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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Blocking

Blue Sky Studio Tour

 Movie Bytes : Rio 2, Epic, Ice Age 4 : Blue Sky Studios Tour! - Beyond The Trailer.

My friend Dan Segarra at Blue Sky share this video on facebook, and its awesome to get a look on what happens in production of an animation studio.

Getting to know Malcolm Rig in Maya

http://www.animschool.com/DownloadOffer.aspx

Wohoo, I am super excited to play with this recent Rig I found on AnimSchool. Its free, full of controls, movie style rig, and best of all  the GUI screen helps me out a lot with control selections. The Anim school Picker, is one of the best UI picker I have used. I am able to customize my window, group select, and easy to block out my character with Basic controllers to advance.

Thank you so much AnimSchool, for letting the public use your rigs. I am having a blast exploring this character, and can not wait to work on a 11 second club shot.

Here are a few images I have made for this character, to show my Work in progress, and see how far I can take it with just posing it out!

Awesome Gesture Reference Site

http://www.pinterest.com/search/boards/?q=gesture

Google is cluttered with random photos, and its hard to find a gesture that has emotion. Here is a site that focus on just that.

Animation sCritiques Notes from 11 Second Club

After watching a few 11 second club eCretiques, I wanted to keep a list of tips and rules that I commonly see within the reviews. This list will help me grow as an animator, and continue to make me aware of my own mistakes.

Rules

• Watch out with Repetitive gestures.
• Do not twin the movements on left and right limbs.
• Make sure your thoughtful on where you have the eyes looking.
• Hitting a brick wall can be solved with and Ease in.
• Watch out for static poses, especially on obvious areas.
• Be mindful of blink, add more ease in when going up.
• Add a red ball to the nose, to track extreme head turns.
• Keep the lips loose
• Make sure your not missing your phonemes, make sure they are clear.
• Set your staging to have it easy for the audience to understand.

Tips

• Define a character - What are they feeling? What goals do they have? What do they do for a living?
• Define the environment - Where is the character located? What are the props that help define the area?

eCritiques I have watched.
11 Second Club — eCritique — July 2013
11 Second Club — eCritiques

 

KingsIsle Presentation for Tech Campers

I got another opportunity to talk about who I am, what I do, and how did I get into the game industry. Based on my previous presentation I made wanted to play out my improvements. That I learned from other speeches.

Speech Outline

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Hi my name is Kiko
I'm an Animator, coolest job.
My Job is to make characters come to Life.
Call out some Animated movies.
My Favorite is Toy Story because I love toys.
Attended Art Institute of Houston
Thought about Movies but loved video games.
Combine my Passion and Hobby and ended up at KingsIsle.

Here at KingsIsle, we have 100's of Unique characters.
Each have different look, personalty, and fighting style.

Examples using Volunteers
Called out 3 kids to come up and select a weapon.
Select a personalty card.
Explain what I do when posing out my characters.
Had fun making the audience laugh, by exaggerating my poses with the kids.

Talked about the process of animation
Showed a combat idea
Captured Reference
Created Key Poses
Break Down Poses
Final Polish

This is what I do as an animator, any questions.


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Experience

I had a great time preparing for my presentation, I felt very confident because I prepared and shared my presentation ideas with a few animators and Komal. My staging was great I stand in the middle floor and gave it my all. The audience was well engaged because I was able to get down to their level and have fun. I got many complements, so I give my self an (A+). So far one of my best public speaking experience.

Animation Talk on PBS

Watch ¡COLORES! June 7, 2013 on PBS.  See more from KNME.

Animation Mentor - Animal & Creatures Master Class 2013 - Term 1 & 2

Completed Animation Mentor Master Class.
Thank you, to my wife, family, and friends for all your support and encouragement. Here are a few animations I've done. I have learned a lot new tips and tricks, and I am excited to apply them to my career. If your an Animator, I highly encourage you to take the Animal & Creature Class.

Time to go to Sleep!

Pirate101 Character Animation - 2013 Summer Showcase

The company I work for KingsIsle, recently released Pirate101. I got the opportunity to work on some Low Poly game characters. These characters were a lot of fun, and challenging to work on with 32 bones total for each character.

KingsIsle Presentation for Virgin Island Kids

I got the opportunity to work out my speech skills, and talk about who I am, what I do, and how did I get into the game industry. I based my speech on the topic of Passion.

Speech Outline

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Hi my name is Kiko
Character Animator
Pointed out all the characters on the wall, my job is to make them come to life.
Walk, Jump, Fight, Die - I acted out this part.

How I got into the industry
I always wanted to have a job I was passionate about.
Who likes to play with toys? "I do"
Playing with toys was my passion.
Action figures / Dinosaur / Legos
Toy Story = Awesome
I wanted to be an animator, choice between film vs games
I love Games.
Art Institute of Houston, graduate Animation.
Continue to improve my animation skills and network my way into the industry.
After 10 years of experience, I love my job.

I showed them animations, and talk about it briefly.
I talked about what happens next in the game pipeline, work together with programers and designers to get it into game.I told them, its satisfying to see your work come to life, and have others you can share it with. I feel good going home.

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Improvements

If I had more time in my speech, I will discuss animation in a Nutshell. And some animation helpful tips and resources.

I would like to talk about Rigging / Ideas / Reference / How to create a pose / How to animate / Press Play.

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Overall I had alot of fun, and this was my break through into KingsIsle to show them I want to represent the company as an animator, and keep on improving my animation skills.

A friend of mine at work "Tony G" found a really cool Maya Timeline for Max users. Its pretty sweet! And makes my timeline on Max look like Maya

http://www.heavenlypictures.hu/maxscript/extendedtimeline/extendedtimeline.php

Stunt Reel is a great place to look for dynamic fight scene, falling mechanics, and bad ass moves.

Reference Flight Study

Starting my 2nd term with Animation Mentor AC master class.

I am tasked with animating a dragon's vanilla flight. This Posting is to write up notes and post cool links that I find on my journey for research.

Links
http://brendanbody.blogspot.com/2010/09/bird-flight-tutorial.html
http://www.brendanbody.co.uk/flight_tutorial/index.html
http://www.flightartists.com/