Animation

2D & 3D Animation

The project given to do is to create about 4 seconds animation either in 2d (using Adobe Photoshop) or 3D (using Autodesk Maya) with sound clips provided by the school. Even though it is not what I want to focus on, I decided to go with 3D, for 2 reasons; 

- 2D animations have more personality, yes, but it is also time consuming, while 3D, the hard part is to do the rig, which in this case, is already provided, so obviously animating in 3D is the best choice for now if I don't really want to focus so much on animation. (more effort and time can be put for other current projects such as Mudbox)

- secondly, since I'm not really into 3D as much, chances are I won't really go much for Maya in the future, so I should take this opportunity to try explore it. (since 2D photoshop is more frequently used in contrast)

I have used Maya before for character or object modeling but not for animation, and to be honest, it is like entirely learning a new software, Maya never ceases to surprise me on how complex it can be, I find it a challenge to follow and many of the classmates who uses this for the 1st time are really intimidated and immediately revert back to going 2D. Photoshop/ Adobe Flash is such a pie in creating an animation in comparison to Maya, even the interface is easier to understand in Mudbox. However, I still find that Maya a software that I have to know the basics about if I want to work in the game industries, after all, it really is a powerful software; God Of War 3 were engine were built in Maya and we all know that is quite a massive game. Of course, being done some character modelings before, I also see the link between concept art (something I want to pursue) and 3D model; they really go hand in hand in a working condition, so its good to know how a rig works or how a rig is suppose to be fit on a model.

In conclusion, I'm not really keen in working on animation with Maya, but I see a lot of potential that we can be created with this software, so I'll keep an open mind on it.

12 Principles of Animation (Good examples)

 

Squash and stretch

- defining the rigidity and mass of an object by 

distorting its shape during an action

 

This is Will E. Coyote trying to propel himself like an arrow using a bow.

He stretches his body along with the bow and let go, but obviously failed 

miserably and squashing himself instead.

Timing and motion

- spacing and actions to define the weight and

size of objects and the personality of characters

Follow through and overlapping action

- the termination of an action and establishing its

relationship to the next action

This is Road-runner stopping from a chase for a second, and its body sort of

wobbled back and forth when it does. creating an overlapping action for the

stopping action.

Straight ahead action and pose-to-pose action

- the two contrasting approaches to the creation of 

movement


Pose to pose
The Pose to Pose method of animation is possibly an alternative solution to the drawbacks of Straight Ahead Action. The Pose to Pose method is commonly a more ideal path for animators to work with, however, like every method in any profession or skill, there are pros, and there are cons.


Straight ahead animation
Straight ahead is generally considered the "newbie" way of animating, because of it's forward and improvisational nature, however, the professionals use straight-ahead runs in their animations, and at times such runs could produce a "magical" vitality that wasn't seen there before. When animating straight ahead, one merely draws from start to finish without any "guideposts" or key frames (storytelling drawings) or extremes. Just draw as you go.

Example of Straight ahead animation

Video of Tha Cliff 2 
by Xeffpatterson (Felix G. Harvey)

Anticipation

- the preparation for an action

That's the part when stickman is about to hit the cliff...

This is when the jetpack is about to explode...

and this last picture is when the stickman is going to catapult itself...

Staging

- presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear

The stickman on the right is obviously going to shoot the stickman on the left...

homage to lion king...

Slow in and out (ease in and out)

- the spacing of the in-between frames to achieve

subtlety of timing and movement

&

Arcs

- the visual path of action for natural movement

Homage to the movie 300, 

it slows down in midair and out when it made contact with the target.

Body moves in an arc.

Secondary action

-       the action of an object resulting from another action

(movement of stickman)

Exaggeration

- accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action

This is a good example of Japanese anime exaggeration style,

from One Piece; a scene involving Zoro & Sanji and their flexible

facial expressions

Appeal

- creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys

watching

Chocobo is definitely one of the most loved character for gamers around the world

Sackboy from Little Big Planet, who is easily likable 

Personality

- in character animation is the goal of all of the above

Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas

Jack Skellington's facial expressions

Solid drawing
- The idea behind this principle is that every frame in an animation should be able to stand out on its own as a solid drawing. In this following animation by TomSka; he uses a lot of still pictures (solid drawing).

                                                   

An example of solid drawing from the animation.

Bad Examples of animation

 These are examples of animation that are really bad simply because

 they do not apply the 12 main principles of animation properly

Examples on how music plays a big part in animation