Haydn Spencer

FULL ANIMATED SEQUENCE

RENDERED ANIMATION

My final rendered sequence.

Lighting and Rendering

I decided to start rendering the sequence, as I was happy with what it looked like. I found that the preview render was extremely bright, and I think it was down to the amount of lights I included on the set.

I narrowed down the amount I was using to three directional lights and one spotlight and rendered the scene without the background so that I wouldn’t get any shadows on it. It will be added back in later.

I was happy with the lighting in the above shot. But when it came to the second shot, I copied and pasted the lighting from the previous shot, but it didn’t seem to have the same balance as it did here. At the top of this post, you can see the differences between the lighting quality as I tried tweaking it to look right.

First three: colours too drab, composition is a bit off

Last three: slowly getting there, getting closer to intended look

Sequence Development

After seeing a tutor, I got feedback on the previous version of the animation:

- Push the ‘tapping the sword’ pose further, use a head tilt to make the character’s thoughts more obvious

- When the character adjusts the gloves, add some movement in the waist as it looks static

- Move the hand higher to adjust the glove

- Hold keyframes, the hands move about a bit too much while adjusting the gloves

- Hold the grabbing keryframes, the hand starts to move (this was intentional, but I can understand why I should change this)

- The right foot during the movement backwards should react

- The right leg’s position at the end doesn’t feel ‘real’ - it would be quite hard to hold this pose in real life, maybe consider sliding the foot backwards to a more comfortable pose.

The above animation is the result of these tweaks. I feel as if the animation is in a good place to move onto rendering.

I feel as if I am making good progress with my animation sequence, and feel quite happy with how it is currently going. I am also quite happy that I have managed to texture the head and give the character a proper face at long last.

Last week I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to keep track of which files I was using for the animation. To make sure I was keeping track of which files were the right files to use, I made sure that I always had an up to date animation file with all the important pieces in, such as the set, the rigged character and the textures. This has allowed me to work on the animation anywhere I take it while not getting confused about which is the newest.

Lighting

I wasn’t too sure how to light the set, so I tried several different alternatives to see what made the set look its best. I used a combination of spotlights and directional lights to give the shots a well-lit appearance

I also tried out using some smaller spotlights in the background to give the bamboo forest a glowing effect, but I don’t think this turned out as well as I wanted it to.

FULL SEQUENCE PLAYBLASTS

Texturing the Face

I went back into the model and decided to finally give my character a face. I feel a lot better for having given them a face, because now they have a lot more of a personality rather than having a bland blank space.

I wasn’t happy with the character not having a face, so I fixed the problem.

In texturing the head, I realised I could potentially render out the same sequence with a different texture on each time and then intercut the two or three versions of the animation together so it looks like the character’s expression changes.

I think this will help when she is straining with the sword, as it will visibly show her face screwing up with effort.

Shot 3 - Playblast 5

Elements improved

- The left hand holds in place a lot more consistently

- Character flying backwards is a lot quicker than before

Shot 1 - Playblast 4

Removed keyframes for the left hand going down and then back up, now the character pats sword and goes straight to adjusting position.

Hand is on the right way now, used the palm controller to ‘grasp’ the wrist of other hand so the adjusting movement is clear.

Fingers flex on the left hand to show gloves have been adjusted over the elasticated snapback being animated.

Worked on holds

Things that need work:

The legs move a bit too much for the position they’re in and for the way the shot is staged

Right arm’s arc could use a bit of work too

Shot 1 - Playblast 3

Left arm movement is a bit too fast as it goes up and down during the adjusting gloves stage

Hand is slowly but surely getting fixed

Shot 1 - Playblast 2

Moving to splining, and, despite thinking I had tweaked it, the hands are still on backwards. This either means I am working on an older version of the file or they might have flipped back around in splining.

Side by Side of Sequence So Far

I feel like I have made a good start on the animating of the project. While I am finding problems with how the rigged models work, I feel as if I am combating them the right way and learning from each iteration I do.

Shot 2 - Playblast 2

Hand grabs better, the thumb is more involved now

Body moves, makes the character more alive

Shot 2 - Playblast 1

- Hand snaps into place a bit too quickly and cleanly

- The rest of the body doesn’t react, seems awfully static