Green screen recording with James Harris

Video courtesy of Rachel Kehoe.

Great day today! James Harris came to our reference shooting session to help us out with voicing and also he gave us some great ideas!
We performed our concept at the beginning and then he started improving our script.
So it was his idea to drag me at the end (great one!) and also he thought we might do our parts right after another.
He also gave great idea of suffocation in the box. Leaning rather than falling.

It was really nice to meet him, especially when he helped us a lot!

[RRR!] Poster

So.. I was a bit bored so I made a poster.

[Sketch] Life drawing 27/02/2012

[Drawings from last week coming soon]

ONE MINUTE SKETCHES

15 MINUTES SKETCHES

[RRR!] Scene environment v.2

Simple scene with ambient occlusion pass.
Based on reference:

[SFS] The Chase

Usual Short Film Saturday is about good shorts where everything is just perfect. But, this week is different after I saw 'The Chase' by Tomás Vergara.

Simple hitman job goes wrong. Yes. That's the story.
Authors note:
"My name is Tomás Vergara, a self taught 3d artist and a film nut. As for now, I’m 25. I was born in Chile and I live here. In 2011, I left my full time job in advertising to produce The Chase, my first personal project, completed in an isolated cabin in the woods. It took me 6 months to produce, but 8 in total to complete because of slow render times. My budget was US $700."

So, let's proceed with the good things, because it will be easier to start with.
The environment is lovely. Author took care of many details which really does its job.
The same thing is with the lighting. Great job.

And yes, this is all.
Now, the critique.
First of all, the character does not have any weight. Run cycle is HORRIBLE. Examples: 03:18, 04:43, 06:10. These shots just ruin the whole movie! It also applies to the walk cycle.
The moves are not natural and looks stiff. Example? Fight sequence. Animation principles? Screw animation principles!
Instead of being isolated in cabin in the woods - OBSERVE people. See how they move. And please.. read some books about animation.
Second thing which drives me crazy - SSS. Yes, we all know that SSS is really great and we should use it but here.. it was exaggerated. Twice. I do believe author can render skin, but real skin does not looks like that. Awful.
Third, we all know great shatter plugins with realistic physics. But here it is too much. We got like four or five shots where something gets destroyed. Looks like a plugin promo. Also, reminds me of Steven Seagal movies, when explosion was at the whole screen to show how much money they spent on that.
Another thing -going back to animation- in some parts characters are not moving at all, not even micro movements were applied. Okay, it can happen in one scene but entire movie? Come on! Examples? 01:30 and so on.
Last but not least, the story could be told in 3 minutes not 13! To me it's simple show-off to get a job as a generalist. Nothing more.
I do believe, a lot of effort was put in making this movie, but when you spend 8 months in creating a short, it better be good in every matter! In this case, it was better not leaving a job in advertising.

If you have 13 minutes and you're extremely bored, watch 'The Chase'.




Also, visit the official website to see the making of and other authors notes:
http://thechaseshortfilm.com

[RRR!] Scene environment

Finally I had some time to create scene blockout. 

We will use it for reference where character should stand and stop if he goes backstage.

Details/textures/lighting will be added after animation stage.

[RRR!] Rough Reference

So.. we got the first version of monter-in-a-box reference.
The final one will be recorded on Wednesday's green screen session.

But for now, I like how it looks and more important - how long it is: 30 secs! Wohoo!
However, I still have to add some anticipation when character runs backstage. There will be some screams and fight sounds, then he crawls back.
Yeah, it's slowly getting shape.

[RRR!] Mime

So I've modified (or better word is.. created) elevenrig textures for my mime animation and even posed to show his attitude - cautious/ a bit terrified.
Working on this was really easy till.. I've noticed how UV's are placed. Cut line is exactly in the middle of the body. That caused troubles with stripes on his back so I hat to cover it with black.. umm.. something. You can still see it on the left shoulder:

However, I'm not going to waste time on fixing those UVs so it will stay like that.

The hat has it own controller and it can be taken off for animation.

Also, I found some cool references:

 

[Final] [Insomnia] Mutant

Cleaned up.
Exaggerated attacks.
Run beginning and ending

[RRR!] Concept change!

So, at today's feedback session we discussed our ideas. Everything was fine.. except my performance with mime being late. Well, yes, I agree. Two shows where mime is getting injured or.. killed and then, my just being late. Boo-riiing!
So, we got another idea.
Mime comes up, just defines a box, opens it and.. a wild invisible raccoon appears and start scratching mime's face. He runs around and tries to get it off. Goes backstage and all we hear is fight sounds (and maybe some props thrown on the scene). Then, after a while, he comes back and says yeah, he's okay and ta-daaa.
We will polish it on tomorrows meeting but it seems great!

[RRR!] Character analysis sheet

As I read the 'Acting for Animators' by Ed Hooks, I also took notes about character analysis.
Based on these notes I made a simple list of essential information about my character.

Character analysis sheet

01	Name	Anthony Mimekins
02	Male or female	Male
03	Age	25
04	Physical health	All fine. Rarely back pain caused by injury while he was a kid.
05	Appearance? Hygiene	Average. Not too tall, because he was smoking cigarettes in primary school. He has some complex with his height that's why he likes working with kids. Tiny kids. Cares about good appearance. Washes mime gloves everyday.
06	Intelligence	Intelligent, but sometimes does stupid things, like that time when he thought, that Dumbo is real.
07	Diet	Fast food, already prepared meals at home
08	Culture	Does not care
09	History	Travelled around the world to find a ticket to the ‘Willy Wonkas chocolate factory’. As soon as he realized that it is a lie, he studied Engineering in Paris. Then, while being there he thought he wants to be a mime so he dropped studies to achieve his life goals.
10	Religion	Flying Spaghetti Monster a.k.a Pastafarianism
11	Income	Actually none. Sometimes he acts on kids parties to cover monthly bills.
12	Occupation	Jobless mime
13	Education	Studied Engineering, but dropped in half way, because he always truly wanted to be a mime.
14	Sexual orientation	Straight
15	Sense of humour	Laughs at black humour
16	Family	His parents are living with Batman, because they are paid for it. Sometimes his mum sends him some cash.
17	Friends	No friends at all. But got loads of friends on Internet social website called Mimebook.
18	Inner rhythm	Positive! Even when things are bad he always smiles and sees the light.
19	Psychology (introvert, extrovert, etc.)?	Extrovert, very extrovert

[RRR!] Animatic

Animatic for coming animation (my part) from studio 'RRR!'

Story:
Audition for next mime movie 'The Box'.
Number 24 is obviously late. He runs inside and tries to explain himself.
He was going to auditions theatre, it was a lovely day.
When suddenly! Out of nowhere!
A dragon appeared! And umm.. he was really scared!
But.. he drew his sword and bravely attacked that dragon.
When he defeated the monster he checked the watch. He realized he was really late and just started to run as fast as possible. TA-DAA!

Later,  agreed he just played a video game so abashedly went home.

[RRR!] Second meeting

So, today we had another meeting.
We finally came to conclusion what we want to do.
This will be audition for film called 'The Box'!. Clever, huh?
Three mains tricks:
- Suffocation aka trapped in a box - Rachel R
- Disarming a bomb in a box - Rachel K
- Late mime - Raff (apparently me)

Till Wednesday we will produce some animatics and character sheets.

Here are some of my sketches prepared for today's meeting:
(We got a scanner in Phoenix building! Woop woop!)

Late mime:

[Insomnia] [WIP] Mutant

Okay, so after two days of work I got first version of Mutant animations.
My reference this time.. Left 4 Dead 2! I was working in labs and watching how zombies are being slayed.
Awesome!





More info:
http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/02/insomnia-mutant.html
http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/02/insomnia-mutant-rig.html

[SFS] Slug Invasion

'Slug Invasion' is a story of an army of snails, which forced by hunger, cross the old lady's garden to get to the juicy flowers. However, the granny is planning to stop this invasion.

To create all the objects and environments, for eight months, students of Danish school of 'The Animation Workshop' have used programs such as Maya (models, lighting, rendering in MentalRay, animation), Photoshop and Mudbox (2D design, storyboard, texture) and Fusion for composition.

A great concept, pretty simple design and animation - nothing but admire.

Making of:



And for interested - snail rig.

[RRR!] First meeting

Okay! So yesterday we had first meeting of our team project to discuss and come up with some ideas.
So far, we got three concepts:

1. Mime musical
 One mime playing on a guitar, then puts it down and starts playing on a invisible one - which is a lot better
 Second mime dancing or doing some tricks, then suddenly falls and swears loudly.
 Third mime is late and explains why.

2. Circus audition
 Three mimes has to present trick with a box. They can do whatever they want but still box has to be included. So probably it will be trapped in a box and gets out, trapped in a box and can't get out and a bomb in a box that causes real damage.

3. 'Normal' audition
 Two first mimes doing classical mime tricks. Third one is rather modern one, doing conversation with audience with a help of sound files.


Also, we discussed many important things like:
- What's the difference between cookie and a biscuit?
- Cartoon physics
- ACME products and considering of putting 'ACME production line' in our resumes
- Did Daffy Duck use ACME weapon in 'Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century'? Answer: Yes, yes he did:

So now, over the weekend we have to produce some sketches and on Monday we have another meeting. Same purpose.

We also have our private group on Facebook where we discuss our ideas and help each other.

[Insomnia] Mutant Rig

Just finished rigging. I've applied rig from MrDead and fun began.. had to weight the skin all over again. This is different geometry so it was quite hard to do but.. yes, it's done.
Also, I've added tongue controls (top-right, dark red circles) to make even more scarier animation!

To be honest, I can easily import previous animation (from MrDead) and just simply apply to a new model but.. for learning purposes I want to do run cycle and other animations again. I have to be in shape for next module, right?

Okay! That's enough about rigging. Tomorrow the real fun starts! Animation!

[Insomnia] Mutant

Next character to rig and animate!
Ladies and gentleman, I introduce.. The Mutant!

He's adorable, isn't he?

Model by Lolonoa

Acting for Animators

I'm really looking forward for tasks from newest module - Acting for Animators. Sounds like a lot of fun.

1. Acting Principles Presentation
There's always has to be a presentation. My topic to cover is 'A scene in negotiation'.
So, it's like two characters in a room with a one chair. The negotiation starts who should sit on that chair.
I've already borrowed 'Acting for animators' book by Ed Hooks. That will be great start for my presentation.

2. Mime task.
In a group of three, we create mime auditions. Everybody has to animate one character and then we will put it in one short film about auditions. The team is: 'RRR!' - Rachel, Rachel and Raff.
Also, as umm.. hmm.. 'maya expert' I'm going to teach or give advices for Rachel K how to easily and painless switch from Softimage to Maya. Fun fun fun!

3. Two-person dialogue
Basically, we get a sound clip from 11secondclub.com and animate both characters. That should be easy and fast to do, so I'll do my best with planning and all preparatory stage to get as many points as possible.

Animex!

So, the Animex grande finale was yesterday. That was extremely amazing 5 days and I do not regret any money or time spent there.

What's animex?
Animex is the largest festival dedicated to animation and computer games in the UK. Speakers and representatives from the global animation and games community gather for a week every year to educate, inspire and entertain an audience made up of professionals, students and enthusiasts.

And short few words about each lecture from RED PASS perspective.

DAY 1

Welcome speech, really interesting as for 'boring' part of the day. Good to know the history, tradition and rules.

Next.. Alex Trowers with his 'Making Games? Great!' lecture.

Absolutely amazing presentation.. or.. not.. not even presentation. Alex made small game in Unity engine and from third person perspective we watched 'digital him' telling about making games and getting into industry. Really funny and informative lecture.

Great start for whole week.

Next was Ken Wong with 'Art Direction in Wonderland'. Breathtaking graphics and concept for amazing game called 'Alice: Madness returns' (continuation of game created like 10 years ago).

Inspiring graphics and also it was really interesting to know how did they make their game.

Then, lunch! Finally!

After really needed break we saw Alastair McIlwain talking about 'More beginnings than endings'.

That was purely games about lecture so I was paying more attention to my weariness. However, some animations from 'Hector' game were nice and really funny.

And... then that what was I waiting for whole day. Valve!

First, Jeep Barnett talking about 'Co-opting Portal 2’s cooperative testing initiative'. I haven't played cooperative game in Portal 2 so I was rather interested how it looks like than how they did it.

But still, watching something about that famous game was amazing!

Next, still staying in 'Portal 2' - 'The animated adventures of Portal 2' by Karen Prell. That was absolutely awesome! From concept, modelling, rigging, animating to in-game use of Wheatley character - my favourite one. Everything was done in Maya so it was feast to my eyes. Also, it was interesting to see unused animations which you can't see on Internet (yeah, that's a pitty, I'd love to see them again!).

Finally, the lectures has ended and I could go home.. not for so long! Fast dinner and run to 'Players lounge' to be part of chilling and endless talking about industry. In that way I listened to Karen Prell talking about getting into Valve and also about their international team. Still chance for me! I've exchanged cards (yes! I actually have Karen Prell's card!) and asked for some feedback about my portfolio.

Then, auction came. Lots of fun and.. money! Great job everyone!

Couple of minutes after eleven I went home and almost instantly fallen asleep.

DAY 2

Games again! Teagan Morrison talking about 'Overview of Environment creation for games in Uncharted 3.' As I know UDK (Unreal Development Kit - game engine) I was amazed how they solved problems with stability and rendering, which I always had. Also, when I saw they 'automatic snow' shader in Maya (automatically applies snow on the top of the mesh) my mind has blown. Very nice and interesting speech.

Then, famous Ed Hooks with 'Make them care – a primer on empathy in games'. That was the best lecture over those few days. Ed didn't need presentation to give us his precious knowledge.
Basically, the whole lecture was about acting. Acting as a thought.

Here are some interesting notes I took:
When we read facial expressions and make eye contact?
Speaker: 40%
Listener: 80%
So, when we speak, our facial expressions are really important. It helps reading the thought.

When we blink? (in a matter of acting)
 - At the end of the thought
 - As a confirmation of thought

I've got some more, but if you weren't there it won't make any sense for you.

Anyway, it was really funny and interesting lecture! I want more!

And actually I had more. Right after lunch break we went to Greg building to show off with our work in front of Ed Hooks and Siobhan.

Ed gave us really great tips and tricks, which we, young animators have. We think technically how we should approach the project. But then, we should actually think more about personality and empathy.

That was really precious lesson.

Before you animate, ask yourself:
Who the character is talking to? Get into character.
Turn sound off and check if you are missing the thought.
What's character holding? Is it important for understanding the scene? Put dialogue when it's really necessary. Where's the scene set?
Start the animation at the thought - it will make it stronger.
EXPRESS the thought, then the words/lip sync.

When you make your reference - concentrate eyes on the object (like I did - I used chair for my lip sync ref) - pretend there is something. Like actors in the theatre do.

That was show n tell session.

I shown my 'Lip sync' task. As for everybody he talked for about 15 minutes about each project, he.. well.. he couldn't say much about mine.

I played once my animation, and then.. silence. I look at him and he looks at me and says: 

'Well, I'm really sorry but I can't help you.'

I almost died.

Then he continued:

'Your animation is really great and I don't see anything bad in it'

I was standing there, in front of everybody (at least 15 people; almost fainted) and.. couldn't believe what I just heard.

I don't remember what I said but he continued talking about he feels empathy, that the character is possibly talking to someone not visible in shot, and even without sound he could fully understand what this clip is about.

I still couldn't believe that I did that but.. yes, that was amazing. After hundreds of thanks I went to my seat and took deep breath.

Thankfully, my day has ended really early (in the middle of other lectures), so I could rest at home.

DAY 3

Workshops day. Unfortunately for me, I didn't buy any ticket (I was counting for Eric Goldber this year; however after Tuesdays speech I regret I didn't go for Ed Hooks lecture), so I simply stayed at home and had some more sleep than couple of hours. Then, came back to uni and worked on 'Insomnia' animation.

DAY 4

Max Howard started this day talking about 'The road to the Oscars'. Interesting lecture about requirements and rules. Also, he talked about a minute which kind of shorts/films are more expected to win than the others.
Rules:
 - Film has to contain character or abstract.
 - Three days of screening in LA county
 - It has to be on a film tape 35mm/70mm
 - NO student films

OR

 -  Other awards qualify (you have to prove it)
 -  Students MAY qualify by winning gold medal in Annies awards

Next was lecture '3D or not 3D' presented by Hans Rijpkema. Basically 3D =/= stereoscopy. Hans talked about breakdowns of 'Yogi Bear' movie and also the theory of stereoscopy.

Good to know, even if I'm not a big fan of this.. blasphemy! 

Lunch!

'The animation ladder' by Curtis Jobling. Feast for concept artists and designers, however I enjoyed his talk.

Then, Ben White presented 'Elementary my dear Watson'. Breakdowns of great scenes from even greater movie 'Sherlock Holmes 2'. THAT WAS AMAZING! I watched this movie twice and I would never tell that some characters are CG as well as background or objects.

Inspiring talk!

Then, well, the sad truth about animation industry in UK presented by Oliver Hyatt. Well, I known there is recession, but I would never expect that this is in huge scale. Advantage of this talk was showing the existing problems and good thing is that there are people fighting with government for us, animators. Keep it going and good luck!


After short break at home I went to 'Animator's lounge'. Same as previous one, but this time with bunch of people from animation industry. This time I went almost to everybody to listen and ask some questions. Also, I've given like 10 cards and asked for feedback. That was great opportunity to do that, so I couldn't miss it.

DAY 5

Last day? Oh no!

That was Harry Potter day!

First, Rick Leary with 'Harry Potter, The Final Chapter'. Same as Ben White's lecture: Breakdowns which blown our minds. Even more characters in CG that when I'm still looking at shots now, I can't tell the difference between real actors.

Then, Shelley Page with 'Shelley's eye candy'. She presented 10 shorts from various festivals around the globe. 'Paths of hate' by Platige Image was also included! Beautiful Polish accent!

Lunch lunch lunch and then 'Meet the Recruiters' with Celine Beunier (Recruiter, Framestore), Sophie Jenkins (Double Negative), Rachelle Lewis (Owner/President Rachelle Lewis Talent), Ben Owen (Recruiter, MPC) and Shelley Page.

Bunch of useful information of getting into industry. Also, great tips about portfolio and reels.

CV, Reel - has to be short and simple. Show your skills and which software you use.
Make two reels (one for animation, one for generalist)
Put it on Vimeo (better quality than YouTube), make it downloadable
Before you go on a interview, lookup your interviewers on LinkedIn

For animators, the reel should include:
- Acting
- Reference
- Maybe few life drawings
Make it simple with CLEAR action

Next was 'From Teesside to Hogwarts' by Dan Zelcs. Story about graduating from Teesside and ending up in MPC. Also, really nice breakdowns and from Harry Potter.

Last but NOT least, 'Setting the scene' by famous Fraser MacLean. And that was really nice of seeing somebody with passion of classical animation. I could listen to him talking about Disney's and animation golden age times for ages! Great finale of Animex.

SUMMARY

It is really hard to sum up such a great event. Amazing speakers, interesting lectures, awesome lounge events and.. that atmosphere! Whoa! Definitely coming next year!

Worth any money!

Source:
Animex.net
Beautiful photos by Christine Wilson
Ugly photos by me

[SFS] Bugs' Race

The film tells a funny story of worms race in the grass. The prize in the race is to rule over the meadow, so every player wants to win at all costs. The main characters - a spider, snail, ants, beetles and mysterious caterpillar will do everything in their power to eliminate competitors.

A short film made ​​in computer animation technique by two students - Ania Jurkiewicz and Andrzej Ellert - of the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology in Warsaw. The main inspiration for the film was Pixar's 'A Bug's Life'. Work on the film took two years and ended in 2008. The entire animation was created in Autodesk Maya. Music and sound were created in a studio Cafe Ole. Snail character voiced by a famous Polish actor Arkadiusz Jakubik.
I rembember how I was fascinated in this movie couple of years ago. For the polish industry that was a sign, that a new generation may be interested doing things possible only in other countries.

But, now I see couple of things that might be done better, such as sticking more to animation principles or even silly thing as industry standard 16:9 pixel aspect ratio.

However, this is a nice piece of animation and great job was done by only two students.

Source: http://www.bugsracemovie.com

[Insomnia] MrDead final

So, it seems it is final version.
Cleaned up every animation and exaggerated some animation principles.

Added run beginning and ending.
Speeded up attack.
Added secondary attack.

[Insomnia] MrDead

Two days of work and I got first version (still WIP) of animations.
Sent back for feedback.
More info about the project: http://raffanimates.blogspot.com/2012/01/insomnia-is-coming.html

[SFS] The Great Escape!

The sun is an average guy who makes performing in the weather forecast every day. He is responsible for a place on the map, which is to be sunny. Nothing big, in other words, he does the set design. And so every day for several years. He has had enough of the monotonous and boring work, wants something more from life. Once he decides to escape from the boring reality, coincidence makes the sun hits the screen inside the 'black box'. There is a surreal world, full of iron, cables and electronic components. It turns out that the sun is not alone..


The film was made in three months based on the technique of 3D and classical animation. The primary objective was to deprive the story of all philosophical thoughts. The audience should have fun, not tracing the hidden message.

Damian Nenow got the idea of ​​such a film while he was mindlessly watching TV. Then he thought that the sun should get out of this box.

The film has a few years, however it is still  looking good. A simple sunshine rig and little complex environment made working on this film pure pleasure (I think so). Well done.

Watch video on Google Video.

Source: Press release

[Insomnia] Finally!

Oh yes, finally I've got some time on casual animating.
I've got MrDead in Maya and just started my work. This will keep me in shape during ANIMEX.

[Animation Practice 2] Comparison

Did I learn something during module?
YES! Yes I did.
See the video and enjoy moment of victory with me.

Comparison of first and last version of each task.

Animation web resources

Long time ago I borrowed many books about animation. I didn't have Internet at home so all days I was reading these books and noted down their resources, because some day I may need one.
As you may be interested, I will share my links:

ActionScript.org
For flash only, but principles/rules apply to 3D.

AfilmLA.blogspot.com
Films production, advices and great knowledge source.

Animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com
Original backgrounds from various types of animations. Great page if you don't feel good in modelling.
Not updated any more, but still there are loads of images to browse.

Animationguildblog.blogspot.com
DAILY updates about animations, also many thoughts of PROs.

Animationideas.com
Loads of great advices for animators.

Animationpodcast.com
Many professional animators creates their podcasts for FREE. Worth seeing!

Animationshow.com
Showcase of world's greatest independent animated short films.

Cartoonbrew.com
Animation news and trends - DAILY.

Cartoonresearch.com
Info about classic cartoons.

Cgchar-animation.com
Great society of animators. However, due to technical problems they had to close their webpage. You can still joing LinkedIn group to receive updates.

Coldhardflash.com
Flash resources.

Dekku.blogspot.com
Shorts and ads!

Drawn.ca
Inspiration for animations and drawings.

Jasonryananimation.com
Great tutorials for beginners.

Keithlango.com
Everything that animator needs! Great animator share his knowledge.


Meathaus.com
Sketches and comics. Great inspiration.

Splinedoctors.com
Podcasts and tutorials by professional animators. It's free!

Thehobbitguy.com
Tutorials and other links resources.