Character Animation Evaluation

Character Animation Evaluation

1. Physics of Motion in relation to character movement

2. Interaction with objects

3. Expression of weight and volume on the character

4. Expression of intentions or feelings

5. Use of anatomically correct animation

6. Deviation from real or expressive movements

7. Lighting and camera angles

In this evaluation essay I will be addressing each of these points individually and then justifying them in a collective summary at the end.

To begin with, the movements of my character at the beginning of the animation fit within the boundaries of realistic movement and so follow the physics of possible movement for living things, it has been done in this way because the first half of the animation connotes a serious feel and so the character must move realistically and not exaggeratedly. However in the second half of the animation when the screen fades in to reveal my character running away from a large boulder, his movements are comically unrealistic and although are physically possible are not a realistic because the scene connotes comedy toward the character and the situation he is now in.

My character successfully interacts with an object in the first scene of the video where he makes a hat grow from thin air in his hand and places it on his head. This object subsequently later interacts with the second object of the animation, the large boulder, as it is flattened under the boulders weight after falling from the wizard’s head whilst he comically runs to escape the boulder.

The expression of weight and volume on my character is subtle, like with an average sized human being, and can only really be see during the walk cycle at the start of the animation. The characters weight is portrayed by the amount that his legs bend during each step, in this case they seem to bend a little bit exaggeratedly for his apparent size. However the movement can be an indicator of his volume as heavier characters tend to larger and lighter characters tend to be small or skinny (or both), so this indicated that despite his proportions he is a heavier character.

During the animation the character expresses two emotions and two intentions. The first emotion is in a wink to the camera, which connotes friendliness and a happy emotive state. The first intention is when the wizard is casting a spell, this is a dramatic intention and the movements are slightly exaggerated to show that he intends to cast this spell. The second emotion and intention come in the same piece of movement, while he is running from the large boulder his exaggerated movements and his action of running connote the emotion of fear and the intention of attempting to escape the boulder before it crushes him like it does his hat.

Anatomically I believe my character animates correctly. His joints are in the correct places and they bend in the correct directions, so he moves normally e.g. when he moves his arms the elbows bend in the right direction, same for the knees. His head can roll around the shoulders. His shoulders and hips bend properly etc.

Despite my character having anatomically correct movement such as walking, putting the hat on his head and casting the spell, he is not limited to realistic movements and actions. The characters run cycle is comically exaggerated and although the movements are anatomically possible for the skeleton they are not logical for any living creature to do, this was to add another level of visual comedy to the scene on top of the already comical situation of the character running to escape the large boulder rolling after him.

The lighting used in the scene was simply an area light appropriately placed above the scene to illuminate the character and his actions. A single light was used because the scenery surrounding the character was an empty white space, aside from a horizon line, and if spot lights would have been used the character would have been washed out with brightness, because of the empty bright scene surrounding the character, a single are light that illuminated everything equally was all that was needed.

To conclude, my character animation uses simple scenery and lighting to put full focus on the actions of the character, which at the start are realistic and set up a serious scene as he walks toward the camera and casts his magic circle, the wink is a part of this serious scene to give the character a personality instead of appearing robotic and to stop it being too serious and boring (seriously boring). The movements of the character and the events of the whole animation create two contrasting scenes, the first a serious build up to the second, which is a comical conclusion. I believe that the two together create an enjoyable animation.

Character Design Research

Character Design Research Summarisation

In this essay I will be describing the roles of the Character Modeller, Technical Director and Character Rigger in the Animation production Pipeline.

The role of 3D Character Modeller

In the Animation Production Pipeline, the role of a character modeller is to create 3D character representations using 3D modelling software, such as Maya, Cinema4D, Lightwave or 3DS Max, based on poses and turn arounds drawn by designers in the pre-production stage. Sometimes the Character Modeller will have creative input into the appearance of a character, saying what is and isn't possible, or what would or wouldn't work when it came to making the character move.

The role of Technical Director

In the Animation Production Pipeline a Technical Director's (TD's) responsibilities vary from studio to studio so the job description is not very well defined.

Normally a Technical Director is a mix of an artist and a programmer, responsible for the more technical aspects of film production, such as programming shaders, developing character rigs and animation setups, performing complex simulation tasks and setting up the pipeline; how the data is passed from one stage in the film production to the next. Compared to a programmer, a ‘TD’ would normally not work on large programming projects but rather make heavy use of scripting languages such as Python, MEL, or MAXScript or shell scripting. Another responsibility of a ‘TD’ is to look after any technical problems the regular artists encounter and to develop custom tools to improve the artists' work flow.

The role of Character Rigger

A character rigger designs and creates the skeletal framework of a person, creature or generally moving/deforming object. He or she constructs a computer generated 3D wire frame of a character then positions joints and points of movement, like axis around which a limb can rotate and pivot. These points are manipulated to make the character jump, stretch, smile, or produce any other combination of natural movements like a marionette. This is done using rigging tools such as Maya or Motionbuilder and MEL scripting to simplify repetitive tasks and create fluid pipelines.

The character rigger builds virtual character skeletons and control rigs, sets deformable weighting, applies skins, creates facial shapes, all of which are later used by the animator to bring the character to life. The rigger will also write MEL scripts to streamline art production pipelines and develop new pipeline solutions to adapt to the changing needs of the animation team and keep up with workflow.

These are the individual roles and responsibilities of the: ‘Modeller’, ‘Technical Director’ and ‘Character Rigger’. This is what they contribute to the Animation Production Pipeline. I will now describe how these divisions of the Animation Production Pipeline interact with the other areas involved.

The above departments cannot get started without designs of what they are going to create and rig. So before they can get started the character designers must create the designs and some turn arounds of the characters, which they then give to the character modellers. Occasionally the designs will have to be altered depending on the capability of the character modeller(s) or the software being used on the project so these departments will interact often in the beginning. This is the first interaction between an above-mentioned department and another department within the Animation Production Pipeline.

The above jobs also all lead into one another and interact. Starting with the Character Modeller, as the name suggests they create the characters and other objects involved in the animation. Once created, their work will then move to the Character Riggers who also as the name suggests rig the characters so that they can be animated. This is how these two divisions interact with each other. The two will most likely have regular meetings about the modelled characters because the characters need to be well modelled with good geometry if they are to animate well, the Character Riggers will be the first to know if a character model will animate well because while they are applying the skeleton to the model they will be moving the skeleton around to make sure the skeleton moves and they will see the character move with it and how well it moves. If the character does not move smoothly the riggers can make a note of any issues and report them to character modellers who can then improve the geometry of the character by adding extra polygons to the mesh around the parts of the model that move the most e.g. the joints. This will be done either with an “add divisions” option in the 3D modelling software being used or an “insert edge loop” tool, or even something as basic (and usually difficult to use) cut/knife tool.

When the character modellers are modelling objects or characters that move they have to think carefully about how that model will move and in what way it will move, as there is a big difference between a deforming and non-deforming model. A ‘deforming’ model is a model that bends like a living creature and so requires more polygons/faces especially around the joints so that when the character moves he still looks smooth and not as though he’s made out of flat faces. A ‘non-deforming’ rig is less of a hassle to model, as its joints will not deform when they move like on a robot (which is what this type of model is usually made for).

From the Character Riggers the work will move onto the Animators who will animate the characters. Just like the departments before them these two will interact often when the work is first passed over, as the animators begin test animating the characters they will notice minor issues with the movements or control of the character and need the rig to be improved so that the character can be animated smoothly and realistically even if the movement is exaggerated.

The Technical Director(s) will interact with all of the ‘technical’ departments such as the Modellers, Riggers and Animators, as they are essentially a combination of artist and programmer, as mentioned above, they can work with most departments directing and helping out.