. I would maybe experiment with brighter colours through out the film as O’Keeffe passion was for shapes and colours. However, I wanted to keep the same pallet throughout to make it seem as thought the film is playing from inside of a book. I also would have liked to add in more ‘page turn’ effects on some of the scenes, as again this would have created a book like visual.

Overall, despite all the panic, frustration, and tears, I have thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. I have learnt a considerable amount and I am very pleased  and proud of what I have produced  and achieved for you to see. There are always going to things I would do differently and aspects I would like to improve on. However, for me, this video symbolized a huge mountain successfully tackled; and I am ready for the next challenge to be thrown at me.

Scene 16 - End Scene