Maya 2011 Highlight - Animation Improvements

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/stevenr/maya_2011_highlight_animation_improvements

Bobby Beck - Acting For Animators

11 Secondclub - December Competition

I am plan to participate in this months 11 second club. I will keep this blog up to date, and report my progress from start to finish. This month we have an audio clip with no dialog. My objective is to come up with a shot which fit's the sound bite. http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/current

Here are a few I came up with

1. Hide and Seek - The Hider runs into a room, shuts the door really hard and has his back to the door. The Seeker is on the other side of the door, the Hider reacts to the footsteps approaching. But, by slamming the door earlier it shook the room full of junk, a bowling ball falls from the shelf.
2. The Raid - The criminal is hiding behind a desk. You hear foots steps approach behind a closed door. Man with a gun, kicks down a door. The heavy door slams on the ground shaking the unstable interior. The criminal is scared for his life, as he hear the foot steps approach the desk. But unstable bookshelf breaks apart and falls on the gun man. The man behind the desk reacts to what he hears.
3. Tomb Thief - Thief is holding a Token, that he just stole. He is determined to get across the wooden beams that are supporting the unstable ceiling. He crossed it just in time before it collapse, and cherishing his prize. He walks away from the collapsed wall, looking at his Token with accomplishment. Not knowing where he was walking, he steps and falls through a broken floor.
4. Wooden Stairway - A man is running down the stairway so he can jump over broken stairs that are on the bottom. He successfully jumps over them and lands on the wooden floor. Because he landed on the wooden floor, it slightly breaks, but the man is able to keep his balance. Assuming the wooden floor is safe, he continues to walk away from the stairs and the wooden floor breaks, which causes the man to fall through the ground.

I am going to go with #3, because I can sense a lot of potential with this character and the funny gag that happens at the end. I plan to have a few storyboards submitted at the end of the day for feedback on camera angles and staging.

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Here a 3 storyboards I have mocked up, to get the idea and vision of my 11 Second Club - December Shot. I will be getting feedback from my peers to find out what version I should go with, and what are some other ideas I can add into my shot that will give it more impact of "Funny Gag".

Version 1 (physicality)- Walking into the broken wooden floor. Camera Pan Right.
Version 2 (physicality)- Walking backwards into the broken floor. Camera Pan Right.
Version 3 (emotional) - Walking to the camera for a close up emotional shot.

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Sketched out a few environment Ideas for an "Abandon House" to get some ideas on how to stage my environment.

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Created a rough stage, nothing is final with this stage. I will be moving things around to get the animation to match up with the sound Ques.

Maya Question - I found it difficult to parent objects to one another. After parenting objects, rotation of the child gets distorted. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can work around this?

Answer -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRfOvShajcc

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I have been thinking about what my character's motivation is. I know he went into an old abandon house to Loot some goodies. But what kind of goodies is worth risking your life, that can be easy to carry with 2 hands? After the Looter gets out of the broken room, he will admire his token by interacting with it, and not looking where he is stepping. Here are a few ideas I had.

Old Painting
Clock
Treasure Box
Antique Vase
Golden Statue - Wins
Teddy Bear

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Reference Video

Took several video clips to act out the scene. I went over all my video clips to find the acting choices I wanted to use as reference. Stitched up the acting choices to sync up with the audio, to get a look and feel on what I am going for.



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