If you found yourself back here yet again this week, i applaud you.
The fortuitous results of the last two weeks have resulted in my turning 16, punching holes in my face, a rethinking of my past and what is to come in the future. A detailed examination is to follow.
The main premise the BOCES class has followed for the last few days were those of a more technical nature, fishing into the mechanics of Harmony's cameras and utilizing the "node view" (i don't know why, but i have a distaste for the word "node") and playing around with the technicalities of effects and puppetry. Nothing too schmancy, but it was a worthwhile learning endeavor. We reviewed FPS math, and i was reminded how alike Sam Carter and any other cats are. I didn't know Dwonathan Daniels and i were only 6 hours apart in terms of birthdays, with me being older, and how Sam is a fine craftswoman who can whip up a sketchbook with ease.
I'd enjoy learning about efficiency in animation, how to take shortcuts without cutting corners or lowering the quality. That may sound just like laziness, coming from me especially, but i've noticed that these things take tons of time to do. Usually, on bigger projects, there are teams of animators, and i'm assuming they have all mastered using the same style of animation and so they're compatible together. i still don't know which direction i plan to go for my story, but it directly involves both an RPG and a comic. i have yet to propose at what time to formulate my escapade, however. i barely know what medium to do it in! watercolors are messy, lineart can go bad, i get too tedious with digital, everything's too saturated with digital or markers, and prismacolor pencils take too long.
Frustrations blooming from the week mostly pinpoint my discrepancies within myself, nothing really related to school is involved here. The only education-related thing i can think of would be that i ca barely participate in any afterschool clubs due to BOCES, but i did sign up for this and it's proving to be well worth it already.
The fountain of happiness is blessed by the relationships i have with all my friends, and reminds me that no matter how small you think you are, you're making an impact on someone's life. Whether or not it's a positive or negative one is up to you.
This week's link of interest is brought to us from Peter Draws on Youtube. He's a man tumbling through life at his own pace, and his voiceovers for his illustrations are relaxing and inspiring. It's somewhat like audiovisual ASMR, but also with a tinge of originality. He explores a wide range of mediums, from papers, inks, skin drawings, woodburning and more! This is one of his most popular videos, one spoken from legends of grinding ink and crafting something abstractly amazing with it.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Facial Animation! (BSSD)
This week on "Blogscape Smackdown" we visit the expressionate beauty of Facial Animation. This is yet another key component in animation, as it delves into how much life you can give a subject with a few facial features. Dana Boadway-Masson explains how Facial Acting is imperative to a good animation as it reveals what the character is thinking and how a thought process folds into this. The analogy of a computer is used with reference to an "input" (stimuli causing the reaction) and an "output" (reaction).
Her next topic addresses blocking facial expressions; how to use and how many. She alludes to the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Silly!) and explains how to break a shot down into main emotions and how to flow through them. The example of Benedict Cumberbatch is used to show how much emotion can go into a single sentence. The raw power of his facial acting allows him to employ such emotion in such a short amount of time. Enveloping this into your animation can really bring it to life! Timing this can be challenging, but just keep in mind when your character is reacting and how you would react under these situations as well.
Next, we revisit the Ball animation as an example of what /not/ to do for Emotional Hangtime. If there's a shift in force in your animation, don't forget to include some time for the emotions to change! The example used to relate to emotional hangtime is the bouncing ball's squash segment. This part is slower at the top and bottom due to the shift in gravitational forces. As we've gone over before, the lack of the transition makes your animation look robotic, and this applies to ANYTHING ELSE YOU'LL EVER DO IN THIS FIELD. To avoid this when working in the notion of facial acting, pose to pose animation is your best bet. Try reacting to what the character is reacting to, and process the different types of emotions you'd feel in that scene. Then flow through them with adequate timing and BAM! There ya go.
It's commonplace for animators to have a mirror beside them to have a "check" of their facial expressions in order to make sure they are accurate to what you're portraying. Dana brings up Dialogue blocking and how it's important in the way that the animator themself cannot edit this. They can only work around it. She goes on to point out that with precision, a majority of your dialogue can be done using only jaw movements! Exaggeration is key here and using the eyes and brows of a character can amp up the level of creativity to explore within your piece. Zohbugg has some great references for these- they're used throughout the blog to give an example.
Utilizing an order of operations will help a lot in framing your emotions in animation. They say that the eyes are the focal point, and anything else follows right behind. bringing these details to a key can level up your expertise in mastering animation.
My thoughts on this topic are that facial acting is KEY to any great feature! Someone may be able to act with their body or voice, but the face is likely the most expressive thing on screen and you don't want to look like a plain crusty bagel, do you? You may aim to be a Blueberry bagel, or even an Everything Bagel! Don't let those invisible walls of your mind hinder you from progressing. Break through and live strong.
Her next topic addresses blocking facial expressions; how to use and how many. She alludes to the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Silly!) and explains how to break a shot down into main emotions and how to flow through them. The example of Benedict Cumberbatch is used to show how much emotion can go into a single sentence. The raw power of his facial acting allows him to employ such emotion in such a short amount of time. Enveloping this into your animation can really bring it to life! Timing this can be challenging, but just keep in mind when your character is reacting and how you would react under these situations as well.
Next, we revisit the Ball animation as an example of what /not/ to do for Emotional Hangtime. If there's a shift in force in your animation, don't forget to include some time for the emotions to change! The example used to relate to emotional hangtime is the bouncing ball's squash segment. This part is slower at the top and bottom due to the shift in gravitational forces. As we've gone over before, the lack of the transition makes your animation look robotic, and this applies to ANYTHING ELSE YOU'LL EVER DO IN THIS FIELD. To avoid this when working in the notion of facial acting, pose to pose animation is your best bet. Try reacting to what the character is reacting to, and process the different types of emotions you'd feel in that scene. Then flow through them with adequate timing and BAM! There ya go.
It's commonplace for animators to have a mirror beside them to have a "check" of their facial expressions in order to make sure they are accurate to what you're portraying. Dana brings up Dialogue blocking and how it's important in the way that the animator themself cannot edit this. They can only work around it. She goes on to point out that with precision, a majority of your dialogue can be done using only jaw movements! Exaggeration is key here and using the eyes and brows of a character can amp up the level of creativity to explore within your piece. Zohbugg has some great references for these- they're used throughout the blog to give an example.
Utilizing an order of operations will help a lot in framing your emotions in animation. They say that the eyes are the focal point, and anything else follows right behind. bringing these details to a key can level up your expertise in mastering animation.
My thoughts on this topic are that facial acting is KEY to any great feature! Someone may be able to act with their body or voice, but the face is likely the most expressive thing on screen and you don't want to look like a plain crusty bagel, do you? You may aim to be a Blueberry bagel, or even an Everything Bagel! Don't let those invisible walls of your mind hinder you from progressing. Break through and live strong.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Ari's Summoning!
Heyyo!!! Itsha fav flav of the dinner turntable; Ari J! How have all of you been?
...
...
I'm glad to hear it!
...
...
-if something bad happened or you're sad, I'm not glad to hear that and I hope you feel better soon.-
These last few weeks we learned quite a bit in the ways of perfecting a "take" and using the Z axis in harmony. We also dove into the depths of the 11-second club and storyboarding, which i love! Storyboarding is the process of spilling your heart's ideas onto a paper and working it into something beautiful! I'm quite the excited fellow when it comes to this, as seeing my characters in silly situations like this one never fails to rev my engines.
Some things I'd love to learn more about is how we can use the Z axis to its fullest extent. It seems particularly useful, and i was mesmerized by its use in the demo. I can't wait to see what you all will be able to do with it in the coming future!
Some things that frustrated me weren't particularly class related, but Play related. The local school play, David and Lisa was on this weekend and as a member of the Stage crew, i was placed in the duty of turning these big spinny wheels of death which just so happen to be literally half of the set for the whole play! Our opening night we screwed a scene change royally when we turned it too early, the lights went up and the lead was staring right at us, frantically motioning us to turn him back! i thought he was gesturing me to get off of the stage, and so i, like the big dummy dork i am, got up and waved at him, mouthing "bye!"
Once i got backstage i realized my immense failure to heed caution and it ended as one of the most embarrassing things to happen this year. We apologized and yammered about it at Applebees later, so it's alright. Kamryn (David, the lead) is a chill dude.
I was quite the happy fellow when i heard news about an "undertale 2" (now dubbed Deltarune) and i finally got to play it tonight! The characters are charming and adorable, and the storyline is that of which you'd expect from a seasoned pro such as Toby "Radiation" Fox. I also plan to get piercings soon, so this week definitely seems to have a ton of upsides! That, along with having Tuesday off, Dwon and I have a birthweek, and I've even got new, shiny art supplies being shipped here as we speak!
This weeks links of interest come right from the man himself, Toby Fox, addressing the hardships of game development and his plans for the game itself. The passion he's placed in these two games only concedes to give me HOPE for the future and strikes a feeling of LOVE for his dedication to these topics of passiveness and morality. Here it is, folx.
...
...
I'm glad to hear it!
...
...
-if something bad happened or you're sad, I'm not glad to hear that and I hope you feel better soon.-
These last few weeks we learned quite a bit in the ways of perfecting a "take" and using the Z axis in harmony. We also dove into the depths of the 11-second club and storyboarding, which i love! Storyboarding is the process of spilling your heart's ideas onto a paper and working it into something beautiful! I'm quite the excited fellow when it comes to this, as seeing my characters in silly situations like this one never fails to rev my engines.
Some things I'd love to learn more about is how we can use the Z axis to its fullest extent. It seems particularly useful, and i was mesmerized by its use in the demo. I can't wait to see what you all will be able to do with it in the coming future!
Some things that frustrated me weren't particularly class related, but Play related. The local school play, David and Lisa was on this weekend and as a member of the Stage crew, i was placed in the duty of turning these big spinny wheels of death which just so happen to be literally half of the set for the whole play! Our opening night we screwed a scene change royally when we turned it too early, the lights went up and the lead was staring right at us, frantically motioning us to turn him back! i thought he was gesturing me to get off of the stage, and so i, like the big dummy dork i am, got up and waved at him, mouthing "bye!"
Once i got backstage i realized my immense failure to heed caution and it ended as one of the most embarrassing things to happen this year. We apologized and yammered about it at Applebees later, so it's alright. Kamryn (David, the lead) is a chill dude.
I was quite the happy fellow when i heard news about an "undertale 2" (now dubbed Deltarune) and i finally got to play it tonight! The characters are charming and adorable, and the storyline is that of which you'd expect from a seasoned pro such as Toby "Radiation" Fox. I also plan to get piercings soon, so this week definitely seems to have a ton of upsides! That, along with having Tuesday off, Dwon and I have a birthweek, and I've even got new, shiny art supplies being shipped here as we speak!
This weeks links of interest come right from the man himself, Toby Fox, addressing the hardships of game development and his plans for the game itself. The passion he's placed in these two games only concedes to give me HOPE for the future and strikes a feeling of LOVE for his dedication to these topics of passiveness and morality. Here it is, folx.
Ari May Actually Follow-Through With This One! (BSSD)
Hi! It's Ari, and today on "Blogscape Smackdown" We'll be reviewing the principle of animation that accords to Follow-Through and Overlapping Action.
Drew Adams, a Dreamworks animator, dives into detail on the physics and characteristics required to correctly execute these factors in any animation. He majors in Body Mechanics, so it makes sense for him to make analogies to the physical figure and bring anatomy into play. Why do we need it, you may ask? To quote Adams, he says "Because Sir Issac Newton says you have to. It's 'The Law!' " He then explains that you may purposefully leave out this principle to give a mechanical and stiff effect on your animation. However, it's when it's unintentional where the problem arises.
Believability is the key to a good animation, and these sets of principles do their darned best to help us get there.
Adams continues by delving into some examples of these actions, using the pendulum to explain how force affects an object and "drags" it along behind. Utilizing the pendulum is a great way to practice Follow-Through, as it can be toyed with for speed and timing to allow us to experiment with differing amounts of force.
The second and third examples are applied to characters, the most imperative of the two being a squirrel. Without the principle of overlap and follow-through, the tail stays stationary and the entire animation seems eerily stiff. Since a tail is comprised of many nerves and joints, it isn't supposed to be hard like leather. Instead, a flowy, fluffy type is what we want here! The second example of the squirrel delighted me with a wholesome animation of the ball and tail flowing through the wind without any care in the world! Thanks, Kanye! Very cool!
My thoughts on this principle are static, yet I do admit I love when something just butters my eggroll. Seeing something so nastily rigid and then immediately swapped with something delicately beautiful like a flowing scarf or tail brightens my mood. It'll sure help you brighten your attitude towards your work as well once you see the difference this makes! Good luck!
Drew Adams, a Dreamworks animator, dives into detail on the physics and characteristics required to correctly execute these factors in any animation. He majors in Body Mechanics, so it makes sense for him to make analogies to the physical figure and bring anatomy into play. Why do we need it, you may ask? To quote Adams, he says "Because Sir Issac Newton says you have to. It's 'The Law!' " He then explains that you may purposefully leave out this principle to give a mechanical and stiff effect on your animation. However, it's when it's unintentional where the problem arises.
Believability is the key to a good animation, and these sets of principles do their darned best to help us get there.
Adams continues by delving into some examples of these actions, using the pendulum to explain how force affects an object and "drags" it along behind. Utilizing the pendulum is a great way to practice Follow-Through, as it can be toyed with for speed and timing to allow us to experiment with differing amounts of force.
The second and third examples are applied to characters, the most imperative of the two being a squirrel. Without the principle of overlap and follow-through, the tail stays stationary and the entire animation seems eerily stiff. Since a tail is comprised of many nerves and joints, it isn't supposed to be hard like leather. Instead, a flowy, fluffy type is what we want here! The second example of the squirrel delighted me with a wholesome animation of the ball and tail flowing through the wind without any care in the world! Thanks, Kanye! Very cool!
My thoughts on this principle are static, yet I do admit I love when something just butters my eggroll. Seeing something so nastily rigid and then immediately swapped with something delicately beautiful like a flowing scarf or tail brightens my mood. It'll sure help you brighten your attitude towards your work as well once you see the difference this makes! Good luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)