It's over.... It's finally over!

Well. It's rendering at least!

After many moons, many struggles, many lessons and one mini heart attack. It is done.... And sweet sugar it feels good.

As I watch the render tick down.... I began to remember everything, And i think its fair to do a pretty big blog to recount it :P

Idea
A short animation where a character finds music and reacts to it emotionally.

Software
3Dsmax
Photoshop
Sony Vegas
Adobe Audition

Readings

• Gahan, Andrew. 3ds Max Modeling for Games: insider's Guide to Game Character, Vehicle, and Environment Modeling. Amsterdam: Focal/Elsevier, 2011. Print.
• Jackson, Chris. Flash Cinematic Techniques: Enhancing Animated Shorts and Interactive Storytelling. Oxford: Focal, 2010. Print.
• O'brien, Flora. Walt Disney's Donald Duck: 50 Years of Happy Frustration. Tucson, AZ: HP, 1984. Print.
• Wells, Paul. Understanding Animation. Abingdon: Routledge, 1998. Print.
• Marks, Aaron. The complete guide to Game Audio for composers, musicians, sound designers and game developers. Burlington, MA: Focal/Elsevier, 2009. Print.
• 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.
• 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.
• Collett, Peter. The Book of Tells: How to Read People's Minds from Their Actions.London: Bantam, 2004. Print.
• Whitaker, Harold. Timing for Animation. London: Focal, 2009. Print.

What I learned

• Rigging - I taught myself to rig efficiently and effectively.
• Animating by scenes - As I had only previously animated for games I enjoyed making animations to my storyboards designs and I am glad that I took that extra time in pre production to break the scenes up.
• Animating to music - To get the final effect I had to redo plenty of scenes to make sure they fit.
• Animating cameras - As i had never worked with cameras in 3Ds Max before it was a new experience and the overall effect has been carried into my other pieces of work.
• Using cameras to build a scene - Using the cameras to create speed and effects was also a new experience that I feel worked well and created a better final piece.
• Overall I also planned an entire project and set myself deadlines that I had to adhere to.

What went bad?

Although I am generally positive about how the project went down and was created I feel that there were a few small issues I should have looked into more to make the assignment more comfortable for me.

Although I loved this idea and was adamant to create it, Most of the time while working on it I felt disheartened by it and was constantly convincing myself that it was a bad idea to pick this to show animation skills and that I would be better off creating a complex model and doing some animations on it.

Though this was a comment from the start from a tutor I still say that I am glad that I took the plunge and stuck to my guns. Although this idea was a risky move and wasn't advised from day one the feeling of completion I got from it when it was all done was incredible and I am glad that I did decide to stick with it.

I do wish that I did take that extra bit longer looking into research and constantly stayed on top of work rather than the occasional build up (Not that I ever fell behind!)

The piece

EDIT - So it looks like someone doesn't want it to be embedded....

HERE is a link :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FydjlCk3kHQ

TA DA!

Enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. (No really!)

Hope you all enjoyed reading my blog and my pursuit into animation.

Jack Stalley

The final Post

For more fun follow me on twitter!

@Fuzz7e

Work Work, Dig Dig, Drink Drink.....

A month later the phoenix rises its ashes...... And begins to blog.

Well the time has come where I begin to compile it all together, Oh did i mention? Animation has all been done! I can go back to sleeping!!! Well sleeping more i guess.

The last steps had a small albeit adjustable issue. In the popular dance PSY crosses his arm and pretending to ride a horse by the reigns, This was a pain as the robots arms do not bend all the way in without serious distortion.

To combat this I chose to create a new dance for the robot to perform using a hybrid of the next stage where PSY imitates a rodeo and the original dance. I also chose to make the leg movements more static with this one to create a "Bunny Hop" styled movement.

To ensure that all the movements were equal I created a plane with 20 panels along so that movements could be tracked effortlessly.

The next step now that all of it is render is to edit and work on the sounds as well as add in the additional art assets.

So same time next week? Maybe a bit earlier this time who knows, I have a headache.