Principles of 3D Computer Animation: 3D Animation(with Sonya)
Week 6 Heavy lift animation:
In this animation, I use the rigs to make this character lifts a heavy box. Firstly, I use the locators to make the parent constraints of her hands and the box separately. Then I do the mockup. I think the challenging part is how to mock the accurate postures and gestures because they are very detailed. For example, the bending waist is very important and it changes when the character begins to stand. The angle of the head can also show she is using strength to lift. I think I should improve the part when she stands up more. Because there are many waist controls and key framing them separately can make the animation looks smooth, instead of using just one waist control to bend her body.
Week 7 Throw a ball animation:
Before making the animation, I import the png sequence into Maya as the reference. I mock up the keyframes of some postures first, and then I play the video to see if the postures match with the reference. I use the Euler Filter to clean the messy movement, like the rotation of the arm which throws the ball. In order to make the ball fly away from the hand, I use the parent constraint at first. In the frame when the ball flies away from the hand, I use blend parent to make the ball move by itself. I improve the starting pose and make the character looks balanced and won’t fall.
Week 8-9 Pantomime acting animation:
In this animation, I find a pantomime acting as the reference to mock-up the rigs. I animate the rough body movement first, and then I keyframe the gestures and facial expressions. I think the lips are difficult to animate because the mouth shape is hard to match with the pout. The eyebrows are changing too through the animation and they move up slightly when the character pouts at the end.
Week 10-11 Lip sync animation:
Before making the lip sync animation, I use the rig to practice for mocking up a short-acting reference. Through this process, I practice mocking up the eyes, lips, head, and slight body movement.In this playblast, I find an acting reference and mock-up of the lip sync animation. I think the challenging part is to mock up the mouth shape accurately with the words, like vowels and consonants. Because the lips are not the only things that affect the effect, the jaw and the cheeks also have an impact on speaking, which means more things to consider at one moment. Sometimes, the lips go out or inside slightly which depends on the pronunciation. I make the eyes, head, and slight body movements after working on the lips. I think the improvement should be more detailed things, like the tongue as well.
