Advanced Animation // Final Project
20.11.23 - 17.12.23 (Week 13 - Week 16 )
Emelyne How Sok Hing (0352938)
Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Advanced Animation // Final Project
Instructions
Week 13:
Final Project
We are to create a 5 to 10-second animated physical action sequence using Blender and choose an action like a fight, chase, or sports-related activity. Firstly, we need to find a video reference for our chosen action sequence to understand the movements, dynamics, and emotions involved.
Afterwards, we need to create a concise storyboard illustrating key moments, actions, and emotions. We are to incorporate various camera shots, angles, and visual continuity to enhance storytelling.
As for the steps they are as follows:
- Animate a blocking pass by keying extremes and breakdowns with "Stepped key" interpolation in Blender. Save the file as "Progression 1."
- From Progression 1, convert all "Stepped key" interpolations into spline interpolation (Splining). Fix timing and polish animation curves using the graph editor. Add flexibility to actions for realism. Save the file as "Progression 2."
The final submission consists of a compilation of progression 1 & 2 and the final rendering of the animation.
Video References
For the action animation, I wanted to choose simple a bit more simple in terms of movement and chose the action of a baseball throw. Before starting to block the poses, I looked for references in order to help me. Here's what I found:
Action reference link:
Tutorial/Examples reference link:
Progress
Next, I started progression 1 which was to do the blocking. It was quite hard to pose the character itself since the poses were more complicated than the one that we did for jump cycle or walk cycle.
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| Figure 1.1 Progress, 21st November 2023 |
Week 16:
I keyed in the additional frames and poses, but the process became tedious. Numerous issues popped up, leading me to restart multiple times because it seemed more straightforward than troubleshooting specific problems.
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| Figure 1.2 Progress, 13th December 2023 |
What I found when posing the character was that sometimes I would over rotate the character's arms and then it would look awkward or look like it was squeezed like a towel type of thing. So one thing that I found is that sometimes doing less rotation everywhere is better and it's better to focus on the whole arm itself than just a part of it.
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| Figure 1.3 Progress, 13th December 2023 |
Posing the spine was another challenge, especially for a beginner like me. It's tricky to grasp what looks wrong or if the spine's curve appears natural.
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After setting up a basic pose for the character, I shifted my attention to finer details such as fingers, wrists, and the positioning of eyes and head. Posing the fingers is particularly demanding, requiring a one-by-one approach and proving to be quite time-consuming, in my opinion.
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Later on, I reviewed the overall actions, and certain parts looked odd, making the character appear buggy. To fix these issues, I had to make corrections using the graph editor. Honestly, figuring out the right shape for the curve involved a lot of trial and error. I find editing on the graph challenging, and it seems like we aren't given enough guidance due to time constraints in this semester. I consider this to be a significant issue.
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| Figure 1.6 Progress, 13th December 2023 |
After talking to my lecturer, I realised that many poses in the last frames were not good. I had over-rotated some body parts, including the hip. Instead of fixing them, I decided to redo the last few poses from scratch.
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| Figure 1.7 Progress, 16th December 2023 |
I made an effort to be very careful and followed my lecturer's advice to analyse the poses more thoroughly. When the character was turning to throw the ball, it felt like solving a puzzle to find the right movements and rotations. Honestly, it took me several hours and was quite exhausting. What I noticed is that the character's feet move a lot, but the motion in the spine and hip is minimal, sometimes even nonexistent. I had a lot of corrections to make, and it got a bit frustrating.
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| Figure 1.8 Progress, 16th December 2023 |
Another hurdle was animating the ball, and it took numerous attempts to make it move seamlessly with the wrist. I'm proud that I managed to solve it without resorting to frame-by-frame animation. However, when the ball goes up, the animation looks a bit odd as it doesn't follow a straight line but a slightly curved one. At this point, I was too exhausted to bother fixing it further.
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| Figure 1.8 Progress, 16th December 2023 |
Week 16:
Final Project
Link to final video:
| Figure 1.9 Final Project, 16th December 2023 |
Feedbacks
Week 14:
Do a breakdown pose at 96.
Week 16:
- Do less keyframes and edit more using the graph.
- The hip movements need to be more subtle.
- Do less rotations.
- The legs can have more keyframes.
Reflections
Week 13 - 16:
This final project was truly unique, and technically, it's one of the most challenging subjects I've tackled at this university. Initially, things went smoothly with character posing exercises, but animating them turned out to be tedious and quite hellish. The graph editor was a constant struggle, dealing with numerous changes and issues. Since everyone had their own chosen actions, there was no one-size-fits-all solution, making problem-solving time-consuming. Posing the character, especially with the curve and hip, were very tough moments. Despite the challenges, I'm relieved to have completed it. Trying out 3D animation was a valuable experience, and I appreciate the patience and help from my lecturer. Overall, it was quite a rollercoaster ride.
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