Quick 3D studies

Quick studies are usually small shots done in between larger assignments. I try not to spend more than an hour on each so I learn about the most essential controls to be used and not waste time in Maya. I love doing quick studies because it takes a lot of the pressure out of animating for me. It allows me to make my mistakes and test out different work methods while studying the principles!

Below, is a moving hold from the pose study I did

Below was a hand grabbing a frying pan study

Here's another hand study done super super quickly in class. I'd say it took about 20 minutes

Below is a "cushion" study in a simple head turn.

Below was an overlapping study and I felt like adding a little character to make it fun to create. hehe!

Poses

Below are some pose studies I've done over the past few weeks. This semester has been all about finding uniqueness in characters and trying to steer away from the cliche. I tend to over complicate the poses but recently writing down what the character is thinking has helped me with clarity.

I had the most fun with this one below... :)

 

Thief

So for the past month or so I've been working on the final group project for my Intro to Body Mechanics Animation class (128A). The assignment was to basically showcase all that we've learned in our shot as well as make sure it flows as a sequence. I picked the title sequence with the character free-running/jumping from letter to letter in the word "Thief". It was a real challenge working on this. The flips were very complicated but I got lots of help from Raquel (my professor) and friends along the way! I had a blast working on this project and learned SO much! Through working, it only further cemented my passion for 3D animation, and I can't wait to start a new shot!

Without further delay, here is the film:

ANI 128a Digital Animation I, "Thief" - a group piece. Spring 2015, Animation and Illustration program. SJSU. from Raquel Rabbit on Vimeo.

 Below is the process I used to create the shot.

First I started with an animatic, drawn in Photoshop and timed in premiere pro: This was to figure out timing and poses of the shot.

Then I moved into first pass blocking, where I create the main poses (and major breakdowns) of the character in stepped mode in Maya. It's usually all great until you switch into spline, where the computer basically adds the in-between poses for you. This is what I saw after putting it into spline mode the first time to check my progress, and after seeing this I knew I had a long long way to go! lol (also this is an old costume design) (version 6)

Then after a week of working I was able to fix it up to this. But the timing and everything still felt off. (version 17)

To fix the timing, I added a ball to the hips, like Aaron Hartline said he did when he critiqued my work at BACC (Bay Area Creative Connection). I animated the ball to the timing I wanted, then matched my character to that timing. Then I switched back into Stepped Mode and worked a lot more on the poses. (This is version 28):

Finally, I worked and worked, added lighting, squash and stretch in the rig, fixed curves/arcs, overlap, etc and at version 67, I comped it together and submitted it! I hope you like it! :)

Here it is again:

 It was a lot of fun working on this, I got a lot of guidance from my friends and classmates! But most importantly, thanks Raquel for all the amazing feedback, I can't wait for next semester. And thanks Animation Mentor for the awesome Stewart Rig!!

More Poses and Quick Studies!

Hi all!!

Been super busy lately, but thought to post some more of the warm up work I've done.

Below are some poses I've worked on throughout the last couple weeks:

Here's a Quick Study from Week 10, practicing the art of "overshooting", where an object in motion goes just a bit beyond the landing before settling back into it's final position. It can help make characters look realistic and alive and not so mechanical.

And Finally, here's another quick study, re-visiting the head turn. I was really proud of this one because it was the first time experimenting with the layered animation approach!

So far...

Here is some work that I've done in my 3d Animation, beginning body mechanics class (Ani 128A). 

These are some of the shots I turned in so far during the semester. During finals, I will have the opportunity to revise them but I though it would be cool to show the progression.

This is the side step animation I did in the first week of class.

Here are some of the pose studies from that first week...

Here is my jump shot. I decided to do a super parkour guy. Parkour is something that I've always wanted to do but will most likely never do... so why not live vicariously though animating it! lol This was a very fun assignment and learned so much.

Here is a quick study from week 4 on moving holds. This was my first attempt that I turned in... but soon realized it was wrong! lol

So I decided to redo it for the next class and here is the fixed attempt:

Here is another quick study this time it was my first attempt at polishing. It didn't come out the way I wanted but still learned a lot from it.

Here was my polishing quick study of my character's head turn. I think really I started to understand polishing this week compared to the last quick study. Plus this only took 30 minutes!!! I was super proud :)

Quick study of arm falling from chin to table.

And finally, this is my throw animation. I based it on the oh so great Tim Lincecum. And hey, this project was a GREAT excuse to watch aka study lots of Giants baseball.. .even watched a preseson game while working on this... and they beat LA! Anyway, I learned A LOT from this project and even got it critted by Aaron Hartline from Pixar when I went to a networking event at the Walt Disney Family Museum. He gave me AWESOME pointers and really inspired me. I still have lots of things I hope to fix with this shot but for now it's time to move onto the next project! 

Cock A Doodle Doo!

This is an assignment was that I was given for my experimental animation class. I was given a pen and ink etching of a rooster and each of us had to interpret what we wanted the rooster to do... the use of medium, sound, story, design, etc. was entirely open for me to use. It's weird being that free... lol

Here's the rooster:

This was a particularly difficult project for me because my initial direction wasn't working. I just couldn't get into it and it showed... But I realized it was because I was doubting myself and my concept was just really boring!

So, I  with the help of Kevin and Nick I decided to scrap the original idea and do something different, in a medium I've never animated with. I was inspired by some of bill plymton's animation shorts as well as Wild E Coyote! However, by the time I decided to go a different direction there were only a couple days before the deadline and ended up working nonstop to get it done.

In the end I had fun with it and I'm proud of the final result.

But most importantly, I ended up learning that I need to work on allowing myself to step outside my comfort zone more often... And sometimes a lot of good comes from scrapping an idea that just isn't working.

My First 3D Animation Class!

Hi all!

So last semester, I took my very first 3D animation class! It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo fun. I loved that class and learn so much. My teacher was Chris Larsen and he was awesome. This class was all about teaching the animation basics like ball bounce, ball roll, pendulum, etc. and ending in a character walk. Taking this class opened a whole other world of animation to me that I definitely want to do a living :)

Here is my final reel from the class, enjoy:

My Best Friend

This is a project I did for a class (Ani115) at SJSU. The class was tasked to create our own individual short films, made entirely by us. We also needed to work entirely in the program, Adobe Flash. It was a very very very difficult task for me because not only was there a learning curve involved in learning the new medium but I also wanted to create something meaningful.

I used a very personal story of mine as a starting point for my short film story. Then from that I decided, with the help from my teacher Aden Scott and Jeff Jackson, to tell the story from the dog's perspective.

Here it is, be sure to turn on the sound ;)

This project marked a lot of firsts for me:
- Animating a Dog/quadruped
- Animating 2 characters in one shot
- Dialogue (even though it's just one word) lol
- Working in Flash
- creating character designs

Below is some of the character designs/studies I did before starting to animate. Because I was struggling animating in Flash, the designs became a looooot more simplified and rough. Animating a dog was very complex and didn't feel comfortable caricaturing it before understanding the body mechanics yet.

I definitely see a million ways to improve but overall I'm proud of all that I learned from this and how it turned out. I'm also incredibly thankful for all the help from all my friends/classmates and teachers for pushing me!

Rescue Mission - My Sack Pantomime

So, there's been a delay in posting this I was having issues with my external hard drive and was fortunately able to fix it! Now I have a bunch of material to show that I'll be spreading throughout this winter break.

First it's: The Sack Pantomime, which was my final project for my Spring 2014 2D animation class (Ani 114).  What this project is: a 30 second (short) acting study using a flour sack as a character. Because the flour sack has no limbs or face it adds an extra level of difficulty to the assignment, focusing purely on body mechanics to tell the story. This was a very fun project for me and I learned so much. My teacher Jeff Jackson was a tremendous help, he gave me great feedback throughout the process that pushed me and kept me excited. This project was the biggest project that I completed at that point. I felt completely myself during the whole process realized the importance of putting personal life experiences in my work. I am extremely proud it and can't wait to learn more.

Below I'll go step by step of the process I completed.

But first, here's my completed assignment: (note: turn down volume)

So, before I get the that point, there needs to be lots and lots of planning on story. I came up with a story about a flour sack trying to rescue it's teddy from a cage in it's imagination.

Here's the first Animatic (storyboards to time). It's super rough at this stage.

As you can see there's a lot of clarity issues going on so over that weekend, I created this revised version.

At this point, I felt ready to move onto the next stage. - Animation!

During the animation portion, I referenced/studied a lot of pre-existing amazing animation.

Such as Pongo's Stretch-

Witch Hazel's zip off screen -

And Wild E Coyote's silly timing -

And Finally, Penny's hug and overall acting -

Since I was still a beginner I was looking for how these masters dealt with similar things I was dealing with. Studying these helped me understand my sack pantomime a little better. Studying these were also an excuse to simply marvel at great animation! :)

So there you have it! My Sack Pantomime: Rescue Mission. Here it is again without sound this time:

Hope you enjoyed it. This was a very special project to me because it was THE assignment that I realized that I want to be an Animator.

Thanks!!