Update regarding late posts

Holidays are coming!!!!

*regains composure*

Well it seems like its been a long time since I posted anything. It has, I've had some personal issues regarding stuff and its still not 100% yet. BUT the good news is after getting over the majority its now nothing that will affect my workflow (though some blogs may be early/late)

Now back on track.
As my previous blog detailed, I have done a mini timeline of what needs to be completed by when, Its not completed yet as I need to sort out the scenes and how they're going to be animated.

The original idea was to create a virtual environment for the robot to be animated in. Although I wanted to create a detailed scene for each section I was advised to stick with simple visual aides. I ended up making one large scene with simple scenery as well as positioning various cameras for each scene.

The scene where the robot leaves the room.
The trees and bushes are cloned all the way down to give a sense
of speed for the walking scenes.

21st Dec.
So for this week I set myself the UI screens as a tasklist. After experimenting with some chroma keying in Vegas I realized that i was creating more work than necessary for myself as instead I could just make a text layer in Sony Vegas that I could animate and add effects overtop to get a better feel for what I wanted.

Well this counts for the 2 weeks progress, Christmas updates will be as regular as I can make them!

So stay safe folks and have a Merry Christmas!

Timeline, What im hoping to achieve ideally! Now updated!

So as most of my readers would have noted, Alot of tasks have been completed.... But how many are left is kind of a mystery.

So to counteract that I'm going to put up some deadlines and tasks that need to be completed by then.

30/11/2012

• Asset list created
• Script created
• Storyboard created
• Storyboard Animated
• Robot modeled and textured

7/12/2012

• Rig Robot
• Test robot with simple animations
• Factory placeholder and Path area

14/12/2012

• Make the CD
• Make Log
• Placeholder scene for the robot to run through
• Placeholder scene for robot to dance through
• Suitable placeholder scene for robot to dance off

21/12/2012

• UI – SCAN COMPLETE
• UI – ITEM IS A STORAGE DISC
  CONTENTS – MUSIC
• UI – ALLOW TRACK TO PLAY?
  Y/N
• UI – WARNING
  UNAUTHORIZED LIMB CONTROL

• UI – FIND SIGNS OF LIFE
• UI – SCAN ITEM
  ANAZLYZE CONTENTS
• UI – HOW YOU REMIND ME
• UI – crisis state animation of fluid levels etc.
• UI – EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN IMINENT
• UI – Animation of a startup sequence.
• UI – Animation of track 2 being deleted.

28/12/2012

• Test scale of robot in scenes.
• Go over previous tasks and check progress.
• Organize storyboard into scenes.

Rigging complete!

Well that was a successful weekend, Managed to rig the model and up and until now was tearing my hair out trying to sort the vertices and weights. Now.... We have bones!

So I finally learnt how to rig, Its an amazing feeling seeing as the last 2 years ive been crying about trying to do it and failing.

It turns out that while I have been placing the bones correctly and skinning perfectly.... the vertices need to be rigid and 1.0 added to them all, Its still rough but the great thing about animating in 3D is I can change the vertices if I need to mid animation.

Polish Polish Polish as they say, Small update for you all. Now to work on the levels!

Assets, MORE ASSETS!

So here is a small list of what I still need to make though not in full priority.

This is generally just to keep me above theoretical water on my project.

Asset List

Physical

• Factory placeholder built
• UI – FIND SIGNS OF LIFE
• Blocks shaped like bushes
• Rough pathway
• CD
• UI – SCAN ITEM
  ANAZLYZE CONTENTS
• Cartoon FLASH
• UI – SCAN COMPLETE
• UI – ITEM IS A STORAGE DISC
  CONTENTS – MUSIC
• UI – ALLOW TRACK TO PLAY?
  Y/N
• UI – WARNING
  UNAUTHORIZED LIMB CONTROL
• Placeholder scene for the robot to run through
• Log for the robot to trip over
• UI – HOW YOU REMIND ME
• UI – crisis state animation of fluid levels etc.
• UI – EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN IMINENT
• UI – Animation of a startup sequence.
• UI – Animation of track 2 being deleted.
• Placeholder scene for robot to dance through.
• Suitable placeholder scene for robot to dance off.

Sound

• Heavy sliding for doors
• Heavy metal foot steps
• Mechanical panning noises for eyes
• Heavy crunch foot steps.
• Zoom noise
• Flash noise
• beeping noise for text
• Beeping noise for notifications
• Large metal crash
• Pound sound effect
• Warning beep
• Reboot beep
• Reboot jingle

Storyboard complete! This time with music!

So for the majority of yesterday and today I did alot of storyboard work.... For those of you that dont know me, I hate doing storyboards. So this wasnt a walk in the park for me.

After creating the scenes I put them together to the music and made a rough timeline, I hope you enjoy and be nice!

and heres the scenes if the video isnt your bag ;)

Aumo. The musical robot.

Finally it takes shape, Well sort of.

After getting my proposal feedback I carried on with my sprint work, First step (after making the script) create Aumo!!

As part of the feedback was to ignore modelling the environment for now and focus on the animation I decided to create the robot and begin my steps on rigging.

Now because Aumo is a main focus I tried out a few ideas on how he was going to be modeled starting with the Head.

An idea with the eyes mounted on antenna like devices. I ended up not
using this design as I wanted to add more features to the face.

An idea with the eyes in a jar floating in a un-known fluid which would act as
eyebrows. As much as i loved this idea the eyes would prove to be very difficult to animate
as they were surrounded by another object.

I began with the face, I based it off an earlier sketch with
the other designs shown above.

Using the box tool i extruded a rough leg shape and
added a stretched cylinder into the middle for a spine.

I then built a rough torso designed to look powerful
and intimidating.

Once this was done i created a small neck joint and
applied the chamfer modifier to the original models.

Using the box tool I then extruded a few times to create an
elbow and 2 arm parts before making one end larger
for the scanner attatchment. After adding in the gears
for elbows and shoulders I cloned the arm and placed it on
the other side.

I used the box tool to create a rough claw shape and auto
smoothed it to make it look neater.

A front view of the completed model before the screen
was added in for emotion display.

Completed after the screen was added.

 Next step, Storyboarding!

BELOW HERE LIE SPOILERS!

This is a brief blog of my script plan, Although I didn't want to upload this I figured people can decide whether or not they want to read it now.

If you like it, Comment.

IF YOU CONTINUE READING YOU WILL SEE SPOILERS.

LAST WARNING

The scene fades into a run down abandoned factory. The years have taken its toll on the building and there are obvious signs of decay on the door and walls.

As the camera stops the doors open to reveal a dark room.

Large metallic steps are heard from inside before the camera swaps to a POV shot from the Robot. A digital UI reads,

FIND SIGNS OF LIFE

The camera swaps to a close up of the robots face as its eyes look around the scene before walking off scene.

Cut to long shot as the robot walks along a path in between overgrown foliage before the camera pans round to the front of the robot as it stops in its tracks and looks down at an unknown item.

POV as the camera zooms in on the CD

POV shot as a UI reads,

SCAN ITEM

ANALYZE CONTENTS

Shot of the robots face as it raises its hand off screen as a large flash appears off screen before the robot looks back down.

POV shot as a UI reads,

SCAN COMPLETE

New Text appears

ITEM IS A STORAGE DISC,

CONTENTS – MUSIC

Another icon lights up on UI.

ALLOW TRACK 1 TO PLAY?

Y/N

The camera swaps to a closeup of the robot beginning to twitch and nod as “MIGHTY MORPHING POWER RANGERS THEME” begins to play.

00:00 – 00:10 the robots face looks puzzled and its feet befin to twitch in anticipation.

00:10 – 00:20 its logo changes to a smile “:D” and a UI shot shows a warning message.

WARNING

UNAUTHORIZED LIMB CONTROL

00:20 – 00:38 The robot sprints down the overgrown path with a huge smile on its face, the camera initially allows it to pass before catching up with a closeup showing how excited the robot has become

00 :38 – the robot trips over a log causing the music to stop.

The robots eyes roll around as it regains its balance. It thinks back to the CD and chooses the next track on its UI.

The UI shows a song called “HOW YOU REMIND ME” The robot begins to think to itself as the music begins.

00:00 – 00:16 The song slowly fades in and the robots logo changes to “O_O” as the robots face changes from excited to confused.

00:16 – 00:26 The logo changes to “:’(“ and the robots face changes to almost upset as its fluid fills to the top and its eyes lower in the tank and the head twitches as if its sniffing.

00:26 – 00:40 The robots UI pops up showing a readout for fluid levels and malfunctions in the limbs again as the robot begins to walk slowly, heavily and skulks into the brush.

00:26 – 00:40 The robots UI pops up showing a readout for fluid levels and malfunctions in the limbs again as the robot begins to walk slowly, heavily and skulks into the brush.

00:40 -1:00 Closeup of the robots face as it falls to its knees and begins to pound the floor

1:00 – 1:10 UI shows “EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN IMINENT.”

The robots eyes roll back into its head and falls flat on its face.

A startup animation plays over the UI showing a reboot system.

As the robots eyes roll forward and it stands up slowly.

POV shot of the UI as it shows track 2 being deleted. Track 3 begins to play.

00:00 – 00:15 Robot looks around and smiles as its eyes widen, the logo on it changes to a pixel PSY logo.

00:15 – 00:27 The robot begins to walk in a confident stride nodding its head to the music (Disney)

00:27 – 00:29 The robot slides off screen (camera behind)

00:29 – 00:44 Very close shot of head and shoulders from front as the robot continues to walk getting closer before going off screen.

00:44 – 1:05 Shot from behind of the robot dancing in place happily as the music gets faster (leading to the chorus kick in 1:05) and the camera gets closer to the face.

1:05 – 1:08 Close up of face as the robot turns to the “OOPA GANGNAM STYLE”

1:08 – 1:11 camera behind as the robot begins to dance the Gangnam dance.

1:11 – 1:15 the robot rides off down the path doing the signature dance.

1:15 Fade to black as the robot rides off.

Credits

A script without dialogue? Seems legit!

So this week I started my steps to making my dissertation, Step 1? Pre production.

I know I know. After watching me research like there was no tomorrow to get the proposal finished and submitted..... You would of at least expect to see the robot greyboxed roaming around an environment. Just kidding we all knew that would take a while but heres what I did this week.

After looking at the range of emotions I decided to stick with excitement, Depression and Happiness as the 3 types of music tracks I wanted to animate to. Although I had originally planned to create my own music I chose to use pieces that already existed as it gave me more flexibility with how I plan my production. It also meant that I would have better quality music than what I would be capable of creating.

For excitement I chose the theme from the popular "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers" as the build up to the main theme gave the right feeling for the robot experiencing a build up of excitement before charging off.

For depression I chose "How you remind me" by Nickleback. This was more of a personal reason as I have always found the song to be quite depressing and the bass sounds like the rhythm of a slow heavy walk.

Finally, to end my piece and show happiness I chose to use the very popular "Gangnam Style" by the South Korean band PSY. I chose to use Gangnam style because the video contains alot of smiling and is a generally uplifting styled song. I also chose to choreograph the robot to do the dance shown in the video as it is a very active dance and thought that maybe it would be a fun view to see the robot riding off into the sunset on the "invisible horse" part of the dance.

Storyboards coming up next!

Robot concept sketches, GO FOR THE FACE

So after all of the character development research I conducted this week I finally sat down sketched some facial expressions on different character sheets.

To begin with I looked at my initial idea and what the flaws
were with the design. After that I began to sketch
different designs and listed their pros and cons.

After some ideas i decided to stick with the complex design
as it had more facial features to show emotion.

After finishing the last of the face reactions I looked at
minimal ideas like Wall E and created a rough idea
of a simple concept.

The concept was designed like the human face but with
a more robotic feel than the previous ones.

3DS Max Modelling for Games - The final book of research....

To round off a week of research, Sketching (Gotta be patient!) and watching far to many Disney films I checked out my final book to help me with the model. For those of you that haven't guessed, This book is one of those generic help ones that tell the reader how to use 3Ds Max and what the suggested plan of action is to get the best result.

This volume is dedicated to Game character, Vehicles and Environment Modelling with guides on low and high polygon modelling. The book also covers advanced techniques like alpha transparency and smoothing groups. This would be useful for the overgrowth in the apocalyptic setting the robot has woken up in as it also has guides for modelling landscapes and buildings in a fallout fashion.

Although the majority of books that I have used as research have been note and take back, I feel that this book will be checked out of the library for the modelling stage and will be referenced alot for guides on texturing with the environment.

Another part of the book that I found interesting was the low poly modelling guide for characters as it was something that I experimented with in my second year as my major model but didn't get the desired effect that I had planned. After looking through the book and reading the tutorials that they include I can see where my model's high polycount came from and where I could have saved time in the long run.

The texturing sections really helped me to understand how to better sort the UV's out on my model when it came down to it and simple steps that would make the texture more professional and visually appealing.

Bibliography

• Gahan, Andrew. 3ds Max Modeling for Games: insider's Guide to Game Character, Vehicle, and Environment Modeling. Amsterdam: Focal/Elsevier, 2011. Print.

Cinematic techniques, Cross platform? I sure hope so!

After talking to a librarian about what books are often taken out by film students (as well as asking in town about animation books) I was pointed towards "Flash Cinematic Techniques" which on first glance looked to be useless for me as it was the wrong platform but nevertheless the subtext "Enhancing animated shorts and interactive storytelling" was enough to pull me in.

The book starts off by covering types of animation and how they would be used to replace  iconic scenes. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Animated characters have to over compensate on their display of emotions as they are not director friendly like human actors are which the book goes into detail on.

The book also covers a general FAQ about the flash workspace (which although interesting was not necessary to my project) as well as teaching the reader about different techniques they can use to get the best result in art.

The main section that I knew I would be using as reference was the in depth descriptions of the camera angles and the general shooting space. This chapter demonstrates how camera angles can be used to create a better scene, for example if a camera is placed above a character the viewer will perceive them as a small or insignificant character. If the camera is lower down however and they see the character from a low point they will perceive him as tall, powerful and a stronger character.

The book also helped me understand storyboards more clearly and how detailed they needed to be for the emotions to be captured properly. With this in mind when it comes to the laying out of the storyline (after it gets approved) I  know where to start and hopefully finish as well as allowing me to better plan my time along which scenes could take the most time or would need additional editing and planning.

Bibliography

• Jackson, Chris. Flash Cinematic Techniques: Enhancing Animated Shorts and Interactive Storytelling. Oxford: Focal, 2010. Print.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck 50 Years of Happy Frustration.....

As a final look into character development I had a choice, Micky mouse or Donald duck. Sure, there is alot more variety when it comes to studying animated characters but hell noone does it like Disney in my eyes.

The book (yes the title really features the words happy frustration) gives a unique look into one of the most beloved characters in Disney's arsenal and how he came to be. Aside from all the amazing stories and reference pictures that it offers the book is also a heart warming story of how Donald and Walt shared a theoretical bond of emotions which lead to Donald becoming so 'Alive'.

The section that I had originally found most useful (aside from the entire book!) was the small chapter devoted to the animation of Donald. The animation team mention that, "A picture is not started upon in the Disney Studio," and "it happens into being by fortuitous circumstance. It evolves as a result of interplay between the happy accident and intense concentration. As a result of the free cooperation of minds, ideas are in constant circulation....always being improved upon."

After looking through the variations of designs and methods that Donald was created through I decided to take a different approach on how to design my robot. Piece by piece like a jigsaw rather than entire blocks of a building.

Bibliography

• O'brien, Flora. Walt Disney's Donald Duck: 50 Years of Happy Frustration. Tucson, AZ: HP, 1984. Print.

Understanding Animation. Key frame by Key frame.

Understanding Animation by Paul Wells is one of the smaller books i've been looking into as part of my research that covers a lot of ground on the history of animation as well as the variety of media that can be used to display animated pieces.

the book was also used to convey theoretical designs towards animation and housed a very moving quote that sums up not only what a child sees when they watch an animated film but also what we all have experienced at one point or another when watching one. Sergei Eisentein says that, "We know that they are.... drawings and not living beings.
We know that they are projections of drawings on a screen.
We know know that they are.... 'Miracles' and tricks of technology, that such beings don't really exist.
But at the same time:
We sense them as alive.
We sense them as moving.
We sense them as existing and even thinking."

As I mentioned before, It makes me feel like this is what a child would feel like whenever they watched an animated film, though if an adult watched it they would remember how that felt to think like that. The author also raises this as a point as he goes on to say that, "Everyone it seems has a childhood memory of a Disney film. This is such a taken for granted yet uninterrogated fact, that it seems absurd that little attention has been given to Disney films and the nuanced responses of their audiences." 

Overall the book was an interesting read for me as it contained alot of the views that I hold to animation and portrayed them more professionally than I could in my own words.

Bibliography

• Wells, Paul. Understanding Animation. Abingdon: Routledge, 1998. Print.

A quick pause inbetween character design to think about sound!

So after some heavy character development work, (Gonna blog it soon!) I figured maybe it was time to look at the other stuff that needed to go into the project, Namely sound and music.

The book that I read through was Aaron Marks "the complete guide to Game Audio for Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers and Game Developers" and was quite suprised at what I really took from it compared to the other books I have blogged and read recently.

For example, the opening chapter doesn't describe what sounds are used for in the world of gaming, It instead describes the ambitions of people who want to work in the industry and gives possible reasons for them seeing it as a luxurious career choice before explaining his story on how he became a sound artist.

The Early chapters of the book are mainly devoted to preparing the reader for the industry and what challenges they should expect to come up against and prepare for in advance. It also leads into getting your foot into the doors of the industry and how to find the best jobs suited to your abilities as well as what to charge if you go freelance and sell your pieces.

The late chapters are mainly about what I had originally suspected the book to feature as the author describes different types of music and how well they are suited to situations (which is why I picked the book up in the first place) or emotions. The author mentions that, "The right music with the right visuals is pure magic." which I found to be something akin to what Walt Disney would say.

He also mentions that, "When we are emotionally "Up" or psyching ourselves to be that way, we listen to music that is upbeat, has a positive rhythm and makes us feel alive. Conversely, when we feel down or making an effort to relax, we feel better listening to slower, less complex music." I found this interesting as it was the reverse order of what the basis of my project was. It described what music we play when we feel a way rather than what music makes you feel a certain way.

The book also helped with the opening of the project as the author describes how, "the first piece of music the player will encounter is the opening or introduction sequence. This is presented either as a "main title theme" or a score accompanying cinematics." and that, "closing and credit sequences are normally where the final musical cues occur. This late in the game, they might not enhance the players opinions, but they still serve an important purpose in the overall scheme."

I found the book both moving in its best efforts to get the reader out there making music with some advice and tips but also how it tells the tale of the authors journey to it. I also loved the section about how to get the most creativity from your work with jam sessions and general activities and why a game being shelved is not always a waste.

Bibliography

• Marks, Aaron. The complete guide to Game Audio for composers, musicians, sound designers and game developers. Burlington, MA: Focal/Elsevier, 2009. Print.

Timing for Animation... An inspiring tale

After working through the previous 2 books and using the tips offered by the author (the fundamentals of animation) I went back to the library and searched for books about animation guidelines, animation help and how to animate. One book popped up on all 3 searches that I figured was worth a read. "Timing for Animation" was a reprint of a 1981 book of the same name by Harold Whitaker.

Inside the book the readers are shown illustrations of animation cycles with important frames numbered as a guide for the aspiring animator on where they should mark movements. It also has a small section devoted to storyboards that helped me to decide how in depth I wanted to go into the pitches storyboard segments.

The author mentions that, "The important point is to convey an idea of the flow of the narrative and to explore the visual possibilities for additions of drama or humor." This description gave me a clearer idea of what was expected to be in the storyboards for the pitch but also what I wanted to put into the storyboards later when it came to full pre-production.

Another useful section of how storyboards can be used was where the author described that, "Live action film makers from Cecil B De Mille to Steven Spielberg, have relied upon storyboards to anticipate potential problems and grasp the impending production issues of a film." Again, this extract was useful for me as it showed the functional sides of storyboards and how they are necessary to pre-production.

One chapter that was almost perfect for my piece was heavily focused on emotional response and displaying emotion on a character with animation. The author goes on again to say that, "Human reactions and human actions must me exaggerated, Sometimes simplified and distorted in order to achieve a dramatic or comic effect in cartoon." Although this particular extract was referring to 2D animation I felt that it caught what I wanted to show on the robot and in the scene.

A final quote that i found extremely useful in the planning of my piece as well as inspiring was in the emotion section described by the author as, "the moods of depression, dejection, sorrow, etc. depend on slow timing for their effect, whilst the moods of elation, joy, triumph and so on depend on quicker timing. Other moods such as wonder, puzzlement and suspicion may depend on facial expressions and body posture." The quote was the closest to my idea that I could find in writing and was surprised when i first found it in a published article. I also loved how it described the emotions as a tempo which is one of the main sections I was hoping to include.

The book also had numerous examples of emotions that i decided to use as reference.

 

 


Next blog, SOUND!


Bibliography

• Whitaker, Harold. Timing for Animation. London: Focal, 2009. Print.

How facial expressions are capable of changing an emotion

After some feedback on my original robot design I noticed that although it was as simple as i had originally planned it to be, It was going to take alot more than what i had designed to make it work and would take lots more research to get the job done.

So after speaking to my tutor about this he recommended "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" to further look at how Disney develop characters and also to show the research I am undertaking with model sheets.

Before changing the design of the robot I first looked at the Disney book and what they go through to create characters with real emotions as well as the techniques they use to create the link between animation and emotion.

The opening section of character development contains a quote from Walt Disney that I found useful as it gave me more of an idea of what i should be doing rather than what i had done with the character design. Walt mentions that, "I think you have to know these fellows definitely before you can draw them. When you start to caricature a person, you can't do it without knowing the person." this was helpful to me as instead of designing my robot to show emotion I went for a simple design so that modelling would not take an excess of priority or time.

Another quote from the character development chapter relates to Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and how he was changed from his original sketch. Walt said that, "Dopey isn't cute looking in these drawings. His body should be longer and his legs shorter. You should have the feeling about him that he is wearing somebody's cast-off coat, not as though he wore a big gown or something." and that "When anything happens, Dopey runs as fast as he can and gets ahead of the other dwarfs". Both of these appealed to me as i wanted the new design of the robots body to be a gentle giant approach. He would look more fierce than he is but when he hears a track he changes to the music and gives in to his new found emotions.

I also had a look into another book called "The Fundamentals of Animation". Essentially the book is a report on different types of animation and shows examples of how they have been used and gives a small description on each. A particular chapter that i found interesting and useful was a small section called "The Animator as Performer" which shows examples of how animators have used humans as a basis for characters in films. One of the focus areas was the popular antagonist from the Lord of the Rings franchise "Gollum" who was created with a "combination of a motion captured performance by Andy Serkis, and an extraordinarily nuanced use of computer-generated animation." The chapter also has a top ten tips to make your characters act which are:

1. Thinking tends to lead to conclusions; emotion tends to lead to action.
2. Your audience only empathises with emotion, not with thinking.
3. It is good for your character to have an obstacle of some kind.
4. A gesture does not necessarily have to illustrate the spoken word. Sometimes a gesture can speak of a different inner truth (study Gollum in The Lord of the Rings).
5. Animate the character's thoughts. All of them. The more specific the thoughts are the better it will be. (Look at The Iron Giant scene in which the giant eats the car in the junkyard. You will count something like 13 different thoughts in a 12-second tune frame.)
6. A character plays an action until something happens to make him play a different action. In other words, there should never be a moment when your character is doing nothing.
7. Definition of acting: Playing an action in pursuit of an objective while overcoming an obstacle.
8. Scenes begin in the middle, not at the beginning. You want to enter a scene as late as possible.
9. Dumb people and dumb characters do not think they are dumb. They think they are smart.
10. Don't start animating until you have your story set. Storyboard everything first. If a sequence lacks conflict or negotiation, try to fix it before starting the animation.

These rules were very helpful when it came to thinking through the schedule of my milestones and checkpoints. Tip 10 was my main focus as it showed how important the storyboards were towards the planning side of the production as well as highlighting when animation should begin. It also allows me to design the environments before modelling so i can get a better scope of what the robot will be experiencing.

So overall, Both books helped in similar ways though the Disney one was more useful in facial emotion and body language. For my next blog I am going to review a book devoted to the timing of animations with tips on the best ways to display emotions.

Till then!

Bibliography

• Thomas, Frank, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Hyperion, 1995. Print.
• Wells, Paul. The Fundamentals of Animation. Lausanne: AVA, 2006. Print.

MK I - The robot left behind.

So this is a rough guide of how the robot design came to be and how i came up with the look.

The first step was to find the correct human proportions to base the robots body on. I decided to use this book (mentioned in previous post) as it has a wide variety of medically accurate pictures that i could base my robot on.

 I decided to use this picture in the end to base my robot on as (I have mentioned repeatedly) the proportions of a male human was my main point. After looking at it and working out where the center of gravity was i created a version to base the robot on.

 To create a more brute look to the robot I made the chest wider and longer as well as shortening the legs to make the robot appear more stocky.
I also made the arms longer to give a feel of bio mechanical extension that a robot would have.

This is the final sketch that I plan on basing the 3D model off. Its simplicity means that the model will be low poly and easy to create. It also means i can spend more time focusing on creating the area and animation rather than spending all my time working on the model.

Another book done, Helped a ton

Ok then small change, the animation comparison will be done tomorrow and this post will be a pure biblio and review of the latest book that i have used.

My latest read was "Musculoskeletal Anatomy. A text guide for Dissection for students in the allied health sciences." I chose this book as it has great quality images of the human anatomy and the correct proportions and bone structure that goes into each person.
This was essential as (I have previously mentioned) that I wanted to build the robot using the human bone structure as a basis. The page that i found most helpful was the simple proportion guide for male and female.

Another reason I chose to use this book was that I wanted to show that I had researched all materials necessary rather than using Google images for proportions like I had done in previous years.

Bibliography

• Colborn, Gene L. and David B. Lause. Musculoskeletal Anatomy: A text and guide for Dissection: For students in the Allied Health Sciences. Pearl River, NY: Parthenon Pub. Group, 1993. Print.

Just to clarify a bit....

I thought today would be a fine day to do a stream of blogs, This one is explaining my idea and what i hope to achieve from it, The next one will show some storyboard ideas and character designs and my final blog for today will be a comparison of different animation types and a small comparison of different animators and how they portray emotions.

Now for my idea, As i mentioned in my previous post the idea is generally a test for me to show emotion with animation as its something i've rarely touched upon but know that it would be needed in a industry job after speaking to a member of Jagex at the recent brains eden event. The emotion will be shown on a robot that will be designed using a human skeleton reference with alterations to add a level of surrealism.

The main story is that a robot has woken up from a long storage in a apocalyptic world. Because it has never been exposed to anything outside of its factory the main emotion i want to show is fascination with everything it finds.

After a brief walk it finds a CD which it scans and plays, When the music comes on it changes its walking and body posture to match the music playing. I'm aiming to show Happiness, Depression, Fear and Excitement with different music tracks and movements.

The animation will be made in 3Ds max and edited in a Sony Vegas as it is the most suited to add in the relevant effects needed for each emotion and editing.

Well thats all for now, Coming next update.... a currently un named robot with a bibliography entry :D

The first reading and what im actually making.

Well I suppose I cant keep it secret anymore on what this project will be about.

I have decided to create a short animated piece designed around a robot that changes its mood depending on what music it plays. The reason I chose this idea for my dissertation was to challenge myself to show emotions with animation and make and rig a complete model. I also felt that it would be a great piece for me to put in my portfolio to show my skills in animation.

To get a better feel of emotion and how it changes the way people move their body I decided to rent "The Book of Tells: How to read people's minds from their actions" by Peter Collett who is an expert on body language and sub-concious body language.

The book helped me to understand why people move in certain ways and how an individual's body language can represent an emotion or action. It also showed me the difference between controlled actions and indirect actions that I want to incorporate into the robot. For example in a section of the book describing Prince Charles the author mentions that, "he characteristically draws his hand across his body and reaches for the opposite cuff. This is Charle's cuff-link fiddle - he resorts to it whenever he's on display and in transition."

The way the author goes onto describe the emotions as if they were mechanical actions and traditional made them seem ideal for my project as I want to show the complexity of the robot.



Bibliography

• Collett, Peter. The Book of Tells: How to Read People's Minds from Their Actions. London: Bantam, 2004. Print.

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A new Blog... Same old me

This blog will detail the process and steps taken to complete my dissertation.

Feel free to give me any feedback as it goes and make sure to follow if you are interested.

Thanks!