Polish Previs Work
I focused on polishing creature animation in this week. In particular, I fixed leg movement, head movement, ear movement, and shoulder movement. But in my point of view, it has still not smoothed body motion.
Also, I joined animation party that gave me a good opportunities to connect with professional artist and student. Additionally, I could get a feedback from professional animators. They said that I need to observe more carefully, for instance, I have to see in foot movement, and how to move leg, and body structures etc.
From these feedbacks, I gonna polish more for achieving natural creature animation and to make a good showreel for getting a job in 3D animation / game industries!
Advanced Animation Shot (Jump Forward) Blocking
This week, I started working on a jumping animation shot as a more advanced body mechanics exercise.
Last week, I discussed my plans with my tutor. Initially, my tutor advised me to focus on polishing my previous work rather than creating a new shot. To be honest, I was a little confused because I had already planned a new animation idea. My original concept was a character jumping to catch a balloon that had floated away from a child and then returning it. I was quite interested in developing this idea further. However, after discussing it with my tutor, I understood their point of view. Since there were only about two or three weeks remaining, they suggested that I simplify the idea and focus primarily on creating a convincing jumping motion. Therefore, I decided to use this project as an opportunity to practise body mechanics and improve my understanding of jumping animation.
This week, I created the blocking pass in Maya using stepped mode. While working on the blocking, I found timing and spacing particularly challenging. A jump contains many subtle movements and details that need to work together. For example, when a character pushes off the ground, the body stretches upward, and when the character lands, the body compresses or squashes. These principles are important for creating appealing and believable animation, especially in stylised character animation. Although I understand the importance of squash and stretch, I realised that these techniques are still quite advanced for me. Therefore, I decided to focus first on the fundamentals, particularly timing and spacing, before concentrating on more complex animation principles.
After reviewing my blocking, I noticed that the character’s weight shift looked slightly unnatural, especially at the beginning of the shot. The centre of gravity (COG) did not feel stable, which affected the believability of the movement. Next week, I would like to focus on improving this area, as well as refining the timing and spacing throughout the animation. Overall, this exercise helped me recognise the importance of strong fundamentals in body mechanics. By concentrating on the basics first, I hope to build a stronger foundation for more advanced character animation in the future.